Another Fake, Late to Last Week's Party-Posting

[Argabarga]

This fake was so blurry and washed out in appearance that I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that no scanner was used in it's creation. Rather I surmise that it's picture was hastily taken with a cellphone camera, that phone image was downloaded straight to the computer, and without any attempt at cleanup or QC, the "print" button was hit.

Naturally, this meant the back of the "ahem" permit was white, not green like the front was, which when you pull into your ill-gotten parking spot, becomes the kiss of death as the side with all the "work" faces away from me while the blank side that's the wrong color faces towards. I ordered the tow right then and there. Wasn't until later when I was showing off the catch to the other drivers that we noticed the out-of-focus letters and the usual bad cut-job on top of that.

Oh well, yet another forger crashes in a smoldering heap at the threshold of the runway of success. (It's starting to look like a moonscape out there as of late with all those craters, some of em' still warm and smelling faintly of jet fuel.)

Best part was the kid getting snippy when he came in for it and trying at least two times to make us believe it was the real thing. Brazen or dense? The line says dense + 4.5 points but it's trending down as of late.

Too bad he didn't really force the issue.

See, the owner of the towing company over the years has diversified and invested in some other local businesses, retail, a health club, and, you guessed it, rental properties.

That include the one he just got towed from with a forged pass

If ONLY the owner had been in his office, I coulda told the kid to turn around and take it up with said owner. It's happened once where the complainer would turn around and have to pick his jaw up off the floor upon seeing it was his landlord as well..... yeah, good luck with that. It's even funnier when they realize it after they've been swearing/cussing/badmouthing the folks at the office window for a while.

[Tama]

Wow, what a moneysaver, to run the tow company that tows cars from your own lot! Smart guy!

[barainga]

Correct me if Im wrong, but arent the damn things free if you live there? I have a feeling that if day passes exist they are probably free as well. Or at least cost so little it wouldnt matter.

Thought of something.

They should be able to get a discount on the drop fee if they ask realllllly nice and say please. Like 10 bucks or something. Cause that would be entertainment.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

They should be able to get a discount on the drop fee if they ask realllllly nice and say please. Like 10 bucks or something. Cause that would be entertainment.

Nah, they should be required to sing and dance to "We're Knights of the Round Table" without missing a beat.

[PepperElf]

If ONLY the owner had been in his office, I coulda told the kid to turn around and take it up with said owner. It's happened once where the complainer would turn around and have to pick his jaw up off the floor upon seeing it was his landlord as well..... yeah, good luck with that. It's even funnier when they realize it after they've been swearing/cussing/badmouthing the folks at the office window for a while.

!!!!!!

Now THAT I would have loved to see.

[lordlundar]

Nah, they should be required to sing and dance to "We're Knights of the Round Table" without missing a beat.

Well I know I'd flunk out on that.

[Seshat]

If they're bigotted towards trannies, the Lumberjack song should count too. Especially if they can do it with a straight (ahem) face.

[thehuckster]

If ONLY the owner had been in his office, I coulda told the kid to turn around and take it up with said owner. It's happened once where the complainer would turn around and have to pick his jaw up off the floor upon seeing it was his landlord as well..... yeah, good luck with that. It's even funnier when they realize it after they've been swearing/cussing/badmouthing the folks at the office window for a while.

Just curious, why would a legitimate resident who knows the landlord forge a permit if they presumably already have one? I was under the impression these forgers are non-residents who want to park there to go across the street, or hang out with their resident friends.

[wolfie]

If they're bigotted towards trannies, the Lumberjack song should count too. Especially if they can do it with a straight (ahem) face.

I'm bigoted regarding trannies. For me, if a vehicle doesn't have a manual (and for light-duty vehicles, a 3, 4, or 5 depending on age - if a car needs a 6-speed, that means the engine doesn't have a wide enough powerband), I won't buy it. With heavy-duty vehicles, 9/13/18 is the way to go (more natural shift pattern than a 10/15).

For slushboxes, I need an 11 foot Romanian giant, because unless it's absolutely necessary (e.g. rental car in North America) I won't touch them with a 10 foot pole. Cookies for reference.

[Argabarga]

Just curious, why would a legitimate resident who knows the landlord forge a permit if they presumably already have one? I was under the impression these forgers are non-residents who want to park there to go across the street, or hang out with their resident friends.

The people who come in to argue and meet the landlord are mostly those who just forgot to put their permit up and got towed as a result, you are correct that most of the forgeries are the residents' buddies' work, though, I'd still like to have them turn around and meet the building owner and tell them "now, if you're reaaaaaaaally nice that gentleman there WON'T charge you with fraud/theft of services"

[Shalom]

I'm bigoted regarding trannies. For me, if a vehicle doesn't have a manual (and for light-duty vehicles, a 3, 4, or 5 depending on age - if a car needs a 6-speed, that means the engine doesn't have a wide enough powerband),

Or they just tacked that last one on as a sop to the CAFE regulation and don't expect anyone to actually use it in the real world. I seem to remember reading that the Corvette's top gear had a ratio of 1:0.5.

I've always regretted not learning to drive a standard shift. It's on the list of things to do, one of these days years. (College roomie offered to teach me, but not in his own car...)

With heavy-duty vehicles, 9/13/18 is the way to go (more natural shift pattern than a 10/15).

I don't understand this part. Could you elaborate a bit?

(There is a video out there explaining how to shift a 10-speed (or 5+2, as I'd put it). It seems to imply that there are two ways to do it, and theirs involves shifting the transfer case each time, i.e. 1L-1H-2L-2H-etc. rather than 1L-2L-3L-4L-5L-1H-2H-3H-4H-5H, which they imply is the "old" way. Which pattern did you mean?)

