The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

Looks like everyone had a great weekend! I went to my first race of the season at the local track. The paddock was PACKED. It was NASA Mid-Atlantic and they said they were only 40 entries short of their most promoted event at Summit Point (Hyperfest) and they did not need to promote this event AT ALL. I got a little sun in that heat and likely sweat off a pound or two, yet thankfully not too many wrecks.


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Sunday was Melissa and my 6 months of marriage, it was also Ellies half birthday (6 months old already!) So she and the girls gave the pups a yummy ice cream treat (dog ice cream).

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I also got to see her sister Maggie at the track sunday.

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Now we have a short week to start packing and preparing to go up to PA to camp for July 4th!!!
 
Hey everyone - just a note to say hello. The manner in which the pandemic impacted life and work put me on a non-stop hamster wheel for 3 months and I'm just beginning to be able to come up for air. I haven't caught up on all of the threads, but will work through them as I am able. Nonetheless, it's good to see many of you and I hope that all are doing well!
 
The manner in which the pandemic impacted life and work put me on a non-stop hamster wheel for 3 months and I'm just beginning to be able to come up for air.

Hi Marty! :wave2:

You don't know it but you were captured on video:

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Glad to see ya back.

Ed
 


Well... I was going to post a fun pic in the morning showing old and new. .

Trucks that is. My 2011 F350 that has done great for 10 years towing racecars and campers all over the country, has started to show its age with little things wearing out. I was stuck in Paducah last week with a bad fuel sending unit that wouldn't allow the exhaust filter to clean itself. That was kind of the last straw. Nothing major, but enough little things lately to lose confidence in it.

I found a great 2016 F350 in Indiana and drove up today and bought it. Beautiful truck, low miles, loaded with more than the old one.

All good things don't go unpunished. I made it 250 of the 300 miles from the dealer and the fuel pump appears to have given up. It should be covered under the 60,000 mile power train warranty according to the dealer. If not, they will work it out.

In the mean time, I'm sitting on the side of the road in Donna's Explorer waiting for a wrecker.

Here is the beauty.20200703_213129.jpg

I still have my old truck in the driveway, but it is going to CarMax tomorrow. They didn't make me a fantastic offer, but a good enough one.

j
 
That’s not fun.

I just ran around Navarre beach looking for fans because for some reason the A/C wouldn’t come back on after we turned it off for dinner.

no fan at all. Hear it clicking when we turn the thermostat on. But nothing.

Hopefully we can get it fixed tomorrow. At least it was overcast this afternoon, so a little better than it could have been. And forecast is calling for rain in the morning.
 


Yay!

Not sure about your weather, but it's the heart of Summer here.

DW sent me a pic of the new truck. She took this at the dealer before we headed home.
2016 F350 Lariat. This thing has every option available. Plus after market air bags and a receiver hitch in the front bumper.

View attachment 506408

j

we’re in Florida. It was 91 in the camper at 10 AM. I was preparing to keep the kids in the water the whole day. Or hope for an evening shower to cool everything off.
 
Anybody have dark window tint on the front door glass?

Until recently, Illinois didn't allow tint darker than 85% on glass forward of the driver. That changed to "up to 35%" on all side glass. The new truck has pretty dark tint on the front side windows. I think it is probably the 35%. I found it hard to identify cars out the side mirrors because of it. I really had to focus to notice something back a ways instead of a quick glance like I did in the old truck. It appears they also tinted the already dark back window. Looking out the rear view mirror is almost useless. I can just make out a car, but definitely can't tell what it is (cop/not cop), even if I take off my sun glasses.

I like the look and it seems cooler from the sun, but I'm tempted to remove it. I need some more miles before I do anything, but I was curious if anyone else has the same thing.

j
 
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@Teamubr can’t help you at all but reminds me of a funny story. I drove a new beetle from 2003 till about 2010 I think. I was driving it within myself and Bear (first dog y‘all never heard about him) from state college Pa to cantob Ohio. Must have been 2004. Bert had a summer internship in Kentucky so we would meet at his folks house in Ohio, it was about halfway. So I am driving on 80, going slow but the speed limit in the bug with bear in the back seat. I get pulled over by a cop. am seriously like I am not speeding so I have no idea why he pulled me over, apparently the windows were tinted too dark. When he came up to the car and I put down the window, bear stuck his face out. It was hysterical. Never did do anything about the windows.
 
