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I am one too, with her Father not in her lifes path, I was a more involved Gpa, and I am so proud of her for navigating this road. And she really is enthusiastic about my Volvo, she loves horsepower!! Thanks for the support.

Great perspective Cory. I have been a machine mechanic and now a contractor installing machines for 30+ years. My work involves concrete- cutting, rebar, embeds and pouring, installing the equipment with mechanical skills such as welding, adjustments, operation as well as some include electrical wiring to cause the equipment to operate with air power, hydraulic power or mechanical springs. I have been amazed how few young people are not considering careers in the trades, because there are still buildings needing built and maintained, vehicles needing repaired, equipment needing installed and repaired. I do feel that MY generation may have put too much emphasis on college and now we find ourselves in a shortage of younger folks interested in some very fulfilling careers. My Gdaugther is only 24 and is making a very nice living as an auto mechanic. She went to trade school like you descrided and has taken a path that has led her to a solid career. She has school debt but is very satisfied with her career choice although it took a while for a company to realize that although being female, she is still a valuable asset to their company even though she doesnt fit the traditional mold of what a mechanic looks like. She still likes her long hair done, her nails done and the things she enjoys being female but that for her includes auto mechanics. I encourage you to share the opportunity to mold young people into careers that are not college based-heck they cant all be coders!! Congrats.

AND you framed it on a weekend. The system is the problem unto itself. While it has value at times, it totally inhibits progress in a TIMELY fashion, due to its inefficiencies, all the while slowing down the machine it is authorized to manage and producing more revenue because of the rules, which it is impossible to know all of them. God help us.

Interesting and helpful info and applies to many of us, so having this knowledge will benefit.

When was the legislation created and voted in? I see that it was enacted in 2022 but what is the back story?

The irony of this is that the codes have exemptions BUT since it all begins as commercial, nearly all trucks stay registered as commercial, but with some effort, those used as private vehicles CAN be reclassified, it just isnt done.

That is the Cali way. I sure strikes me in a bad way when the CA DMV continues to collect sales tax on all used vehicle sales when their own sales tax guidelines are about taxes being collected when a product has had "value added" to it, as in buy a product wholesale and then when value is added, tax is collected and paid to the State or County. How is DMV adding value to used vehicles each time they are sold. They collect it when the vehicle is new and the collect more each time the same vehicle is transfered, but in order to complete the registration process, additional tax must be paid. That is then the beginning of the journey of vehicle taxes. The yearly registration costs are ridiculous as well as the fuel taxes. Cali pays some of the highest yet we all know that it has some of the worst roads esp freeways in the country. This has to change but will likely not.

You do nice work Henry.

Dont know this person but would like to learn about the change. Where can I find it?

I have owned my own business since 1988 and do certainly understand profitability BUT really, I wish I could have had a captured clientele. Not saying they dont deserve to make a good profit, and yes there are fat and lean years, but ....

And why wouldnt you. Heck, the price of diesel is a valid indicator of prices doing what they do, and then we pay for it in the tank, the grocery store and every other place where we buy things, cuz diesel gets it there. It is unfortunate to see BUT really does SHELL and other oil companies NEED to make lifetime record prophets???

Reach out to rvroofingpros.com. They have a nice product that will make your 6 months timeline worthless. It is a liquid applied membrane with Kevlar for durability and it wont need any future caulking so no climbing up there. Except if you damage your roof, of course, but this can also help with those damages when encountered. Be VERY careful about having it done with a silicone based product. They are fairly inexpensive, used alot but DONT lend itself to any repairs in the future. Best to stay with elastomerics.

Have you confirmed that the alternator is in fact providing 12V at the 7 pin plug? And is the wire size sufficient to capitalize on the amp output of the alternator? Have you considered a solar panel/s that would provide charging irregardless of the engine running? Perhaps increasing the battery bank could also be considered. That could allow for capacity to run your refer until you are able to get to destination OR until you stopped for some time to run a smallish generator.

