Gary Lewis

Cool bridge! But do you guys hunt trees with a gun? What gauge?

I don’t mean to add to your already full plate here, but would it possible to be a car club? Reason I ask is that in order to use an antique plate in Louisiana, one option is to be a member of a car club. Additionally, I’m not sure, as I’ve never used it, but does anyone know if Patreon would be a fit for ongoing monthly subscriptions?Derek - I don't see "car club" as an option in any of the documents I've read. Hobby organization is what most say.Can you find out what the exact wording is from Louisiana?As for Patreon, we can research how to pay later, but I don't think we will have any dues. Hopefully it will all be via contribution.

So maybe a safety in the spam era would be that it takes a moderator to promote a New Member to Member? Don't do it automatically with one post, but make it manual via a moderator? Thoughts? The plot thickens, yet again. The IRS page entitled Before Applying for Tax-Exempt Status says: So it looks to me like we have to become a non-profit in a state, and since at least one officer needs to be resident in the state in which you file I guess we'll file in the only state that is OK. Besides, the fee is only $25 here.

If you call at my office, there’s a lady answering. I once had an automated answering system, but I hate it. IMHO, there’s nothing like being welcomed by a real human. This Forum has friendly and family aspects that make it different. If every step is automatic, I think we’ll lose something really important. If we’re losing the introduction step such as «Hi Jeff, welcome among us, nice truck, where are you, tell us more about your project, what’s your problem, what can we do to help you», we’re losing an essential hand-shake. Being member of a communication community is a step below being among people. Good point, Jeff. However, as it is the Nabble newbies get a canned response from us. And while we now have to kick that off manually, which can cause significant delays while we are doing other things, what about sending them an automatic canned response? We won't want to use the same wording 'cause right now it says our joining process is broken and it won't be then, but it could say pretty much the same things otherwise. But what do y'all think about forcing them to post in the NMSH folder? The reason heretofore has been that we have the guidelines there and want them to read them. However now we'll have the guidelines pop up during the registration process and they'll have to tick a box saying they will adhere to them or they cannot register. To me the introduction step is part of becoming part of the community that you mentioned, Jeff. We aren't really here to answer one question and then have them be gone. Not that we won't do that, but that's not what our purpose statement in the guidelines says: (I made "community" bold to make the point.) So maybe a safety in the spam era would be that it takes a moderator to promote a New Member to Member? Don't do it automatically with one post, but make it manual via a moderator? Thoughts?

Shaun - Good question. We really don't know, yet, what all the issues or capabilities are. But their article called New Spam Prevention Features outlines new ways they've come up with to prevent spam. We've used their recommended way of registering, which requires the person registering to use an email address that is "approved" in the mycompany.com email address registration database. Apparently this database is intended to exclude people setting up email systems just to get past this step of registration. Jim - Invision's guide on Creating Administrators and Moderators says: In other words, an Admin can change the way the forum looks, works, and feels. S/he can add applications or widgets and turn on or off functions. Or even turn the whole site off. But a Moderator can't do that. And that's one of the problems with Nabble - there's no difference between an Admin and a Moderator, and there should be. To be able to approve someone to be a Member you also have the ability to delete the whole forum. As for admitting new Invision members, right now that is set to automagic: someone registers, accepts the guidelines, confirms their email address, and becomes a New Member - and can only post in NMSH. One post and they are automatically promoted to Member and can post elsewhere, but if we have spam problems we could make that manual. But the map is a totally separate thing. It is in Google and only two of us are editors - John/Machspeed and I.

Yes, that IS interesting! But, with an undergraduate degree in Math I've never heard of "ergodicity, a mathematical concept that says that a point in a moving system will eventually visit all parts of the space that the system moves in." So part of my reading, and learning, was to get my head around that concept. At times it was "I've got it! I've got it! I ain't got it." But in the end I think I almost understood.

Dave is retiring????!!!! Yippee!!!

That was my first thought, Bill. But now I'm rethinking that because on Invision we have two roles above Member, Administrator and Moderator - and I don't yet know the difference. So we need to get our head around those two roles as well as what we want the board of directors to do. On Invision I think I have the joining process set up so that people don't need approval by anyone. They have to agree to the guidelines, and when they do they become a New Member. That means they can only post in the New Members Start Here folder until they have one post, at which point they become a Member and can post anywhere but the Admin area. In other words, I'm not sure what we, the current Admins, are going to do. Will all of us become Admins or Moderators in Invision? Will some of us become one and others the other? And what does the BoD do? Let me noodle on this a bit tomorrow and see if I can make sense of it.

