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LongStride

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Everything posted by LongStride

  1. We ended up getting the sound from the Vizio to go through the Furrion system by adjusting output settings of the TV and setting the Furrion to OPTICAL. Over the air stations can be difficult to find, and you need to rescan for available stations every time you relocate. There will be places that you will get no signal at all if you are in remote spots or in the mountains. Same goes for cell phone signals. Here is the work around that we used... In the rear attic compartment you will find a HDMI cable. Get yourself an adapter to go from that cable to your phone. You can then play any video that you have saved to your phone on your TV. We have Amazon Prime and we can download as many movies and TV show episodes as the memory on our phones permit. You can do this wherever you have a good cell signal. Once you have it on your phone, you can play it on your Vizio even if your phone has no signal. We have iPhones. I can't verify that this will work with Android.
  2. I used fitted foam rubber corner guards that they make to protect toddlers from bashing into sharp corners of furniture. They have "peel and stick" adhesive that was easy to remove when I took the cover off last week. They work great on the corners of the solar panels. I am sure that they would also do well on the sharp corners of the rear bumper. I had some rubber gasket material laying about that I used in conjunction with gorilla tape on the bumper because I could only find four corner guards at my hardware store.
  3. We use one of these (see below). Leaves etc. sweep off easily and sand/dirt just fall through the weave. Dries quickly and can be staked down so it does not blow away. Available on Amazon: CGEAR Original Sand-Free Outdoor Camping Mat - Water-Resistant & Anti-Fade Material - Military-Grade Construction - Reversible Design - for Beach, RVing, & Picnics
  4. Bring some warm clothes that you can layer so you can strip some off as the day warms up. We hiked up to Grinnell glacier a few years ago in August. It was 21 degrees when we started the hike early in the morning. If you plan to hike trails, bring some bear spray and know how to use it. No joke. On two occasions we headed off on a trail early in the morning, and when we returned to the parking area late in the afternoon we found signs saying the trail we were on was closed due to dangerous bear activity. The signs were put up while we were on the trail. We did not encounter any bear trouble, but we had some thrilling moments when two bighorn sheep insisted on using the trail we were on to come down the mountain. Glacier is well worth your effort to visit. It is spectacular. If you are healthy enough I definitely recommend that you do some hiking. There is so much more to the park than what you can see from the viewing areas along Going To The Sun road.
  5. I never thought to look for an O2 sensor. I suppose that I would be a very poor converter thief 😆! If the converter is the one with the obvious heat shield up near the engine and the other two canisters are resonators, well then kudos to Toyota for making the converter harder to steal.
  6. As ChrisMI pointed out, cat converters are normally close to the engine. They need to get hot to work. This is the first one that I have ever seen so near the tailpipe (photo at left). I copied the pics from the Toyota USA website. This really bothered me. I began to think that perhaps I was misled by the trained salesman who told me that it was a converter. However, it looks just like the canister near the bottom center of the photo on the right, which looks like a normal location for a CC. They both look like a catalytic converter without a heat shield over it. The component closest to the engine with what appears to have a heat shield looks like what I would expect to see for a converter. Could this be a resonator to defeat the whine of the twin turbo? Hmmmm. If it is not a catalytic converter, I stand corrected regarding my post concerning the same. If it is not a CC, I would still be concerned that thieves would mistake it for one.
  7. FWIW If you don't agree with someone else's opinion I don't think it is fair to portray them as a keyboard expert "naysayer" or as a "joy stealer". It is also not appropriate to accuse someone of raining on the parade of others just because their viewpoint differs from yours. I thought that my observations would be useful to others or I would not have posted them. I recently retired from a career working in mechanical design (not automotive). That does not make me an expert, nor do I claim to be. However, it does give me pause when I see things that I consider to be poor design. Conflict and inflammatory remarks have no place on this forum and I am disappointed that my comments rattled someone enough to get nasty about it. From now on I believe that I will just keep my comments to myself.
