other dog

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yup!

I don't understand any of it- I was looking to get the TH350 in my mud bogger rebuilt. A local guy in Appomattox that everybody said was the best around wanted about $600 to do it- this was in the '90's. I thought that was too expensive, a complete B&M rebuild kit from Summit was around $100, maybe less, then I saw Summit had complete turbo 350 transmissions for 600 and some dollars, pretty much the same price as the guy wanted to rebuild my old one. And the Summit transmission came with a warranty, and was good for up to 400 hp, about what I had. It's like a rotisserie chicken, you can buy a whole chicken already cooked cheaper than buying a whole chicken you have to cook yourself- what's up with that?

I'd hate to get rid of the sticks too, but a 300 or even a 237 with a 5 speed would be the cat's ass, as Larry Wales used to say, for what you're pulling with it, i'd bet you'd love it. You'd be blowing the large cars doors off on the hills too, instead of vice-versa. I drove an F model with a 300/5spd. for several years, had 3.87 rears and would run 80 mph. and pulled good too. They loaded 14 pallets of kyanite then, weighed 49,900 lbs, plus the bag weight, plus the pallets, totaled 50,155 lbs. and I hauled it all over the place with that Mack.

Me neither! But that was Lynchburg, maybe Winchester will be dry.

I just watched the weather- not looking too good for the weekend, 70% chance of rain Friday and Saturday, 1-2''.

Oh, and it had 153,000 miles on it, not 180 something. My Ranger has 154,000 on it. Thanks Paul! what's a ISC?

I heard it run Sunday and it doesn't surge or idle erratic like he said, it just idles too fast. The wipers and emergency brakes have been fixed. I drove it down the long driveway and back, did fine, but I couldn't get up a lot of speed on the gravel road. I turned the steering wheel with the motor off and there's no slop or slack anywhere. Tom's (mechanic at the shop) son works for a used car dealer and he checked whatever it is they check to see what a vehicle is worth and he said the retail price is from $3100 to $4100, depending on the condition, so this guy's right in the middle. I went down 460 towards Appomattox this evening when I left the shop to look at a short bed Chevrolet 4wd that was for sale, just for curiosity. It had worn out, dry-rotted 38'' Super Swampers on it, and was just eaten up with rust, and they were asking $3000 for it. I think i'm gonna buy that little Dodge, I just like it.

Saw this girl in the parking lot at the Winfall shoe store yesterday. I think her car was broke down, but I had to get to Cumberland and didn't have time to help her. On the way home this girl was getting gas in her new shoes at the gas getting place right across the street from the shoe store.

He said it got a little under 20mpg, and it's got 33's on it too. They probably improve the mileage some, but kill the power even more.

Nice looking grills, look a lot like the Char-Griller I have. This is the home made grill- thick wall stainless steel tank, should last forever. I had the top and offset firebox made for it and had just finished painting it here. I added a tall chrome stack too.

I was just looking at a website that had the specs- I wasn't expecting a hotrod, but the 91 model V6 was rated at 125hp. It's only a 239 c.i. engine. They upped the hp to 180 for the '92 and '93 model.

He sounded like a young guy and he told me he was not mechanically inclined at all. All the things he mentioned didn't sound like a major problem to me, but i'll take a close look tomorrow. I did look at the front end, ball joints, u-joints, etc. yesterday and everything looked good- nothing loose or slack, and all 4 tires looked like they were wearing even. I'd say it's worth a thousand with no motor- but he said it ran fine except for the rough idle. He even sounded honest- he told me about the rust spots that i'd already seen, and I didn't even ask him about rust. I'm supposed to meet him there after 12 tomorrow- he gets out of church at 12!

Here's what I learned today- I stopped by there on the way to Cumberland today- we had a family get together/cookout, Ma turned 81 last week- and left a note with my number on the truck. He called about 20 minutes later, and i'm going to go look at it tomorrow. He said it was a '91 model, V6, fuel injected, 4 speed. He said it ran and drove fine but it didn't idle exactly right, it was surging-speeding up and slowing down, and him and his dad hadn't been able to figure out the problem. He said there was an issue with the parking brake and the wipers, that's why it didn't have a current inspection sticker. He also said it had 189,000 miles on the odometer and the odometer didn't work so there's no telling how many miles are on it. I asked him if he would take 3,000 cash for it without seeing the engine or hearing it run but he said no, he just wanted to get his money back that he'd put into it and get something more practical and something he could get cheaper insurance on. I think he said he gave 33 for it and he put a new fuel pump on it. I noticed a new electric fuel pump and a new starter yesterday.

I've got two nice grills with offset smokers, this was kind of an impulse buy- figured it would be good to smoke something on while I was grilling on the others. Lunatic said the same thing about the Big Green Egg, "try one and you'll never use anything else". I looked at Big Green Eggs online and they're over $800, so i'll keep on with my Char-Griller from Tractor Supply and my home made unit- both work great!

I called the guy at 8 o'clock this morning, got no answer so I left a message. He hasn't called back yet.

I saw a girl with a shovel in Winfall yesterday.

OK, if you say so...not sure how that's gonna work, but i'm ready!

Hope it hasn't been sold by the time I get back. I was wondering why the pictures weren't real clear. I had the big camera with me today, and I looked at it to see what setting it was on after I put the pictures on the computer. The lens was on manual focus and I didn't even focus it at all.

Good point- I see a lot of stuff sitting up and down the road for sale and don't pay it any mind usually, but that little Dodge really got my attention. Think i'll call the guy tomorrow and take another look. I've got to go right by it again tomorrow anyway.

hmmmmm...you guys are going to talk me into buying a truck I don't need. Maybe it'll be sold by the time I go back and look at it tomorrow- I mean if I were to go look at it tomorrow. Motor might be locked up in it or something. Might have 900,000 miles on it too. I do like the looks of it though.

bring a roll of duct tape, i'll bring the sharpie.

think I should?

on the way home from the eye doctor in Madison Heights. I saw it sitting on rt.24 between Rustburg and Concord on the way home yesterday. Today I mentioned that it was a nice looking truck after we passed by it so Jo grabbed the emergency brake handle and did a 180 in 24 running about 93 mph, like Vin Diesel, to go back and look at it. She told me to buy it, but I don't know- I don't need it. The Ranger still runs good as new. Four wheel drive could come in handy though. I crawled all up under it today, but I don't need it. Looked pretty good though, well taken care of- just a few tears in the driver's side of the seat, but that's to be expected. Had a new starter on it. I couldn't get the hood open to look at the engine, it might open from the inside. They've got $3500 on the windshield- sounds pretty fair, but I don't need it anyway.