PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Oh crap!
I think I was close with a bit over 5qts plus half prefill on the filter which requires the passenger wheel to be removed to access in the driveway
Took more than 3 hours total LOL

But maybe I need to add another half quart still

 

Is your truck in a heated garage during the winter months?
This chatter I have heard in the cold for a few years lasts for a few minutes
I may have found the issue with a hidden oil filter behind the power steering reservoir pump
Gotta wait until winter to see if that is what is causing this concern

 

My truck has probably spent like 2% of its life in a garage...

 

It sounds like you are just over 5.5 quatrs.
Pour 1/4 in it and call it a day.

 

The broker Pete got my replacement transmission from does not need the old one back as a “core”, so I’m going to take it apart and scrap it! I picked it up this morning…

 

In addition to the obvious issue of the oil pump going bad, the clutches are also burnt; I attribute this to putting 40K miles on a truck that already had high mileage in the span of a year and a half, and towing trailers on three different occasions in that period of time…

 

I asked Joe, the mechanic working for Pete who primarily works on my truck, what could have wore out my transmission (when just months ago he told me it should last until 300K)…

Joe told me “abuse”. You know what, he’s right? Let me make it clear that there is a difference between abusing a vehicle and not keeping up with things like oil changes and preventive maintenance. I have always been very good about the former!

My truck’s first 100K miles were very easygoing, as for the first ten years of ownership, I very rarely put more than 10K miles on the truck in a year. Prior to the end of 2014, I never put more than 10K miles on my truck in a year because I didn’t get my first real job (at least not that I stuck with for more than a few weeks) until November 2014.

The truck was purchased new in September 2009 with 20 miles on the odometer, I got my license in May 2011, and by that time the truck had less than 13K miles on it. I put all but probably first 12K miles on my truck driving solo, as prior to May 19th, 2011 I had a learner’s permit and was not allowed to drive without a licensed driver in the vehicle.

From May 2011 to about June 2014, all of my driving was local (college, car shows, and hanging out with friends). It was in July 2014 that I started attending car shows that required driving on the turnpike, and that September, I went to a big diesel truck show in New Jersey. This was my first time driving across state lines by myself.

I started working at Puck in November or December of 2014, and worked there until January 2019. During the spring and summer of 2015, the owner of a sandwich shop near Puck would pay me $30 a week to pick up food and other supplies at Costco, and I also delivered pizzas at a local pizzeria from July through November of 2015.

Even when I worked at Puck, I still wasn’t driving anywhere as much as I am now; I put less than 7K miles on my truck between February and March 2017, according to Carfax.

I started working at Fred Beans detailing cars in September 2018, and I started doing Uber Eats in December 2018. The truck was purchased new in September 2009 with 20 miles, as stated above. It was not until the spring of 2019 that my truck hit the mileage that would be considered the national standard (12K per year); I was just over 104K when I got it inspected in September 2019, as per Carfax.

Even then, my truck was well below the average mileage for an older Tacoma until probably the end of 2020!

 

would changing the ATF T-IV fluid More frequently have helped in this situation

 

Yes.

But the fact is, things wear out.
You have to be realistic. Every time you change gears and the convertor locks/unlocks. Things wear.
A lot depends on driving type and style. Stop and go, will wear it out 2x as fast as highway driving.
Fluid temperature the same, the hotter it gets the faster the fluid breaks down.

Again everything wears. You kind of have to find a medium between "maintenance" and expectations.
Sure changing the trans fluid every 25K will make it last longer. But is it worth the time and money?
Ideally, you want to spend as little as you can and make it last as long as you can.

 

Maybe, but this only happened after I towed with the truck. My mechanic recommends every 50K to 60K…

 

Perhaps but at 200K it isn't a shock regardless. It isn't like you trailered with it often or went way above the weight limit etc.

