Traveller Smurf (Cubey's '89 van)

[Booyah45828]

Yeah I've seen that before. Actually as recent as about 2 months back for the wife's xmas gift.

Site I bought from showed a NJ address and Fedex showed "shipping label created, awaiting package" in NJ forever. Dug a little and found it was coming from where it was made in Israel, and into NJ, where it would process through customs and then ship via fedex to me.

Normally you can spot the Asian direct shippers masquerading as stateside because they're always near a large port on the west coast, like LA, Long Beach, or Seattle. I've actually seen a large number advertising as being in Louisville, KY too, which ups has a global hub there.

It must be too much to ask that sellers listed as USA located actually have the product here in the states.

 

[Cubey]

Yeah I've seen that before. Actually as recent as about 2 months back for the wife's xmas gift.

Site I bought from showed a NJ address and Fedex showed "shipping label created, awaiting package" in NJ forever. Dug a little and found it was coming from where it was made in Israel, and into NJ, where it would process through customs and then ship via fedex to me.

Normally you can spot the Asian direct shippers masquerading as stateside because they're always near a large port on the west coast, like LA, Long Beach, or Seattle. I've actually seen a large number advertising as being in Louisville, KY too, which ups has a global hub there.

It must be too much to ask that sellers listed as USA located actually have the product here in the states.

I dunno, I have ordered cheap stuff from near port cities on eBay and it seems to ship from within the US. I'm guessing it's because warehouses exist near the ports? I'm sure it's against eBay policy to falsely say where it's from and the seller might get a warning about it, if reported and looked into.

 

[Booyah45828]

I'm sure there are some that are from the usa and ship from warehouses here, I've just ran into it before where the seller said it was in the USA and what I received was shipped from overseas. As a buyer, I flagged it as not received due to the item being over a week late past the delivery estimate. Since usps said it wasn't even shipped yet, ebay returned my payment. 2 weeks later(a solid month after purchase), it showed up at my door and lo and behold it was shipped by dhl from china, went through customs, and then re-shipped to me by usps.

I originally felt bad, as I was refunded the money, leaving the seller out the money and item. But after thinking about it, I had to make other arrangements and buy something else because of it, and none of it would have happened had the seller been honest and disclosed the shipment origin correctly in the first place.

You've got more faith in ebay employees actually doing their jobs then I do. Any issues I've had were dealt with in an automated fashion, with no human interaction or recourse if it was done incorrectly.

 

[Cubey]

You've got more faith in ebay employees actually doing their jobs then I do. Any issues I've had were dealt with in an automated fashion, with no human interaction or recourse if it was done incorrectly.

I've been using eBay for 20+ years, both as a buyer and seller, and I had more problems as a seller with dumb buyers than I've ever had as a buyer with bad sellers. But I never lost anything as a buyer or seller. Bought a booster for the RV in 2019 and it arrived broken... and not even the correct booster. Needless to say, they had no choice but to take it back and refund me in full. ebay forces the hand of sellers to respond in a timely fashion or it'll get ruled against them automatically.

And regarding the gauge, tracking went from "USPS awaiting item" on the 15th, to arriving at the post office here and being delivered today. I guess USPS didn't bother scanning it at all until it got here? I'll go pick it up on Thursday, because the mail room is closed on Wednesday.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I guess USPS didn't bother scanning it at all until it got here?

I've noticed that they're getting pretty lazy about it. I used to say that USPS is a close second to UPS, but they've been slipping back to the Snail Mail reputation lately.

 

[tbowker]

I've had usps lose several cards for me recently. They ask if I put tracking info on it, who puts tracking info on a birthday card?! I think they feel for a gift card and then remove it and conveniently lose the letter.

 

[Cubey]

I've had usps lose several cards for me recently. They ask if I put tracking info on it, who puts tracking info on a birthday card?! I think they feel for a gift card and then remove it and conveniently lose the letter.

a check or money order would be better. that would be hard to feel inside of a card

 

[tbowker]

Yeah, lesson learned.

 

[Cubey]

Oh boy, Ford decided between 1985 and 1989 to make it harder to get at the upper nut on the front shocks. Or maybe I don't remember it being that bad. (edit: it was that bad. looked at pics from 2020)

You can't see it. It's reachable from the engine bay side (on the passenger side only....) especially with a stubby wrench (9/16 currently). Thank goodness that the shocks are designed with a nut welded on down below on the shaft do you can stick a wrench up top and turn it from below. it's not the correct method but it should work, at least to remove the old shocks.

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The driver side is another matter for getting to the top nut... normally. Someone said "screw that" and hacked out a notch.

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[Cant Write]

Routes are a bit limiting out west due to so many mountains.

Why are you worried about Mtn passes?

I would think your van with beetle in tow would be less burdensome on a trans than your MH.....

I must be missing something.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I would have to guess that it's because there's a lot fewer roads to take.

 

[Cubey]

I would have to guess that it's because there's a lot fewer roads to take.

Yep. Big states with fewer highways to get around massive geological features. There's only two routes to get into Western Utah from the Western half of Arizona, due to the Grand Canyon. I-15 from Las Vegas (shorter) or US-89 from Flagstaff (longer). They both drop you reasonably close to each other in Utah, closer than they were further south.

 

[Cubey]

Took the van out for a little drive to go pick up a cheap mountain bike with a semi missing ebike kit on it for $25.

The aftermarket water temperature gauge that I had on the RV is showing 190, that's a good 8-10 degrees warmer than the RV typically showed at slower speeds. I do have it in a different port on the van, so maybe it's a hotter area? I had it in the factory gauge port on the RV. It's in the dummy light port on the van.

But then again, I know it's a bit low on coolant, needing to purge the air after replacing the water pump, so maybe it's just that. The overflow was a bit lower than before, so I added some fresh as soon as I got back, so it'll have plenty to get sucked into the radiator as it cools down from sitting.

Maybe that new fan clutch just isn't as good as the Motorcraft one that the RV got too.

The factory gauge shows it pretty cool/normal.

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But yes, 8-10 hotter than what I'd consider normal on this.

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[Cant Write]

Did you replace the thermostat? Maybe it’s doing a better job of keeping the engine up to temp......?

I have no clue, just throwing an idea out.

 

[Cubey]

Did you replace the thermostat? Maybe it’s doing a better job of keeping the engine up to temp......?

I have no clue, just throwing an idea out.

Yes, both times. The RV got a Motorcraft thermostat when it got it's new fan clutch, and the van did too with it's new water pump and fan clutch. I didn't have the aftermarket water temperature gauge hooked up until now, so I can't say how it was before. 180 when warmed up at idle is more inline with the F250 too. Could just be low coolant. I'll update later next time I drive it. Could be another month though.