dcairns
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Posts posted by dcairns
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Do you have springs or torsion bars? Torsion bars, you just adjust the tension to change the front end height. If you have springs, compressing the spring and adding a spacer would be fairly hard work compared to putting a drop shackle on the rear leaf spring.
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I am not sure how much stock I put in Consumer Reports, but their Reliability History, based on user surveys for the 2003 Cavalier shows it has a few weak areas:
Fuel System
Climate System
Brakes
Paint Trim
Squeaks & Rattles
So check those out good.
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JimmiJammers www.jimmijammer.com and a DIY kill switch. Put it somewhere hard to find, and not where everybody else puts theirs. Anything that takes time to figure out will send a regular thief packing. They want a quick hit, not a complex wiring nightmare.
If you really want to get into it, there are some interesting hi-tec versions of a kill switch that rely on a transmitter carried on your person to allow starting of the vehicle
http://www.kodinis.lt/en/products/Car-Immobilizers
http://bulletproofelectronics.com
Clifford has the BlackJax5 that is an option to the G5 Alarm that does the same feature
http://www.clifford.com/Products/Accessories.aspx
I am sure there are many more, that is all I have found so far.
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What kind of riding are you contemplating? And how large a budget? How large are you? All factors to consider
The usual suspects like Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, Cannondale, Santa Cruz, Ventana are still around.
Might want to check out http://wwwmtbr.com/ for enough information to get your head swimming
I have an Ibex Asta, which is aimed at Cross Country / All Mountain type riding (full suspension, but on the light side for less extreme riding). Ibex is a well regarded direct importer/seller and the Asta is in the "cheaper" range at about $1000
My bike on the trail:
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I can tell the difference, and my 48 year old ears are shot (tinnitus from all that loud music and power tools). The other problem with iPods is the way the EQ settings work. On a recording that is recorded at a high level, the iPod’s EQ settings (the settings that boost anything) appear to overload it’s pre-amp. Really annoying on music meant to be clear and undistorted. For some reason Enya’s recordings are particularly bad about this. One cure is to run the audio file through a program that reduces the level, so when the EQ boosting is added, it won’t overload the pre-amp.
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Are the chips in the paint around the welds? There is a know issue with these hitches breaking welds (although I still tow with mine and no problems). If you never used the hitch to tow, then forget this.
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This is what it reads when it gets realy hot
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Something to think about next time you see a "deal" on used parts. Buying shady deals creates the demand for this sort of thing
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The crime rate is going up as more people lose their jobs. Sad.
And just wait till those fools in Sacramento start letting loose all those "low risk" offenders because they can't figure out how to build a jail to house them. This is starting to sound like the far fetched beginning of a Batman movie.
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Security Section anyone?
Excellent idea!
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For next time
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If you don't have the window sticker, you can count revolutions of drive shaft to rear wheel and calculate it. I never understood why they don't stamp that into the diff cover or something useful
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TrailerLife Magazine Tow Ratings
What is your axle ratio?
Silverado/Sierra 1500 4WD 5300 V-8 rated to tow 8,500 lbs Requires 3.73:1 axle ratio.
Silverado/Sierra 1500 4WD 5300 V-8 rated to tow 9,500 lbs Requires 4.10:1 axle ratio.
You really can't upgrade the tow rating as it depends on many factors, and you don't know where the "weak link" is. Frame strength? Brakes? Transmission? Axle strength? All the above?
Besides a 1/2 ton truck is going to run out of load capacity before you get to those tow ratings. Ideal tounge weight of a trailer is 13-15% of the trailer weight. At 14% that works out to 1400 lbs of tounge weight for your 10,000 lb trailer. Then you need to add the weight of things in the truck, like options ordered on the truck, fuel, people baggage, etc as the fabled "1/2 Ton" is based on a stripped down empty truck. That "BIG 1/2 TON" in the advertizing seems to evaporate pretty fast when you add it all up
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I am impressed with how fast you did that flat fix. Takes me that long just to get the wheel off the bike
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Get the Trunk Monkey
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I saw it last week. I liked the storyline, something different besides the "wise peaceful aliens, come to earth to solve all our problems" or the "malevolent aliens, here to blow us up" routines that have been done too many times. I also liked the way it moved the center of action away from the usual places, and used South Africa (home town for the director). I think that helped with the “News at Five” documentary feeling, since it was someplace distant and different than the overused locations of Hollywood or New York. There are some holes in the plot and I am sure they could be explained away, but they do leave you wondering. I liked the fairly believable alien technology. With the exception of the ‘anti-gravity beam’, the movie avoided the cliché special effects ‘magic’ force fields and such.
On the down side, it was very violent and gory, but I am sure that was intended. I also found the metamorphosis (and reversible at that) a bit hard to swallow. But as a plot device to get the main character to go from oppressor to oppressed it was good.
The “shaky cam” used to give it a documentary feel was overdone in a few spots and was downright annoying in the office interview of the main character. No interview cameraman worth his wage would be that bad. Even in the third world.
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I bet there were some startled fish in that lake
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Garden variety Radix
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Blu-Ray is still in Beta Test. Seems like everytime I buy a new disk, I have to go get updates in order to play it
Whatever you get, make sure it is easy to update. Doing the USB thumb drive shuffle from my computer to the player seems like it would not be so bad, till you have to pull out the cabinet and fumble around at the back of the player looking for the port to plug it in 
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Very cool. Thanks for the write up and photos. Should we take up a collection to buy you a new screwdriver?
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Errr.... Woof. Just working on her tan.
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You might want to check Pacific Sales. They tend to have good prices on the name brands.
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I think the 24-105 would be an awesome walk around lens, seems to have a good following too.
I have the 24-105 on my 5D II, and I am a tad disappointed with the lens. It has have some chromatic aberration, though it is easily corrected with Photoshop. But it does have a nice range of zoom without weighing a ton.
look at the finger of rock in the lower center
full frame picture with reduced resolution to give you an idea how much the above photo was cropped.
The vignetting seems to be due my stack of filters being too thick (UV filter plus polarizer).
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Now that is my kind of vacation
Great photography too. Once and a great while I get lucky and get a photo as good as one of those. You seem to have it down. Of course it always helps to go someplace beautiful
What kind of camera are you using?
Yard Overtaken By Moles
in Off-Topic/General
Posted · Edited by dcairns (see edit history)
Time to call in an air strike
Might be a bit hard on the lawn, though...