Unusual Cycling Hazard

"...my Dodge broke electrically so much they bought me a new Chevy"

I'll bet you let the bulkhead electrical connector on that Dodge get
all dirty and corroded. Chrysler uses quite a high-quality bulkhead
connector on its vehicles, but even a good connector needs SOME
periodic maintenance!

On 7/13/2011 8:44 AM, Peter Cole wrote:
On 7/12/2011 3:18 AM, Tºm Shermªn °_° wrote:
See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CUgUhu5Vd0&feature=player_embedded#at=90 .



So much for Mopar quality.


It's not all that unusual a hazard. Crap is always falling off/out of
vehicles.[...]

This particular failure *is* unusual.

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731°N, 83.985007°W
I am a vehicular cyclist.

On 7/13/2011 6:44 PM, Tºm Shermªn wrote:
On 7/13/2011 8:44 AM, Peter Cole wrote:
On 7/12/2011 3:18 AM, Tºm Shermªn °_° wrote:
See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CUgUhu5Vd0&feature=player_embedded#at=90 .




So much for Mopar quality.


It's not all that unusual a hazard. Crap is always falling off/out of
vehicles.[...]

This particular failure *is* unusual.


Perhaps a half shaft and wheel coming lose is, I don't know, but dropped
drive shafts aren't that rare, nor are wheels coming off. If you're
riding behind on a bike I think the difference is academic.

On Jul 13, 4:59*pm, Bill wrote:
"...my Dodge broke electrically so much they bought me a new Chevy"

I'll bet you let the bulkhead electrical connector on that Dodge get
all dirty and corroded. Chrysler uses quite a high-quality bulkhead
connector on its vehicles, but even a good connector needs SOME
periodic maintenance!

It's been a long time but I wouldn't be surprised in this fleet, noted
for historically poor maintenance. The final solution turned out to be
replacing a worn ignition switch which I figured was the case in the
first place, having read of this in Gus's Garage in Popular Scichanics
magazine in the late 50's or early 60's ("Gus noted the heavy key ring
with many keys on it"), but was "not allowed" to offer an opinion, if
you know what I mean, by the self-appointed electrical genius who
worked on my poor van. Wasted money and then bought me a new one, and
kept on using and paying that mechanic-- what can I say?

Thanks for the info, little gems that sometimes are recalled and
useful, as the time 20-odd years ago when I helped a stranded family
get going from a rest stop because I knew a "recently rebuilt starter
problem" for some era of cars, where there were three possible
whingdings, of different shaft lengths, used to rebuild I believe it
was Chevy starters. Wrong part = jammed starter. Cure = sharp rap on
the right place which I also knew (since forgot) and a couple of the
menfolk crawled under with a hammer and got the starter working again.

OK, did I give enough time for Chevy/GM? Including the electrical
system switching which let you play the radio (this was in the 70's)
without the key in the ignition, let alone turned on? Sold them a lot
of batteries, that one did.

OK, then there was my 65 Mustang. Bad valve early in life w/no abuse.
Early demise of starter motor. Forgive me if I don't dredge up any
more unpleasant memories.

Honda? Hey, take my Odyssey-- please! Two rear motor mounts, AC out,
fortunately not Black Death, brake/transmission interlock switch
($100), rear light assembly that could not be taken apart to change a
burned out bulb without breaking the damn thing, $120 and a time I
should have let the dealer do it g. More, again I have forgotten,
thank you. Oh yeah: front brakes. Potato chip rotors and dissolving
pads.

Then there was the 2001 Camry 4cyl stick. Faithful and true except for
inept service later in life, an improperly replaced cam belt, a
Mystery Noise, and inept alignment. A very nice car that didn't
deserve that bull**** and only needed an inline six for step-off
torque to make it "perfect" for what it was intended to be.

Well, Toyota caught theirs in good time, even if most of the problem
was idiot operator error-- "The State Trooper followed the runaway
Toyota for 37 miles before the elderly driver lost control and slammed
into a bridge abutment at high speed, bringing down the bridge,
killing 14, injuring 57 and causing a power outage for the three
surrounding counties". Instead of _reaching down and turning the key
off_.

I've had a couple of good mechanics down through the years, guys who
knew what was what and did the work needed. Rare. Essential for at
least relative happiness, no matter what breaks on the damn things.

