Snaggletooth

I've been a customer of this store for almost 40 years. I just found out they have closed their doors and are auctioning off EVERYTHING this next Saturday, April 7th, 2018, starting 10:00 AM. For any local folks they are having an auction preview on Friday April 6th from noon to 6 pm at their store location. The auction itself will be a Live On-Site auction with Online bidding also, now available to view items online. For what it's worth: Nebraska Motorcycle Parts 8415 "G" Street Omaha, NE 68127 Retirement Liquidation Auction All makes, brands and models. All NOS parts. Being run by THEAUCTIONMILL.com via Proxibid If Don don't smack me for posting this info on this forum and anybody is interested I will post more info about it if requested.

I did the block off plates from Skydoc on the anti-dives on my '84. I had already done the Progressive springs and installed the fork brace that Condor was making back then. So of course the Progressives made the biggest difference in the dive rate and after trying several several combinations of fork oil weights (between 5 and 15) along with different lengths of spacers (between 1/2" to 3/4") on the Progressives I ended up going with 15wt oil with 3/4" spacers to get that firm but not harsh ride I wanted. And that was with "0" pressure in the front forks. Just to top it off I changed out the OEM brake lines to SS. I'm a big guy. About 265 at the time, riding solo most the time, but with fully loaded saddle bags and top trunk with a tour pack on top of the trunk also. So I did end up with a greatly reduced amount of dive and a firm feel and great control on the lever with no bottoming out on the forks.

Exactly!!!

Mission accomplished!!! And people think you guys only fix motorcycles. LOL. There is always somebody around this site that has answers to everything. With you guys helping it got me trying new things. Always fun when when two other people have been trying for hours to get it all to work before I got involved. (That sounds like a lot of motorcycle stories don't it?) So I had been looking at that black plug on the back of the TV. It turned out someone and covered the Digital Output with black Duct tape. Got that scraped off and there was a lil hinged door under it. Popped that open and low and behold there was the exact plug to the cable supplied. So changed the connection from the cable box to TV output and magic started happen. But not quite there yet. Remember I said by friend and his wife had been working for several hours trying to get this to work? You probably understand how much stuff can be changed by accident by two people (not technically inclined) with three remotes between them. So I went back to square one with three different manuals and went through EVERYTHING. Found all the correct setting and got sound. BUT the sound was coming from the TV only. Went back and reset the TV speakers to OFF and boosted the BASS to the highest setting and hit the Volume on the sound bar and the woofer started dancing. Turned around and they were grinning ear to ear. They say the sound quality is far beyond what they had with the TV speakers. Well yeah!! That's why they bought in the first place right? But I have happy friends now and I got dinner out of it. So all is good. LOL. Thanks guys for the info and leading me to the right path. Thank you.

Hi Don. Hey you have more experience than I do. LOL. Been almost ten years since I lost my hearing. My only concern with TV these days is closed captioning. I'm digging this 50" thing. I can read the CC from across the room. I used to stay on top of the audio stuff with my computer system, my music and my recording studio mixer stuff, but that's been a while back now. Now the deaf guy is trying to help out my friends with a sound system? Duh. But waiting for them get home and I'll pull that factory plug out of the TV output and see what happens. I think going direct from the TV might be the answer.

Thanks Condor, I'll look into that. Their cable box is older model. Might be something to do with that. I keep remembering when I working in retail a lot of stores were griping about returns on TV's and sound systems that weren't "compatable". Did you plug yours into a cable/Sat box or to the TV directly?

I'm trying to help my good friend and his wife out with a problem. So far all three of us are scratching our heads. A couple years back they bought a Panasonic TC-P46G25 50" flat screen TV. Hooked it up thought the COX cable/Sat box. Always worked great. For Xmas this year they bought a Sony HT-CT180 sound bar system to add onto that TV. So they hooked it up and the sound bar is showing it has power and full function from the unit function buttons and the remote. But no sound from the sound bar. So I went over the installed to run through what they did. That's where it gets confusing and the sound bar instructions are a bit vague. The instructions say to connect to the TV/Cable box/Sat box. The cable that came with the sound bar is labeled optical/digital and the one end matches sound bar input. The other end, it only matched the optical output on the cable box. So that was where they plugged it in. I checked for an output to match that jack on the TV itself but all I'm seeing is a Digital output connection point but it's under a factory plug that I haven't dug out yet so see if it's a match. Even the sub woofer is a WiFi feed from the soundbar, sitting right next to it and it shows a functional connection, but no sound from it either. So ran the entire system through every possible path, Optical, Analog, Surround, even ClearAudio settings. Everything but the Bluetooth. I've gone through every set up instruction to test every function but no sound at all. Not a whimper, except from my friends. So from this info..... anything I might have missed? Any suggestions? Should I been looking at a direct connection to the TV instead of through the cable box?

