60+ year old thread.

I will whole heartedly agree with you on this. Ads are getting out of control. The greed of companies make you pay more to get zero ads. Hulu is a perfect example. You pay a higher rate to skip ads. We do that. I’ve been in the tech software and security business for nearly 40 years. I’ve learned how to get around a few things. I never see an ad on YouTube except if it’s built into the video directly. Of course you can’t use Chrome as the browser because Google owns Chrome and YouTube. There are great ad blockers that work very well.

In the corporate world IBM is satan with Apple a close second as far as charging you for everything. These thugs buy up companies and quadruple the licensing fees. It hits the consumer also. Look up the “new” business models of Weather Underground and DarkSky.

 

All better now. About 1/4" play I'm that inner rod. Others were still fine.



New all around. At their low cost, no reason not to.

 

Update on the 2016 4Runner that a friend brought over.

Firestone told her "radiator" and "rack and pinion" both needed replacement. Everything was bone dry! No signs of any leakage, she didn't realize the "high" and "low" marks on the expansion tank are "when hot and cold". Hence had overfilled the expansion tank when cold, so a week later added more fluid. Thankfully folks at Autozone did seal her "Peak" coolant for Toyota, so all is good.

The power steering pump does weep. Super common to find a drop of fluid under the pump, but others looked good.

All original spring hose clamps (which is good as they provide constant clamping).

The radiator cap is hidden under the plastic air inlet cowling. Quick-release fasteners, so popped them off to look. Cap was dusty and 5 years of grime. It hadn't been touched in years. So much for the "it failed a pressure test". After sitting for three hours, the hoses still had pressure. Didn't disturb it. Zero red crusties (spend some time with a flashlight and mirrors, nada).

She thought it was 4WD, but no transfer case, front diff, nor half shafts said RWD.

I found one rubber boot with damage on the sway bar linkage.

I did find a loose battery clamp hold down. 10mm were never tightened.

All four tires had been replaced, ONE rear lug nut very night. All front lug nuts are way too tight. I had an 18" breaker bar and had to use all 240 pounds to loosen those lug nuts!

Brake Moisture at 1% (that was fine).

Pretty complete inspection, six-year-old Toyota ready for another 100,000 miles.

My daughter and her fiancee made it over in his new to him 2004 Jeep YJ. It's got a good 2.4L engine, underpowered but with a 5-speed (she can drive it, he is still learning stick). Oh boy, we had fun checking it. Brake fluid was over 4% moisture (huge fail) but thankfully no trace of copper (brake line corrosion). 33,000 original miles. His parent's friend bought it new but had rarely driven it. Sadly underpowered but with a 5.3 Vortec and some better gearing.

Phoenix Systems 8006-B Double-Ended Coolant + Brake Fluid Test Strips (15 foil wrapped test strips), 1 Pack

$35 Phoenix Systems 8006-B Double-Ended Brake Fluid + Coolant Test Strips (15 foil wrapped test strips), 1 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0753MZT7P?

ITEQ Brake Fluid Liquid Tester Pen with 5 LED Indicators, Calibrated For DOT3 DOT4 Brake Fluid

$13 ITEQ Brake Fluid Liquid Tester Pen with 5 LED Indicators, Calibrated For DOT3 DOT4 Brake Fluid

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076SC377J?

 

64
Chris’s vette is always fast, and clean. It is a awesome car.

 

Afternoon all!
Got my Ring Security System installed and set up over the weekend. The retrofit kit let me use my existing hard wired door and glass break sensors and all is working well so I cancelled ADT. Since it’s wifi with cellular backup will cancel land line service soon.
Had to power the glass break sensors with my existing system 16.5V supply and backup battery but I did my homework and knew that going in. Retrofit panel wired to existing control panel sensors:



Also have the base station and keypad mounted. Best thing though is I can control it all from ap on my phone.

