5 Tons of Fun

[Ajax]

Glad you're OK.

From the enthusiast sites, it seems that if it's not major damage a lot of people don't bother claiming accidents to avoid increases in premiums.

I literally cannot tell where the guy struck me. There's nothing to claim. I think he hit the bumper which is 1/4" plate steel. There may have been some contact with the trailing edge of the front fender but I don't see any dents. Most of us don't own military vehicles that are factory-fresh so yeah, won't bother with insurance claims.

[Jamie]

Glad you're OK.

From the enthusiast sites, it seems that if it's not major damage a lot of people don't bother claiming accidents to avoid increases in premiums.

I literally cannot tell where the guy struck me. There's nothing to claim. I think he hit the bumper which is 1/4" plate steel. There may have been some contact with the trailing edge of the front fender but I don't see any dents. Most of us don't own military vehicles that are factory-fresh so yeah, won't bother with insurance claims.

I was thinking of the behavior of the person that hit you - all the millennial on say the Subaru sites usually don't claim...but that's hilarious that you can't tell.

[Benno von Humpback]

Who the fuck does this? The Jeep looked almost brand new. Surely they'd want information for their insurance company for repairs?

Lots of people, I'm guessing. >12% of MD motorists are uninsured and unlicensed drivers are responsible for 20% of accidents. However, the most likely cause is they were texting and/or drunk. Glad no one was hurt. Maybe you'll see them again.

[Ajax]

Who the fuck does this? The Jeep looked almost brand new. Surely they'd want information for their insurance company for repairs?

Lots of people, I'm guessing. >12% of MD motorists are uninsured and unlicensed drivers are responsible for 20% of accidents. However, the most likely cause is they were texting and/or drunk. Glad no one was hurt. Maybe you'll see them again.

Doubtful. Grand Cherokees are a dime a dozen. They'll definitely see me again, though. 12%...that's a lot higher than I expected.

[BeauV]

Who the fuck does this? The Jeep looked almost brand new. Surely they'd want information for their insurance company for repairs?

Lots of people, I'm guessing. >12% of MD motorists are uninsured and unlicensed drivers are responsible for 20% of accidents. However, the most likely cause is they were texting and/or drunk. Glad no one was hurt. Maybe you'll see them again.

I was curious about this, Eric. You're right about MD a bit over 12%. The amazing thing is the number of states that are above 20%! Crazy.

Source

[LarryHoward]

In Maryland, we pay for an entire "Insurance Compliance Division" of the Dept of Transportation and insurance companies are required to both record that you have insurance and notify the state when you cancel your insurance and they are supposed to both cancel your registration and assess a substantial fine for not compliance. It appears we are just paying for more jobs for Baltimore County without any discernible impact on the number of uninsured drivers.

For Florida? My daughter's insurance costs doubled when she moved from Maryland to Palm Beach County. Reason given by USAA was the number of uninsured motorists in Florida, particularly south Florida. That and the fact that Bentleys and Lambos are routinely "street parked" there. As my son observed, his 911S would be a "below average" car in Palm Beach

[Jamie]

In Maryland, we pay for an entire "Insurance Compliance Division" of the Dept of Transportation and insurance companies are required to both record that you have insurance and notify the state when you cancel your insurance and they are supposed to both cancel your registration and assess a substantial fine for not compliance. It appears we are just paying for more jobs for Baltimore County without any discernible impact on the number of uninsured drivers.

For Florida? My daughter's insurance costs doubled when she moved from Maryland to Palm Beach County. Reason given by USAA was the number of uninsured motorists in Florida, particularly south Florida. That and the fact that Bentleys and Lambos are routinely "street parked" there. As my son observed, his 911S would be a "below average" car in Palm Beach

My insurance tripled here. A friend from Chicago had it double.

[Ajax]

In Maryland, we pay for an entire "Insurance Compliance Division" of the Dept of Transportation and insurance companies are required to both record that you have insurance and notify the state when you cancel your insurance and they are supposed to both cancel your registration and assess a substantial fine for not compliance. It appears we are just paying for more jobs for Baltimore County without any discernible impact on the number of uninsured drivers.

For Florida? My daughter's insurance costs doubled when she moved from Maryland to Palm Beach County. Reason given by USAA was the number of uninsured motorists in Florida, particularly south Florida. That and the fact that Bentleys and Lambos are routinely "street parked" there. As my son observed, his 911S would be a "below average" car in Palm Beach

I just realized you're right about that. Back when I had a collection of old cars, the MVA would regularly send me notices demanding proof of insurance for basically no reason. I NEVER let my coverage lapse on any of my vehicles. They seemed to hit on me because I had so many vehicles in the MVA database. Once I sold them all, it stopped.

