Jsdirt

I got a plow truck for the first time in my life. This year, hardly any snow, LOL. I actually pulled a deer tick out of my gut yesterday. In FEBRUARY! Usually don't see those bastards around until mid-May. Last year at this time, there was over 3' of snow still on the ground. This year, standing water out there. No complaints from me!

I'm waiting for it to do the "Transformers" thing and start walking, lol! Very angular ... Makes my truck look 20 years old.

That sucks. I can imagine it's a battle from start to finish.

I'm not surprised. Our '93 Volvo 940 has a trap door in the trunk - four 10mm hex bolts, and it's off. Loosen a giant hose clamp, undo the lines and wiring, then unscrew the retainer - in your hands in 15 minutes flat, if that long. No siphoning fuel, or dropping the tank - can do a pump full or empty - doesn't matter. That's how they ALL should be built!

Get to do a fuel pump in a '05 Mustang. May start on it today. V6 .... BOOOO! That makes for a boring test drive ...

Yeah you got that right! Seems to hurt alot more too, lol. I didn't seem to feel pain in my teen years. Could've been the whiskey ... I had that same bike in here for some clutch work. '06 I think. Once I got it to grab right, I couldn't believe the power that thing put out. I still prefer a 2-stroke just from a mechanical perspective, but man, that thing was FUN! Guy who bought it never owned a bike in his life, on or off road. I told him he picked one hell of a first bike, LOL!! Hope he's still with us ...

Lots of subtle similarities between that and the '86 250R I used to own. 4-stroke is a totally different animal though. I've ridden the new 450 in a bike - thing reminded me of the same power as a CR500. Just arm-stretching torque. Lots of fun. Too old for 2-wheels off-road these days though. I get hurt too easy now.

Here's a couple nice ones for ya. Out in Peabody, north of Boston. You have about 100' to get up to 70 mph - there's no merge lanes here. You enter the right lane immediately. Most people out here don't know that the right pedal goes down to the floor when merging. They love to enter the highway at 30 mph, and cause about 15 near misses behind them ...

Yeah I remember those. Everything out West is nice and spacious. When I got back after spending 2 years out there, I kept pulling over whenever oncoming traffic appeared - didn't think 2 cars would fit, LOL! BIG change. Amazing how I forgot how to drive in the Northeast after just 2 years. Gotta beef up the suspension too. Polygraphite bushings, & Bilsteins. Love taking on-ramps at 70 mph in 30 year old vehicles without even squealing the tires.

Just come to MA - it's exactly the same, except our on-ramps are 95% shorter, with the added bonus of hairpin turns just before you reach the highway ....

My El Camino looked just like that, coming home through WY on I-80 the first week of May, 2001. Hit a nasty snowstorm headed eastbound about 300 miles outside of Cheyenne. Before the snow started, I almost spun out into the ditch while throttling up to climb a hill. Had a 18-wheeler behind me, I was making eye contact with the driver through my side window! The whole car and trailer was sideways across both lanes. Somehow I managed to drive out of it, got into the right lane, and sweat immediately started pouring down my face. HOLY CRAP what an adrenaline dump that was!!! Now that I knew my tires TOTALLY SUCKED in the snow, I was doing 45mph in the right lane for the next 15 grueling hours ... I stopped for fuel, oil, and food in Cheyenne since the snow stopped - couldn't get my hood open. Was 4" of solid ice on the front. My headlights were the only bare surface - just a 3" circle in the center of each. My U-Haul trailer had a wedge-shaped form of ice at least 3' thick, that had built up over the miles - strangest thing I had ever seen! Wish I had got a picture of that. Was long before cell phone cameras. Chatting with a trucker, he told me I'd better beat-feet, since there were rumors of shutting the highway down any minute. Climbed a big hill out of Cheyenne, and was in the middle of hell! Couldn't see 3' in front of me, my wipers were thick blocks of ice not wiping anything, and I was sliding all over the place, white-knuckling the entire drive. Had to keep sticking my hand out the window to flick my wiper when I could catch it. Almost drove right into the back of a parked semi - couldn't tell where the road was! Boy was that close! Worst road conditions I have ever experienced in my life. Trucks were blowing by me at 65, since they knew the road was closing. Every time one blew by me, I almost lost control. What a ride!! As I started descending in elevation in NE, the snow finally turned to rain. I was so beat! Pulled into a truck stop for more chow, and just stared at my car & trailer - the entire front had to have been 5" solid! That wedge on the trailer had grown even bigger too - I would bet it was 4' thick at the center. Went in and chowed, came back out, and the entire wedge of ice had fallen off in one giant block. I could hardly move it out of the way! Amazing it stuck there for all those miles. Was finally able to pound through the ice and get my hood open. Luckily since the RPM's were low, I still had enough oil in the crankcase (used to blow it out the breather at high RPM) to keep the engine safe. Topped off the tank, and found a spot to sleep. What a day that was! Don't think I went 400 miles in 16 hours.

