The Random Thoughts Thread

A mountain of mounts.
How many mounts do you have in and on your vehicles, trailers and all your other toys? I keep finding myself adding accessories and attachments and of course most of those need some sort of mount. I even just made a mount for my kayak trolling motor mount to mount on my trailer which in itself is a mount for my kayak and SXS Jerry cans and so forth. All which require more mounts.....I'm feeling a Monty Python moment......SPAM!
 
From PCI Race Radios

“The Channel is Code Red”

It is with great sadness that we relay to the desert racing community of the passing of Bob “Weatherman” Steinberger. Bob passed peacefully at his home in Parker, Arizona after a long battle with cancer.

Bob found his niche within off-road in that pivotal year of 1972 when he became good friends with Bill Stroppe. Bob received an invitation from Bill to chase the Baja 1000 that year. Bob and two guys trekked to race mile 800 with a two gas cans and a truck full of adventure. Two days passed with no word from the race truck. Eventually, the truck arrived, the gas was dumped and the truck pushed on to the finish.

Bob expressed his frustration with the team, explaining they should put two-way radios in the vehicles so the two could communicate. The following year, Bob put communications in the vehicles of Stroppe, MacPherson and Walker Evans. At the 1974 Mint 400, he sent up three weather balloons with five hundred feet of coax attached and the first successful relay from a pit was made. It is believed that it was Joe MacPherson who couldn’t remember his name, so he dubbed him “Weatherman” on the radio. The rest is history and iconic status has been reached through nearly half a century of work with the company he founded, PCI Race Radios.

Bob’s dedication to The Weatherman Relay was so important to him that in the recent weeks as he battled cancer, he asked his son Scott Steinberger to carry on the Weatherman Legacy in his name. Scott accepted the honor and responsibility and has filled in for his Dad at the last few races, as he was too ill to travel.

Bob was an avid off-road enthusiast. When not providing communication relays from the top of Mount Diablo for SCORE races, he was on the ground in the Nevada and Arizona desert providing retrieval efforts with his famous “Yellow Zebra Jeep” at BITD races. He loved rock crawling and all things off-road. Bob also enjoyed hunting and spending time on the river with his friends and family.

In 2013, Bob was inducted into the Off-Road Hall of Fame. A great honor and a fitting recognition for a man who has spent almost half a century dedicated to such an amazing culture and sport.

Information to follow about a celebration of life.

 
RHD brand new LC.

0621171806.jpg
 
BlkWgn said:
From PCI Race Radios

“The Channel is Code Red”

It is with great sadness that we relay to the desert racing community of the passing of Bob “Weatherman” Steinberger. Bob passed peacefully at his home in Parker, Arizona after a long battle with cancer.

Bob found his niche within off-road in that pivotal year of 1972 when he became good friends with Bill Stroppe. Bob received an invitation from Bill to chase the Baja 1000 that year. Bob and two guys trekked to race mile 800 with a two gas cans and a truck full of adventure. Two days passed with no word from the race truck. Eventually, the truck arrived, the gas was dumped and the truck pushed on to the finish.

Bob expressed his frustration with the team, explaining they should put two-way radios in the vehicles so the two could communicate. The following year, Bob put communications in the vehicles of Stroppe, MacPherson and Walker Evans. At the 1974 Mint 400, he sent up three weather balloons with five hundred feet of coax attached and the first successful relay from a pit was made. It is believed that it was Joe MacPherson who couldn’t remember his name, so he dubbed him “Weatherman” on the radio. The rest is history and iconic status has been reached through nearly half a century of work with the company he founded, PCI Race Radios.

Bob’s dedication to The Weatherman Relay was so important to him that in the recent weeks as he battled cancer, he asked his son Scott Steinberger to carry on the Weatherman Legacy in his name. Scott accepted the honor and responsibility and has filled in for his Dad at the last few races, as he was too ill to travel.

