mjeff87

Filled up the Focus at the Murphy's (outside the Walmarts) yesterday at $3.75/g for 87. Literally everywhere else is $3.99. The KJ is not coming out to play. edit: wife just texted me and said the Wawa on her way to work is now $4.15.......

The shift pattern was different on the 2.5T. 4th was up and down from 3rd, then 5th was up. That messed up many an operator. And the 2 speed transfer case was manual but required a transmission downshift to go from low to high, and an upshift from hi back to low. With as heavy, and slow (relatively speaking) as those things are, plus a non synchronized trans, one did not split shift like you do in a more modern heavy vehicle. 4/5 shift is when you split, and on pretty much level ground, lol. Even in 5/high, when you got there, 60-ish mph was about all you ever feared to do unless you had a death wish. Plus the fact that you were pushing that multifuel engine around 3000 rpm. It would do it all day long, but that turbo whine literally pierced your skull inside the cab. That video kinda gives you a sound of the turbo but it doesn't do it the justice it deserves. Mickey mouses, or at least insert earplugs are/were mandatory equipment, if you weren't dumb.

For those of a certain age and possible prior service. This is one of my favorite saved videos...it brings back alot of great memories for me. I was licensed up to a 10T HEMMT back in the day, and my assigned vehicle was a 5T ancient M543 wrecker with a boom crane on the back. If I ever come up with a spare few thousand $$$$ before I die, I'd love to purchase a surplus 2.5 or 5T and cruise it around my neighborhood.

Bring it brother. You know what the spare bedroom looks like

If anyone wants parts from any of this, let me know. I can/will run back down this weekend. Not dropping a trans though, lol. The MJ is hashed, like I said. I grabbed the fuel pump assembly but there isn't much else to get. Cab vents are gone. Interior is hammered, dummy gauge cluster is about the only thing still there. Both taillights are screwed as is the rear bumper. Rear slider window, but its fukkered as well. 87 model, 2.5L/AX5, 2WD, D35 rear. Has A/C, most of the engine bits seem to be in good shape, FWIW.

I took a sick day from work today, I was having some vision problems this morning. There was no way in heck I could see myself going to work today. Anyhow, I ran to the 'yard to grab an oil fill cap for the KJ to pattern a tool I'm going to make to twist mine off. And I hit junkyard gold. Got a cap and then spied an MJ. It is completely hashed, but I did grab the fuel pump/assembly from it if someone here needs it. There is also a 96 Dakota there with a 2.5/AX15 if anyone is interested in the BH. I'm not going to pull it, but if anyone needs details and wants to come here to get it, I will help. Then I saw an 04 focus wagon that had brandy new front loaded struts and steering knuckle hubs/bearings. All of that came home with me, to be swapped out this weekend.

I've got a couple different cheater pipes, but I picked up another one a couple days ago at work. We had some contractors in working on the sprinkler system and they chucked a cutoff piece of schedule 40 in the trash. Its now in my garage

Just an FYI for anyone that isn't aware, radar detectors are illegal in VA. And VSP has technology to detect your detector, lol. On a brighter note, you can pretty much ignore any "speed enforced from aircraft" signs on VA interstates. VSP has all but abandoned that program long ago......I think they just kept the signs up to act as a deterrent.

That's pretty trick. I didn't invent it per se, but I repurposed something. It originally was a metal "wand" of sorts with interchangeable tips you would screw on and then hook to a garden hose to make a poor man's power washer. It works just as horribly as you would expect it to for that purpose. My mother (RIP) gave it to me a long time ago and I just didn't have the heart to toss it out. So, I expertly re-engineered the wand part (read: bent the crap out of it) and removed the tip(s). I use it to flush heater cores with now and it works great. It's got a quarter turn shutoff valve on it with a handle, and is long and skinny enough to get inside the inlet/outlet pipes on any vehicle I've used it on. If you've ever had to flush a KJ core, you'll know that it's a real PITA to get to the pipes.....this thing makes it really easy. I'll snap a pic of it tonight. ETA pic.

To reset the switch, it needs something ridiculous like 500 lbs of pressure. Try sitting in it (engine off) and mash down the pedal, HARD. It will make a little "click" sound when it resets.

I try to stop about every 2 hours, if noting else just to get out and stretch my legs. It might sound old fashioned, but AM talk radio can be your friend.....something for you to focus your mind on instead of a steady stream of music. I also like to take snacky-type foods and just nibble on them throughout the trip (again, it gives your mind something to do). Salted pumpkin seeds are my favorite. All that being said, I did fall dead asleep on the Ohio turnpike once, for over a solid minute. Woke up and was still driving straight down the highway. If you are familiar with the road and scenery there, you'll know this isn't an impossible thing to do.

I used 12 ton stands (ratcheting, with safety pins) as well. Bigger beef, wider, more stable, and gives you plenty of room to work under. Good stuff.

Yeah, no glare like Frank says. I wear glasses (when I want to see things) but not when I'm working on stuff. I'm near-sighted. But I do wear safety glasses and this thing doesn't cause any issues for me. Its like a floodlight that lights up the entire working area evenly. I do have a point-light harness also to focus light to a specific area when needed, but it won't see much gametime now that I have this thing.