Should also mention that I was a bit surprised to see that Eaton trademark associated with automotive stuff; I'm most familiar with that company as the one-time owner of the Yale Lock line from my time as a locksmith back in the '80s.

[PepperElf]

to be honest, this does make me glad that my apartment complex doesn't require permits. i'm sure i'd forget to renew or something like that.

even though the office is walking distance too.

[wolfie]

I don't understand this part. Could you elaborate a bit?

(There is a video out there explaining how to shift a 10-speed (or 5+2, as I'd put it). It seems to imply that there are two ways to do it, and theirs involves shifting the transfer case each time, i.e. 1L-1H-2L-2H-etc. rather than 1L-2L-3L-4L-5L-1H-2H-3H-4H-5H, which they imply is the "old" way. Which pattern did you mean?)

What I meant about 9/13/18 being more natural than 10/15 (13 speed has a "splitter" that only works in high range, 18 has a splitter that works in both ranges, and 15 has a splitter that only works in low range - it's a "vocational" transmission, more common in dump trucks and cement mixers than in highway tractors) is that it doesn't have any "out and back" shifts. I'll show the "base" patterns (9 and 10 speed), along with "super 10" (probably the other 10 speed you heard of).

R   1/5   3/7          R   2/7   4/9          R   3/4   7/8
¦    ¦     ¦           ¦    ¦     ¦           ¦    ¦     ¦
+----+-----+           +----+-----+           +----+-----+
¦    ¦     ¦           ¦    ¦     ¦           ¦    ¦     ¦
L   2/6   4/8         1/6  3/8   5/10        1/2  5/6   9/10

From left to right are 9-speed, 10-speed, and (my understanding from descriptions I've heard - I've never actually seen one) "super 10". The number before the slash is the gear with the range selector in low range, while the number after the slash is the gear with the range selector in high range (for "super 10", it's actually a splitter - which shifts the equivalent of half a gear on the main transmission - instead of a range selector). "R" should be self-explanatory, and is only used in low range.

"L" on the 9-speed is not part of the normal shift pattern (why it doesn't have a number), and is only used when extreme torque is needed (i.e. starting on a hill with a very heavy trailer). It is only used in low range. In normal practice, you start in "1" with a loaded trailer, "2" with an empty (or a light load), and "3" when bobtailing. "L" in high range is pretty much a duplicate of "4" (the reason it's a low-range gear only), and because it's never used you have an odd number of gear ratios.

Note that the 9-speed only has straight-line and "Z"-shaped shifter movements (i.e. you never have to reverse the direction of movement of the shift knob during a particular shift). A 10-speed has a "U" shaped movement (the 5-6 shift), which due to its "out and back" nature is why I feel it's a less natural pattern than the 9/13/18.

On the 9 and 10, the range selector is a "preselector", in that you can set it (lever that's under your fingertips when your hand is on the knob) at any time, but the change only takes place when the shift lever passes through neutral (i.e. you flip the lever up, do your 4-5 or 5-6 shift depending on whether you have a 9 or a 10, and the range changes when you make the shift). On 13, 18, and 15 speed transmissions, the splitter is a button under your thumb that you slide forward and backward. On a 13 speed, there's a mechanical interlock that keeps the splitter from being put to "high" when the range selector is in "low" (never used a 15 speed, but it probably has an interlock to keep both from being set to "high" at the same time). For obvious reasons, an 18 speed doesn't have an interlock.

From what I have heard, the "super 10" is the lowest-priced, but is disliked by drivers.

[Argabarga]

If you want to throw a real monkeywrench into the concept of intuitive shifting, try the 5 speed in one of those old M35 "deuce and a half" army trucks


R 2 5


1 3 4



Why they decided to set it up that way to start out on a "Z" pattern and then change it to a "U" for the last gear? I have no idea

Fortunately, the pattern is written on a metal plate that's riveted to the dashboard, so you never have to look far if you get lost.

Technically, it's a 10 because there's a hi/lo range selector, but, for most of what we drive ours around for (parades, joyrides, the occasional load of firewood which barely is anything as far as cargo goes) it's not needed. "Hi" isn't much of a high range either, top speed in 5th gear unloaded is about 50mph, 55 if you're going downgrade, so it's really more like low range and medium range, those trucks were designed with the idea of a freeway as being a luxury.

The only time I recall us using lo range was once to pull out a tree stump, 1st gear low has a maximum safe speed of 2 mph per the manual, try to go any faster and you'll be redlining the motor

[Shalom]

Just noticed the replies to this. Thanks for posting them.

I was watching some more shifting videos, and I found an interesting one: it was an old Mack truck with a 15 speed, with two shift levers. The left hand lever was the transfer case, and the right one was the transmission itself. The patterns were:

      H            R    2     4   
      ¦            ¦    ¦     ¦  
+--N--+            +----N-----+ 
¦     ¦            ¦    ¦     ¦      
L     D            1    3     5

The letters stand for Low Split, Direct and High Split. If I understood correctly what he was doing, he did most of the shifting with the left-hand lever. Started in 1L, went up, across and down (U-shaped) to 1D, up to 1H, then he let go the wheel, grabbed both levers with both hands and did two opposite Z-shaped movements to get to 2L, and so on. The video is at here if you want to see it; it's a beautiful thing to watch.

The comments on the vid were also enlightening: someone pointed out, for example, that if you happened to accidentally get both levers in neutral at the same time, you were screwed, because there wasn't any way to get back into any forward gear until you rolled to a halt. I obviously have to take his word on this...