On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:24:29 GMT, Ignoramus1729
wrote:

I bought this pickup last fall, from a nearby municipality, it has
only 35k miles on it despite baing 15 years old. They did not use it
much.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Dodge350.jpg

1) about yellow strobe lights. Is it legal for a regular person to
have these lights (when they are turned off)? What about driving with
them turned on? I would presume that it is illegal. I am in IL.

Red or Blue lights would be a problem, because they are almost
universally reserved for police and fire use only - even possessing
the red or blue domes for those rotary beacons could be turned into an
'impersonating an officer' beef if they wanted to stretch it.

Amber lights are no problem if used properly - when the vehicle is
used in emergency, construction or maintenance work, and they often
stop in the middle of the road.

Go poke around at http://www.dot.state.il.us/ and see what the rules
are. I'd say if you are worried get two flour sacks and cover up the
beacons for now, or you can sew up two nice light covers in heavy
canvas or Naugahyde with a draw-string bottom for permanent use.

I would have found it fast if they had the Illinois state site
organized halfway decently... One nice thing about home, it's all
easy to find online and cross referenced forty-seven ways.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vc_index_l.htm

Here's our law, look under "Lights and Lighting" for all the
categories that are specifically allowed to have amber beacons -
Disaster service workers, and a whole batch of various construction
and maintenance vehicles.

But this is an important distinction - note that nowhere in the
California codes is there anything that says you CAN'T have them if
you don't fall under one of the permissive categories, just lots of
categories that explicitly allow them. I can't see yours being that
different, but you never know.

It all boils down to having a legitimate reason for /using/ them
while on a public street or highway, like stopping behind an accident
and providing assistance to the people involved.

IMHO I'd patch the paint but leave the orange stripes on the truck
so the cop can see it's and ex-State vehicle, and the legality of the
lights will never be an issue - unless you're dealing with a total
asshat like Sheriff Buford T. Justice. And if the officer is out to
hassle you and is looking for any chickens**t reason to give you a
ticket, let it be the amber warning lights. That's an easy one to get
a judge to dismiss.

2) It is a 1 ton truck and it bounces a lot, like on speedbumps and
such. Is it simply due to having strong suspension (it is a 1 ton
model), or is something wrong with it?

If you want it to ride really nice, put a ton of dead weight in the
bed. It'll smooth it right out... Yup, heavy rating, stiff springs.

Probably why it never got driven - it was issued to a department
that never carried anything heavy (like the architects or engineers)
and they never drove it because it rides like a buckboard when empty.
Given a choice, they'd grab the keys to the sedan.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:24:29 GMT, Ignoramus1729
wrote:

I bought this pickup last fall, from a nearby municipality, it has
only 35k miles on it despite baing 15 years old. They did not use it
much.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Dodge350.jpg

1) about yellow strobe lights. Is it legal for a regular person to
have these lights (when they are turned off)? What about driving with
them turned on? I would presume that it is illegal. I am in IL.

Red or Blue lights would be a problem, because they are almost
universally reserved for police and fire use only - even possessing
the red or blue domes for those rotary beacons could be turned into an
'impersonating an officer' beef if they wanted to stretch it.

Amber lights are no problem if used properly - when the vehicle is
used in emergency, construction or maintenance work, and they often
stop in the middle of the road.

Go poke around at http://www.dot.state.il.us/ and see what the rules
are. I'd say if you are worried get two flour sacks and cover up the
beacons for now, or you can sew up two nice light covers in heavy
canvas or Naugahyde with a draw-string bottom for permanent use.

fyi:
these covers are also avail commercially at www.GALLS.com


I would have found it fast if they had the Illinois state site
organized halfway decently... One nice thing about home, it's all
easy to find online and cross referenced forty-seven ways.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vc_index_l.htm

Here's our law, look under "Lights and Lighting" for all the
categories that are specifically allowed to have amber beacons -
Disaster service workers, and a whole batch of various construction
and maintenance vehicles.

But this is an important distinction - note that nowhere in the
California codes is there anything that says you CAN'T have them if
you don't fall under one of the permissive categories, just lots of
categories that explicitly allow them. I can't see yours being that
different, but you never know.

It all boils down to having a legitimate reason for /using/ them
while on a public street or highway, like stopping behind an accident
and providing assistance to the people involved.

IMHO I'd patch the paint but leave the orange stripes on the truck
so the cop can see it's and ex-State vehicle, and the legality of the
lights will never be an issue - unless you're dealing with a total
asshat like Sheriff Buford T. Justice. And if the officer is out to
hassle you and is looking for any chickens**t reason to give you a
ticket, let it be the amber warning lights. That's an easy one to get
a judge to dismiss.

2) It is a 1 ton truck and it bounces a lot, like on speedbumps and
such. Is it simply due to having strong suspension (it is a 1 ton
model), or is something wrong with it?

If you want it to ride really nice, put a ton of dead weight in the
bed. It'll smooth it right out... Yup, heavy rating, stiff springs.

