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

I was also thinking, at the suggestion of another member, that gunmetal might be a better choice so the wheels don't look too steel...

 

Gunmetal will be slightly lighter and would still look good!

 

And also, money is not the issue here...

I am on a very tight budget, but I have an uncle who owns a wheel refinishing business and is willing to paint my wheels for free. The problem is that he lives in Myrtle Beach, and I am not too keen on driving my truck all the way down to South Carolina, especially if I have a copilot! My truck is suitable for one person taking a long trip, or two people traveling locally, but two people and their luggage on a trip of more a few hours? Forget about it! Yes, I know I can put luggage in the bed, but I have to put the suitcases in a watertight case; I am also paranoid about leaving personal belongings unattended in the open bed of a pickup at rest stops!

My uncle does drive up here to Pennsylvania fairly often, but the last two times he came, he did not have to do my wheels; While he does have a lift in his shop back home, we would be forced to use a floor jack and jack stands here, and that would make things take a bit longer.

 

Chrome? I doubt you'll get much love here for that. A lot of domestic base trucks used to have chrome wheels and bumpers as their ONLY upgrade to the look of a complete poverty spec. and i liked it but I grew up in an era of chrome. I still like it and think black is the opposite, looks cheaper than stick grey. Gunmetal would be a updated look without going custom.

And to me 'custom' isn't the Chinese crap for sale at the tire shop.

 

I was thinking of buying a $60 set of wheel skins, then painting them black or gunmetal and putting them on my truck to give me an idea of how painted rims would look without actually committing to painting my rims.

 

That's a pretty bad lack of commitment. Maybe just leave them alone?

 

I don't see how come it's so hard to find wheels. I have a set of 2nd gen steels in the garage I WISH someone would come get. Just hate to junk them.

 

5-lug or 6-lug?

 

6. Too far away from you even if 5.

Just paint them. That paint's 10 yrs. old, it can't look worse unless you go pink.

 

Keep in mind that the wheels sat indoors from October 2013 to March 2019, while my truck was rolling aftermarket 16" wheels...

 

@ColoradoTJ

You said your house had a 3.5-ton central A/C unit? Around here, you generally see a single 3.5-ton (42,000 BTU) air-conditioner at a house between 2,300 and 2,500 square feet; For some reason I think that a house of the same size in Colorado would require less capacity in some parts of the state...?

If anything, I'd definitely think a house in Colorado would require a more powerful furnace than the same house in most parts of Pennsylvania!

 

My best friend Mike and my ex-GF are two of the less extreme examples of autistic behavioral quirks I encountered while driving friends around...

At this point in my life, I actually go out of my way to avoid being in the same vehicle as another friend of mine (who continues to be a pain in my ass even though I love him to death); This particular incident happened probably at most within a year of me getting my driver's license (sometime in 2011 or 2012). I was driving my mom's 2004 Honda Odyssey (I miss that van!); Mike and my other aforementioned friend were going to see a movie...

Mike was riding shotgun and my other friend was in the right captain's chair, seated directly behind Mike. My other friend was being a wiseass, and he was pissing me off; I am not the least bit proud of what I did next...

I made sure there was nobody was behind me, then turned to my friend...

I forget exactly what we were arguing about, but I think I responded to his obnoxious remark by saying something like "Oh yeah? You know what else sucks?"

He says, "What?!?!"

I said "THIS!" and I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could; We were all wearing seatbelts, but the force of my sudden stop was enough to bounce my friend's head off the back of the front seat. He did not another word for the rest of the drive; I immediately felt bad about what I'd done and called my parents upon our arrival at the movie theater...

I talked it out with my parents, and apologized to my friend before we went in to see the movie.

 

Fords of that era had particularly cold A/C in my opinion; My uncle who owns the wheel repair business had a 2002 or 2003 Ford Ranger 2WD short bed with the 4-cyl. and automatic. It had plastic floors, vinyl seats, and no other options; It was so underpowered that it could barely get out of its own way; However, it had among the coldest and most powerful A/C I've ever experienced. My uncle paid cash for this truck in 2004 or so and had it until probably 2007, when he replaced it with a long bed V6 Ranger of roughly the same year...

All of my uncle's early 2000s Rangers had really cold A/C, regardless of what was under the hood!

 

If I were to beat on a 2001-2011 Ranger like I beat on my Tacoma, it would probably fall apart!

Also, "beat on" is a relative term; I baby my truck in terms of taking care of it! However, I have never weighed less than 235 pounds in the time I've had my truck and regularly plop down in the driver's seat with a lot of force; I have backed my truck in solid structures at least three separate times and gotten no damage; My truck got hit by a drunk driver and sustained relatively minor damage!

 

I would just love to see a Ranger take the same abuse that my Taco takes and not fall apart! I would also love to see the Ranger's 4-banger go past 100K miles like my Taco's 4-banger has and still sound new!

 

My Dad had a couple Rangers, both were pretty solid trucks. The only issue I recall him having was with the TPMS light.

 

When my 2000 got crashed they replaced the rear bumper for some reason and threw the old one in the bed. One day at the Post Office I noticed a lady in a Tacoma with a damaged bumper so I gave her my number. Her husband called and they actually gave me $10 more than my asking price and gave it to their son for his Tacoma instead of theirs.

 

Di your rates go up because of that?

 

Yeah they did back then, I also ended up changing insurance companies afterwards too.

 

I you have any immediate family members who are current or former military, switch to USAA! That's who I have for my Taco; best insurance company ever!