  8. @ChrisMI it is my understanding that there are multiple converters, at least two. There is one before and one after the muffler. The one before the muffler is up by the tranny on the curb side. This is according to the salesman who had been schooled on the new model.
  9. @rideandfly I totally agree with you that the increased payload and a 32 gallon fuel tank are big pluses. There are many useful and exciting improvements on the new model and I think that it will probably perform wonderfully. It sounds like it is going to be a great towing machine and there is no reason to doubt Toyota's commitment to quality and dependability. I just can't get past a few of the things that I feel are designed poorly. Kind of like building a fine watch and then putting a plastic crystal on it. Things like that bother me, yet others will find them to be totally inconsequential. We are all different. Enjoy your new truck. I am excited for you!
  10. Went to our local dealership to take a look at the new Tundra yesterday. I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed. The first thing that jumped out at me was the massive grille. It looks even bigger in real life. The grill openings are so large that a small bird could pass through and slam right into your radiator. I can't recall ever hitting a bird, but I have picked up a few stone throws from semi trucks over the years. Not much protection there for anything smaller than a ping pong ball. Mayflies, cicadas, bees, beetles and bugs will likely plaster the cooling fins on the radiator (look at the front of your Ollie after a long summer trip). Just seems to me that styling beat out function and practicality there. I have never been a fan of that behavior in mechanical design. The battery is directly below Andre's hand on the curb side in the photo shown above. It is partially below the hood cowling and packed in there tight. I would not even attempt to change it myself for fear of smashing something adjacent to it during removal and reinstall. You can't pick it straight up because of the cowling and the hinged side of the hood. Awkward at best. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth for some. It just seems like they did not put much thought into the location. The wheel wells have rather flimsy (IMHO) plastic spray shields fore and aft of the tires. Other than that, the wheel wells are wide open and there is no option for a liner offered. If you drive it in muddy or snowy/slushy conditions you will not like it. By the way, the model that I looked at had mismatched fasteners on the spray shields. They were distributed randomly and some were black oxide and others were silver. When I peered into the rear street side wheel well my tour ended abruptly. Standing upright just as I would if I were walking by the truck in passing, I saw the silver canister of a catalytic converter that is in such plain sight it literally screams "steal me". It is so exposed that if you had a long blade on a sawzall you might be able to cut it off just by reaching into the wheel well. Then all you have to do is poke your head under the rear bumper and cut the hanger off the tail pipe. You would not even need to crawl under the truck. Even an unskilled thief could have that off and be down the road with it before you could even slip on your glasses (insert shotgun as applicable) and look out the window to see what the noise was. Those of you that have read my latest posts are aware of my sensitivity to catalytic converter theft. Even so, it is still a really vulnerable and really stupid place to put the converter. Unless they have been sleeping under a rock for the past few years, the engineers knew that when they released the new model. Funny that reviews from folks like TFL Truck (who I really like) don't mention these things. It is big. It's brawny. It's expensive. It's packed with the latest and greatest electronic gadgetry and a high tech drive train. That is what the american market is hungry for. Now they are truly in the ring with Detroit. Did they alienate the fanbase who depended on them to provide good dependable trucks with solid design and bulletproof engines, all at a reasonable price? Time will tell. For those of you who really like the new design, I say "good for you" and I sincerely hope that you are happy with your decision should you purchase one. For me, the redesign fell short. I am disappointed and sad. I was really looking forward to it. Cheers! I wish all of you the best for the coming year and beyond.
  11. I currently use a tonneau cover because I like to be able to climb up into the bed without crouching or being on my knees. It has obvious drawbacks though. My model is not as secure as a cap, and if I need to access the bed in the rain my gear gets wet. The front of the trailer dominates the view from the rearview mirror while towing. I leave the rearview camera monitor on all the time and I use it in conjunction with the side mirrors to navigate safely. If you prefer a cap, don't let the view in the rearview mirror sway your decision. Not much there to see anyway. However, if your TV will also be a daily driver you may be more comfortable with the added visibility afforded by a tonneau cover.