Dano, good to hear from you again. Be nice to see you around the board more often. Who am I to talk? LOL. I'm getting pale from hanging out in the shadows so much these days. We need to smack Squeeze and get him to pop in also. That starter engage mod you guys came up with is still breathing fire like the day I installed it. And that is a lot of starts since that day. Thank you again for that! Take care of yourself old friend.

Nope. The MKI & MKII are similar but different animals when it comes to mounting them. This is the setup on my '84 with the my hitch, rear light bar and with my turn down pipes.

Dan, I don't know what to say let alone be able to say anything that will make you feel better right now. You and the warden have been down a rough road lately and you certainly did not need to be tested by this. All I can offer to you and your brother is my heartfelt support and prayers to give you all the strength you need to deal with this situation.

Sorry to hear this Dan. Thought are with you, your wife and family.

Back in the early 70's I was working as a mechanic at a MF dealer. They sold and repaired both heavy construction equipment and a wide range of commercial turf equipment as well. That brought a wide range of "Weird" toys into my life. That included those odd three wheel mowers by Yazoo I think it was, the bucking broncos of the mower world to those 9 gang reel mowers with the hydraulic arms for fairway mowing. But we handled to full Cushman line to boot. We had the contracts for the Police department for their meter maids and patrol officers down town. But onto my "Weird A$$" story. One of my service calls took me a contractors home to deal with a broken down loader. Did'd take me long to fix his problem and we got talking about other things he had problems with. He asked me if I was still working on any Cushman stuff. I told him I'd just gone through the Cushman service school and he was curious if I'd seen the one that floats. I told him we had sold a couple but they weren't very popular as they had some problems. All I got was "follow me". Off to his workshop we went. He had a Cushman "Trackster" I think they were called back then. Pretty ugly thing. Green and had 8 all terrain tires. Kind of a busted up body that reminded me of a boat. He said him and his dad had flipped it a few times and sunk it once. He had nothing nice to say about the thing. At all. LOL. Said he wanted to get rid of it but he couldn't get it running. It had the components I was familiar with plus he had the set of tracks that slipped over the tires for snow operation. It had the 29 HP, 2 cylinder 2 stroke with the Hydrostatic drive. I knew that thing had power but the reason nobody was a fan of those things with the way the Hydrostat was controlled was the simple T-Bar steering.. That controlled the steering, right and left plus the forward/reverse movement along as being the speed braking control. So pretty much a direct drive with INSTANT response to the control bar. If I remember right Cushman stopped producing them for a while because of some lawsuits by people that had flipped them. Not hard to do... just keep the throttle wide open and sneeze. So my first thought was "I WANT THIS!!!". So we worked out an agreement. I'd maintain some of his equipment and work on his dirt bikes and chainsaws in trade the killer toy. Kept it though that summer and most the next winter until the next big blizzard. When people saw that thing blowing through the drifts it wasn't hard to sell at all. Every body said it was "ugly" when they would first see it... Then it was "cute" when they would see me on the lake fishing from it. Then it was "beautiful" when the snow was up to their butts and couldn't get out of the driveway. Amazing how peoples opinions change with as their needs change. Do I wish I'd hung onto it? Well yeah. I wish I'd hung onto that danged $600.00 Indian to. But who knew?

