I've been on the road the past couple weeks, heading home tomorrow. I went and bought off a conveyor for my plant. It hauls seats out a truck and returns the empty trays. Since I was in Memphis and had last Sunday off, I went and saw the King of Rock and Roll at his grave and estate at Graceland. I took a metric ton of pictures, but culled them down for a representative lot.


This is the conveyor. That black hole at the far end is the rear end of a specialized on the road semi trailer.





I did the "Elvis Experience." They redid the museums recently, and you can do them and the plane (called Elvis's Memphis at Graceland), or you can actually tour the mansion, and all the above, for the Elvis Experience. I recommend this level unless you want the VIP tours. Also, if you just want to see the man, they allow people to walk up the hill and pay their respects each morning no charge.

This is his living room and the music room past it.




This is the foyer. You DO NOT get to go upstairs. The house was renovated as a museum and is not decorated as Elvis had it. It had much more red and gold. Upstairs is Lisa Marie's bedroom, and his suite, which was an office, bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom. Oddly, the bathroom is above the foyer.


His parents' bedroom. He loved family.


Dining room. The man also loved food and television, had some 14 of them.



Kitchen. He had cooks and a huge staff, so food was available all hours. Dude loved to eat.



The Jungle Room, which was known simply as the Den even after Elvis redecorated, was a porch.



TV room in basement. There's 3 TVs in the wall so he could watch all networks like LBJ.



Pool room in basement.




More shots of the jungle room. Apparently the **** carpet made the acoustics good and he did record some here.


To be continued.

 

Let's try these captions. This is his dad's office where they handled fan mail and gifts


Backyard horse paddocks.


I didn't include many misc stuff shots, but this is typical of the stuff he had during the 70s in the house


Raquetball court on premises



Pool next to meditation garden


His dad had him and his mom moved from a public cemetery when it was too much hoopla, so Elvis, his parents, and grandma are here in the garden.


Front of house where you wait for return shuttle.

 

I went to the car museum. Info included.










Some gold records in the career museum



The 68 comeback outfit



The next ones are many of his 70s jumpsuits.







More gold records from later years.


Lunch at one of the two restaurants. I ate a LOT of BBQ on this trip. This was good, but greasy.



Two planes have been here for many years. This is a Convair 880. Elvis bought it used and refurbed it. Sucker was FAST. Muscle plane.



He also had this small Jetstar.




880 interior.





Ok, enough photos. It was a fun way to spend 2.5 hours. I recommend it.

 

I'm not just watching, my youngest daughter and I are the coaches! Our actual games start the week of Dec. 4th.

 

I have heat! A plugged vacuum line for the pressure switch. I was surprised, a basic show up to your house service call is $65, which I thought was cheap. He says that they will sendl me the bill...about $100. We'll see.

 

Norm, I'm guessing you are the "A"

Koda,

The 3 best concerts I've ever seen are James Brown,,Elvis, and ( believe it or not) Liberace

 

Koda - Great photos. I've never been. I need more explanation of the conveyor. I don't know what this means:
What seats? What are these seats? Seats (for something) come in on trays(?) from a semi-trailer(?), trays are emptied and empty trays returned to the semi-trailer?

Dan - Good deal. That was a nice simple fix.

James. I'm "B" player. Twenty four (24) four (4) person teams (96). Shotgun @ 12:30pm. Rotator cuff tear still has not healed. Still rather painful. Couldn't ask for better weather.

 

James - Do you know tnswt?

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ngland-159681/

 

Norm I don't but I messaged him to see where his house is. Thanks

 

Good morning guys,

Koda - Great pictures! I have never been there, but I'm sure I will someday, my wife is a huge fan. I really like Elvis, but he's not near the top of my list like he is for my wife.

Dan - Man, I'm sure glad they got your furnace fixed!

Norm - Looks like a gorgeous day for golf, Good Luck!