  12. I didn't look at the vid, but I did a quick web search on the topic. The ban will include lawnmowers and leaf blowers as well. Basically any small gasoline engines. From what I can tell they will not be prohibiting the use of these small engines (yet), but will ban the sale of new ones that don't meet zero emissions. I am all for setting goals to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. However, sometimes it seems that good intentions are not always well thought out. Modern battery technology has made tremendous strides with equipment that has been traditionally powered by gas engines. There is no current wizardry that will make a battery produce energy rather than just store it. It is silly to include gas powered generators in this legislation. The technology to replace them with zero emission equipment simply does not exist at this time.
  13. We are big fans of leather upholstery as well. Most of our home furnishings are leather. When fabrics wear and get threadbare they look awful (unless it is your favorite Carhartt coat). Leather wear on furniture just builds character in most cases. I guess it would depend on the style of the chair/couch. Ours are all mission style or pub style. I guess wear would not look as cool on a big puffy lux white couch! We have the "ultra leather" fabric in our Ollie. It has proved to be soft and durable thus far. I don't know how it holds up to dog claws though.
  14. I get it as close to level as I can with the Anderson and then fine tune with the leveling jacks. Oh sorry, I meant to say stabilizing jacks 😆.
  15. Ha ha! Very clever Steve! That movie is one of my favorites. When I saw the title of the post, the movie was the first thing that came to my mind.
  16. In retrospect, I would have been better off to let it burn. That thought never entered my mind when it happened. In fact, I can't recall actually thinking about anything at the time. It was more of a reaction to the situation at hand. I attribute that to the extensive firefighting and shipboard damage control training that I had in the Navy. That was over four decades ago, but it stuck. Pretty good training I would say. It may have been to my disadvantage this time though. I did some more research on the extinguishing agent and found the same type of information that @John E Davies shared with us in his post. I believe that my truck was stored outside in a fenced area and exposed to a lot of moisture. I have compiled some documents, even a few published by the NFPA regarding the corrosive properties of the chemical; and I am going to meet with my insurance agent tomorrow to discuss. Thanks to all of you for your concern and comments. Mike
  17. As I understand it, in city traffic situations the hybrid exhaust system on a Prius does not get hot enough to use a conventional converter because of intermittent engine operation. To counter that, they need to use more of the catalyst to reduce the emissions. The other thing about them that is attractive to thieves, is that they are cleaner and easier to salvage because the intermittent use results in less buildup of carbon etc. That gets them a petter price when they sell them. I speculate that most of the converters are going to scrapyards. They turn around and sell them to companies that recover the precious metals. It is not like you can just cut one open and metal pellets fall out. It is a bit more complicated than that. It is doubtful that thieves themselves are recovering rhodium and palladium in abandoned warehouses. They are selling them to scrap dealers and metal recyclers, and that is what needs to stop. The unscrupulous operators of these establishments know damn well that the people who bring them in did not just find sawed off converters laying on the side of the road.
  18. Do a web search for the vehicles most targeted for converter theft. You will find the Prius at the top of most lists.