Probably why it never got driven - it was issued to a department
that never carried anything heavy (like the architects or engineers)
and they never drove it because it rides like a buckboard when empty.
Given a choice, they'd grab the keys to the sedan.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:53:42 GMT, Ignoramus1729
wrote:

Regarding patching the paint, you are touching an interesting
question. What is the greyish stuff beneath the white paint, is it
primer?

Probably gray primer under white paint, but check the truck's body
tag for the original color - It might have been built as a silver
truck, then the state changed their mind and wanted the fleet all
white and they had it repainted.

GTE did that - they got some really fast and cheap white paint jobs
done. And it didn't help that some of the original silver paint jobs
were rather tentatively stuck to the bodies in the first place...
There were more than a few trucks that needed a full stripping down to
primer and a proper second paint job done.

Is there some cheap solution like applying some crap remover, and then
spray painting large areas?

If it is primer and it's clean (no rust) you can leave the existing
paint alone. You just need to hit the bad spots with fine sandpaper
(600 or finer Wet-Or-Dry paper used wet) to feather the edges of the
bare spot smooth and get some tooth for the new paint to grab, use the
proper paint thinner to strip any wax oil or grease, mask it off, and
paint it. Several light coats, build it up.

Any good auto parts store with an auto paint department can mix
matching paint a quart at a time, and they'll have the right
thinner/reducer and all the other supplies you need. Drive the truck
there so they can see it, and they can even adjust the color to match
any existing fading so you don't have to repaint the whole thing...

Too bad it's a Dodge. Rustoleum V2196838 (4TH68) Fleet White in the
**** can matches "GM Fleet White", and it's great for masking the
inevitable bed dings. It might be close enough to match on a Dodge.

And remember: It's A Truck - It's for Working, not for Looks. So
what if the paint looks like crap if you study it up close. If it
looks good when you back up 5 feet and it's sealed so it can't rust,
that's all that really matters. ;-P

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:24:29 GMT, Ignoramus1729
wrote:

I bought this pickup last fall, from a nearby municipality, it has
only 35k miles on it despite baing 15 years old. They did not use it
much.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Dodge350.jpg




On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:37:42 GMT, Bruce L Bergman
replied:

IMHO I'd patch the paint but leave the orange stripes on the truck
so the cop can see it's and ex-State vehicle, and the legality of the
lights will never be an issue - unless you're dealing with a total
asshat like Sheriff Buford T. Justice. And if the officer is out to
hassle you and is looking for any chickens**t reason to give you a
ticket, let it be the amber warning lights. That's an easy one to get
a judge to dismiss.


On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:53:42 GMT, Ignoramus1729
replied:

I agree. I am not terribly worried.

Regarding patching the paint, you are touching an interesting
question. What is the greyish stuff beneath the white paint, is it
primer?

Is there some cheap solution like applying some crap remover, and then
spray painting large areas?

Its bed is full of dried paint. I think that they used it to get to a
location, deliver paint and whatnot, and then it sat there all day
long waiting for road painters to finish.


If the bed is really lumpy with the dried paint, see about renting a heat
stripper. If it is not so bad, get a used bedlinerfor $30-50 -- the paint
underneath will stop the bed from ever rusting! about the touchups, try
lightly sanding where the grey shows through, and spray a couple of light
coats of white CHROMIUM primer, and where you see the metal -- tailgate and
spots on rear quarter -- you should sand off the rust and use quite a few
coats (comes in spray bomb -- can get it in stock usually in black and
white, or order the right colour from most Napa type places) This type of
primer sticks well and helps prevent rust. After that you don't really need
to paint because this type of primer comes as a gloss.

btw, I love your truck -- great shape for a 86-89. Let me know if you come
across another one with a slant six (225), 360, 400 or 440

rach

Ignoramus28190 wrote:
So, if I go to Napa, I should ask for a "white chromium primer",
right?

rach replied:
call ahead -- yes, in the spray bomb -- you won't need much -- if they
have it in flat or gloss get gloss -- most napa places have black and
white chromium primer on hand, but it isn't body season in IL yet is it
? so they might not have much stock. If they don't know what you mean,
I'll get you the part number.

rach


btw, I love your truck -- great shape for a 86-89. Let me know if you come
across another one with a slant six (225), 360, 400 or 440

Ny 4 year old loves it too, it rides like a boat (until it hits a
speedbump). The truck is a '90, by the way. It has only 35 thousand
miles on it.

You're right. Oops! grn I'll bet he loves it!

My own 1999 dodge ram truck

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/packing/c...g/dscf0027.jpg
It is very pretty. I am partial however to older trucks because the new
ones are over my head


I had for the last 7 years, already has twice more miles.

I will eventually sell the '90 truck, but so far I drive it wherever I
can. I bought it at an auction.

Here's a video of the Dodge 350:

http://www.algebra.com/~ichudov/spool/Dodge350.avi

ooh! fancy -- we have filmage -- very impressive.smile btw, nothing
wrong with those shocks


Thanks for the primer suggestions.

no problem