Dan Hiebert

Yeah, I'm not keen on the electronics, either. It's had four recalls, all were for computer programming fixes. The last one was for the traction control which could "fail and cause a crash", but no immediate fix. They finally sent a fix four months later but the temperature of the computer module, located over the driver's fender, had to be over 55 degrees to take the fix. This was in December. In northern Maine. And the dealer is an hour drive away (further north, too), so they had to park it in the shop for an hour to warm up before they could do the five minute fix. At least they let me know that beforehand. I tried to minimize the electronic wizardry, only got three options, 4x4, towing package, and the smaller hemi. Gets good MPG for a truck, and the thing rides better than any car we've owned. I would have preferred a manual tranny, too, but they don't put those in them anymore.

It's the new (5th gen) model. I was "meh" when the 4th gen came out, then when the 5th gen came out the styling really caught my eye, and it was getting time to get a new truck. I am slightly curious if grease fittings have found their way back onto them. We had a 2001 4x4 Dodge pickup that only had two or maybe four grease fittings. I had noticed the number of fittings grew over the years on that model. Just one of those "things that make you go hmm".

I've a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 (I still can't bring myself to just call them just "Ram" trucks). No grease fittings at all that I can find on it. Kind of strange not doing the grease zerk hide and seek thing once a year. I wonder if your Silverado has them because it is a HD 3/4 ton truck, rather than 1/2 ton?

Yep, "normal". I wouldn't necessarily classify any of the old cars we own as sexy, but they still have a pizzaz and ambiance that's just hard to come by. I'll uncover the old cars just to ogle them on occasion. The only "professional help" I seek is from other old car people, so they never try to talk me down off any ledges...

Although it would be at least somewhat interesting, it would probably be pointless to ascertain why, or how, that roller failed like that. To me, that whole assembly just looks...old. I'll throw my hat in the ring for replacing all of the bearings, unless you know for sure some are new enough for your liking. I needed to repack the bearings on my '70 Beetle last year, the wheels spun nice and smooth, but I discovered that the front bearings were doomed to sooner rather than later failure. They weren't original, were installed sometime before we got the car, and it was a sloppy job. One of those you could tell just by looking at it that somebody didn't take care with such a relatively easy job. So I put new bearings in all around just to be safe. The car rides like an oxcart in the first place and I assumed the ride was just a Beetle being a Beetle, replacing those bearings noticeably, but not dramatically, smoothed the ride, so you might discover a slightly better ride as well.

I do part-time work for a local remodeling / renovation general contractor. We do everything except plumbing. I'll encourage a previous message - look up and follow your local codes. What you have in place may have been copacetic when it was installed (except maybe for that 110 off of 220 thing), but if you are changing any little thing you should go by code, which in theory makes older construction safer. The codes are for safety and ease of inspection (certainly not for ease of installation!). There is that national code already mentioned (NEC) for electrical and depending on where you live, there may be local codes which, as mentioned, generally follow the NEC, but can have rabbit holes - such as prohibiting certain lighting. Where I live there aren't "local" ones, so we go by the State's code. Electrical code tends to mirror Federal, the construction stuff can be all over the place. BUT - "by code" is also assuming you had to get permits to do that work or are a licensed contractor. The general rule for needing a license is that you don't need that license to do the work, unless you are getting paid for it. If you are doing your own work, no license necessary, but if you had to permit the job, local code enforcement has to sign off on it. If it's in the cards, a future buyer would be concerned with something being up to code if they know renovations were done, regardless of who did the work. Most States have their codes posted online, some require that you either have a license or pay to access it. The short version is to strive to follow code. Most of it makes sense, some of it is there for the same reasons they but "do not eat" on those silica packets. It does not hurt anything but can be a tad more expensive to do that just winging it. Assuming that 110 off of 220 circuit is spliced directly, that is not good, if you don't change anything else, fix that. Any circuit should be run off of its own breaker(s). If it was run through another, maybe smaller, service panel, after the 220 fixture it may be OK as long as that 110 circuit has its own breaker or fuse. That could be one of those vintage things, OK then, but may not be OK now. Power to switch vs. power to fixture is a matter of preference and often depends on the switch or fixture requirements, although I've heard there may be code changes for that. Many codes are driven by the manufacturers. I've been entertained a few times listening to contractors argue the merits of their preferred method. I don't know about 12VDC switches for 110 fixtures. Haven't run across that...yet. I've got a weird blown insulation in my attic, not the cardboard stuff, it's something they quit using in the '80s, almost looks like mica, but it isn't. I forget what it is called. It is supposed to be super efficient, but was too hard to make and lost favor as fiberglass insulation got better. Up here, to keep drafts out better in the old houses, we'll seal walls or ceilings up with that spray insulation. If it needs a higher R value, then we'll use regular ol' fiberglass insulation on top of it. Good luck with the reno! I enjoy doing that stuff (unless the homeowners are slobs), the results are always fulfilling.