We're going to pick up a dresser for my wife at 1000 this morning and then on to Walmart for a few food items. Going to a different Walmart than the one we usually go to. The one we're going to today is close to where we're picking up the dresser. Walmart, especially on a Saturday, is not my idea of fun, but we're out of some food items we really like. Hopefully we can get in and out, without my wife wanting to shop! I'm a buyer, not a shopper!

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Good morning everyone.

Nice time at the Awful house today. I felt like I was in withdrawals. I went every day last week and didn't go at all this week.

Koda I went to Graceland in January of 88. From what I remember the place looks pretty much the same. Still couldn't go upstairs. The aunt was still alive at that point and that's where she lived. They had just put Gladys's pink Cadillac back on display after an extensive restoration. The Convair was an ex-Delta plane. We had a fleet of them, and they were so fast they were always beating the scheduled time. Talk about a gas hog.

Dan you need a wood burning stove. Glad you got off with a simple fix.

Chris good luck with the dresser and Walmart. I would have such a fit at Walmart when I went, and felt trapped because there really isn't a good alternative. I knew Walmart didn't care if I lived or died, so just not going was only punishing me. So I chose a different Walmart. Totally different experience and I don't feel like cutting my throat every time I go there.

Maybe TNSWT lives next to Alan Jackson.

Okay gonna work in the crawlspace a little bit today then head up to Tallapoosa, GA. Then something fun for dinner. Have a great Saturday everyone.

 

Norm, this conveyor brings in the finished seats for the cars manufactured at my plant. The finished seats are placed on trays next to each other; each row has its own tray, and, nowadays, these cars all get three rows. The trays roll out on roller beds in two rows of three wide, are sequenced and sent out to the rail system (third picture) and go to the line and come down a lifter and get picked (fourth picture), then the empty trays are returned, stacked, and put back in the next truck.

 

Mike - We got the dresser, it was a heavy *****, wasn't sure if my wife was gonna be able to handle it, even with all the drawers out of it. She's in shape and strong for her size, but I always worry about her when we start messing with something that size. We went on to Walmart and were able to find everything we needed. It was pretty busy, busier than the one we normally go to, but we stayed focused and got in and out without too much aggravation. We got a 26-lb. turkey for Thanksgiving. We'll be eating turkey for a week after Thanksgiving, but I love roast turkey leftovers.

Well this next part is for everyone. Too early??? I think so, but my wife likes having the Christmas decorations up by Thanksgiving. I love Christmas decorations too, but it sure doesn't feel close to Christmas yet for me, although we did see just a few tiny, tiny flurries while we were out.




Norm - How's the picture quality today??? Hope you did well at the tourney!

Hope everyone's having a great one!

 

No heat. Turned it down before bedtime last night, did not come back on, was @ 65°. There is a on/off switch with a fuse in the furnace room that the tech used to turn the power off yesterday, I flipped it on and off, and the furnace kicked on, and I had heat for an hour or so, but did so only once. I gave it another try, and no flame and no glow from the igniter. Made a call to the cell # listed on their business card and left a message. Mike, a wood furnace ain't gonna happen, too much hassle, to big of a pain in the a$$. My low gas bills and the convenience far out weigh a wood burner.

 

Chris, my neighbor has their tree up, too early for me. I usually put a couple of things up Thansgiving weekend, and they come down just after New Years.

 

Dan - That sucks! Hope they get to you soon! Don't know what it's like there, but it's only 37 here right now, and we're looking at mid-20's this evening.

 

About 15 years ago, I sold off part of my farm ( now cemetery) to publix. It's only a quarter mile away so I usually shop there. After several disappointing experiences I'm about ready to go back to Walmart and get close to what I'm paying for

Chris I make a wonderful left over Turkey soup with Turkey, stock ,onions, carrots, celery and orzo. Give it a try

 

James - That sounds tasty! My wife makes a turkey soup with the same type of ingredients, but when it's close to being done she'll put in a bunch of broad egg noodles. Really tasty. She'll also make turkey pot pie, and sometimes we'll have turkey BBQ sandwiches.. I'm hungry!