 

Since the topic of the moment seems to be home tech, I'll pass along my experiences with tech products.
I had Logitech security cameras for a bunch of years, and was generally happy with them. They used house wiring for connectivity to a modem, which was very convenient, just plug each camera into a wall outlet, as long as it's the same circuit, as there are two 110 circuits available in a house, (both together providing 220V).
Logic stopped providing updates for my cameras, so back to square one. I wound up with Nest, 24/7 recording, cloud storage downloadable anytime inside 60 days, night vision, alerts if you want them, facial recognition, package delivery, motion, all programmable, separate zone coverage, microphone/speaker, yadda yadda. (Now all I need to do is find a good spider deterrent, those rascals send alerts all night long!) Nest uses WiFi, so, off to find a good powerful WiFi... I got Deco Mesh S4, and very happy with it. Plug one into the router, and Ethernet daisy chain as many more as you need to each other. The term Mesh means no extender, all one system. I have 3 units, which provides full power WiFi to all parts of the house (big house), grounds, and to parked cars at the curb. After I got it, I discovered that there is an upgrade system that uses the house wiring instead of Ethernet connectivity. Not a reason to convert now that it's wired, but if I had it to again...
EDIT: One piece of advice: Install shields over each camera to protect from sun and rain.

 

Sounds like a really good setup Alan. And mesh networks are great. I don’t have mesh but have good signals all over the house with my router/modem.
So far I’m in for cheap, got the 5 piece Ring system on sale for around $150 and the Retrofit kit for another $150. So $300 all in to do what my old ADT system did sans smoke detector but we have hard wired ones all over the house and I have one on order that works with Ring. ADT monitoring just went up to $46 a month, I will get Ring Professional monitoring for $$200 a year with ring ($20 if paid monthly). Saving almost $1200 a year ditching the landline I had to keep for the 15 year old ADT system.
Now the setup like you have with outdoor cameras is great, but for me at least it’s where it gets pricey especially with Ring if you go with the top of the line doorbell and outdoor cameras. First thing my wife said this is great I want a Ring video doorbell lol. Being me I reviewed lots of youtube videos and want a top of the line hardwired (uses doorbell power) Pro 2 but hopefully will go on sale July 12-13 Amazon days, we will see.

 

you bring up a point that I never considered worthwhile. Why, oh why, should a security system have need to be monitored in a distant State, for that system in that far away place then have to phone your local 911? I see wasted time, human error, communication system failure, and excess expenditure. In this time of advanced technology, a self contained robotic system can do it all, but of course, that would be too easy.

 

I have one great answer in my case and another fair answer lol.
My wife wants it is the great answer lol. She feels more secure with it.
The fair answer is we may be away somewhere without good cell reception. Places I go canoeing on the new river I get no reception, due to high hills near the mountains. And the cabin we use has spotty reception. So if the monitoring service can’t reach us they call the police to check on things.
The bonus is we get a discount on our home owners insurance with professional monitoring. Can’t remember how much.

 

With the dirth of anything of value coming out of Hollywood in years, we’ve taken to rewatching the classics. Two great ones in the last two days can’t be beat: Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, and Huston’s African Queen. Everyone has seen the Classics, and many are outdated hokey by today’s standards, but consider giving a watch to some of the best movies ever made.

 

That’s two of the best reasons!

 

Two of my favorite classic movies. African Queen is in the top 5 of my favorite classics, maybe even number one. I’m a big Bogart fan.

 

Same here, especially when Bacall is hanging around.

 

Yes Steinbeck

Yes on Steinbeck, and Hemingway too

 

I could be wrong, but I think Bogie kinda liked her hanging around too.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!! Looks to be a nice day today - low humidity and in the low 70s. A good day to finish painting the rails of our back porch. First up, though, is a run to Lowe's to pick up 7 boxes of tiles we ordered for the upcoming re-do of the farmhouse master bath.

Enjoy!!

 

Morning

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Gal! Boy Howdy, 3.35"! Might have been some more, but my gauge didn't know what the stuff was in the afternoon, and I had to go out and shake the fence to get the dead June bugs out I guess. Could see a rerun this afternoon, but since that High moved West, mostly supposed to be West of us as well. We'll take it if we get it.

 

Good morning all. Have a great day!!

 

Was enjoying the rain too much to make a post last night about the loose ends! Good day yesterday at 4LoFab. Had that one bad inner tie rod on the passenger side that Firestone (correctly) found, so for my kind of driving it's best just to replace everything at the same time. Up we go again;



Out with the old,




and in with the new!




Looks all good in there now, and Brandin did a couple test runs to make sure everything was straight and good. The good old outers and boots were in good shape, and will make trail spares!




My next visit will be a "just for fun" one - something just for me!