Bob was an avid off-road enthusiast. When not providing communication relays from the top of Mount Diablo for SCORE races, he was on the ground in the Nevada and Arizona desert providing retrieval efforts with his famous “Yellow Zebra Jeep” at BITD races. He loved rock crawling and all things off-road. Bob also enjoyed hunting and spending time on the river with his friends and family.

In 2013, Bob was inducted into the Off-Road Hall of Fame. A great honor and a fitting recognition for a man who has spent almost half a century dedicated to such an amazing culture and sport.

Information to follow about a celebration of life.

Click to expand...

What I'd give to hear the "Weatherman" call one more person a "Richard Cranium" (PC for Dick Head when he was on the radio and there was a stuck mic or some other moron that didn't "get it". Bob always called it the way he saw it...maybe that's just a Bob thing.

Bob was and will always be a legend to desert racers, that guy has single handedly saved more racers than all of the life flights and ambulances combined. His son is now filling his role at the Baja races. Machelle and I depended on the Weatherman to get us an update on our car a few weeks ago in the Baja 500. We had no other way to locate our race car, out of cell phone and team radio range, but I could hit the Weatherman.
 
Last edited:
Reminds me of Prado styling... looked up 200 Series and that is NOT a 200 Series rear end I could find so WTH is it? Michigan plates and RHD tells me it's a test mule of some sort.

@wesel123 has one maybe he knows
 
I'm kind of surprised at the number of people that still think diesel is king.

Modern diesels are probably more expensive to maintain than a typical gas engine. For the buy in cost, you'd have to keep most diesel's for an eternity to make the fuel economy issue be cost effective, all new diesels have over the top emissions issues, not to mention adding DEF (diesel exhaust fluid), in CA diesels don't get the 5 year smog exemption that gas engines do, parts are harder to come by at times depending on location, etc.

I have an '06 Duramax, if it wasn't for the tow capability (torque) of my engine, I'd probably have a newer gas engine truck. I'll keep my '06 forever as it is the last of the engines that didn't have particulate traps, etc.
 
bob91yj said:
I'm kind of surprised at the number of people that still think diesel is king.

Modern diesels are probably more expensive to maintain than a typical gas engine. For the buy in cost, you'd have to keep most diesel's for an eternity to make the fuel economy issue be cost effective, all new diesels have over the top emissions issues, not to mention adding DEF (diesel exhaust fluid), in CA diesels don't get the 5 year smog exemption that gas engines do, parts are harder to come by at times depending on location, etc.

I have an '06 Duramax, if it wasn't for the tow capability (torque) of my engine, I'd probably have a newer gas engine truck. I'll keep my '06 forever as it is the last of the engines that didn't have particulate traps, etc.
Click to expand...

It's funny you mention this. I was just ranting about diesels earlier today after someone posted an article about why Ram needs to put a diesel in the Power Wagon. Pretty much hit the nail on the head with the MPG savings vs increased costs.

My eyes are rolling into the back of my head again with these "Why doesn't the PW have a diesel?"

icon_rant.gif


I have $50 that says the author of this article hasn't actually wheeled a Power Wagon. Usually, the calls always come from diesel owners. And the people calling for it, can never offer a reason why it should have one beyond "Torque is cool". Actually, after reading the whole article, he never offers a reason why. Just states that RAM is missing out on money or something to that effect.

He left out some other problems diesel pose offroad with all that added weight and stress on the front axle. Ram engineers elsewhere have stated that the diesel's oil pan sits lower and possess problems with protection and upward compression of the front suspension. All that weight isn't necessarily a good thing in certain soft terrains either. I've seen plenty of "Diesel Bros" sink their trucks.

Considering the expense, I don't think I'd buy a diesel PW. I tow a lot and researched the hell out of reasons why I didn't want a diesel. And the extra expense and hassle were part of my decision to buy a gasser.

I think people just want the diesel because it seems cool.
Click to expand...