]Finally got around to cleaning mine out today. About an ounce - mostly water. 241 miles total, half that towing 6k lbs. Sorry about the sideways pic - no way to fix it on this site for some reason. Nothing works.

When I was commuting, I was putting about 20k a year on the truck, or more. Haven't commuted since '09, so the truck went from above average miles for the model year, to below average. We also have 3 vehicles, plus 3 motorcycles. If I don't have to haul anything, we usually take the wife's '93 940 or the '86 Grand Marquis for any kind of traveling. They both get much better mileage, and are both super comfy. Nothing beats the Merc in that department.

I think I did 9k this year - and that's only because I made 2 Florida runs. The less I use it, the less I have to work on it.

Yep, same here. Also of note is it seems the formulation of Windex isn't what it used to be. Stuff seems to CAUSE streaks rather than remove them, even with newspaper. Glass Plus works alot better.

I've got about 2oz. of 95% water in mine right now. Did a 240 mile trip, towing 6k lbs. for half of it. Temps started out at 11°F, and got up to 38°F by the end of the run. Always get lots of condensation in those temps. Haven't cleaned it yet. I'll have to measure it just for sh**s and giggles when I do.

Nice - that's good. Hope I didn't sound like I was bashing your post. I'm a typical Masshole with a big cyber mouth.

LOL - I was going to reply to Ryan, "Better you than me". When I was on my way back from Cali back in the day, I took a 100 mile route around Chicago, HAHAHA! Wanted no part of it. I've spent a few years in a couple different cities - no life I want to live, that's for sure. Don't know how people do it. I don't even like visiting.

That looks like the same device that's on my brother's Duramax out back here. Just went and fired it up this morning. Block was -17°F 48 hours ago, and now it's 52°! Craziness. Looked like it was pulled from the bottom of a lake. Totally soaking, dripping wet. Fantastic for the electronics ... Ran it for a bit, and got it up to 135°, just to burn all that condensate off.

What model bike you working on?

Cummins hands down ... although I'm partial to the 12-valve, mechanically injected, no b/s engine.

Yeah that looks good. I thought it was the upscale new-body one - thought I saw that same dash in a '10 Escalade a while back. Memory ain't what it used to be, though ...

Ahh 10-4.

That looks like the '07 and up new body style to me ... but I'm not 100% sure on that ... Wow fast typers here! Chris beat me to it.

We normally keep it at 72°, since I installed that coal stoker boiler in October of '13. Before that, we spent many winters getting out of bed into a 55° house. Not very pleasant, to say the least. But 65° ain't bad at all, especially considering there was a 82° difference between indoor and outdoor temps - got down to -17°F this morning. We started burning coal in a hand fired stove in '05. Was WAY undersized for the house, so below 30° outside, we froze in here. Lots of temps in the 50's. Bought a bigger unit in '08 just before the big panic hit, and lines of people filled every stove shop in MA. Installed a couple large stainless hot water coils in it and tied it into our oil boiler. That kept us comfortable (except below zero), but it was a hungry beast. Good thing about coal is you only have to mess with it every 24 hours (shake ashes out, and load coal in), but I had alot on my plate at the time ... and then a few tons of coal with rocks in it jamming the grates open pushed me over the edge. Sold that, and installed the stoker boiler. Just like a pellet stove, except it uses fuel that doesn't go bad when wet, and has 30% more BTU's per pound. It's hands off most of the time. I spend 5 minutes putting coal in every 24 hours, and I take the ashes out either every 24 hours, or week and a half, depending on weather extremes. Still cheaper than oil at the current prices here. Chimney pipe install is far from ideal, but gotta run with what you brung. Not quite to code, lol.