Snow/Leaf Season. Mind the Gap.

[Skyline]

The blower works well if the trees have large leaves. The garage works much better, though...

I wouldn't know, never had a garage not even a car port...

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[fossil]

wouldn't think of using a gas blower at anything over an idle but my variable speed electric works great to create a stiff breeze

 

[eighty4south]

Its trying to be one again. Desperately needing my attention. I need to clean out the shop, so I can finally paint the outside. I put a newer motor in it and painted the interior but I need to get the outside done so I can take the seats and dash out of a much more rusted Eagle I got. I got a lift kit, a T5 manual swap, and 28" super swampers for it aswell. One day it will get the same love as the Maverick. They are fun cars. Very comfy ride. They soak up rough roads.

I hope you get it finished someday. My dad had a brown Eagle when I was growing up. It was the first car I drove. It did have a great ride. Every time I see one (which isn't often) it makes me wish we hung onto ours.

 

[JEMiculka]

You need a garage, my friend. Or a carport. I had my last truck 24 years, in part due to storing it out of the weather. Garages can be expensive, but carports can be had for less than $1500. Your Mav will thank you

HOA in my area would definitely not be happy with a carport of sorts.

Now that I’ve cleared out the garage of pinball machines and replaced them with boxes of Mardi Gras ”valuables” because my wife wanted me to start cleaning out the rental storage unit, she’s still not happy our vehicles are still sitting outside. $500.00 (at best) of Mardi Gras stuff that I moved from New Orleans to Texas prevents a 22 Escape and a 23 Maverick Lariat from being inside. She’s of the opinion that I should make good use of that Maverick and put all the Mardi Gras junk in the bed and take it to the dump.

 

[gunnmitten]

That's what the air compressor is for! Besides airing tires just bust out the compressor and blow the leaves out; mine's bed-cubby-mounted and I have a blower end to switch out for blowing out dirt and leaves from the nooks n crannies

 

[Shakesbear]

Fantastic! Ford job 1 all around!

There aren't any trees in OK

 

[fossil]

There aren't any trees in OK

but apparently they have Ford fans in denial

 

[GeoJoe]

HOA in my area would definitely not be happy with a carport of sorts.

Now that I’ve cleared out the garage of pinball machines and replaced them with boxes of Mardi Gras ”valuables” because my wife wanted me to start cleaning out the rental storage unit, she’s still not happy our vehicles are still sitting outside. $500.00 (at best) of Mardi Gras stuff that I moved from New Orleans to Texas prevents a 22 Escape and a 23 Maverick Lariat from being inside. She’s of the opinion that I should make good use of that Maverick and put all the Mardi Gras junk in the bed and take it to the dump.

When my wife tells me stuff like that, I put the ball back in her court by telling her to sell it on ebay, Facebook marketplace, Amazon etc.
Sometimes that works and she'll leave me alone, but it could backfire with a free Craigslist ad of "come get it, it's on the curb."

 

[Tallymav]

Almost one year, and one big problem -- that gap.

Picked up a cover on the web, fits well. Size: 90"x60"

Should solve leaf and snow problem.

You may know this already but those leaves work their way down the sides along the door hinges. I take my shop vac periodically and pull out wads of them with the door open down near the kick plate

 

[chuckles]

Thank you for all of the responses and concomitant wisdom. The leaves, and later liriodenron (aka tulip poplar) seeds are a present problem. Those damned seeds find their way and collect in the cabin air filter! A (semi) permanent structure is not available to me. A simple windshield cover is my best short term solution.

Leaf blowers won't work as the leaves, seeds, and snow pack in under the hood as well. Blowing (as mentioned above) just distributes behind the fender. This is precisely the problem I'm trying to avoid.

Shop vac works well if everything is dry. If not, it just builds up to a sludge under the wiper shaft. I'm kind of surprised no one has suggest a pressure washer yet.

Pool noodles only partly solve the problem. The wiper arms still want to extend above the hood plane preventing the noodle from sitting against the windshield. I guess it could be custom fit and inserted in pieces...

So, in the end this cover seems to work for me. The gap stays dry in rain, leaves and debris don't accumulate and if they do, stay dry.

The clips on this cover are some kind of flexible soft plastic. The strapping and cover edges are elastic. The cover has a soft cotton like fabric on the clean side. All in all, it does not flap around an seems to stay tight against the truck in the wind. I hope this is enough to prevent paint damage.

Finally, I gotta point my fickle finger of blame towards FORD. In an otherwise perfectly thought out truck, this is one place where it seems the combination of styling studio, mechanical designers, and accountants collided in a blame-full way. The hood line are nicely styled; but the passenger wiper blade extending above the hood plane looks silly. This is the first vehicle I've ever seen with this kind of gap. Every other one has some for of cowling between the windscreen and hood line -- I guess that would have cost too much.

Cheers!

 

[chuckles]

100%. I'm trying this ridiculous thing to try and keep heavy snow and ice out of the enormous cavity at the back of the hood.

Here is an example of pool noodle. Kind of works with wiper parked up. I don't want to think about what happens the next time you start the car if noodle is not removed first.

Cheers!

 

[BobR]

I have several metal carports on my property here in Florida. They have all been through many 100mph+ hurricanes and they have all held up well. If you are going to put up a garage make sure you make it big. My shop is 30'x 40' and it still is packed and I ended up putting a 2nd floor in a quarter of it for all the wife's stuff.

 

[Sleeper 7]

Drives me crazy! Not looking forward to driving in wet snow

 

[TrailMaster]

Yeah that's a gaping gap, and will suck in Colorado snowstorms.

 

[fossil]

used to call this "hidden wipers" in the 1970s they managed

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