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

My friend's dad used to sell drugs in New York...

Seriously, he started out as a pharmacist in Brooklyn, the neighborhood where he grew up. Now he's a pharmaceutical executive. That's how he can afford fine automobiles like this; He's lived in the Philly burbs for more than 20 years, but sadly he's still a Yankees fan...

 

That is a Janitrol (Goodman) 4-ton central air-conditioner from 1996. It is matched up with a Janitrol 80% gas furnace. This was at my aunt's house in the Atlanta suburbs (aka Hotlanta; as in Georgia). My aunt bought the house in 2006, the photo was taken in August 2011, and the house was sold in 2016. This air-conditioner exceeded expectations and was still operational after my aunt owned the house for a decade!

The damage to the condenser is the result of the previous owner's dog marking its territory, and that's me giving it a well-deserved cleaning. The air-conditioner was a bit oversized for the house at 48,000 BTUs, and the house felt a bit clammy at times, but this thing toiled away almost effortlessly for two decades of hot Georgia summers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzZu_57Jk0

 

Pictures of me with (and in) various vehicles...

First, see if you can guess what kind of car this is...


Yes, I also got to sit in it!


My mom took my picture in front of this truck when we were visiting family in California, in August 2000 (Like I said, I've always loved Chevy trucks; I have seen this same truck driving around the area where my relatives live on two separate trips, December 2010 and January 2015):


Uncle's (not the uncle who owns the wheel refinishing business) 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit Cabrio, also taken in California in August 2000:


Same uncle's 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT Laramie 2WD, with 5.9L/360cid V8, automatic, and posi rear. He swore he would never sell this truck, but he bought the 2006 Ram 2500 Lone Star Edition about 8 years after this picture was taken (again that same California trip in August 2000; This was a 1-year old truck at the time). He used it as a work truck but finally sold it in like 2010 or 2011:


Me in a 1952 Cadillac belonging to a professor at the college where special ed classes were held...

 

All 94-97 defender AC systems were R134. The 1993 NAS (North American Spec) 110 AC is R12. AC was standard on the NAS 110, it was optional on 94, 95, and 97 D90s. A lot of 94 and 95s did not have it. Funny enough even if you did not get AC on a 97 D90, you got the AC compressor. There are three systems. The first was commonly found on 94s, the second was late 94 and 95 and the last was the 97 (97s are all auto). There is another system that fits and is an even newer design.

I know way too much about NAS defenders. Almost every issue, every solution, every modification. I have the same username on defendersource which is the TW for NAS defenders (and some rest of world ones too).

 

The owner recently put heated seats in it...

 

A common and easy upgrade. I rock sheepskin seat covers in my vehicles so heated seats are sort of pointless.

 

July 2012:

Yes, she's real... Yes, she's alive... Yes, she is exactly what you think she is... I was one of the only people on the airboat tour brave enough to hold her!

 

Know what kind of truck this is? I'm about 12 in this picture and helping another uncle of mine replace the spark plugs...

 

What can I say it is not much different then most other towns .

A place one drives through to get someplace else .

I seldom get down that way maybe it is getting worse .

 

My parents' old house in Montgomeryville had one of these (I know it's an air-conditioner; duh). What I mean is my parents' house had air-conditioner just like this one, though theirs was a 1990 Comfortmaker and this one is a 1994 Arcoaire (at a firehouse; I'd made arrangements with the chief to photograph the apparatus for a YouTube video and found this on the side of the building; pretty sure it's still there).

A company called Snyder General made this perfectly round design for more than 10 years and put various nameplates on them (Arcoaire, Comfortmaker, KeepRite). Heat pump versions do exist (I've never seen one), but straight-cool (A/C only) versions are far more common. This Arcoaire and the Comfortmaker at my parents' house were both straight-cool units. The Arcoaire is matched up with an air handler (no heat), and my parents' was matched up with a gas furnace). Parents' house was built by David Cutler Group in 1990 (and it was built by Amish construction workers too!), and David Cutler used these round Snyder General units from the early 1980s until 1993-1994. I think 1994 was the last year for this design, and then United Technologies (which owns Carrier, Bryant, Payne) bought the rights and started manufacturing all those brands (Comfortmaker, Arcoaire, KeepRite, Day & Night, Tempstar, etc).

The Arcoaire below was 16 years old at the time I took the pictures and still going strong. I assume the other 2 units you see in the distance, plus the one right behind the Arocaire, replaced 3 other Snyder General units at some point. The Comfortmaker at my parents' house was still going strong when they sold the house in 1996. By the time we moved back to the area in 2005, the Comfortmaker was long gone and replaced by another unit (Bryant?). In 2015, I had the opportunity to talk to the guy who bought the house form my parents almost 20 years earlier. He said the Comfortmaker died in about 1999 (that's YOUNG), and then second unit died less than ten years later (Now there's another 2006ish Bryant there). I drive still through this neighborhood from time to time and some of the houses shockingly still have the original Comfortmaker air-conditioners from 1989-1993 (when the neighborhood was built).

One good thing about being in a military family that moves every 2 to 3 years is never living in a house long enough to have to replace something big like an air-conditioner. Our last house, which my parents bought new in 2007, had dual Carrier 13 SEER units. We lived there until 2016 and they were still going strong (9 years). The house were in now (also bought new) has dual Goodman units (don't think too highly of Goodman, but it's been almost a year and they still work).

 

The Pathfinder after being rear-ended by a Dodge Durango in early 2009... Damage virtually nothing!