Dang Saddlebum, never thought I'd hear those numbers again. I'd driven manuals most my life since I got my first license. Made my life simple when i first started driving truck. Back then 9 speeds were the common trany until the 13 speeds got popular. I had applied at a local company that made and delivered marble construction siding and raw marble material all over the Midwest. The boss man there was asking me about what kind of equipment I had experience with and as I rattled off my background his grin just kept getting wider. He finally looked at me laughing and said "I think I have a truck for you, come on outside and we'll go for a drive...... If you can got it off the lot!" That made me think it was going to be a beater. He led me to the far end of the lot and pointed to a fairly new Kenworth long nose sitting in a muddy hole with weeds growing all around it and covered with dust from the plant and lime rock lot. But it had everything a driver would ever want. Big chrome California West Coast bumper. Polished aluminum rims all around. Polished 250 gallon tanks on both sides and another 200 gallon tank on the drom deck all fitted with tank heaters and a polished aluminum headache rack with storage compartments. More lights than I'd ever seen on any truck. It was only a single sleeper but as it was only Midwest runs I didn't care. I found it had a 3406 Cat, a model with the mechanical governor which I favored. Dual turbos, and high back air ride captain seats on both sides. Not to mention the air ride suspension. From what I'd seen it was the nicest truck in the fleet. I had to ask the boss man what the deal was. Why is this truck not being used? The answer was simple. "No body could drive it, or even wanted to." The owner had specd it out for power and range in any conditions. He wanted a "Go anywhere, do anything truck." The problem was the transmission. He'd specd as a Two Stick with a 5 over 4 with a splitter and granny low in the box. He didn't have any drivers that could figure it out to make it work. So the next question was "Wanna go for a ride?" My only answer was "I'll drive!!!" So off we went. Stopped that the truck wash to clean off the dust and mud from sitting so long. Found a nice Forrest Green metal flake with silver trim. So with a few tips from the boss on Double Clutching we had a decent "Test Drive". So after a go through inspection and a few adjustments I left the next day on my first trip in that truck. Spent the next three years in it. Found I could out run the push dozers on the muddy job sites with the granny low gearing with an 80,000 scale ticket. Then this was back in the days when the bull haulers ruled the fast lane...... until I got there. Managed to pick up an "Honorable Mention" (just a warning) from the Kansas State Patrol on the turnpike as he figured his radar had malfunctioned. I wasn't about to argue with him about the reading he got that night. So in my three years in that truck I ended up learning a lot about over size and overweight loads. Did many trips with 9 axles on ground and went places most people wouldn't go on a dirt bike. I still chuckle a bit when anyone asks me if I've ever driven a stick. So ya got me started.......

Dang Bob.. Sad to see this but glad Becky is ok.

This is where I go when I need JIS stuff. https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/#jis-(japanese-industrial-standard)-screwdrivers/=17rcq3i Affordable and durable. The set of JIS screwdrivers I bought through them has replaced my drawer of SnapOn stuff.

Ok. Thanks for the replies. First ,yes they had written estimates already for BOTH ways. The insurance company keeping it as a totaled out vehicle and the option of keeping it themselves and changing the title to salvage. They had already stated clearly after the inspection they intended to keep the vehicle themselves. But no signed releases. And yep, they are aware of the limitations on a Salvage title here in Nebraska. As it's second vehicle for them with only limited use it's not a big concern. He's like me. He only keeps full coverage on the '93 because of the risk of damage in this neighborhood. Careless drivers, vandalism, theft, and the God awful trees on the block where we park. We both buy used vehicles, maintain them and drive them to the grave. As Venture n Dixie put it, it's a pressure tactic. Rush people to sign off without knowing their options. And to answer your question, no, I'm not an adjuster. My background was as Director of Safety working with trucking companies, insurance reps and adjusters, and all levels of LEO's on accident investigations. Pretty familiar with the games some insurance companies play to close a file. That's what caught my attention when they got that phone call saying they wanted to pick his truck up ASAP. They had NOT signed anything, only stated they wanted to keep the vehicle themselves. That was out of the ordinary in my experience. Hummingbird, LOL. I have several spellings for "lawyer". But this a G rated site. Not much money involved, it a '93 Ranger pickup not matter how ya look at it. Not worth dragging a lawyer into it. I thinks baylensman hit it on the head. "The other reason for such a quick pay off and pick up is to remove an "At fault" vehicle removed from circulation quickly and either get it stripped or rebuilt, in case of litigation." BUT there had been No signed agreement OR payoff at that point. That's a cover your A$$ move on their end. Strangely enough that important UPS package they received last evening did not really have any important info in it. So that looks like the insurer was doing another rush tactic to get them to do what the insurance company wanted. They did make some calls last night and explaining AGAIN they wanted to keep the vehicle. BUT today they did receive another UPS package. That included a check for a bit more money than the original offer for them to keep the pickup. Still kind of odd as they haven't signed any type of release at this point. But they are comfortable with the offer and able to keep their truck. So let the repairs begin. Thanks for your input guys. Was able to offer some info to a couple of good friends who were on unfamiliar ground.