 

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@shakerhood
@Speedytech7
@steelcity2

I would like to talk about autism and driving, as well as something neurotypical/non-autistic people who simply choose not to drive. First of all, does anybody remember my old friend and fellow Aspie, Anna? I have not talked to her in over a year because we kind of drifted apart, and she is also very busy with grad school. Back in October 2022, she was one of my many lovely lady friends who I talked into dressing up as a “zombie huntress” and posing with my truck. Despite looking very confident behind the wheel of my truck and ready to plow through a horde of zombies in the second picture, Anna did not have a driver’s license at the time and was actually terrified of driving…

 

I do remember Miss Anna the Huntress..

 

I have been meaning to ask if you had heard from her lately.

 

Anna did get her learner’s permit at some point prior to COVID, but it was expired by the time I met her in November 2021. When these pics were taken in October 2022, it was still expired; I heard that she finally did get a new learner’s permit, but I have no idea if she’s gotten her license yet. She goes to school in Philly, and has wealthy parents who don’t seem to mind driving her around, so she doesn’t technically need one yet…

All of my close friends with Aspergers have driver’s licenses; John got his about 2004 at the age of 17, Doug got his in 2008 at the age of 19, I got mine in 2011 at the age of 22, Cam got hers in either 2013 or 2014 at the age of 23 or 24, and Mike was the last of the group to get his in 2019 at the age of 30.

I am in an even smaller category, as I am the only one in the group who knows how to drive a stick shift. My friend Andrew has Aspergers, but moved to Georgia years ago and I haven’t actually seen him since then. He knows how to drive a stick shift, but he drives an 18-wheeler so it’s kind of obligatory.

@Stitchgirl90 believes she is on the autism spectrum, but has never been formally diagnosed. She got her license in 2009 when she was 19, and I taught her the art of the third pedal when she was 32.

That said, people with autism who don’t drive generally don’t bother me. The one exception is my former friend Taylor, who did something back in 2012 that I am not at liberty to discuss publicly; I briefly reconnected with him in 2020-2021, but never actually hung out with him and only chatted with him on Facebook. He bugged me to hang out, but not including the stuff I don’t want to discuss, one thing that really bugged me about him was how he didn’t have a driver’s license and his mom was rarely willing to drive him places. He is going to be 38 next February and still doesn’t have a damn driver’s license! It wasn’t so much his lack of a license, but more the fact that he lived outside the zone where my other friends lived.

 

Anna was willing to portray a zombie mental patient in 2023, complete with bloodstained straitjacket! Anna did not initially want to wear the gas mask due to sensory issues, though I eventually talked her into it. My friend Cam, pictured below, is a veteran cosplayer and had no problem wearing the whole ensemble. She is even willing to portray the straitjacketed zombie mental patient, but the problem is that a decent straitjacket is a few hundred bucks!

Yes, I am so dedicated to the zombie truck cause that I looked up straitjackets for sale online…

 

Anna ignored her sensory issues and tolerated the respirator for a few minutes…

 

I had a crush on Anna from the moment I met her. Anna was 24 and I was 32 when we met. One quirk of people with autism is that we tend to be very picky about things, and in Anna’s case, one of those things is dating a guy who is “considerably older”; I was friend-zoned almost immediately. She met a guy a few years younger than her through another friend, who also donned the “zombie huntress” outfit for a photo op in October 2022 (see below). This guy basically lied about his values and beliefs, and who he was as a person, to get into Anna’s pants. When Anna refused to have sex with him, he turned into an asshole.

I still remained friends with him after he parted ways with Anna, but he quickly pissed me off too. He had been friends with the woman pictured below since they were in preschool, and I ultimately parted ways with him after hearing a recording of something really nasty he said to her.

Before that, however, he did something else; I was initially told (by him) that his learner’s permit expired and his parents were too busy to take him back to the DMV to get a new one. I found out through my friend in the picture below that he just didn’t feel like driving (though he did have a learner’s permit at one point). On two separate occasions in 2023, he messaged me out of the blue asking if I wanted to go to a bar and a strip club, respectively…

He was working full-time at a grocery store, but he spent his money as quickly as he earned it and was too busted flat to afford an Uber and a night of drinking and lapdances; I politely declined both times…