My dad rear-ended a 4Runner in 1999 and bent the front bumper in half (no other damage). In the summer of 2003, while taking it to the Goodyear Gemini place to get the A/C recharged, a Dodge Neon ran a red light and clipped it on the same spot that's damaged in the first two pictures... Neon was f***ed up. Pathfinder had a few hundred bucks in damage. This thing was a tank, and by the way the A/C never needed to be serviced again up until we traded it for the Tacoma in 2009....

 

The Pathfinder after being rear-ended by a Dodge Durango in early 2009... Damage virtually nothing!

My dad rear-ended a 4Runner in 1999 and bent the front bumper in half (no other damage). In the summer of 2003, while taking it to the Goodyear Gemini place to get the A/C recharged, a Dodge Neon ran a red light and clipped it on the same spot that's damaged in the first two pictures... Neon was f***ed up. Pathfinder had a few hundred bucks in damage. This thing was a tank, and by the way the A/C never needed to be serviced again up until we traded it for the Tacoma in 2009....

 

My opinion is neutral when it comes to the 2006-newer units because at least those have Copeland-Scrolls compressors, have slightly better build quality than the pre-2006 models, and are built in Texas. My parents' house has dual Goodman 13-14 SEER units, which I have included photos of.

Goodman/Janitrol products from prior to 1995 are actually halfway decent if you take care of them, but almost any unit manufactured between 1995 and 2005 (especially 1999-2005) is junk. Some people get lucky and get 10-20 years out of them. My aunt had a 1996 Janitrol 4-ton straight-cool A/C unit that survived 2 decades of brutal Georgia summers (still when she sold the house last year), and my Grandma had a 2004 Goodman 3.5-ton heat pump that lasted 11 years (replaced with a new Carrier in the summer of 2015). Both units came with their respective houses when my relatives bought said houses.

It also doesn't help that the heir to the Goodman fortune is in prison for a very long time and facing permanent (well-deserved) revocation of his driver's license for doing this. He not only totaled a Bentley Continental GT (my dream car), but did it while driving drunk and killed an innocent college student while doing it. However, my opinion of Goodman was pretty low before I was of the fact that that the actor (one of my favorite actors) I knew best for his portrayals of Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski and Whip Whitaker's coke dealer in Flight (among others) wasn't the ONLY famous guy named John Goodman (or in the case of the HVAC mogul, infamous). As shitty as the live action 1994 Flintstones movie was, John Goodman (actor, obviously) was pretty damn good as Fred Flintstone too.

The house we moved OUT OF (also bought new by the parents and built practically from the ground up; Lived there 2007 to 2016) had dual Carrier 2-ton 13 SEER units matched with 40K BTU 92% efficiency gas furnaces. I guess what bugs me is that my parents' place is not some cheap cookie cutter tract house, nor is it an older home where these units were replacements for older (higher-quality) units. This is basically a brand new, very nice, somewhat custom home. These are what came with the house! I was expecting Carrier, Trane, Lennox... You know, one of the better known and higher quality brands... There's one full custom home (not the nationwide builder who built ours) right near mine that has dual Lennox units, and a couple of custom homes right outside my development that each have a single Carrier unit. Every house in my neighborhood has Goodman! They do work great, and they are very well-installed, but I'm wondering if I can manage to squeeze more than decade out of them...

Anyway, these are the A/C units at my parents' house:


The 1st floor unit is a 2.5-ton and the 2nd floor unit is a 2-ton (I forget which is which right now; I'd have to read the data sheets). Both are straight-cool units matched up with 92% efficiency gas furnaces:




Also take a look at the Energy Guide sheet on this unit. After about a year of exposure to the elements, this is what it looks like:


Then look at the Energy Guide sheet on this unit, which faces the house (Big difference!):

 

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This turned out to be a funny thread

 

All I know is my 2005 trd sport had a mechanical lsd that is a million times better than the one in my 2011 electronic lsd crap.... Still thinking about swapping to a mechanical one.

 

the brake computer controlled limited slip action is far superior to mechanical in my opinion
as there is less crap that can grenade in the diff, no need to special additives, and
slip torque is braked at the wheel not inside the diff which means less stress on the diff

the computer and brake handles distributing forces just as well as a mechanical if not better
for a small pickup truck....don't listen to the 'mechanical wins' argument...

neither one is better or worse.

 

yes, your truck has an open rear differential, and actuates the brakes independently to limit wheel slip (auto lsd). The auto lsd feature should always be on with throttle limiter by default. Pushing the button will increase it and remove the throttle limiter, and holding the button for a few seconds should disable the system completely. Use the search function for more info, it's been discussed at length on here.

 

Having had both, the computer controlled one may be better for a lot of conditions.... however, for pulling out in a hurry on a wet road, the mechanical one cannot be beat. I remember when I first bought my 2011 I was pulling out onto a busy road and all the truck wanted to do was spin. My 2005 would have just gone. Scary the first time.... now I just have to drive like a p*s&y

 

^^^^
THIS

I was stopped in the turn lane when 2 A-holes collided on the opposite side of the street. Saw it coming and gassed it only to have one tire spin. Caused $4300 damage to my truck. The first A-holes insurance denied responsibility and the other didnt have insurance at all. I'm getting a Eaton Trutrac installed. They have a $50 rebate till the end of March.

 

How hard is that to do in a 2010 regular cab 2WD? Also, my electronic LSD got me out of a ditch in the snow and back up an icy hill...