Grumpy Bear

That center seat belongs to Rex. Just try to take if from him. A 30 pound Rat/Pit mix who has is territory staked out and isn't bashful about letting anyone else know it. He goes with me everywhere and always. Wife comes sometimes too. She gets the 'other seat'. IF there would have been a TRUE flat bench seat option...I'd have one. Rex likes space.

Want to see a photo when you're done of the radiator connections please.

I love this. In America we see Mercedes-Benz as a big deal. In third world countries they are Taxi's. Love the 60's Impala SS. 61 to 67 and a 396 or 409 was even better. The 94 IMHO was a really good 'do over'. Great cars. The last gasp of full size super cars. A good four speed all that was lacking.

Love this one. I just found out while researching for new insurance that a 'NEW' car can be damaged up to 20% of its 'value' (whatever that means), repaired and still sold as NEW with no obligation to inform anyone about the repair. Damage like this occurs during shipping. The receiving dealer is under no obligation to accept the damaged car but IF they refuse receipt the OEM sells it to an auction house where is receives it's first title transfer thus no longer can be sold as 'NEW'. Then that car is sold at the dealers auction for whatever price it will fetch, repaired and sold on a dealers 'used' lot. Easy to spot cars. USED cars with a 100 miles on them and damage turns up in the title search. The OEM is reimbursed for 'lost value' and is made whole. The dealer gets a killer deal on a NEW car. Body shop makes some money and the buyer, if his eyes are wide open buy a cosmetically damaged low miler a deeper discount than otherwise could be negotiated. I bought a Scion iA like that a few years ago. Dirt cheap. Spent a few hundred in paint work repairing the awful repair the car had been given and TRADED a few weeks latter for more money that I had invested on a one year old Buyer Relinquished Silverado with only a thousand miles on it at just above auction price for the Scion and some cash. That would be Pepper. Did I game the system? No. I bought the truck for about a thousand under dealer auction after accounting for the money made on the Scion. A good deal alright BUT the auction price is still several thousand above manufactures to dealer sell price or salvage. It would have never been sold at auction if the salvage value would have been higher. None of these clowns are dealing for 'reasonable profit'.

If you pay cash there is an $11,250 upcharge? So what does a "Cash Allowance" mean? Means the truck is overpriced. Not compared to it's MSRP. Not compared to the 'customer invoice'. Not compared to the GM 'floor plan". Compared against it's pre- profit cost of production. Even the Insured 'gap value' is to high. Don't think so? Compare it to the salvage value v auction value. When you are forced to buy 'full coverage' to finance; it does more than protect you against losses. It protects the banks. In essence you to pay for the banks insurance policy on your truck. The insurance company is no longer a 'public pool' of our resources that we pay some administrator some 'reasonable fee' for his management services. It's a profit center. It will never structure a claim as a 'fair deal'. You will always pay more than you will ever receive. Their bottom dollar is the trucks real 'market value' because boys and girls that IS the market they are all MAKING, not it's cost. Point of this windy ramble is when a manufacture advertises a deal like this they LIE about it's value, discounts fully discounted are still well above any reasonable profit you will ever receive for your work hours. They sell you a nickel candy bar for an MSRP of a dollar, discount it fifty cents and we are suppose to get all warm and fuzzy over it. Put a GMC grill in a Silverado and jack the price higher. Put a Cadillac grill in a Yukon and jack it up again. And still we fall for it. Then complain to the wife about her Kohls 'bucks'. "Honey I just bought this hundred dollar blouse for 80% off"! Really?

Wish my 2015 had them.

Why does it need a rebuild with only 60K on the clock? Curious....

WHAT??? You love that truck!

Bad trade!

Yes there is a week of the month left but I'm calling this month and the winter quarter done. Haven't filled up since 1/11 and the forecast for next few days is freezing rain. They will just be adding to the salt coating and I have no expectations the roads will be clear of it anytime soon. Pepper doesn't get salt on her shoes. There isn't a February economy number to report but there is the 2018 winter quarter. Previous two year average was 25.1 mpg for December through February. Both years within tenths individually. Current winter quarter: 26.1 mpg, a 4% increase. The results of 0W20 v 5W20. Results rest on 3 years of data. 24 fill ups. 9800 miles and 387 gallons of fuel. 25.3 mpg life time winter quarter average. Best tank for season 28.3 mpg, worst 22.9 mpg. Current LIFE TIME AVERAGE 27.1 mpg

I do wish I had seen this when it was posted. Question. What is the opposite of 'loose'? How about tight. Are your nuts loose or tight? Not are your nuts loose or stiff. Loose or tight are opposites. Tolerances are looser in the driveline of a truck. Yokes splines etc. Stiffer was an adjective describing the chassis, springing and dampening. Here's the funny part and I don't mean ha-ha funny either. You knew this when you drafted it. You didn't need me to step on. You have your own soapbox. So what's the point?