I was walking past the truck in the driveway yesterday. Looks like the Jeep swiped all the way down the side of my truck. I found a broad "smear" on the aft-most driver's side tire. Whoever it was, I hope they had their brown pants on.

[Ken Heaton (Salazar)]

In Maryland, we pay for an entire "Insurance Compliance Division" of the Dept of Transportation and insurance companies are required to both record that you have insurance and notify the state when you cancel your insurance and they are supposed to both cancel your registration and assess a substantial fine for not compliance. It appears we are just paying for more jobs for Baltimore County without any discernible impact on the number of uninsured drivers.

For Florida? My daughter's insurance costs doubled when she moved from Maryland to Palm Beach County. Reason given by USAA was the number of uninsured motorists in Florida, particularly south Florida. That and the fact that Bentleys and Lambos are routinely "street parked" there. As my son observed, his 911S would be a "below average" car in Palm Beach

I just realized you're right about that. Back when I had a collection of old cars, the MVA would regularly send me notices demanding proof of insurance for basically no reason. I NEVER let my coverage lapse on any of my vehicles. They seemed to hit on me because I had so many vehicles in the MVA database. Once I sold them all, it stopped.

I was walking past the truck in the driveway yesterday. Looks like the Jeep swiped all the way down the side of my truck. I found a broad "smear" on the aft-most driver's side tire. Whoever it was, I hope they had their brown pants on.

You wold think the other driver would have noticed you were there...

[BeauV]

It's hard to notice what's outside when you're staring at the screen of your phone!

I remain amazed at the number of folks I pass who are gazing at their crotch while driving. I do hope there is a phone down there.

[Ajax]

It's hard to notice what's outside when you're staring at the screen of your phone!

I remain amazed at the number of folks I pass who are gazing at their crotch while driving. I do hope there is a phone down there.

They are engaged in Omphaloskepsis. Benno can explain.

[Benno von Humpback]

In Maryland, we pay for an entire "Insurance Compliance Division" of the Dept of Transportation and insurance companies are required to both record that you have insurance and notify the state when you cancel your insurance and they are supposed to both cancel your registration and assess a substantial fine for not compliance. It appears we are just paying for more jobs for Baltimore County without any discernible impact on the number of uninsured drivers.

For Florida? My daughter's insurance costs doubled when she moved from Maryland to Palm Beach County. Reason given by USAA was the number of uninsured motorists in Florida, particularly south Florida. That and the fact that Bentleys and Lambos are routinely "street parked" there. As my son observed, his 911S would be a "below average" car in Palm Beach

MD is one of the better states in this regard. Some are more or less on the honor system. Presumably, we recoup the marginal cost of that office in lower premiums and more payouts.

[Ajax]

A few weeks later and...

I have a cargo cover installed. This will preserve my spare tire and allow me to scrape and re-paint the bed.
I scrounged up the "pioneer tool kit" that mounts on top of the toolbox. (Shovel, pick-axe, single bit axe).
I scored a rare bit of kit for the truck- the Arctic winterization grill cover. Normally sells for $500. I paid $25 and it's in like-new condition.

I also purchased a set of tires for $350. It seems that the old NDCC tires are passé on 2.5 and 5t trucks. The owners remove them and slap on Super Singles that are way too large. Then, they sell their old stock tires for dirt cheap. This allowed me to remove the most worn and dry-rotted of the set and match up the level of tread wear so they wear more evenly. A side benefit is a much smoother ride.

[Ajax]

Tools and grill cover. The grill cover is nuts. It has "goggles" for the headlights.

[BeauV]

I love the cold weather kit. I used to use cardboard and duct tape on the Morgan back when it didn’t have a thermostat.

[Audrey]

I also purchased a set of tires for $350...

A set? Please tell me that's only 2 tires...

[Ajax]

I also purchased a set of tires for $350...

A set? Please tell me that's only 2 tires...

10 tires, mounted on wheels. Only 7 of them were viable. Of the 7, only 6 were a significant improvement over my current tires. That's ok, because my tires appear to be a mixed set and the level of wear didn't match up. I'm putting on 5 good tires, getting a good spare and matching up all the wear.