One of those things that if you don't know it, you don't notice it. But once you do... I have bulbs with the alignment nubs on them on the car now. Sold as replacements for the GE4030, albeit with the nubs. A while back, I had an original bulb, and a later one on it, didn't notice the lack of the nubs on the original until someone herein pointed that difference out. Then I couldn't unsee it. I put a pair of later bulbs in so they would match and am casually looking for a pair of 4030s. Although I prefer the look of the "nubless" bulbs, it's a good bet the vast majority of folks out there wouldn't notice. We had the car in many shows with the usual contingent of nit pickers in attendance, none of them ever pointed that out.

10,000 years ago - a lot of us would be having this conversation under a mile of ice. Mother Nature runs her course, nothing humans could do about climate change then, nothing we can do about it now.

Excellent! Good to have a garage built to accommodate a lift. Our garage was originally built to grow marijuana year 'round (well before our ownership, when it was still illegal in ME) so I've had to sidestep some minor design shortcomings, but the overall size outweighs those. It's well insulated, though - I can almost heat it with a match.

I think you're being at least quasi facetious, but yes. Although it was an after-the-fact and unintentional comparison. And since you mention it - here goes; Each USBP Sector (20 of them) doesn't buy its own vehicles, HQ in DC does, but it does buy its own expendable parts - tires, oil, maintenance items when out of warranty, etc. El Paso was the only Sector that bought bias-ply tires for its Bronco fleet. Every other Sectors' Broncos lasted as long as they were supposed to. El Paso Sector had to ask for supplemental funding for maintenance and had to ask for vehicle replacements out of the fleet cycle. (The latter wasn't approved, no money, so we had to drive junk for a couple years.) HQ and the Union duly noted the difference, neither were happy about it, and let that be known, which is how the rank-and-file found out about it. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a scandal, but it was used by other Federal fleet services as an example of what not to do. FWIW - the Border Patrol's fleet program vastly improved once it went under DHS's Customs and Border Protection.

I don't think there is much to worry about as far as wear and tear. Skinnier tires will probably improve low speed and parking handling because they have a smaller contact patch with the pavement. I've read that bias-ply tires actually put more stress and strain on the steering and suspension components than radials, if so, then the components that were originally engineered for bias-ply would probably breathe a sigh of relief with radials. Story time - when I was working for the Border Patrol in west Texas, (early 1990's), we got a bunch of shiny new Ford Broncos for patrol vehicles that were delivered with radial tires. Border Patrol operations go through tires rather quickly. Someone got the bright idea that we could save money by buying a truck load of bias-ply tires to replace the radials when it came time. Bias-plies at the time being notably less expensive than radials. That idea drastically shortened the service life of those Broncos. Where usually a cruiser could go a normal 4 or 5 years of service with no major issues, just about every one of those Broncos had to have the steering rebuilt at least once, suspension components replaced, and they all developed body cracks. Only lasted 2 or 3 years. Moral of the story being that those Broncos were engineered for radials, running bias-ply tires destroyed them.

If you're asking me, I'm in northern Maine. Other side of the continent.

I've got a parts car that might still have those cables, I just got it last fall and haven't really inventoried it. But it is under four feet of snow right now and won't be accessible until the end of April, or maybe even May. Don't wait for me, but I'll keep an eye on this thread and PM you with what I find once I can get to the car.

Unknown if it works the same on the '41, but for '48 cars, if those are original clips, you remove the beltline trim by pushing down on the top of the trim while you (gently) pry the bottom off. I'd think they would at least be similar. Then you can deal with the mounting clips if you still need to. Once again referring to '48, but the clips are removed after the trim is removed. I'd at least try this unless you know those are not the original mounting clips.

This is sounding like an internal problem to me. If it is affecting only one gear, it probably is not the lubricant. The advice you've received about end play is probably pretty close, the end play for the intermediate gear set/countershaft is supposed to be negligible. That tolerance is set with thrust washers, if they used original specs, that wouldn't account for wear and the end play would be too much.