I spent a lot of years in the transportation field in safety. Mostly handling drivers training and regulations but did a lot of accident investigators and handling the insurance claims involved from both sides. I have NO experience with my own personal vehicles because I've been fortunate enough that I've never needed to file any kind of claim. But this situation has me scratching my head. I've never run into this before. So for years I've seen a lot of good advice on this site so I thought I'd throw this into the crowd and see what comes back. My good friends here in town have a couple vehicles covered by those Good Hands folks for the last two years. The husband has a "93 Ford Ranger pickup he uses for work. Full coverage. In really nice shape and well maintained. A week ago or so he was involved in an accident. His truck suffered only minor front end damage. Head light, turn signal, trim work, left front fender is scraped and the bumper took the worst of it. It just is pulling a tad to the left but it's still quite driveable. He still drives it every day to go to work. Sadly the vehicle he struck was totaled, a 2011 Sonata I believe it was. But no injuries to that driver. So anyhoo, to get to the point, he took it into his insurer and they did an estimate on it. Much to our surprise they said it was totaled. They wrote him up two offers. Let them total it and KEEP it for a pretty reasonble offer OR he could keep the pickup and and take a slightly lower settlement AND have the title changed to "Salvage" but a still quite reasonable offer. More than enough to make the repairs needed to fix the cosmetic damage and repair or replace the mechanical items needed to make it roadworthy again. Him and his wife discussed it and as how it is a a second vehicle he mostly uses for work they opted to keep it and make repairs. They informed the insurer of their choice. So this morning his wife got a call from the insurer. They said to be expecting a UPS delivering today and they wanted to come and pickup the truck. The insurer says they decided they were going to keep the truck and total it off and wanted the title. The wife was shocked as that was not what had been discussed. That would leave them without the second vehicle and as they both work that would create a bit of a problem. The person that called said they had two weeks to turn the truck over to them. Sorry guys but I call BS on this one. From my experience yes, if they agree to a full settlement offer and don't want the truck, yes, take the money and run. But if they agree as they did to the lower offer and convert the title to salvage they are entitled to keep the truck and do as they please with it. So we we are still waiting to see what the Good Hands folks sent by UPS. No idea what might be in that package yet. As far as we have checked Nebraska will allow a salvaged vehicle to be insured. Maybe not by this insurer. But they aren't the only ones out there. So let the arrows fly guys. Need some advice. Is this the way insurance handle things these days?

You won't regret the DEKA AGM.. Mine was 5 years old when I replaced with a new one. Didn't have to.... still was at 25% battery life. But was planning a few months on the road so I didn't want risk it. My old one is still in a friends riding mower. Still starts everytime.

On the streets in Omaha, Nebraska............. Not so much.

