Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

[Rick]

Dang those fires were purposely set?

I sure hope all our friends are out of harms way...

 

[BKennedy]

Dang those fires were purposely set?

I sure hope all our friends are out of harms way...

There is no way they are all some unfortunate accident or naturally caused. It had to be planned out in advance. I could see some crazy coincidence of maybe two fires at the same time, but nine??
All were in areas of heavy brush within close proximity of large numbers of houses.
Most were too far away from each other to have been started by the other fires.
All were set about the time it takes to drive from one location to the other (along with a little setting up, staring time).
All started at the base of a hill or in a canyon upwind of lots of brush and residential areas. The one by our house was set in a open area in between several developments, some of them the wealthiest communities in the county. Sorry, there were two within a few miles of us, the first was the "Bernardo" fire the first to be set, and the last was the "Scripps" fire, the last to be set.
All of them had easy access from freeways or major streets.
All started, then got much larger rapidly, suggesting some type of accelerant.
At least two of the sites, some witnesses heard a loud "whooshing" like a gasoline bomb setting off.

The only reason it did not devastate the county (again), is because of the lessons learned with the first two fires (Cedar and Witch Creek). The fire fighting community really has their stuff together this time. They have a plan to fight them and its working. They let the brush burn and save the houses. The last fires, I just remember the fire fighters running away. This time, they stood their ground and fought, and won. Against overwhelming odds, they did more than anyone could have asked of them. If you have seen any of the video footage, you see fire fighters in the back yards of houses all along the fire line with hoses and shovels. They saved hundreds of peoples homes.

 

[sirhk100]

I will never forget living in Scripps Ranch in '04 during those fires with my parents in Ramona. I was helping the parents evacuate in Ramona when my roomies called and asked me what I wanted them to grab. I thought it was a bad joke cause no way that fire could've went from Ramona to Scripps! Stay safe down there man!

 

[Rick]

I didn't realize there were so many ignition points. I have caught very little on the news or net over the last couple days.

That makes a lot of opportunity for the arsonist to have been done something that could lead to his capture. It's really unimaginable that people do that kind of thing every year

 

[BKennedy]

I hope that when they catch one of those guys, its by a angry mob of evacuees who give them the beat-down of a life time before they turn them over to the authorities.

 

[Rick]

How close are you to this insanity?? Are any of our group in it's path?

 

[Stic-o]

Been meaning to call or message you to see how things were going down there. It's been pretty quiet up here...so far. It was 107* at lunch though

 

[BKennedy]

Things are okay with us, only two fires nearby; one was put out fast, the other is 75% contained. Both with no structure loss.
First one was about five miles away. I wasn't worried about that one as far as the house goes, but was concerned enough to stay home all day in case we needed to move the horses. They are about a mile from that fire. My Dad's house was in the westerly path of that fire, but several miles from where it was stopped. It would have had to burn through the southwest 1/3 of the third richest per capita community in the US to get there, so I was not too concerned about that.
Second fire was in a small, tree chocked canyon in between a bunch of houses less than a mile away. The FD put it out in about 20 minutes.

There are not many of the group left down here, most have moved away. My buddy Mike lives a few miles from two active fires. But for those of you that know Mike, he is pretty meh about it.

 

[BKennedy]

I will never forget living in Scripps Ranch in '04 during those fires with my parents in Ramona. I was helping the parents evacuate in Ramona when my roomies called and asked me what I wanted them to grab. I thought it was a bad joke cause no way that fire could've went from Ramona to Scripps! Stay safe down there man!

Oh, yeah, I remember that, 2003. I had just gotten home from working in Valley Center patrolling the burned area, shutting off water mains and making sure no one was there.
Took these pics;

The fire funnel in the second pic was about 100 feet high
Came home, and was asleep for about an hour when I was woken up to this;


Neighbors house


I watched the fire turn down the canyons about a mile away and went back to sleep (I had to go back to work in a few hours).

 

[Rick]

Steve, it's crazy that you guys have been way hotter than we have. We have only hit 100 1 day so far this year. It's on it's way though.

Brian, has it been that hot down in San Diego?

 

[BKennedy]

Its been in the high 90's here the past few days. My parents are at Lake Havasu and its hotter here. Its supposed to cool down starting tomorrow. We did not have a winter this year. I guess Al Gore was right .

 

[Stic-o]

Brian aren't Matt's parents down there? I know they lost there place in 2003.

Just hearing on the news they have made arrests down there related to the fire.

 

[BKennedy]

Matt's parents live up in the mountains and there is no fire there so far this season. Funny, we have four seasons in San Diego;

Cooler than usual (lasts about two weeks)
Warm and Sunny
Fire
Warm and Sunny

 

[4pullingGM]

Thats crazy with all the fires, glad y'all are ok! It totally baffles me why people would intentionaly start these things, are they trying to prove some kind of point or something?

 

[Rick]

Its been in the high 90's here the past few days. My parents are at Lake Havasu and its hotter here. Its supposed to cool down starting tomorrow. We did not have a winter this year. I guess Al Gore was right .

We had no winter either. 70 days without rain this season and when it did rain, it wasn't anything to get excited about.

 

[BKennedy]

Back to the build;

I posted this picture a while ago, it is the inside of the reservoir of one of the F-O-A shocks. As you can see, it is scored along its entire length, which means it was not honed or smoothed out in any way during manufacturing. You can feel the score marks with your finger. There is no way the piston moving back and forth with the oil could have done that, since it doesn't move that far.

I think one of the shocks is already leaking out of the schreader end of the reservoir, with less than a mile on it after being rebuilt. I thought it might be a little oil coming off the end after I installed the cap using some shock oil for lubrication, but its still coming off after I wiped it down. That would mean that oil is already gotten past the piston and into the gas side of the reservoir. Most likely, around the seals due to the horrible scoring of the reservoir not making a tight seal. I am pissed, and seriously frustrated, to say the least. I am going to give F-O-A one more chance to make this right. I am thinking they need to send me two new reservoirs on their dime.

If you shock guru's think I am wrong in this, tell me.

 

[turboexplorer]

I agree. Would be incredibly frustrated. And agree piston doesn't move that far and from the pic looks like it for sure left their manufacturing line that way. Poor quality control or quality period if all their stuff is that way.

 

[sirhk100]

Agreed with you... No way that marking is from the dividing piston, it's from manufacturing. On the other hand, I've got a pair of kings I can't for the life of me get the fluid to not leak past the dividing piston on as well. frustrating for sure!

 

[BKennedy]

I agree. Would be incredibly frustrated. And agree piston doesn't move that far and from the pic looks like it for sure left their manufacturing line that way. Poor quality control or quality period if all their stuff is that way.

Agreed with you... No way that marking is from the dividing piston, it's from manufacturing. On the other hand, I've got a pair of kings I can't for the life of me get the fluid to not leak past the dividing piston on as well. frustrating for sure!

Thanks, I will email Chris today and see what he is going to do about this. I know they are out of warranty, but I also understand customer service drives any business. I just hope he does. Besides, they have less than 1000 miles on them.

 

[sirhk100]

I'm good acquaintances with one of the guys in the shop over at FOA and can probably get you in touch with him for help if Chris comes up as a zero...