Dragging an old thread back to life, lol. I totally forgot to follow up on this. I did pick one of these up a couple months ago, and it is definitely worth the price of admission. I've used it in the garage a few times already, and used it a couple weeks ago (when I had a covid vacation from work for a couple of weeks) to install a new kitchen sink faucet. It works great underneath the sink to fiddle around with the supply lines and fastening devices. I'd highly recommend them. They make three different models (good, better, best...ish), I sprung for the middle ground one, which is PLENTY bright enough for the stuff I do. If I had only one tiny criticism about it, that would be the clunky battery box on the backside of the headband (they use 2-AAA batteries, not included). It's completely functional, but I think they could have integrated the battery area(s) into the headband a little "cleaner" than that box. It's more an aesthetic thing than anything to me, I guess. Maybe the 2.0 versions they'll eventually come out with will be different. Still wouldn't stop me from buying one again, or recommending one to anyone.

Nail on the head Pete. Ive got a swapped in junkyard knuckle on the focus right now thats not drilled for the ABS sensor. Got the old one sitting in the shed waiting on a new wheel bearing, which ill get to before June when the sticker expires. I'm absolutely fine with that.

Interesting.....I'll have to try the blinker thing to see if that changes things. Thanks.

Add me to the HATE crowd. I love driving my wife's Subbie, but absolutely cannot stand all the nanny controls. Adaptive cruise is annoying to me, for all the reasons previously stated. It's even starting to bug her a bit too. It can be turned off, along with the lane departure warning alert, and the auto-shutoff at stoplight thing. Which I do every time I drive her car. But you have to disable/turn them off every time you stop/start the vehicle. The crash warning/automatic braking has it's place, I'll give it that. BUT, when you're on a 2 lane road with limited passing zones, and you see a zone approaching you can't speed up behind the (slowly moving) vehicle in front of you to time out entering the passing zone to swing out, pass, and get your butt back in the lane. It actually engages the brakes (and makes all kinds of scary alarm sounds). I am the farthest thing from an aggressive driver (my wife actually calls me Ms. Daisy.....), but when I drive I like to keep momentum and all my moves as fluid as possible. I am constantly judging traffic patterns and using my rear view mirror to anticipate gaps in traffic so I can move between lanes and maintain my speed. All the new safety stuff makes that pretty difficult. It doesn't fit well with my driving style, but I can see the benefits for other drivers. It all would have been a godsend for my mother when she was still alive and driving.

It's a Jeep thing.....you wouldn't understand......

I don't doubt there are good ones out there. I used to use one on my home PC a few years ago, no issues. Problem here is guv-mint procurement regulations....and these are what are available to us on our contract. Don't Dell dude, just.....don't. I get it.....I am actually a Procurement Officer (credentialed and all that jazz too, lol). But there are exception processes, and due cause clauses for rebids/negotiations for various reasons....failure to perform is a biggie and right near the top of that list. They're just too complacent to do anything about it. Sorry.....I'm having a bad few days here at the salt mill and am in a cranky way lately. To boot, my boss damn near burned down his (and everyone else's office) this morning on top of everything else. Tried to reheat some pizza in the microwave in his office and set the timer for one hour instead of one minute and walked away. I got to perform a ventilation mission with barrel fans from the warehouse after we evacuated the admin area. And called to cancel the inbound fire department. The entire place (and all of our clothing) STILL reeks of burnt food.

I use one at work (government issue). It is a giant pile of steaming crap. The problem is the input (output), a mini B, cable is hyper-sensitive. If you even breathe on it, it loses connection.....and then you lose your monitors, network connection (and network profile, and because of government cheapness, all of your work because it's saved on a network drive or 5). Then you have to reboot everything, which takes a good 10 minutes if the planets are all aligned and you're wearing the right color underwear that day. Can you tell how much I love the thing? I've got it buried in a corner of my desk, surrounded by a lamp and other desktop paraphenelia so noone goes anywhere near it. Worst part is that it's a Dell, and after I and several others in the agency complained to our IT overlords, they replaced them all with......another Dell. That was just as bad as the first ones.

Nope. I stay local. There's a company called Chesterfield Auto Parts down here in the Richmond area, they have three different 'yards. The closest one to me is about 15 minutes south, near Fort Lee. That's the one I frequent the most. They have another one up in Richmond, and then yet another one about 30 minutes north of me. That one is pretty much all trucks/SUV's. I don't get there as often as I should. https://chesterfieldauto.com/ There's some other, GOB/country style "junkyards" south of me also, in some of the more rural parts. The kind you need to carry a tetanus booster and a snakebite kit with you when you walk in.

My trips to the 'yard usually coincide with a huge rainstorm the day before I go, so the entire place is one giant mud puddle when I get there. To their credit, the main one I go to just spent pretty much of last summer re-grading, cutting in new drainage ditches, and broadcasting about 8 zillion pounds of #57 stone, so it's "fairly" dry most times. They have a couple other sister yards around the area that I pretty much don't even bother going to now if it has rained within the last 2-3 days. You could run a monster mudder course in either of them, and charge admission.

Do you shoot now Jesse? With a handle like JJ, it's almost assumed.... Just like Jeeping, it can be as cheap (but still safe) or as expensive as you want it to be. I've got lots of different toys, built up over several years, but none of what I own is what you'd consider "top shelf" stuff. I prefer function over form (after all, just like a Jeep). Like I said, I've taken to shooting .22LR much more lately than anything else I or my wife owns. For me it's cheap (been stockpiling ammo for the last 10 years or so), and it keeps me in practice, so when I DO shoot the big boomy stuff, I'm not wasting ammo. I've got a pistol, a semi-auto rifle with scope, and my wife's AR with a red dot, all in .22 That scratches my itch most times at the range, along with my 9mm (EDC). Have fun, and practice...practice....practice.