I'm deflating and breaking down all the non-viable tires. I'll keep the inner tubes for floaty-toys and take the tires to the recycling center. I'll media blast all the wheels and paint them or just sell them for scrap.

[TheOffice]

Inner tubes make great mast boots! One tube would probably take care of the whole list!

[Audrey]

10 tires, mounted on wheels.

Hmmm, I paid more for one tire, then paid for shipping, and had to mount and balance it myself.

[Jamie]

With all those differentials, do you have to worry about tire diameter?

[Ken Heaton (Salazar)]

I suppose your neighbours are waiting to see what you show up with next. A Cammo Bulldozer? A Tank?

[Ajax]

Maybe an M984 HEMMT wrecker?

Actually, I'd like an M151 "MUTT." These were small Jeep-like trucks built by Ford that replaced the M38 Jeeps. I'll have mine with the TOW missile launcher package, please and thanks.
The MUTT was cool in that is incorporated independent, 4 way coil spring suspension but this also made them prone to rolling over. They were the Corvair of the Army. They give virtually no warning before rolling over. After many attempts to correct the problem and protect the occupants, they were abandoned in favor of the HMMWV, several years later.

[Ken Heaton (Salazar)]

I can see where that might get your neighbour's attention...

[BeauV]

Ajax, my Uncle Nick was an Air Force Sargent assigned to a S. Korean Battalion during the Vietnam war. His job was calling in air support. He had a 151 like that with a radio behind the passenger seat and a 50cal mounted on a pedestal in the back.

He would agree that these were seriously dangerous in the hands of a 20-year-old who'd never driven fast. But for my Uncle, it was the perfect vehicle. It'd go anywhere and served frequently as aggressive "back up" to the infantry. His position was that the 151 was the last vehicle which could be turned around by a highly motivated crew of passengers, by lifting it up and just turning it around. He hated the HMMWV because it was just too big and heavy. Years later one of his drivers dropped a wheel against his leg and broke it. The leg not the wheel.

[Ajax]

That's a good story about your uncle, Beau.

Yesterday, I finally completed the job of replacing all belts and hoses and flushing the cooling system. I flushed the system 3X before I got anything remotely like translucent water out of the system.

Enough iron sediment had got in the system that the return hose from the heater core was totally clogged. I blew the heater core clear with low pressure compressed air, dug the sludge out of the petcock on the engine and used water and a wire coat hanger to clear the return hose. Now the cab has strong heat for passengers and the defroster.

The belts were a special chore. All sorts of crazy tensioning mechanisms and several matched pairs of belts instead of wide, serpentine belts. The water pump belt is removed by loosening the water pump and rotating the body (which is eccentric) so you can slip the belt off. This means that now you need to replace the big, copper crush gasket on the pump. All the belts were cracked and glazed and around 20 years old.

This job seriously ups the confidence factor for driving the truck.

[TheOffice]

Ajax,

I saw the Mission BBQ truck in Edgewater this morning. At first I thought it might be you.

Joel

[BeauV]

Ajax,

On MAYAN's main engine, whomever "marinized" the thing and added the big Jabsco impeller pump, decided to use the "rotating pump" trick to tension the belt. Sadly, when they did the work they had some sort of metric belt. As a result, when I use a US belt it's just a little too tight. This has caused the bearing in the Jabsco to fail twice in about 1,000 hours. My current fix is to put a washer under the far bolt, rotating the pump a little bit to loosen the belt, but that's making the belt run about 3° crooked with the attendant belt wear. UGH!! I don't want to modify the pump because right now I can buy rebuilt Jabsco pumps and just swap my failed one for a rebuilt. Pondering grinding down the side of the block about 10thou so that the belt isn't over-tight.

Suggestions??

Beau

[Ajax]

My suggestion is to find the metric belt and buy a dozen of them and store them onboard as consumables. Get rid of the washer that leverages the belt out 3 degrees.
Or, find a different pump and re-engineer.

[kimbottles]

My suggestion is to find the metric belt and buy a dozen of them and store them onboard as consumables. Get rid of the washer that leverages the belt out 3 degrees.
Or, find a different pump and re-engineer.

I am with Rich on this suggestion.

[BeauV]

My suggestion is to find the metric belt and buy a dozen of them and store them onboard as consumables. Get rid of the washer that leverages the belt out 3 degrees.
Or, find a different pump and re-engineer.

Yup, the metric belts are on order. But it took me two pumps to figure out what the problem was.