Reader's Rides & Photos

nyccarguy

I put 10 bags of Mulch in the 3er last year. This year the Pilot took 30 with 2 kids in the back seat;)

slorenzen

I put 2 yards of super soil in the bed of my truck, around #1000 lbs.

Rode better...

ahightower

@ray80 said:
(Oh Yeah, as much as I hated to, being a guy, I had to get the book out to get directions on how to put the thing in reverse, little different )

That color is very nice. I love how green and blue are coming back in style and edging out the ubiquitous "50 shades of gray" that Mercedes got going a while back. I was over silver about 10 minutes after it came out.

andre1969

About 5 years ago, I bought some Mirada/Cordoba alloy wheels for $75, with the intention of putting them on my '79 5th Ave one day. Well, I finally got around to it. Please excuse the blue-walls, for the time being

xwesx

@andre1969 said:
About 5 years ago, I bought some Mirada/Cordoba alloy wheels for $75, with the intention of putting them on my '79 5th Ave one day. Well, I finally got around to it. Please excuse the blue-walls, for the time being

Looks good, Andre! Can I be the first to say.... "It's about time!"

andre1969

Those alloys will also fit my '57 DeSoto, but I know better to do that...the 70's and 50's really don't mix well...sort of like watching a Happy Day's episode and seeing all those Farrah Fawcett-inspired feathered hairstyles on the women...and sometimes the men!

mako1a

Here's one

xwesx

Funny that the photo shows $1.30 fuel during a time when that was outrageously expensive! Fuel was also that cost in the late 1990s for a few years, but it wasn't "expensive" that time around.

andre1969

Well, I don't have to remember too far back, as my '67 Catalina, '76 LeMans, and '79 Chryslers have the fuel filler behind the license plate.

fintail

My fintail has the filler behind the plate, too. I put gas in it 8 days ago, so I remember those days

What's that off to the left, a 66 Country Squire? Cool.

stickguy

And a jeepster behind it!

lemko

My 1989 Cadillac Brougham has the fuel filler behind the license plate.

boaz47

@slorenzen said:

A yard of 3/4 weighs About 3000 pounds. It takes a F-250 or better.

andre1969

@boaz47 said:
A yard of 3/4 weighs About 3000 pounds. It takes a F-250 or better.

Back in 2006, I bought some topsoil from the place up the street. They told me that a cubic yard would weigh about 2800 lb. Well, I'll confess that I had grossly overloaded my '85 Silverado before, so I figured I'd chance it, as it was just a half-mile drive.

Well, I got the load home, and unloaded it, and saw just how far a cubic yard of topsoil DOESN'T go, so I went back for another. And then a third. By the time I got the third home, I was tired as heck, so I let the truck sit, and had a beer. And that's when I heard two cracks, in rapid succession.

I didn't know what it was, until I got the truck unloaded, and noticed the tailpipes were hanging kind of low. The Silverado had a single exhaust, but with two pipes coming out of the muffler, both exiting on the driver's side. I think I had weighted it down so much that the pipes got pinched by the rear axle as it settled, and the stress caused them to snap at the muffler, where it was already rusting, and weak.

I remember going into DC on one hot summer Saturday, and suddenly heard a dragging sound. Those tailpipes had finally worked their way loose enough that they were dragging the pavement, on Route 50 coming into DC. Luckily I was able to pull off onto a service road and then a parking lot, got them completely off the truck, and threw them in a dumpster.

Well, then about a month later, I was in Baltimore, and heard more dragging. This time it was the muffler itself, which after being unsupported on one end for too long, I guess, finally stressed out the pipe leading into it, and it broke loose. I pulled off by the Ravens' stadium, kicked it loose with my boot, and, forgetting that it was still hot, grabbed it with my bare hands to throw it in the back of the truck, and got a nice burn...

After that, I had learned my lesson, and stopped overloading the truck! And the next time I needed dirt, I just ordered a dumptruck load...14 cubic yards. It was worth the $80 to deliver it!

I still see people leaving that material place though, in their compact/midsized pickups, and half-ton full-sizers. Most of them look like they're loaded down at an even worse stance than my Silverado was! Even worse, some of them go out on the main road with those loads, a divided road with cross traffic and a 45 mph speed limit. In my case, I just stayed on my own street and kept it easy. I wonder how much more effort it takes to panic-stop a half-ton pickup from, say, 45-50 mph with an extra 2800 lb in the bed? I imagine that has to be hell on not only the brakes, but the whole structure of the truck!

boaz47

Now and then I have done it with a beefed up 3/4 ton with heavy duty rear suspension and one of the older 7.2 diesels. Last time was with a 1 ton dodge dully diesel. I can't imagine trying to move a yard of gravel or even dirt with a 1/2 ton. You could pull it with a trailer but that is a lot of weight for a 1/2 ton.

mako1a

boaz, I remember you from the old Frontlines site. The name also rings a bell (one of the pillars?). Maybe you could add what you drive and what state you hail from in your settings. Thanks, Dave

morgusx

1999 Chrysler Concorde,

kyfdx

Let's see if we can get a bigger picture:

stever

Here we go again - part of this load is headed to my sister in VA (she gets the electric mower on the left). Most of the rest will go into storage in TN at my brother's pending our move to NM in a month. I do have a view out the back - this pic was taken at the shop getting a flat fixed and I had moved stuff around to get to my jack and tools. Picked up a nail doing a pit stop at McDonalds.

explorerx4

My daughter is getting ready to move to Madison WI, over a thousand miles from CT. One of the tires on her Escape was mounted backwards when the tire was plugged over the winter. I had it mounted the right way, but it started losing air. Brought it to another (closer) place to have it fixed. They said they removed a nail and plugged it, no charge. Of course it still lost air. Took it to another place and they replaced the valve stem ($4.05). It seems to be holding air now.

imidazol97

@stever said:

I hope that Lenova box does NOT have a Lenova inside.... it's crushed.

xwesx

@stever said:
Picked up a nail doing a pit stop at McDonalds.

Yeah, well, somehow I don't think that is the only think you picked up there, Steve!

stever

@imidazol97, just a little corner smoosh. Forgot to label that box - there's some metal stuff rattling around in there but I think it's just some tools that didn't sell at the garage sale last month that I had room to toss in..

@explorerx4, we lived in Mad Town for ~6 months back in the 80s and have revisited several times since we moved to the UP. Nice place, good schools (and UW), lots of good neighborhoods. So far the tire is holding its own.

chipwhitley34

My pride and joy.

xwesx

@chipwhitley34 said:
My pride and joy.

Ack! Somebody stole your springs!

Looks like a fun car!

mako1a

Ack! Somebody stole your springs!
That comment cracked me up. I like the low look, but at 64 wouldn't even try to get in one.

roadburner

I talked with some of the product development guys at Koni and they recommended that I keep the Mazdaspeed within 1.5 in. of the stock ride height if I lowered it at all. Their opinion was that there was little to no handling improvement to be gained by tweaking suspension height.
But to each his own, I you like it low, it's YOUR car...

andre1969

@roadburner said:
I talked with some of the product development guys at Koni and they recommended that I keep the Mazdaspeed within 1.5 in. of the stock ride height if I lowered it at all. Their opinion was that there was little to no handling improvement to be gained by tweaking suspension height.
But to each his own, I you like it low, it's YOUR car...

When the suspension gets lowered that much, aren't you going to run into problems hitting bumps, potholes, and such? And, what about sharp turns?

Years ago, I had an '89 Gran Fury ex police car, and made the mistake of putting 235/70/R15 tires on it, which were just a little too big (stock was either a 215 or 225/70). If I hit a bump while making a sharp turn, the tire would grab on the trim surrounding the wheel opening. While my car wasn't lowered, I would think it would be sort of the same principle...not enough clearance?

xwesx

There can certainly be issues with that, but a lot of engineering goes into these aftermarkets, and I see many lowered vehicles around here (hell, in terms of ground clearance issues), so they must do it right!

Cars like that little Fiat, Jettas, etc., can pull off the lowered look pretty well. I'm the anti-fan of lowering cars, and I don't even find them offensive to behold!

I found Chip's post particularly timely, because I had just installed heavy duty springs on my Forester that ended up increasing the ride height by over an inch (despite their claim to be "factory height"). I suspect it is due to their reduced compression, because they are the same overall uncompressed height (maybe even a little bit shorter) as the OEM units they replaced.

Oh, and, funny enough, I know what you mean about the wheel openings on older cars. I have the same size tires on my '69 Econoline, which, if you can believe it, is an up-size from the stock 14" rims (I think the stock size is like 215/75R14 or something). They are large enough that the tires on the front axles will hit the top of the wheel well under compression before the suspension contacts the bump stops. So, driving to Alaska on the frost-heaved roads required a bit of navigating. I knew I was overdoing it when I would launch over a huge heave followed by the tell-tale "whomp, whomp" as the tire rubbed the metal at speed. LOL!

Here's that sexy old beast.... Hahahahahaha!

roadburner

@andre1969 said:
When the suspension gets lowered that much, aren't you going to run into problems hitting bumps, potholes, and such? And, what about sharp turns?

Those are all issues with an extremely lowered car- and that's not even getting into how lowering can screw up the suspension geometry. With my Mazda I've tried to follow BMW tuner Steve Dinan's philosophy; he tests a modification by letting his wife drive the car- if she can't notice the change he considers it a success. In my case I've added about 40 bhp and significantly improved the handling of the MS3, but when driven conservatively it is indistinguishable from a dead stock 2007...