In Big Blue's case I was able to pull the shaft out just a bit which pulled the bearing out just a bit. Then I wedged it with a screwdriver, pushed the shaft back in, let up on the screwdriver, pulled back out, etc. Eventually I could get behind the bearing with the screwdriver and pry it out. But don't pull too hard on the shaft as there's a pair of spring "bumps" that hold the upper and lower shaft together and you don't want to slide the two apart. (They are supposed to telescope in the case of an accident.) They look like this:

Churning along here, this is what is said by the West Virginia Institute Of Technology: Constitution - The fundamental principles of an organization which determine the responsibilities and rights of its officers and members. Bylaws – The detailed procedures and working guidelines of the organization which govern the day-to-day operations of the organization and accompany the Constitution. So I'm reviewing the church constitution & bylaws to see what they entail and will then be creating a draft of ours, folding in the guidelines we already have. I'm thinking I'll post a draft on here so y'all can help me work through it.

Bill - It sure won't hurt. You know my email address and phone number, so share whatever you want. But if he's just had a stent put in he's going to be out of it for a while, so I don't expect him to reach out any time soon. Thanks!

What can I say? I'm slow. But I'm getting there. However, I think it is safe to say that what we have here is well worth preserving - both the posts as well as the camaraderie. So we need to figure out how to preserve it, and setting up the non-profit with bylaws, board of directors, etc is a good start.

Having read Pg 50 I think we best fit as a hobby club and am going to start the process. I don't expect y'all to read all of this, but I'm trying to get my head around it and it helps to type it out. This is quite confusing as there are many, many documents about how to do it. But Donorbox has this "Ultimate Guide to Start a 501c7 Social Club Organization" that seems to cut through the fog and says we need to do these steps: (Boy, how I wish we were already on InVision as formatting this post would be so much easier there!) Confirm that your organization meets the 501c7 requirements: I believe we do but am still working through some questions just to make sure. Establish a membership base: We have one, and I think it'll work but am checking to make sure. Organize a board of directors: We don't have that but can do. Draft your bylaws and articles of incorporation: Don't have this either but have our guidelines, which are a start. I have our church bylaws to use as an example as they've passed muster. Secure your EIN and bank account: The article says "It can be helpful to keep your social club’s finances separate from your personal ones. For that purpose, you can create a Non-Profit Organization Employer ID Number (EIN) with the IRS in order to set up a business bank account.Even though it’s referred to as an Employer ID Number, you don’t need to employ anyone to get an EIN. This is simply a tool that allows you to set up a business bank account. You’ll need to provide some personal information, including a social security number, for the organization’s main contact." Apply for tax-exempt status by filing IRS Form 1024: I'll do that when we get the other bits sorted. Fill out Form 990 to ensure ongoing compliance: This is an annual thing, which I'll have to do. Set up a way to collect membership dues: Don't worry, we aren't going to have dues. Just contributions, which are not tax exempt.

I think I've gotten to the bottom of the costs, which you can see on the spreadsheet at Test Forum/Platform Comparison in the menu. Click on the Costs tab at the bottom. Going with InVision we are looking at $1800 one time and $660 annually if the usage is about what it is running on their server now. But that may go up. And I've documented $232.96 in annual costs with Weebly and GoDaddy, although that could be cut down if we don't need all of the URL's we've reserved. (We need to figure out how to use those URL's better as we go forward or release some of them.) So the annual costs will run somewhere around $900, or $75/mo. From what y'all have said so far I think we are going to be fine with that. And I think we can get there on the $1800. So we just need to sort out the details. As for the non-profit bit, my friend send me this email: Having read Pg 50 I think we best fit as a hobby club and am going to start the process.

Mat - This isn't a funeral but a new beginning. And yes, it needs to change to stay viable. Not necessarily to grow. That's because our forum is on Nabble, which is going to go away at some point. We aren't paying anything and the proprietor, Franklin, has let me know he will shut it down at some point in time. And given what I have seen, he will do so w/o any notice. (I'm not complaining as that is certainly his right.) So we must go somewhere and we've done the research and testing and have settled on InVision. We know the cost to move our existing forum there and, while it is significant, it won't get any cheaper over time. So we should go now to keep the cost as low as possible, enjoy the benefits of the new environment longer, and not wake up some day to the place being shut down.

Our son, Bret, is a tax lawyer for a major company. And the lady I just spoke to about this was a tax accountant for a major company. Both of them deal/dealt with billions and not hundreds of dollars. But, the idea is the same. She said that I should set up a non-profit so I don't have to account for this money in our personal finances. But not necessarily a 501©(3). And that if the entity doesn't have any employees it doesn't have to file taxes. So she and I are going to research what the options are for a non-profit. And I'm going to document what the costs are for what we have as well as where we are going. Guess I won't be posting what I've done to Big Blue very often. But I think now is the time to make this happen. Janey's stents last week & the tornado that missed us by 12 miles have awakened me to just how tenuous life is, so I need to get this sorted.