  19. Tundra Fire Update Well the good news for all of you Tundra owners out there is that the fire was not Toyota's fault. Someone cut my fuel line and the return line while attempting to steal my catalytic converter. The thieves are lucky that it did not ignite when they cut it. It took several weeks for Toyota to respond back to me with their findings, and a month for State Farm to decide what they are going to do about it. State Farm will not total the truck. They are going to replace the entire wiring harness, fuel lines, and assorted melted or otherwise damaged parts. I put out the fire with a dry chemical fire extinguisher. It is a powder finer than talcum powder and it is everywhere under and in the engine compartment on the drivers side and all over the firewall. My research indicates that the chemical used in my extinguisher is corrosive, particularly to electronics. It has been sitting on there for a month. State Farm does not think that this is an issue and the adjuster contests that it may have caused hidden damage. By the way, the adjuster never came to look at it. State Farm sent an independent agent to take photos and send them to their adjuster for analysis. I don't want to go through the aggravation of pursuing a lawsuit that will drag on for months with a company as large and powerful as State Farm. Until this is all settled I have no tow vehicle. My wife's Xterra has enough power, but the suspension and short wheelbase make it unsafe (IMHO) for towing a travel trailer. I can ill afford to have some hidden damage pop up and give me issues when far from home with Ollie in tow. I have authorized repairs and I will end up trading it in or selling it. It is probably the worst time ever to be shopping for a new truck, but that is what I am faced with. Rather than wallow in self pity, when the chips are down I tend to look at all the good things in my life that I am thankful for. One thing in particular is that my niece and her family are safe. They live in Mayfield KY and the tornado passed just beyond their backyard. Only damage they suffered was the loss of a big tree. They lost their church though, and possibly some friends or acquaintances, but they are okay. I don't know if they have power and water restored yet. I simply can't imagine the magnitude of despair those folks down there are going through. Many of them have lost everything. Makes my current truck problem seem very petty indeed.
  20. Well what do you know! I haven't seen any in decades. And to think that all this time I have been pretending with my Metamucil. Wow, I could have had the real thing!
  21. If the white interior does not suit you, there are a few less extreme things you can do other than apply paint to make things look more appealing to you. I would bet that by just addressing a few areas of the interior you would make a big difference. There are a variety of adhesive backed wall coverings that you could apply. Perhaps start by covering the flat wall between the dinette and toilet room. Then, as @SeaDawgsuggested; apply a backsplash behind the kitchen counter. Hang a few small framed photos and a few decorations. The impact will be enormous as compared to the stark white factory finish. I agree with the others that painting will really hurt your resale value. It would also negate the advantages afforded by the gelcoat finish. Gelcoat is terrific for any of the 3M command tape products. It is easy to clean. Suction cup mounted accessories work great. You will lose those benefits by painting. The first night that we spent in our Ollie I lay in bed looking at the reflection of the lights from various electronics on the sleek interior, and I felt like I was on a space shuttle or something. I thought it was pretty cool. I wanted to drink some TANG... 🧑‍🚀
  22. @Ghostrider10-32, at 5'-10.75" I am comfortable in the Elite1. I can move about the trailer without fear of hitting my head on anything. I just clear the air conditioner. I fit in the bed lying flat on my back with my feet relaxed. However, my head is almost up against the hull and it took me a while to find a pillow that did not take up much room. Big fluffy pillow would not work. Fortunately I found one that works well and I sleep comfortably. I don't really need to duck down in the bathroom but I do need to cock my head a bit. Can't stand tall in there. Does not really bother me. I usually sit on the toilet to shower. At least part of the time anyway. Kind of a combination stand/sit thing. The Elite1 works for me, but at 6'-2" you may find it to be challenging.
  23. I have never found a fix for this. It is really not that much of a bother. When I go through my mail I just delete the notices. It really frustrated me at first, not so much because it was an inconvenience but because it was broken. I just hate things that don't operate as they should.
  24. I agree with @SeaDawg, something does not sound right. The rate seems excessive to me but as @John E Daviespoints out there are many factors that affect that. The thing that really gives me pause is that they refused to insure your trailer unless you insured your tow vehicle with them as well. Give Good Sam another call and share your experience with them. You may have just connected with a bad agent who was trying to take advantage of you.
  25. I would recommend that you contact the folks at Good Sam. I went to them and they set me up with National General Insurance for a "full replacement cost" policy that is less than $500 a year. They also give you a discount for long term storage if you let Ollie sleep during the winter months. Just call and tell them you are putting it into storage and then call again when you plan to put it back on the road.
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