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

Also, I can adapt quickly to driving larger vehicles, but it doesn't mean I like driving them; I LOVE full-size pickups, especially old Chevrolets and Fords! However, my entire life my dad has always told me he likes small trucks...

After driving a Tacoma for more than decade, I know exactly what he means! Like I said, I love big pickups. However, I'd don't think I'd be comfortable with anything larger than a Silverado 1500 or a Tundra as a daily driver. I've driven heavy-duty pickups, and they just aren't nimble. Put me in a Silverado, Sierra, or Ram 1500, or an F150, and I'm just as comfortable driving that as I am driving my Tacoma; I did drive a 2018 Tundra CrewMax inside the detail shop and found it to be much less nimble than any similar domestic pickup I'd driven, believe it or not.

I could hold my own behind the wheel of a Chevy Silverado 2500 or 3500 inside or outside of the detail shop, but I refused to get behind the wheel of a Ford Super Duty F250 or F350 inside the shop; The GM trucks handled far better in tight spaces!

 

At the detail shop, the only vehicles that had dog hair in them were the trade-ins or the customer cars (this place operated as a detailing business in addition to being the detail shop for eight dealerships); I never did "full details"...

However, as the owner of a young Black Lab who rides in my truck regularly, I know a thing or two about getting dog hair out; Thankfully I have Wet Okole seat covers and those are incredibly easy to vacuum. For the carpet, and seats that aren't protected by a cover, the best advice I can give you is to vacuum like hell!

The detail shop had commercial-grade equipment that cost thousands of dollars, but I only have a generic-branded shop-vac-type vacuum; It can take a while to get all the fur it out sometimes, but it gets the job done! They also have sticky lint roller-type things that work wonders!

 

Cool. Thanks!

 

Also, I drove my Tacoma for almost exactly seven years WITHOUT a backup camera (purchased new in September 2009; Backup camera installed in September 2016); I backed into a few things with my truck (including a concrete wall in a parking garage, a cinderblock wall at the bar where I used to work, and the side of my parents' brick townhouse, among other things). This was almost exclusively the result of not being able to see below the top of the tailgate and having poor perception of how far the rear bumper sticks out. Having a backup camera has totally spoiled me, and what's ironic is that my aftermarket backup camera has been superior to the factory backup cameras in my parents' vehicles (2008 Acura TL, 2013 Honda Pilot Touring, 2013 Nissan Murano SV, 2018 GMC Yukon SLT; The '08 Acura was traded for the Murano, and the '13 Pilot was traded for the '18 Yukon). My boss at the detail shop started working there in 1996 and as far as I know only recently purchased a vehicle with a backup camera; He absolutely HATED them, and had a tendency to get incredibly frustrated when he saw his detailers looking at the backup cameras instead of using the mirrors and looking in their blind spots. When you were in the in main part of the detail shop, moving a vehicle without a backup camera was easy; It was backing into incredibly tight spaces without one that good get dicey...

Thankfully, I worked at the detail shop from September 2018 to June 2019, and even most of the used vehicles I drove had backup cameras!

 

One time in early 2019, I got fully loaded 2011 Chevy Traverse on a Saturday; The vehicle was older, but it was well-maintained and had relatively low miles so it avoided the wholesale auction. In 2011, backup cameras were still an extra-cost luxury, even on fully loaded vehicles like a Chevy Traverse with seemingly every other option you could get! It had heated leather seats, a rear-seat DVD entertainment system, and power everything; Being a 2011, this was a "Lambda platform" Traverse; The Chevy Traverse was first released as a 2008 model, and I've seen examples of the Lambda-based Saturn Outlook (on which production ended when Saturn was phased out in 2010) that had a factory backup camera, so it was utterly confounding to me that a loaded 2011 Traverse didn't have one!

Anyway, this was right after I'd damaged a 2016 Subaru Outback while backing out of the wash bay; ironically I was looking at the backup camera, but not the front of the vehicle, and I ended up smashing the left front fender on a support pole. The total for repairing the 3,900-mile Subie came to $1,600; It was my first accident and I passed a drug test, so I didn't have to pay. Needless to say, this Traverse had no backup camera and blind spots out the wazoo, and as a result I didn't feel comfortable trying to back it up within the confines of the detail shop; My supervisor moved it for me, and pulling it out of the shop wasn't a problem for me...

 

By the way, thanks for your service! Don't know if you read my entire thread or know anything about me, but I'm a Navy brat; My dad was in the Navy for 25 years and retired as a commander.

 

Thanks! Yes, I have read quite a lot of your stuff.

 

Also, I know how to drive a stick shift; I'm quite competent, and I'm fine when I'm on the open road, but getting started from a dead stop on an incline has proven to be a problem for me in the past. There was a steep incline to get up into the detail shop from the backlot; Out of the half-dozen or so manual transmission vehicles I actually drove, I stalled most of them on that damned incline. My technique for getting a stick shift vehicle out of the detail shop without stalling it was to keep the clutch in just ever so slightly while giving it gas every so often to keep the vehicle rolling...

 

I use a Lint Roller too for things like that.

 

Vehicles I drove without stalling included a brand new Hyundai Elantra, a late model VW Jetta Sportwagon, a 2012 Tacoma RC 4x4, a Chevy Sonic Turbo, a VW Beetle convertible, and a VW GTI; I embarrassed myself in a Mustang GT and a Camaro SS...

 

When l was first learning to drive being on a hill was terrifying and l would use the handbrake.

 

I used to have a 2004 Subaru Forester with a ‘hill holding feature’. I guess it worked alright when it was new but as an older car it became a problem and I had to disconnect it.

 

I love Subarus; Almost traded my Taco for one in late 2018/early 2019 when they were offering 0% financing (plus the dealer chain I worked for had a Subaru franchise and I had 10% employee discount that would have translated to $1,500 below sticker price if I remember correctly!); But I'm too attached to my Taco, and I want something with a bed...

 

Statistically, only 50% of people with Aspergers Syndrome get driver's licenses; I only have one Aspie friend who knows how to drive a stick shift, and he drives 18-wheelers for a living so it's kind of a requirement that he knows how to drive manual!

 

@Hooligans

Just noticed you're in Alaska; Does your truck have an engine block heater?

 

Yes, it has a heating element installed through a freeze plug hole, and also a heating pad rtv’d to the oil pan. I try to plug it in for at least an hour when the temp is below zero.

 

Was that factory, or done after the fact?

Some friends and I spent a weekend at friend's parents' house in the Poconos in January 2018; Recorded temperature was below zero (about -23°F with the windchill), and the truck struggled a tiny bit but ultimately fired up on the first try after sitting all night!

 

My “winterizing” stuff is all aftermarket, custom installation. It’s a factory freeze plug that is removed on the 2.7 to make a hole for the heater. It seals with an o-ring and has a bolt that clamps it in place when tightened.

 

How long would a 2.7L last in Alaska without this stuff?

 

I don’t use any battery heater of charger on there so it’s important to have a healthy battery. You can definitely hear the difference in the battery’s ability when it’s -20 and colder.