Yes it will I dents in the floor are your only concern.

It's the simple things isn't it? Temperature drops to sub zero (F) and every washer system not under a roof freezes solid. Actually they were all solid by 25 above zero and I had just had the wiper system serviced. NOT fun and NOT funny. This will generate a conversation I don't like having. Be that as it may finding fluid good for -35F is not that easy local. -20 seems standard but did find some at Lowes and when weather allowed the system to thaw did a drop and fill. I need to find this stuff by the case.

The girl that prepped and shot my Line-X asked me how much I wanted done and did it. Full coverage plus the rear wheel wells. Stripped the wells, bed and tailgate, prep and shoot. Zero overspray on any exterior surface. Very nice job. She's moved on to another shop so I need to find a new dealer but the bumpers are next. Love this product. Not so much the dealer network granted, but there are good ones out there. Just have to find them. Job now three years old and looks new yet. Easy to clean. Did I mention I love this product?

I was given the option to have it done at the dealership and after looking at the ones on the lot came to the same conclusion you have. Cheap job done with cheap materials without the proper prep work. That said the one thing I did like about the factory coat was the way the tailgate was masked for the floor. When Line-X did mine they sprayed so thick that the tailgate can no longer be adjusted dead flush. Most don't notice it but I do and it bugs me. The one place where the factory got cheap and it paid off.

2015 Rado with 86,000 on the clock. Repairs? A $15 pinion seal.

Now there's a memory. When my oldest boy was about that same age I came home from work to find he and his friend across the street filling the gas tank of my 66 Ford with sand playing gas station. Boys stick with a project. Removed nearly 50 pounds from it.

There is a Quality Choice. I want to talk about your everyday underwear. Do you care what they are made of? How about surgical stainless chainmail? Perhaps wool? How about burlap or tent weight canvas? Fiberglass? Oh wait, Polyester! I’ll bet none of these choices are on your list. What do they lack? Besides comfort? How about quality? Quality in any part starts with a choice of materials. I’ll bet cotton would be on most people’s list of quality choices. How is it then that when we speak of quality of a truck part the material it is made of is last on the list of considerations that indicate to us a QUALITY part? You can look at a dash made of PVC or polycarbonate and if it looks of decent proportion and geometrically pleasing we call it a quality piece knowing for a fact that in a short time it will pop, crack, peel, fade and the list continues. Faux vinyl wood grain? Plastic stainless finished trims. Pebbled surface emulating leather. Plastic snaps. Shall I continue? This is the trade for electronic wizardry? I trade my wood grain dash for Bluetooth? A Smiths jeweled tach for a thousand dollar replica of the digital clock on my night stand I bought at Wally World for a fin? Faux cloth coverings that never saw a plant or insect? Carbon Fiber for PVC and some vinyl wrap of carbon fiber. Now let’s talk about your next Prime Rib dinner. Tofu anyone? That's one Paradigm. And the other would be........

Practical solutions to every day problems.

At-a-boy Nick!

So after back to back 5" snowfalls followed by a -30 F week we get hammered by two days of rain and 40 F temperatures to melt the 2 feet of total winter accumulation. Wait ground is a rock so no place to sink into. Water up to the bumpers...then....an ice storm with enough accumulation to take out power lines. Baby - baby. Are we having fun yet? As bad as that sounds and feels, looks like much of the lower 48 is hammered worse than northern Illinois. I feel blessed.

Digging her out. -26 F is as cold as I saw it here. Rockford airport registered -30 F 18 miles north and DeKalb airport -25 F 15 miles south.

Going to call January a done deal considering the next few days forecast. Two fills, just over one tank for the month and only 705 miles. 2017 24.9 mpg 2018 23.9 mpg 2019 26.2 mpg A weather driven month indeed.