I guess I'd like to add a lil to this.. Kind of a cautionary tale. We've all seen the TV shows and the movies with people having heart attacks. Pretty dramatic to watch. The gasping and screaming. The clutching the chest and the arm thing. Laying on the ground foaming at the mouth. Enough to scare the daylights out of ya ain't it. We've been educated by the media. We know what to expect. The thing is...... after these last three heart events the doctors call heart attacks I've NEVER experienced ANY of these things. Never had ANY kind of pain. Nothing that registered in my mind as a heart attack or anything very serious at all. The first time I had any problem was back in 2014. I was living out it a remote area here in Nebraska. Five miles from any paved road. At the time I'd been out on the bike for the day and had stopped back at the house and was a lil tired but figured I'd take a walk to stretch out and get a lil blood flowing. I remember sitting down along side of the road and then coming around some time later and i know something was not right. I usually don't take naps in the ditches. Ended up driving myself 20+ miles to a hospital. They told me I'd had a heart attack. Kept me two nights and turned me loose. Then early 2016 I was with friends in Omaha and got real short winded. Not bad, just felt heavy chested like congested. Was sweating pretty good. My friends were concerned and stuffed me in their car and drove me to the hospital. Next thing I know I'm on my back on a gurney and they are shoving a magic marker note in my face saying "YOU'RE HAVING A HEART ATTACK". (That's part of the fun of being deaf. Always got to wait for the note). Yeah right! LOL. I was mad because somebody had stolen my pants. Again the endless questions about the pain I was experiencing. Again the Nada, zip, zilch. Nothing. But did have two stents put in to keep the blood flowing. Then in June 2016 I was told I needed an implantable pacemaker to keep my heart in control. Had that done. They told me if there was any failure on my hearts part the pacer would kick in and keep me on beat. They said if when it kicked in it was fell like I got kicked in the chest... Something to look forward to right. They would not allow me to ride my bike because the pacer kicking in might throw me off the bike. Still waiting to feel the thing jump start. Nothing yet. So this February 2017, another event. Bad enough to score an ambulance ride. Lights and sirens even. It started in the meal wagon.. Where's it hurt? How bad is the pain? On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is your pain? Nobody gets it... On that 1 to 10 scale it's a zero. Nuttin honey. Just short of breath and sweating a lil bit. So this time I ended up in the heart cath lab. Got a full plumbing inspection. They did find one smaller artery 80% blocked and did another stent on that one. They found another larger artery 90% blocked and damaged but put that one on hold until the kidneys clear up a bit and then back to in to do a larger stent on that one. That will be 3 to 5 weeks or more down the road. Then MAYBE I'll start feeling better. So all I'm saying is if you have any thought in your mind that you'll see it coming, You'll know if something is wrong you might be surprised down the road. Me, I keep track of my blood pressure. stays pretty close to average. I monitor my blood sugar. For a big guy Im usually around 90 to 110. I know where my cholesterol is. I don't drink alcohol, not even coffee. So if there is any question about something that just don't feel right, some thing that just seems out of the ordinary for your body, any family history that might put you in a risk bracket, take the time to get a complete checkup. All this had me reflecting on something my family doctor told me in my twenties after an accident that I got up and walked away from, and probably shouldn't have. He said "You have the pain tolerance of a dead horse." It seems now there might be some truth in that.

Bongo said you guys were talking about me. Figured I'd better show my face. So yep, still alive. Just going to need some more plumbing work done. I'll be around. Thanks you for your thoughts. Well at this point maybe 5 left.

Prayers be with you and your family Dan. One of my oldest friends just had his Granddaughter shot down a couple weeks ago. Pointless crime over a stupid grudge. Hope the bad actors pay a hefty price for their actions.

I've been going over some the mods I've done on my '84 since I bought it back in 2006. I just realised it's going on 7 years since I installed Danos Starter Engage Clutch. That lil critter hasn't missed a lick since the day it was installed. Been flawless performance every time I hit the button. Sure there have been quite a few other items upgraded or just replaces since 2006 but without the engage clutch mod it was would have been in vain. Made my call to keep the bike worth the time and effort. So again, thank you Dano and Squeeze for your contribution to the Venture world.

No experience with those two lights but I've been using that company for years replacing dozens of bulbs in many bikes and several cars with their products. So far, in 6 years i've only had one that arrived not working. They sent me a new replacement the next day NO CHARGE. They stand behind their products. I've tried similar bulbs I found on eBay for a bit cheaper but found them not to be as reliable. Too many failures. But I replaced about every bulb on my own bike, except the turn signals and brake light, with their lights over five years ago, including bumper and all side marker lights in several mods and have yet to have one burn out. That's on an ALL WEATHER DAILY RIDER bike.. Rain, sleet, even snow a few times and temps down to 17 degrees. So all I'm saying is I trust their product quality. Best part is I've never had a gripe from anyone I used their products on working on their cars or bikes. I love repeat customers. The ones that roll away happy and don't have to come back because something quit. They come back because they want MORE!