I still would have backed way the hell off that pickup truck just on
general principles but also, on consideration, in case that axle
somehow turned forward and dug into the pavement.
--D-y

On Jul 14, 1:25*pm, " wrote:


OK, did I give enough time for Chevy/GM? Including the electrical
system switching which let you play the radio (this was in the 70's)
without the key in the ignition, let alone turned on? Sold them a lot
of batteries, that one did.

OK, then there was my 65 Mustang. Bad valve early in life w/no abuse.
Early demise of starter motor. Forgive me if I don't dredge up any
more unpleasant memories.

Honda? Hey, take my Odyssey-- please! Two rear motor mounts, AC out,
fortunately not Black Death, brake/transmission interlock switch
($100), rear light assembly that could not be taken apart to change a
burned out bulb without breaking the damn thing, $120 and a time I
should have let the dealer do it g. More, again I have forgotten,
thank you. Oh yeah: front brakes. Potato chip rotors and dissolving
pads.

Then there was the 2001 Camry 4cyl stick. Faithful and true except for
inept service later in life, an improperly replaced cam belt, a
Mystery Noise, and inept alignment. A very nice car that didn't
deserve that bull**** and only needed an inline six for step-off
torque to make it "perfect" for what it was intended to be....

Really, cars are _so_ much better than they used to be. I've always
kept notepads with my cars' maintenance notes, including things like
"to get the alternator out, had to jack up left side, remove wheel and
twist clockwise to clear half shaft" or whatever.

Anyway, I once browsed back over the notes for the '60 Fiat, '66
Corvair Corsa and '70 Fiat 124 Spider. Talk about a litany of
horrors... or, um, projects.

Until I got married, I looked on all that as interesting challenges
and learning experiences. Then for a long time, I looked on such
things as maintaining "street cred" with my motorhead students. But
the last two mechanical emergencies just became good reasons to pay
the guy with the big air impact wrenches.

- Frank Krygowski

On 7/14/2011 12:25 PM, wrote:
[...]
OK, did I give enough time for Chevy/GM? Including the electrical
system switching which let you play the radio (this was in the 70's)
without the key in the ignition, let alone turned on? Sold them a lot
of batteries, that one did.[...]

One of the things I really hate about driving shared company vehicles is
having the radio come on blasting as soon as the engine is started.

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731°N, 83.985007°W
I am a vehicular cyclist.

On Jul 12, 11:08*am, Chalo wrote:
Tºm Shermªn wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D5CUgUhu5Vd0

So much for Mopar quality.

The guy with the beard bike needs to learn to trim his front
derailleur, or fix whatever's wrong with it.

Are you referring to the horrible noise at the time he was coasting by
the disabled truck?

On Jul 12, 8:26*pm, " wrote:
On Jul 12, 3:08*am, Chalo wrote:

Tºm Shermªn wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D5CUgUhu5Vd0

So much for Mopar quality.

The guy with the beard bike needs to learn to trim his front
derailleur, or fix whatever's wrong with it.

Maybe he has a hard time convincing a legitimate bike shop to work on
his ride.

Q: When is a crossed chain even worse?
A: When it's on a bent.

what is a bent?

On Jul 13, 2:26*pm, Bill wrote:
"So much for Mopar quality."

"It's the axle retaining clip..."

Wrong. The Dodge dually uses a Dana 70 differential and axle assembly.
Did you ever see one? It's a really huge mofo with a 10-1/2" diameter
ring gear. Most truck manufacturers spec it on 5-ton trucks, while
Mopar uses it on a one-ton. And it definitely does not use an axle
retaining clip like smaller differentials sometimes do. It uses two
locking axle retaining nuts on each axle with an indexed lockwasher
between them to keep them from loosening, the same as a standard
headset does. If that one loosened, then somebody didn't lock the
retaining nuts.

"Surprising, it's usually the electrical system that fails on Dodge
trucks."

Chrysler electrical systems are no worse than any other brand. And at
least they never tried "green" insulation on their wiring harnesses
like some of the European manufacturers did.

You self-professed Mopar experts have been reading Consumer"s Reports
too much.

Grren signifies the wiper circuits on British cars.

Anton Success wrote:
On Jul 12, 8:26 pm, " wrote:
On Jul 12, 3:08 am, Chalo wrote:

Tºm Shermªn wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D5CUgUhu5Vd0
So much for Mopar quality.
The guy with the beard bike needs to learn to trim his front
derailleur, or fix whatever's wrong with it.
Maybe he has a hard time convincing a legitimate bike shop to work on
his ride.
Q: When is a crossed chain even worse?
A: When it's on a bent.

what is a bent?


a mockery of bicycles

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971