I don't know about anyone else, but I like hearing my spotter without yelling. Although don't' get me wrong a J80 with a 4BT swap would be cool.
 
^^^^In my head, PW's are right up there with Raptor's...for every truck that gets used for it's intended purpose, there are 10 that are mall crawlers/status symbols. My dealership was a Jeep dealership before the US auto crash of '08. When we sold Jeeps our salesmen pimped the Wrangler Rubicon as the "top of the line" Wrangler.

The Rubicon trim level is truly an off roader up grade package (4:1 tcase and factory selectable lockers among other things)...not a sticker package...just as the PW is today. I'd be willing to bet a sit down dinner that most salesmen/women/persons (a stroke of PC just struck me in a PW topic) also sell the PW as an upgrade package to people that have no need or intention of ever using the truck to it's capabilities.

A Cummins in a PW would completely change the character of that package IMO.
 
bob91yj said:
^^^^In my head, PW's are right up there with Raptor's...for every truck that gets used for it's intended purpose, there are 10 that are mall crawlers/status symbols. My dealership was a Jeep dealership before the US auto crash of '08. When we sold Jeeps our salesmen pimped the Wrangler Rubicon as the "top of the line" Wrangler.

The Rubicon trim level is truly an off roader up grade package (4:1 tcase and factory selectable lockers among other things)...not a sticker package...just as the PW is today. I'd be willing to bet a sit down dinner that most salesmen/women/persons (a stroke of PC just struck me in a PW topic) also sell the PW as an upgrade package to people that have no need or intention of ever using the truck to it's capabilities.

A Cummins in a PW would completely change the character of that package IMO.
Click to expand...

Mhem, Raptors are one trick ponies, and not even very good ones at that. But they've got looks on lock down. Everyone buys one because they're "COOL".

Yeah, the PW is not a sticker package or really sold as one. Especially since it's got everything the Rubicon (minus the crawl ratio, it's not as good) has, selectable lockers, disconnectable sway bar, armor, lift, winch.

It is, according to Mike Manley, head of the Jeep and Ram brands, “an off-road, all-access pass.”

Matter of fact, I rarely see them. And the sales numbers compared to the Raptor are pretty abysmal. Most people have no idea what a Power Wagon is for that matter. Everyone has heard of a Raptor. But I heard the 17's are selling a little better.

But the Rebel still outsells the PW. It's def a niche truck.
 
Throw a rock in SoCal/ Baja and it will bounce off of 4-5 Raptors before hitting the ground. Not sure I've even seen a Rebel, and PW's lack flash/unique body panels, so I don't really notice them either.
 
bob91yj said:
Throw a rock in SoCal/ Baja and it will bounce off of 4-5 Raptors before hitting the ground. Not sure I've even seen a Rebel, and PW's lack flash/unique body panels, so I don't really notice them either.
Click to expand...


Are you calling me plain
 
I like the fact the the Power Wagons have the same body panels as the other Rams. Sleeper look and way better when you need parts because you're not getting gouged paying Ford prices for niche, low production number parts.
 
^^^^Agreed, stealth is a bonus. When the Rubicon first came out, the hood stickers immediately targeted them for thieves. They were a prime commodity in Mexico. Our '05 was targeted twice, Machelle went out to the Jeep in a "guarded" Sharp Hospital employee parking lot to discover that the cheese dick door locks had been forces with a screwdriver, and the lower portion of the steering column had been pried off. Fortunately for us, our Wrangler had the coded keys and they didn't make off with our Jeep.
 
All this talk of upselling individuals to vehicles they'll never use the full capability of has me wondering where the Ford Bronco is going to fall when it's released in 2020. Ford swears that it's going to remain true to its off road heritage, but thus far no confirmed specs have been released.

They have said it will be body on frame and will use the same frame as the upcoming Ranger. The ranger is spec'd to have independent front suspension IIRC. It would be nice to see a Bronco with solid axles and similar options to the Rubicon...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom