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Detroit, 4:07 PM
Fri Dec 11
28 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/08/09
Methinks this F-suckfifty is the last one, so it beats a skateboard...in the snow.
The above flowchart of suckiness ranking varies according to conditions.
12/08/09
My pointy parentheses didn't appear in my post. I forgot...html coding.
Well, try this:
"Lockers all 'round } locked T-case w/one locked & one open diff } good AWD } locked T-case & open diffs } FWD with traction control } limited slip RWD } one wheel drive."
12/08/09
Similar situation here a few days ago. Only it was the Subaru Outback getting itself royally stuck (twice) and the Ford Tempo rockin' through the snow, dragging ass the whole way and still making it.
12/08/09
[www.weatherbase.com]
[www.weatherbase.com]
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12/08/09
The chains from my lawn tractor came to the rescue. Not that they would fit the truck, but just chucking a pile of chain under the front of the tires worked beautifully.
I've replaced the actuator, so it shouldn't be a problem this year, but I've got the chains at hand just in case.
*actuator for engaging the front axle. I have a proper manually engaged transfer case.
12/08/09
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12/08/09
My younger boy turned 16 Saturday. We woke up to snow. I tossed him the keys and said, "Mom wants cocoa. We're out. You're driving."
Kid looks out at the snow. "Is it safe?"
"Sure. We'll take the Subie. And I'm going to teach you about 'opposite lock.'"
12/08/09
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12/08/09
Nothing builds confidence like hitting 'deep' gravel at 80 mph, blasting along roads only used by tractors. Come wintertime, snow and ice are like a blessing for my handbrake.
Learn rwd on ice/snow/gravel and you can drive anything, anywhere, anytime.
12/08/09
Michigan has some weird roads.
Drop a cog and tromp the gas on a bend, the tail slides out and you skate through in Super Dorifto Style.
12/08/09
Most people, when driving in these conditions, would prefer some suspension travel. We did it with about 2" of clearance from the bottom leaf spring brackets, maybe 3" of travel (slammed mini trucks, mwah). Again, nothing builds confidence like getting airborne and coming back down only to bottom out.
I've got to terrorize the interstate here to even get my heartbeat up anymore. *sigh
12/08/09
12/08/09
The Sube makes it stupid simple, mostly just point-and-click.
12/08/09
I live at towards the end of a dead end road (no surprise there) and you have to drive up a hill to get to the main road. I live downtown and they don't plow my road under normal circumstances. It's only a block long.
Every year idiots drive down that hill in frame high snow then turn around and try to go back up and get stuck in front of my house. I no longer have pity for them and will drive around them if necessary.
12/08/09
...but I have also never lived on a road that didn't routinely get plowed, either. That helps a lot.
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Taught me to be a better foul weather driver though. Any mistake and that truck gave me a heart attack.
Lots of fun in the dry though.
That said, I wouldn't have even bothered in the weather in that video. I would have taken my 98 ZX2, much better snow car. Manual, no-abs, small, narrow tires, as long as it had tread I could go anywhere.
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12/08/09
It was common for Lightning owners who used them as daily drivers to have 1980s subcompact cars parked somewhere nearby come October. Find a cheap beat-up one for around $400-500 and reason that it costs less than the insurance deductible. Sell them for around the same amount come the spring. Repeat.
There's no way I would have owned that truck when i lived in MI or MA. In NJ I was only inconvenienced about 4-5 days a year and even then, most people didn't go out on those days anyways around here, so it wasn't a problem.
12/04/09
So, where's the diesel?
12/03/09
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12/03/09
Though the Spec-C cited earlier, gets my old ride by four characters.
12/03/09
12/03/09
Damnit.
Clicky for you. Funny, those were on the identical chassis. In fact, I'd wager the doors were interchangeable.
Ah...when "instruments" consisted of a long, wide, 85 MPH speedometer and a fuel gauge which, if it moved, meant you had fuel and when it stopped moving, you were out (or had filled up in the last 100 miles).
12/03/09
And I can't read the damn speedo for the life of me. Almost as bad as the one in my buddies '65 Volvo 122S.
12/03/09
12/03/09
What's new with the Forester? Any word on getting the Hybrid Tourer hardware into that chassis? I might pay money for that, especially if they make it displacement on demand for cruising, too - anything to chase the mileage into the 30s.