 

Koda - That is a nice set up. Do the trailers have a conveyor/rollers which can easily move the seats out of the trailer and onto the conveyor? I suspect that is the case, maybe? Are these trailers special boxed trailers with conveyor/rollers built into the floor of the trailer; or, can any box trailer be used by simply adding a conveyor/rollers on top of an existing box trailer floor?

Chris - Picture quality is good. A 26 lb turkey is a decent sized bird. That's ~5.5hrs cooking time. Gong to smell great in your place. I'm looking forward to making my homemade cranberry sauce. I'm a large fan of a good homemade cranberry sauce.

Dan - Just curious. Evidently your furnace uses an electric glow plug to ignite the gas rather than a pilot light I'm assuming. Have you considered looking to see if you can see the gas rail (which feeds the furnace) and bypass the electric glow plug to ignite the gas rail using a match or other similar device?

Greg - Have you ever had a constant buzzer going off in your Ford truck. Today, for some queer reason, my 2003 F-250 began making a constant buzzing sound from a buzzer located within the area on the left-hand side of the dashboard. I haven't deep-dived into the issue, but it was annoying driving to golf and returning from golf. I had other plans for tomorrow, but I guess those have changed. I'm going to the Ford Enthusiasts site to dig around the forums.

I have been to Wal-Mart once this year - I think it was in March.

James - We don't have Pube-Licks around here. There were many when I lived in Florida (1988-1992). I always enjoyed shopping there. Too bad your store has run amuck. I generally grocery shop at either Lowe's Foods or Harris-Teeter. Our Food Lion donkey dong. Sometimes I'll shop the Pig, but not very often.

 

Well Tallapoosa was a bust. I went to see a vintage camping trailer. It was in surprisingly good shape, but was not really towable. The guy told me on the phone yesterday he had friends with rollbacks that would move it pretty inexpensively. Got there and saw the trailer, he started calling. The best he could do was "in the 300 range" but it would be a month before he could move it. Everyone else was 550-650. Well, I wasn't paying that, and I wasn't waiting a month, so I came home with my money.

Was a nice day today, a bit chilly. It's cold now. Dan I agree the wood stove is rather labor intensive, but boy oh boy is that heat nice when it gets going. I've had mine for years and have yet to spend anything on firewood. I burn anything.

Okay have a good evening everyone.

 

ABCD Tournament we took 3rd, or 4th, or 5th (I guess). We shot 56 (16 under par).

1st place = -18 ($1,000)
2nd place = -17 ($850)
3rd place = -16

I honestly can't recall what the payout was for third place and I'm not sure how they determine the payout for third place with three teams tied for third.

I shot a very good game contributing some excellent putting. Fun day.

We were one of three teams who shot -16.

 

Norm - Nothing . . . Nada . . . Nine . . . about how your team did in the tourney??? Inquiring minds want to know???

 

Well, at least you were on a very competitive team. Glad you had a fun day!

 

Dan, I was a jack of all trades (furnace, water heater, dryer, range) and master of none as a service guy at Consumers Energy... So for what it's worth in my limited experience, I hated pressure switch problems more than any problem on a furnace. The sequence of events usually is, after thermostat calls for heat- 1). Inducer or combustion blower comes on, 2) Pressure switch closes, proving blower did start and is at proper pressure or vacuum to run as designed, 3)power is sent to hot surface ignitor (HSI). after a certain amount of time(maybe 15 second or whatever is designed) 4) Gas valve is opened, Gas flows to burner and is lit by HSI. 5) flame sensor senses flame has started and gas continues to flow, 6) after flame is on, there is a delay of 15-30 seconds or whatever is designed in and power is sent to the main blower motor and heat is sent into your house. Sooo... If there is a pressure problem nothing else will happen, Turning off and restarting furn may get it to work again once, twice or for a couple days even. It could be inducer motor is getting weak, a restriction in your flue pipe( older 80% furnaces up thru roof, newer 90+ furnaces out thru pvc in wall) or even a clogged on cracked heat exchanger. Good luck...
Norm, I've never had any buzzer sounds from my F250. I don't know what that might be...

