In The News

Tux and the other Chrysler folks may or may not have heard of this, the Jeep "Death Wobble." http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8547355
Chrysler is correct in saying the term is unfounded as people haven't died due to this condition. What I dislike is a manufacturer not owning up and taking care of their customers. They all function in denial, unfortunately it's the influence of our legal system through decades of crap which have pushed them to act this way.

You know there is a little truth to that statement by Chrysler in that many solid axle steering vehicles are susceptible to it... my truck got that a lil bit as the steering links wore out. Not nearly to that extreme though! Holy freakin crap thats absurd! Id be pissed. Funny thing is I know many Jeep guys with new ones and thats the first Ive heard of the Jeep wobble. Crazy! If its the same wobble I had then its the fact that Chrysler never put enough strength in the steering geometry joints and chose to make them sealed rather than fitting them with a grease zerk fitting. On my Ram they wear out to a certain point but never fully wear out. Along the way I noticed the wobble come and go and now I have after market links with Zerks to allow me to maintain the joints. Youre right though Avanti that due to the fact that if the Manufacturer doesnt word a response ever so weasely and carefully then it will open up the floodgates for folks to sue the ever lovin piss out of them just to make a quick buck and not because of the actual reason such as the wobble. But if I had billions to sink into a new company or just to buy out Chrysler(Hey I can dream!) then off road vehicles would come standard with Dana 60s and 33 inch tires on light duty application, 35s for HDs and off road all with bullet proof links. I need to start playin the lottery more often. twice a week aint getting er done.

There's a revised steering damper and different orientation that cures this problem for most vehicles. It's funny, I work for a Jeep dealer, and we don't see extreme numbers of these complaints. The ones that we do, are repaired with a new damper and orientation of the damper. I can't recall any comebacks. It's funny though, they speak of the case in California where the driver had to "veer across several lanes". Granted, the wobble is scary, but things get more scary when drivers overreact and "veer across several lanes". Easing on the brakes to bring the speed down is the safest way to stop the wobble, not slamming on the brakes "causing a pile-up behind me". The Wrangler is the only current production Jeep that can have this happen.

I had a different sort of death wobble in mine, rather than the front end it was the back end. And more movement. For some reason towing a 2003 Cavalier 8 hours on a tow dolly at 90mph through Illinois is impossible. Still not sure what happened exactly, but I bet the car next to the Cavalier sh*t themselves as they were headed toward the ditch to avoid it!

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New story, also S.F. based.
Hah hah, what a dipstick! http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/porsche-stuck-wet-cement-proves-karma-exists-210302568.html

Hah!

I bet the idiot didn't even pay the construction workers who tried to get him out either.

Guys, guys, guys. This Porsche driver is the epitome of a mouth breather. I think they should've left it there as a monument.

A new(s) thread for everyone to share and discuss events.

"A 14-year-old boy who was babysitting his younger siblings shot an armed intruder at their home in Phoenix and nearly killed the man. The teen said a woman rang the doorbell, but he refused to answer because he didn't recognize her. Not long after, he heard banging on the door and raced his siblings upstairs, grabbing his dad's gun. When he returned to the top of the stairs he saw a man with a gun breaking in. When the intruder pointed his firearm at the boy, the teen fired before the 37-year-old could get a shot off. The intruder is in critical condition, and police have hailed the boy for doing "exactly what he should have done," calling the family lucky."

Stalker, is this story legit? Did it make your local news?

I recall hearing something similar about a girl not too long ago. She was on the phone with 9-1-1, hiding in a closet and armed with a family member's weapon. She fired through the closet door and screwed up the would-be assailant.

http://now.msn.com/teen-babysitting-siblings-shoots-armed-intruder

Looks legit...

Its a little old, and I don't remember hearing much about it.

Not completely unheard of, its AZ, apparently we just shoot anyone/everyone we want to.

StalkerStang wrote:Not completely unheard of, its AZ, apparently we just shoot anyone/everyone we want to.

Well there are a lot of mexicans around there that do the same, so I'm told.

Remaggib wrote:

StalkerStang wrote:Not completely unheard of, its AZ, apparently we just shoot anyone/everyone we want to.