A 20W panel isnt likely going to allow for overcharging the car battery esp with a charge controller. It is a good idea for that purpose and allows for the battery to be exercised considering the small phantom drains that every car has. That is good for car batteries. I use 50W panels that I move from each piece of equipment as needed & I have a bunch of those. They work well, alligator clips onto batteries.

Tomorrow we pick up our new to us '16 Smart. Then the bed mods to load it. So glad we moving in this new direction.

Yes, picked it up yesterday. Decided on a different shop, an independent shop specializing in Volvos, in business since 1955. I had it towed in on Tuesday and they called on Thursday telling me it was ready. Turned out the lead tech had it diagnosed in 30 minutes, replaced the transmission control module(~$250) and reprogrammed things and it was done. They also did a good once over and declared it healthy(should be with only 85643 miles). Glad that is behind me. They speculated that the failure was due to its age. The TCM that they installed had a few revisions since the original was installed in the truck in '08, perhaps because they created a better one over time, but the newest one is installed and working. Now I am wondering WHY the starter and batteries needed changing?? Those werent cheap. At least now I have a resource that I can trust to work on my truck. Apparently the dash was indicating that the problem was TCM related, not specifically what had failed but certainly what system was the culprit. Good work is more difficult to find, I guess.

Well, almost a year later and we have a deal on a 2016 Smart with 66K miles. We looked at a lot of them and prices were all over the place but in the last few months have come down to where I was willing to pull the trigger. We pick it up on Sunday. Thanks to all that provided some helpful info to assist on this journey. Now to buy the ramps and build the chocks.

Well, I do know how you have come to enjoy your activities in Q and esp the company of friends. Its too bad that you are stuck dealing with Mother Natures leftovers. It almost sounds like your having to do work, maybe not with tools but certainly with managing those projects. Hope all goes well and you can get out of town soon. I understand about contractors being busy. That has been my profession for over 3 decades and with the economy looking questionable, I wonder if I will EVER be able to stop this. But I will say that my body is telling that I dont have too much longer to be able to do this. Between being sore and having less stamina, I am also looking forward to some Southwest rejuvination.

hope you realize that Q & the Southwest has been getting LOTS of inches of rain, so you may have been in the rain and gloom as well, but today is a really nice sunny day and we are drying out.

IF you choose another Volvo, you might consider adding an additional step or 2 to assist in the climb into the cab. I have knees that are worn out but not ready for replacement, so I'd like to try to get them to last and I will be fabricating some steps soon.

That is certainly pretty telling. In the area where I live there are many wells and the local water district uses water from wells for those on municipal water. Add to that the amount of houses that are continually being built and all the commercial development, well it is no wonder that water is so far down. Here in So Cal, we dont have the infrastructure to capture as much of the rain water including runoff, as is needed. That will need to improve but its not likely in my lifetime.

That RV park is actually about 1+ hours north of Los Angeles, closer to Santa Barbara actually. I was in that area for work on Monday when the storm was starting and they had evacuated that park. Some people full time there. Back in '95 that same park was destroyed by a similar event. Many RVs washed out to sea. The storm was a doozie. I did some work in Henderson last year and stayed in Boulder City. That lake is LOW. Hope it can recover. I really like that area.

How did you come to conclude that this comment is AGE related? There are other reasons that people have comprimised reflexes albeit age is one of the reasons as well, and we all do well to be honest about our own circumstances as to our ability to drive safely.

This was done without success and so the starter was changed. I am not doing the diagnostic myself, as I previously indicated, I have a Volvo master tech doing these checks but it has been difficult since they have been coming to my yard(1 hour drive each way) and trying things, like troubleshooting. The next step is to tow it to their yard(after they move the 1st of the year) so that they can have it there to do the troubleshooting. I did get a tidbit on the FB page that offered to check the shifter and associated connectors/wiring from the shifter as the contributor said it had happened to them that inside the shifter had an issue that was preventing the neutral to be satisfied even though the shifter was in Neutral. I will try this when I have time. I run 2 businesses and work more than fulltime, so time has been MY greatest challenge. Thanks for the continuing ideas.

It has been replaced> It would not actuate when jumped at terminals