 

Norm - I've never heard a buzzer sound from my 2000 F150 either. Are you sure it's a buzzer and not some type of vibration?

 

Norm, there are matching conveyors in the truck, 2 levels, to match the internal conveyor. The machine powers them via a multiconductor cable hooked up each time, then removed. I suspect they are normal trucks, reinforced, and the conveyors are added at the kitting out stage as we buy them. We are phasing in replacements now. I think we have 20 or so for each side of the plant.

I like Schnucks in the midwest.

 

Can't help with buzzing

But had a petite bacon wrapped fillet, baked potato and grilled onions of supper

 

Last night I found several threads discussing what may be my issue - not sure. I've noticed recently (past month) I have a moisture/water leak somewhere along the left-hand driver side of the truck causing water/moisture to leak onto the driver side floor mat right next to the kick panel. It isn't huge, but water is getting in. I had the windshield replaced in 2005 and the service person who did the R&R did a crap job at that time - very poor sealing job. I've had to reseal best I could on the passenger side. This may be the cause, not sure. At any rate the sound is almost identical to the sound produced (buzzing noise) on my '71 CS if key is left in the IGN and door is opened - very, very annoying. I have two different OBDII profilers I will connect to the truck's OBDII port hoping to produce a specific error code. I'm suspecting maybe a relay has gotten wet or maybe some rust has built up somewhere along/near a wire/fuse/relay. I know there are a couple under hood fuse holders/panels in that location. I'll pull the truck into the man-cave and start probing.

 

Norm - I was looking on Ford forums for you too last night and almost posted a couple of ideas, but I was afraid of posting anything that might send you on a wild goose chase. Most of the posts/strings I read were either turn signal relays or moisture related, which you've already touched on. With the truck running, have you cycled through all of the electrical functions to make sure they are still all functioning and/or whether you can hear any change in the sound of the buzzing with any particular electrical component on? Other suggestion is to try and make sure that area up under the dash is nice and dry. Good luck!

 

Chris - I appreciate you looking. Several times yesterday I tried cycling through the various devices which require electricity to get energized - nothing popped up directly. As soon as the IGN is turned to the ON position the sound begins and will not stop. I did notice the dashboard light which illuminates the odometer gets markedly more dim at the exact time the sounds begins. The other lights don't appear to be effected. No apparent difference with turn signals/hazards flashing (engaged), headlamps/tail lamps, etc; but, I'm going to perform a more detailed run-down in a little bit. I'll see what OBDII errors have been thrown/captured hoping this may assist in directing my attention to a suspect issue. This and many other Ford SuperDuty series and I believe many of the Ford trucks of the model years 1999- 2007 have been affected by intermittent lighting issues for which there is a known cause. Solder joints on the circuit board of the dash circuit board become brittle & develop hair-line cracks. The resolution is to "re-flow" the solder. There is a company who performs this repair/resolution and from what others have stated in forums the fix is great. I need to remove the dash instrument panel to send to them and they perform the solder re-flow. I'm great with soldering, yet a solder re-flow needs more detailed attention, lighting, station, and correct solder gun heat to be truly effective. It's significantly a much more precise job than even a great solderer. A re-flow means essentially you're remelting the solder on the circuit board in the current position of the solder (onto the pins in the circuit board) - effectively removing cracks in solder and remelting the solder to provide solid contact of the solder. That is one issue I've had for the past year - it effects my instrument panel fuel gauge & oil pressure gauge - the instrument panel needs to be re-flowed - those gauges sometimes work but mostly never work. It's a time consuming process, not super difficult, but requires time. I don't believe that is the issue with my current problem.