My truck has what I would call “pretty dark” side windows... my street has no street lights (the choice when they built my neighborhood was streetlights or trees... they went with trees)...so, it is nearly impossible for me to see if anyone is walking up or down at night or if any cars coming up around corner without opening my window...
 
Just drove by the entrances to WDW after taking our daughter to the airport. The roads were mostly dead. Very weird. On the upside, from a purely selfish standpoint, driving on Thunder Road was almost pleasant!
 
Anybody have dark window tint on the front door glass?

Until recently, Illinois didn't allow tint darker than 85% on glass forward of the driver. That changed to "up to 35%" on all side glass. The new truck has pretty dark tint on the front side windows. I think it is probably the 35%. I found it hard to identify cars out the side mirrors because of it. I really had to focus to notice something back a ways instead of a quick glance like I did in the old truck. It appears they also tinted the already dark back window. Looking out the rear view mirror is almost useless. I can just make out a car, but definitely can't tell what it is (cop/not cop), even if I take off my sun glasses.

I like the look and it seems cooler from the sun, but I'm tempted to remove it. I need some more miles before I do anything, but I was curious if anyone else has the same thing.

j

My truck had 28% all the way around. I couldn't see out of side mirrors at night. MS alllows 28%.

I left 28% on rear windows, I find i rarely use rear view mirror, mostly side mirrors. I had driver and passenger windows changed to 35% and seems to work pretty well.
 
I have had cars with up to 35% and never noticed visibity issues in most cases. The current truck has none, but I thought about doing 50% on the fronts to cool it down some and the darkest legally allowed by VA. I think 35% and towinging at night would be too much really, though I do feel like you do adjust to the darker tint after a short bit.

If you want tint but not that dark, find a shop that will remove the fronts and put 50% on there, still some blocked sun, but not enough to make it an issue?

PS: @Teamubr What was the prognosis on the new truck?
 
If you want tint but not that dark, find a shop that will remove the fronts and put 50% on there, still some blocked sun, but not enough to make it an issue?

PS: @Teamubr What was the prognosis on the new truck?
Thanks James,
I think I'll take it to Pigeon Forge in 2 weeks and decide what to do with the tint after that. The fronts are already tinted some from the factory. I think they probably put 35% on over that and made it too dark.

The dealer called this morning. It was the low pressure fuel pump. It will be fixed under warranty tomorrow.

I went up yesterday to take another look at the truck. I'm pretty sure the prior owner had a slide in truck camper in the bed. There are square brackets underneath that tie downs hooked to and it has really nice air bags with an onboard compressor. I found the remote control for them in the glove box. It also has a front receiver hitch. I suspect he pulled a boat behind the truck camper. I've seen a lot of people use the front titch to launch the boat, especially if they have something on the back they can't see around. Besides the window tint, it also has vent visors on all the windows. I've had those before and really like them for keeping the inside cool.

I think it is going to be a great truck once I get it. The trip to Tn in 10 days should be a good shakedown.

j
 
as of today, DD2 is set to graduate Computer Science college on Sept. 2nd. Only 2 guests allowed to attend, so DD3 will need to sit it out in the RV park. DD3 is still ongoing in her Vet college, no breaks as they are far behind in Lab/Animal work so it will be a quick turnaround to Salt Lake City, no time to visit Zion or Bryce Canyon this trip. >:(
 
Team B,

I don't know whether to put a thumbs up or a sad face. Congrats on DD2 and her graduation, but disappointing you won't get to do the canyon tour.

On board compressor!?

You have GOT to put a big rig horn on that thing!
I'll have to take a look at everything. The remote control has more buttons than it needs to just increase and decrease pressure, so there may be options for other "accessories". I like Randy's train horn on his Pete. May have to look into something similar. :)

j
 

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