Well there are a lot of mexicans around there that do the same, so I'm told.

I've heard of many problems along the border states; Texas especially.

At least up here in Wisconsin the biggest problem is that half the flippin' state speaks only spanish.

Yo! Tux! Perhaps you should lay off that Golden Monkey a bit?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-accused-dragging-woman-subway-tracks/story?id=18246591

Wow! What a f@#$ing scumbag. Yeah, there's some ugliness in Philly. There's also some beauty too. I don't spend much time in Philadelphia.

story is linked to image

Tensions escalate between China and Japan. This dispute is over the long-standing territorial issues, except now they're doing more than throwing words.

Some 15 year old kid killed his entire family yesterday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Waited for his mother to fall asleep then awoke her to kill her. Brother was sleeping with mom and he killed him seconds later. Two other siblings ages something like 4-6 years old awoke to the noise and came into bedroom to be slaughtered. He then waited for his father to return from work at 6:00 am and killed him too. Just can't understand or wrap my head around this at all. Motive he had a disagreement with mom Friday night. Sick little fuck.

Yeah, that's messed up. Something wrong in his head for sure...very wrong.

Gov. Rick Perry recruiting businesses on California airwaves
Texas to California businesses: Move here!

To those who are in the know, please maintain silence.
I find this interesting as I do have a business idea and I am not averse to establishing locations in multiple states. This idea requires acreage and I have different size models to fit spaces available for when I can set down. One acreage requirement I nicknamed "Texas sized" because it's one of the bigger plots in my plans. Yes, only one of; I also have a plot I named "Alaska sized"

I have 97 acres available... Just sayin'.

Furthermore, I have a hunch as to what you're talking about, and this area may be just the place...

I could work with as little as 82.5 acres but that would be the Rhode Island sized plot. My desired working space is 280 acres. A bunch, though small if you look at it with relativity. Top Gear U.S. uses former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro; Top Gear U.K. uses former Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dunsfold.

What I envision would fit on a parallel runway section of a closed air base (Air Force, Naval, or otherwise). Why a closed air base? I like their flat, paved aspect. Within 40 nautical miles of me Moffett N.A.S., N.A.S. Alameda, and Crows Landing are closed.

N.A.S. Alameda would work but has severe consequences. If anybody were to "oops" too badly they'd be like Dinah in The Nails' song 88 Lines About 44 Women "Dinah drove her Chevrolet into the San Francisco bay." Yes, they'd go plop and end up in the bay.

Shall I be privileged enough and gain approval to use a former base I would make sure visitors didn't forget the land's historical usage. [Example] Business Name: Crows Landing office. Historical photos would hang and information about the time it was used by USN and NASA could be found on the premises. Cut and paste relevant information to suit location.[/Example]

Former bases
Abandoned and little-known airfields

Ambassador Field, Big Sandy, TX

This is the former campus of the Worldwide Church of God's Ambassador University. (If that sounds familiar to you Avanti, that's because they were headquartered in Pasadena and had a campus there too). In fact, if you've ever watched the Rose Parade, you've seen their campus. It's across from the starting point, at the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado... Anyway, moving on.

The campus is now in poor shape overall, as most of it is not used. The International A.L.E.R.T. Academy operates it. It has a long, wide runway, lots of open land near there, and the road around the campus (Smug Oak, Ln.) would be a great circuit (though some trees would need to be cleared for safety.

A.L.E.R.T. is not doing so well, their funds are running low, and it is rumored that they are looking to pull up shop. Perhaps there is an opportunity there. I'd always thought about using the runway as a drag strip... FYI, the closest track with a road course is Texas Motor Speedway. The closest pure road course is Circuit of the America's. TMS is 2.5 hours away, COA is 6...

I caught this on the evening news.

Some Wahoo thought he was going to be the next big shot drifter, lost it and went down a ravine. What this story doesn't add is an eyewitness account who said the car was oversteering a lot, then went off the road.

11:00 news updated and showed a silver C6 'vette pulled up onto Mt. Hamilton Rd.

The occupants should live so it's copacetic if we point and laugh at them. HA HA!