First things first, I'll see if any error codes were thrown.

 

Good morning everyone.

Nice morning at the Awful house. Lots of guys were there and we had good conversation. Good way to start the morning.

Norm maybe it's the seat belt buzzer.

Jamesbo that looks -delicious- .

Koda does that system ever break down? Do you have to carry the seats in by hand?

Typical Sunday. Walmart then pretend to do some moving. It's nice out but cold. The hate officially starts. I had to scrape frost off the windshield this morning.

Have a good day everyone.

 

Norm - Thanks for the in-depth description of what you had investigated to date. I hope you can pull an error code that leads you to the culprit. I was not aware of, and had not experienced (I thought, but now maybe), the pervasive cracking solder on circuit boards issue. For some time now, when I first start my truck, sometimes my oil idiot light will come on. If it does, I immediately jump out and check the oil to make sure it's full before taking off. To date, after taking off, the idiot light goes off after a few seconds to a couple of minutes, but has always went off. I always figured it was a minor short somewhere, never knowing about the circuit board solder issue, but good info to know about as a potential permanent fix if other issues poo-up, or if the oil light ever comes on and stays on.

 

Mike - Glad you had a nice visit with friends at the Awful House! Hope you have both a productive and relaxing day!

 

Chris - It can occur randomly for any instrument cluster gauge - it depends on where the dried out cracked solder has occurred on the instrument cluster circuit board. Mine began w/ the fuel gauge, next the oil pressure gauge. Mine needs to be sent in.
I found DTC codes which may be pertinent to my issue but finding published Ford DTC codes is a nightmare - I have been down this road many times:
U0631
U0634
U0737
P132 (which may be P0132).

Since I don't own an official Ford OBDII scan tool (profiler), grabbing DTC codes is only as good as the profiler you purchased - of course, none of which will be Ford certified.

 

Norm - Good luck identifying the codes and if they are applicable to the buzzing issue!

 

Norm,
I had a similar issue a few years ago with cracked solder on my landscape irrigation controller. I removed the circuit board and found multiple cracked solder joints, which surprised me for a device that is mounted to the house wall and isn't subjected to movement or vibration. I am guessing it's just the temperature exposure that does it. A big issue with the RoHS lead free solder (SAC305) is it is very brittle, unlike the old 60/40 lead/tin solder that is much more malleable. Anyway, I reflowed all the solder joints with a pencil iron and 60/40 lead/tin solder to make a more malleable alloy, and hopefully I won't have that issue ever again.

 

Kenneth - I believe you have correctly identified the issue exactly and it's the RoHS lead free solder (SAC305) they use for fabricating/building these circuit boards - all tin, no lead - makes for a terrible solder, IMO. I don't believe I have the skills necessary to reflow my dashboard circuit board. Well, I may - I don't know though. I've seen some images of these boards, they don't look overly complex with regards to the board itself, but I won't know if I have the skills unless I'm looking at one in person. I don't believe any of my soldering irons have the pinpoint pencil precision to perform a reflow. I've watched a couple videos in the past of guys doing reflow, and they have great equipment (especially that nice large lighted magnifying glass).

