[AT] Technology Creep

Dan Folske dfolske at nccray.net
Wed Jan 19 17:38:32 PST 2011


My Super 55 is simple to fix and I love my old 1947 KBS-5 truck but when I 
was in high school a car with 60,000 to 70,000 miles was considered wore out 
and had probably had at least one valve job by then. Cars over 8 or 9 years 
old that were daily drivers were few. Now I think of a car with 100,000 
miles as barely broke in. My 95 Explorer has 237,000, never been opened up 
and still doesn't use more than a quart of oil between 4,000 mile oil 
changes. My '99 F250 dsl has 170,000 and I just replaced the glowplugs. A 
couple of small local auto shops said they wouldn't touch them because they 
were under the valve covers and they had heard the wiring was really 
delicate. It took me about about 7 hours but it was actually pretty straight 
forward to do.

It's -10F and windy. I don't want to clear snow with the 55. I don't mind 
having to sit in the cab of the 186 Hydro with the heater on instead. (the 
186 is only 33 years old (grin) )

Getting the code readers for the newest vehicles can be a problem but a 
reader for my F250 cost $29.95 when I got it 4 or 5 years ago. Of course it 
is specific to F**d products of only a few years. The ones which can accept 
chips or software to read a wider number of vehicles are much higher and 
many of the newest models of CAT, Deere and others are proprietary and they 
won't sell analyzers or readers to anyone but their dealers.

On the PC side I still use an old Windows 98Se machine for some of my 
surfing but I'm writing this on a Windows 7 laptop which I like. Most of the 
features on the "7" ads are things I've been doing on the old 98SE or a 
Linux machine for a long time. Many of the "must have" upgrades are just 
remakes that look different.

I do like Dropbox for accessing files from work or home though. It beats 
dragging a flash drive back and forth and forgetting it when I need it most

Dan

-----Original Message----- 
From: Roy Morgan
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 6:59 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] Technology Creep

On Jan 17, 2011, at 1:02 PM, Howard Weeks wrote:
( Atis outage - the details)

> ... effort ...  to get funtionality and data off our PCs and into
> their paid (off site to us) domain....ok
> There is no way in hell that I am going to move in that direction.

Howard,

Hear, hear!
I'm with you.  "Cloud computing"?  Sounds fuzzy and insubstantial to me.

But, consider this:   May it come to pass eventually that we have no
good alternative?  It is in the interest of the technology mavens if
we do use their "services".

- We now cannot avoid upgrading to the newest (or recent) operating
system for very long.  After a little while, our old, familiar system
works badly if at all on more and more "content".

- Almost no one can repair a new or recent car or tractor at home.  It
takes a $5,000 computer to just figure out what's wrong, and the
module needed may have to come by air from the Pacific Rim, or at the
very least from some distant city in the US.

- When I was a kid (1950's/60's) there were many mechanics who could
fix your car almost no matter what was wrong with it.  Now, even
getting a maintenance manual is expensive and not easy.  The internet
makes learning how things work easier, but each family of engines and
whole vehicles has become a specialty unto itself.

Here, I have a 1951 IHC W-4 tractor, with a suspected broken valve
spring or stuck lifter.  I expect to be able to fix it myself (with
good advice).  I also have a 2004 Ford F-250 diesel truck.  I never
expect to fix it myself.

Roy
(Temps at 8 below zero F last night, warming trend expected up to the
mid teens!)


Roy Morgan
k1lky at earthlink.net
K1LKY Since 1958 - Keep 'em Glowing!



_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at 




More information about the AT mailing list