Welcome, Derek! Glad you joined and that you've introduced yourself - finally. And, I'm glad the truck is getting its problems resolved. Looks like it had a few problems, but what vehicle that age doesn't? Glad we can help and look forward to following your journey on the next quests.

Vivek - Thanks, but I want this site to be free of adverts. That's been a stated goal since I started it. There are several reasons for that. First, when I was on FTE I was rewarded for being a chapter leader by having the annoying adverts turned off. Got used to that and then FTE let that perk go w/o asking or telling us and I was quickly reminded how annoying they were. (And quickly realized how impossible it was to work with FTE.) Second, I used to listen to a gospel radio "station" on the internet who struggled paying the bills and turned adverts on. Many of those were anything but Christian, so I called the station and they said that once they turned them on they had no control whatsoever of what adverts would run. So I've already told my kids that when I die and they come to manage this that there are to be no adverts. Which brings up a point - I need to figure out as I set up this non-profit how to have others involved so there can be a transfer when the time comes.

Jeff - I'm with you. Well said. Jim - Your time & your knowledge is more cherished than your money. Please don't worry about it at all. As for the way to get the money to me, Paypal has been deducting when I send money to my kids, so we've gone to Venmo - which is owned by Paypal but hasn't deducted. But it isn't just the movement of the money. Instead, the first question was if we can raise the money and I wanted the answer to that before we started moving it. So that's why I've been looking at Kickstarter as people pledge and then, if you reach the goal, Kickstarter sucks the money in from them and sends it to you - minus 5%. But in the background I've been getting notes from y'all that indicate we will be able to do this. So I'm not sure Kickstarter will be needed. Just got off the phone with my son, the tax lawyer. He said I need to set up a non-profit through which to wash all of the one-time and on-going funds. And I'll have to pay taxes on it, which gets factored into the math to end up showing no profit. So now I'm researching what it takes to set up a non-profit, how to track expenditures, what is needed for tax purposes, etc. We set up one for church a few years ago and I'll talk to the people who did that and get their input.

If the tilt rack isn’t broken then I would think the bearing is all you need. But I’ve not spent any time working on the shift lever so I can’t say what the issue is there. Sorry. Maybe someone else knows? While in there I’d try to figure out how the thing is supposed to ground. What does that little pin touch, other than the wheel?

Nan, Big Bro has only the side tank. And I didn’t do it myself, I asked my garage if he had time do to it while the truck was up for the summer tires swap. He charged me half an hour for the job, everything went easy. When I left Big Brother at the garage, it was so empty that it ran out of gas just going out of the garage. Is it becoming a habit, Big Bro…? 🧐 Big Bro has a drinking habit? Is that what you are saying? If he replaced it for a 1/2 hour charge you got a good deal. You can lower the side tank and get to it if you know what you are doing, and he obviously does. Well done!

You fixed it by dropping the tank and replacing the sending unit? That's a lot of work if it was the rear, and still a fair amount if the front. Bummer about running out of gas. Been there, done that. My father loaned me his '72 Mustang, and forgot to tell me one important thing - when the needle touches E you just ran out of gas. I pulled into our driveway and turned it off, and the next morning it wouldn't start. He said "Oh, I forgot to tell you about that."

That's more play that Big Blue's column had and I shimmed the bearing, which tightened it up very nicely. So I think that's a lot of play. But, if you have a tilt column there's more in the column that can let it wiggle than just the bearing. Like the tilt mechanism. So that's why I'd take it apart to find out what is wiggling. I think you can do that by pulling the turn signal mechanism. As for the bearing, that link says that bearing is for: 1980-1991 F100-F350 4X4 UPPER, W/ TILT COLUMN 1978-1989 BRONCO UPPER, W/ TILT COLUMN 1978-1989 F100-F350 4X2 UPPER, W/ TILT COLUMN So if you have a tilt column it is the upper for yours. But it is used as a lower for other years. As for what I've been saying about the rubber around the bearing, that may only be for the fixed columns. Shown on the same page is SLEEVE, STEERING COLUMN TUBE BEARING, and that's what goes around the upper bearing - but only for the fixed columns according to NPD.

Reading up on Kickstarter I see that you can start a project as an individual or an entity, either business or non-profit. I'm thinking I may need to set up a non-profit so we can have clear accountability of the funds, meaning that we don't mix them with our personal funds. Fortunately our son is a tax lawyer so I'll consult with him about how to set a non-profit up and see what it'll cost and how long it'll take. But I wonder if we could do the Kickstarter for the migration as an individual and then form the non-profit for the long term with the monthly fees. Does anyone have any ideas? Experience?

Do you need my number? I can send. Should I post it here? I know Gary has it. You are the best Matt! I'll email the two of you so you are connected. (Another reason we must MOVE!)