I'm making progress one baby step at a time. I "think" I've found the point of the water intrusion - upper left-hand (driver side) of the windshield where the seal adheres to the windshield has a significant separation - almost exactly at a point you'd expect water to flow into and under the windshield or enough to create a channel for water to flow. I removed the driver side floor-mat and the carpet is soaked with water. This hasn't yielded any clues to finding the items causing the continual buzzing but I'm suspecting it may be wiring located/running along that channel which most likely runs down into the rocker panel carpet door trim entrance molding. I've found only one push-pin which holds a portion of the driver side kick-panel in place and the kick panel won't come out. I have not found any fasteners which hold the protective (plastic) rocker panel carpet door time molding in place. So, it's off to Internet land to find some sources demonstrating how to remove the kick panel and molding. Baby steps - annoying. Hopefully I will find the culprit causing the buzzing alarm to continually sound - shorted wire maybe under the kick-panel rocker panel molding maybe. Something is making some alarm to continuously turn "ON" that's for sure. On a small drive this morning the sound is now starting to go ON then OFF, then ON the OFF, the continual again. It's almost like it's based on speed. Hell, it may be caused by my feet on the soaking wet carpet floor (which would indicate a short somewhere in a wire in that location I suspect). I may be able to get rid of the noise by removing a fuse or relay but I don't know which device is causing that alarm sound at this point. Probably via a process of elimination (reviewing the fuses and relays) I may be able to remove the offending fuse or relay long enough to stop the annoying sound while I address where the issue resides.

 

That looks excellent.


Mike, yes, the conveyor breaks down, and typically maintenance guys push the trays down the rollers. It's one of those things where it is physically possible to have a backup, so they insist on it. This new equipment, I am getting pushed for all sorts of bullshit backup scenarios. I tell them, this is rank A equipment, if it goes down, you go down, and you fix it, and give the line the choices to go home with no pay, take PTO, or stay and you can paint something, while it's being fixed; this is just like an engine lifter (which has no backup because it CAN'T). Well, this thing CAN, so the executives insist on possibly injurious procedures for maintenance to push seats, and, instead of them having ***** and saying no, that's injurious, they come at me and want 35 million backup procedures. My backup procedure is one course of action: 1. Diagnose problem. 2. Get spare parts. 3. Estimate downtime and send people home. 4 Fix it. 5. Resume operation. I don't want some maintenance guy standing in the machine pushing seats over a dead motor inside a powered up machine. Safety is greater than production.

 

Norm, do the guys on FTE have anything to say about your noise? I'm thinkin you are on the right track about the windshield leak, if it's bad enough for carpet to be wet. UGH! Don't you hate that when a substandard job causes another problem, and of course there's no going back to the place that replaced windshield at this time. Say can you reach up under the dash when it is buzzing and maybe feel where it is coming from?

 

Greg - I'm indoors reviewing videos and at the moment wondering how much longer I want to ruin a pleasant Sunday afternoon with this. I've removed the A-Pillar sealant strip (rubber which surrounds the entire door), removed the kick panel and rocker-panel moldings. While there is moisture on the floor I don't see moisture around the A-Pillar sealant rubber door seal. I've stuck my head up under the dash and I believe I have isolated the location of the alarm - I believe it's the door ajar alarm - not sure. Regarding the water saturated carpet. It appears to me the water is intruding from behind the black insulated hard plastic (kick panel?) located/attached to the interior side of the firewall behind the dash which runs down to the floorpan. I might (probably will) take a plant watering bucket and slowly pass water in several areas on the exterior to see if I can find where the water is intruding - at least water intruding onto the floor carpet. It doesn't look upon further examination that water is intruding down the A-Pillar, but instead somewhere along the backside of that rigid plastic kick panel piece attached to the firewall from the inside. I'm thinking the water is entering the truck from the upper seam which has modestly detached from the windshield, but traversing along the upper part of the cowl and finding its way behind the rigid plastic piece - don't know.

The other piece to the puzzle is whether this water intrusion is actually what has initiated or been the cause of the buzzing alarm sounding or the two occurring are a coincidence - again, don't know. The sound, from reviewing on-line videos can be the result of the door ajar switch located inside the door panel. Baby steps at this point. I'm going to make a couple more attempts to diagnosing where the sound is definitely coming from - I "think" I have located the actual "alarm" under the dash. Well, I know I have by listening for the sound, but as you suggested can I feel the coupler/switch/device producing the sound by feeling it vibrate. That's my next move is to remove the alarm from the equation just to validate where the sound is coming from. Baby steps. I'm getting close to calling it a day as far as ruining my Sunday afternoon though.