Big Red

I am thinking about getting rid of the 35s on my truck πŸ›»

I am thinking about getting rid of the 35s on my truck πŸ›»

I was thinking about switching back to the old rims on my truck when I get new tires. I believe that I can run stock rims and tires with the lift kit and fortunately I saved the old wheels at the 31 1/2 inch spare. I almost sold the stock wheels but then I got busy and never got around to selling them. Sometimes being a hoarder helps.

I do need to confirm this is possible from the BDS instructions but I believe it is. The stock 31 1/2 inch tires are 3 inches smaller than the 35s (technically 34 1/2 inch) which means that the truck would ride 1 1/2 lower but the savings would be over $500 and the truck would get better gas mileage, acceleration, breaking and there would be a lot less wear to the suspension components like the ball joints, tie rods and wheel bearings.

Plus if I put the stock wheels and tires on, then I can go to Joe’s Discount Tire Shop and get discount tires. Not cheap ones but decent stock tires that are much more affordable than the 35s. Some kind of basic AT tire that will give me half a dozen years of reliable service.

It really is an attractive idea to me.

I like the Rockstar wheels and they are in good shape. I think they’re kind of cool. I want to save them for a future truck, especially if I get a three quarter ton truck and want better clearance and nicer looking wheels than stock. If I take off the Rockstars I can store them somewhere for future use.
Big Red is great but he’s ten years old and getting long in the tooth. By the time the West Virginia vacation is over, he will have 100,000 miles on him and I really doubt I’ll get the full life out of new tires before the time comes for replacement. I figure realistically I have two or three years left of useful, reliable life left on Big Red before I have to bite the bullet and get a new truck.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the look of the Rockstars and the big tires. The pointy stars are cool on each wheel, and the wide track helps with traction off road. But I hate to loose them when I junk my truck in a few years, and it would probably save a lot of money to go back stock.

I’ll miss not seeing the Rockstars on my truck but truth be told my truck is rapidly becoming an old clunker having been through ten winters with harsh deicing chemicals, and twice to the body shop for repairs.

LOL! I started looking at tires for my truck and my social media feed is full of advertisements for tires β­•

LOL! I started looking at tires for my truck and my social media feed is full of advertisements for tires β­•

It’s so fucking creepy. And hell of it is most of them won’t fit my big jacked up truck. πŸ‘Ή

I went to the shop today and got my oil change done, but they said it wasn’t worth-while to rotate the tires, I just need to bite the buck and get new tires on the old gal sooner rather then later. While they might not be worn down quite to the wear bars, πŸ€₯ (okay, well, some of them are so close) after nearly 6 years of riding on rough roads, the dry rot has set in pretty bad. The cupping — mostly pre-alignment manual alignment after repairs last summer — is the least of tires ‘s problems. And the best tires are on the back traction wheels.

Next week I will start calling around. First I I want to have new tires on and all alignment issues fixed before I go down to West Virginia in mid-October want to get the truck to Watkins Spring to have them do a computer alignment on their big truck computerized alignment rig which my local shop doesn’t have. Then I need to figure if I should go to the off-road shop that installed the lift kit or just an ordinary tire shop to order, balance and install the big tires. Mavis Tire does have Nitto Terras — which I like — but can they order 35s? Not sure. Working downtown full-time will make that easier — as I can just grab a bus to any of those places.

It’s going to be big bucks, but I make good money, and I want to keep this truck on the road for a few more years before throwing it away. I figure $1,500 for the tires when you throw in mounting/balancing and taxes, and $500-$1,000 for the alignment and certain to be found broken hardware, but I like my big truck. I’m glad the oil change is done — should be good for the rest of the year, and I don’t have to worry about trashing the tires anymore by not getting them rotated sooner, as they already are pretty bad.

I want to have new tires on and all alignment issues fixed before I go down to West Virginia in mid-October — maybe Columbus Day Weekend or maybe later.

The Grunt of Big Red on Tan Hollow Road

Listen to the engine of Big Red on this beautiful summer evening, as I turn onto NY 443. Notice, I wasn't swearing or playing copyrighted music in this clip, so it can have audio. That doesn't happen regularly.

The battery relay – exciter wire is working again on my truck

The battery relay – exciter wire is working again on my truck. πŸ”‹

Took five minutes to fix. I apparently used copper coated aluminum wire to run the exciter wire. Salt, water air got into one of the butt connectors, dissolved the wire. While I should replace the wire, I instead just stripped it back and fixed the bum connection. If I ever do any more automotive wiring I’ll follow the advice of the experts and not ever use CCA wire, it’s bad news. I am not surprised, I made this mistake previously and had this issue. CCA is much cheaper than copper but it’s one headache after another.

No excitement!

My exciter wire is once again not providing excitement to the battery relay, so the solar panel isn’t maintaining the starting battery and alternator isn’t topping off the accessory batteries. Relay is fine, just tested it with allegator clips. Bad butt connector somewhere, nothing obvious. I’ll have to get out the test meter and work backwards to the cab where I know I have power.

I thought I had mastered automobile electrical wiring, haven’t had issues in a few years. But vibration, dirt and salt is tough mothers.

God’s alternator is working hard today

God’s alternator is working hard today … πŸ”‹

Cold but sunny! No starting problems for me today when I go out later.

Wednesday, when I last went out to check the truck and knock the snow off it, the accessory battery bank was at 12.4 volts and starting battery at 12.3 volts. It was pretty cold, it was 3 days since I ran the truck, I had the lights on a while while I unpacked my truck on Sunday evening.

Today, with the sun and power flowing from the solar panel, the accessory batteries are at 14.3 volts and the starting battery at 12.8 volts. It looks like starting battery is taking a little longer to charge, but that’s normal as the system is set to charge the accessory batteries first, then once the voltage in system is above 14.1 volts to dump the excess power into the staring battery.