"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/30/2019 at 12:20 • Filed to: Truck Yeah, gambler 500
2
10|
"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/30/2019 at 12:20 • Filed to: Truck Yeah, gambler 500 | 2
| 10 |
Okay, so I didn’t want to say it, but I absolutely DESPISE the Thornbirds I have. My neighbor gave me the spare Thornbird from the offroad rig he no longer has, so I got it mounted and disposed of the leaky one.
BUUT, of course that’s not the end of it. Looks like the right rear has a damaged belt. Maybe a few days after I first got them mounted I noticed the tires got “flat spots” overnight. All this time I thought this was normal (after all, some people with Thornbird experiences in the past told me they’ll sometimes do that) but nope, it’s that rear tire going out of round when sitting. It took me over a thousand miles of driving and I only accidentally discovered the damage on Saturday. There’s one tread block that is swollen and worn to maybe 40% tread. These tires had like 90-95% life when I bought them so holy crap! I vaguely remember hitting a really bad pothole in Chicago so maybe that did the trick. I’m guessing what’s happening is that the tire starts out of round due to internal damage then as the truck travels it gets beaten back into shape, causing rapid wear on that single tread block.
Thankfully this isn’t a real problem since I have a perfectly good AT spare. But running the spare means I don’t have a truly usable spare in case I have tire problems during the trip to the Gambler, on the Gambler, or heading home. I don’t like doing multi-hundred mile road trips without spare tires, so I’m going to replace it anyway. Ideally I want to replace at least two tires so I have two usable spares and presumably matching tires in the back.
I hate how these things perform on road, too. They’re scary on big bumps (the truck bounces around far far too much), don’t give the steering wheel a whole lot of confidence, and only just over a thousand miles and these things wear fast like motorcycle tires. The trashed ATs I got with the truck handle better.
Ugh.
In other news, I secured the roof rack, painted my front bumper, and added ditch lights to the factory fog light wiring. To go is my bigger light bar, two types of siren, replacing that tire, and a “No Laws When You’re Drinking Claws” flag. This morning I also thought of a way to keep the bed from twerking since I’ve pretty much abandoned the idea of fixing the growing amount of rust on this thing.
Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
> Mercedes Streeter
09/29/2019 at 15:57 |
|
My step brother had a set of thorn birds And told me they were the worst tires he’s ever had.
Aremmes
> Mercedes Streeter
09/29/2019 at 16:26 |
|
I love the mirrored “white claw rascue/rascue white claw” lettering and the (intentional?) misspelling. It’s so silly and nonsensical, and I bet it will cause people to stop and wonder about it.
cmill189 - sans Volvo
> Mercedes Streeter
09/29/2019 at 17:25 |
|
If a tire has the brand “Interco” it has no place on pavement.
|
Mercedes Streeter
> Aremmes
09/29/2019 at 17:35 |
|
It was supposed to be “ White Claw Rascue” on both sides but I had already sprayed “Rascue” before I realized my mistake. xD I o nly got the hood correct. lol
And yes, the misspelling was intentional. It's a play on the "Sirch & Rascue" saying we have in the Gambler community. :) My neighbours absolutely love the truck!
|
Mercedes Streeter
> cmill189 - sans Volvo
09/29/2019 at 17:42 |
|
At this point I agree. The tires the truck came with were rotted and worn beyond belief and even they were better than the Thornbirds.
|
Mercedes Streeter
> Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
09/30/2019 at 12:22 |
|
I can’t even describe how terrible these things are. Like, I was warned that they would be loud...not that my steering wheel would become a suggestion box and potholes would make my heart stop.
vicali
> Mercedes Streeter
09/30/2019 at 12:37 |
|
You’re going to lose those lights the first hole you go through..
Why not make a bracket out of Home depot brackets and put them onto the hood hinges like real ditch lights?
Or just bolt them through the hood.. it’s not like you’re worried about more holes..
|
Mercedes Streeter
> vicali
09/30/2019 at 13:55 |
|
Depends on how bad that hole is! The original plan was to mount them high up on the front bumper and use the factory fog light wiring. I liked the idea of offroad lights switched using a factory button.
But surprise to me, that thick hunk of metal proved impenetrable for my puny tools. Pretty sure I could just go buy a drill bit made to chew through steel, but I didn’t feel it was worth the effort.
The factory fog lights survived me crashing into a mud pit so hard that I ripped off the lower valence and the lower radiator shroud. They also survived a full send down the same ravine that killed so many Gamblers last year. So I’m not too worried about these pods. My bigger worry is protecting the radiator, which sits some 6 inches or so lower than those $15 light pods do. :O
|
vicali
> Mercedes Streeter
09/30/2019 at 13:59 |
|
J
ust pick up the pieces ok? and have fun.
|
Mercedes Streeter
> vicali
09/30/2019 at 14:05 |
|
Of course! :) I try to live by the idea that you don’t leave anything behind that wasn’t there before. Unfortunately an exception was my lower radiator shroud. It got so swallowed up by the mud at the offroad park we were at that n one of us could find it. One day I’ll get around to hanging the remains of the lower bumper as a sort of trophy for the hardest send I’ve ever done prior to the Tennessee Gambler lol