RowdyRebel

Straight from my in-box.... Happy Independence Day, y'all!

Just give 'er a good spray w/ lubricating oil when you grease the truck and it won't do that...

EVERY truck ought to have a quick-connect hooked up to supply air to the tanks. Make up an adapter w/ 2 male fittings with a valve in between so you can plug into "shop" air...saves having to fire up the truck and run it to build air to release the brakes/air up the suspension/whatever else needs being done with air...just plug in and open the valve. Also, if the truck stalls out, it makes supplying air to release the brakes and pull you out of the way simple and pain free. I think it's ridiculous NOT to have a quick-connect somewhere on the tank...not to mention, throw an air drill, air cut-off, 1/2" impact, air ratchet, etc. in the tool box to make those quick roadside repairs go by that much quicker...

...make for an AWESOME sunset.

Yup...RTV set up nicely overnight. Perfect working order now, so my A/C iss back to 100% efficiency.

Got'er did! Li'l bitta RTV to glue the glass to it and we're all fixed up.

Ready to put 'er back together...

Nah...shaping a piece of 1/8"x3" flat steel to fix it...replacing the rotted out piece.

D/S window didn't want to roll up or down...seemed to be catching on something inside the door. Opened it up, and sure enough it ain't right...

D/S window didn't want to roll up or down...seemed to be catching on something inside the door. Opened it up, and sure enough it ain't right...

...by the way, if this don't qualify as a crappy thread, I don't know what would.

Fuel prices going the way they are going, won't be long before everyone has 'em...

Funny thing is, even though the pen is a decent size, he keeps his waste all in the same spot...within 5 to 10 feet of the sewer cap marked "sanitary"...almost like he can read.

I am not a decendent of the founders. I AM a decendent of good, honest, and hard working folks who came here to leave the "old world" behind, work hard, and make the most out of the opportunities only possible here in the United States. I am also a decendent of people who were here long before Columbus "discovered" this continent. The desire to be free...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...isn't exclusive to this country. A government which was founded upon the principal that the individual is sovereign, and the government's powers are limited only to what "the people" agreed to allow the government to do...."deriving its powers by the consent of the governed"....is what makes this country unique. Our Constitution is a legal contract spelling out exactly what powers we expect the federal government to exercise (Article 1 Section 8), and specifically prohibiting the federal government from exercising certain other powers (Bill of Rights). Unfortunately, the Constitution is not read as a legally binding contract by far too many judges. They'd rather interpret another judge's interpretation of another judges ruling in order to find enough "legal" justification to rule in accordance with their political agenda instead of reading the actual text of the Constitution to see what it says. I really wish there were MORE judges like Judge Rolf M. Treu in California (go figure...) who recently struck down laws protecting bad teachers through tenure. In his ruling, he wrote: "It is not the function of this court to dictate or even to advise the legislature as to how to replace the challenged statutes. All this court may do is apply the constitutional principals of law to the challenged statutes as it has done here, and trust the legislature to fulfill its mandated duty to enact legislation on the issues herein discussed that passes constitutional muster, thus providing each child in this state with a basically equal opportunity to achieve a quality education." How rare it is to see a judge who knows that HIS job is only to say "Yes, the Constitution allows the government to do this" or to say "No, the government does not hold the power exercised by this law and therefore the law is invalid." He knows that it is NOT his job to rewrite the law, or even to direct the legislature how to do their job...only to look at the law in question, and rule on whether the Constitution allows it or not. If only Chief Justice Roberts held that same attitude...

Exactly. Ain't got to unbolt that bottom half, remove the clevis, cut the new shaft, and put everything back together. Unless that spring is broke or there is some other reason for that bottom piece to come off, why do the extra work?

...they don't want you to be able to remove the starter. 1983 or '84 Craftsman GT/18...B&S motor. Only way to get it out short of pulling the whole dadgum motor is to disassemble the entire backside of the motor. There has GOT to be an easier way...

Ridiculous. Needed to fix a leaky brake chamber...air leaked when air was applied to release the spring brakes. All I NEEDED was the "kit", which I would have had to wait a day for...OR for $1 more, buy the whole damn can which is in stock. More "spare parts" (or as SHE calls it, "junk") to clutter up my garage.

...and you aren't really moving the 5th wheel/gooseneck ball on your Dodge. You are repositioning the load on the trailer. Moving the 5th wheel affects the weight distribution between the steer axle and the drive axle(s). The trailer axle weight is unaffected. You shifting the load on the trailer is going to affect ALL of the axle weights. Load forward = heavier steer & drive axle weights, but lower trailer axle weights. Some trailers (i.e. dry vans) you can slide the trailer tandems...which is going to affect weights the same way. Slide the axles forward and the trailer tandems carry more weight taking it off of the tractor. Slide 'em back to stretch it out and the tractor carries more weight, taking it off the trailer. And if you can't get it right you take it back to the dock and make 'em reload it...or dodge the scales.

I've worked for companies that used fixed-position 5th wheels to save on weight, and if my axle weights weren't correct I'd take it through their shop & make them move it to where it needed to be. On my truck, I've got an air slide and it pretty much stays in the same spot unless I'm dropping & hooking and need to insert or remove the blocking pin (needed for frameless end dumps, but can't be there for tanks, flats, van, etc...)....which won't clear my 1/2 fenders unless I'm slid all of the way back. Also if I'm hooking to a trailer that was dropped too low I'll slide the 5th wheel all of the way back to make it easier to get under the new trailer. But, once I get situated with the new trailer, I slide it right back to where it was, since that puts me within spitting distance of 12K on my steers when my drives are around 34K. Depending upon what you pull, you MIGHT need to keep the 5th wheel slid farther back for clearance with the rear frame of the tractor (i.e. step decks) or the back of the cab (i.2. A long load that overhangs on the nose of the trailer) or to stretch the wheel base a little for bridge law if your trailer is a shorter one. Having the ABILITY to slide CAN come in handy...but for most drivers, once it is set, you'll pretty much leave it be...which is why they sell fixed 5th wheels.

Funny you mention that...had a good laugh at my brother's wedding when his best man was giving his toast & made the comment that my brother is probably the clumsiest person he knows. Keep in mind, this best man was down a few fingers from a shop class mishap. Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end for the tech classes at my old high school. After he got his hand caught in the table saw, the school decided the teacher would have to operate all of the power tools for the students...and that pretty much killed the program to the point that when the teachers retired, they weren't replaced. Sad day when a high school looses it's shop classes.

At my high school, the only people who took home ec were girls & guys who didn't know the difference between a screwdriver and a hammer. The rest of us figured we'd eventually marry a girl who could cook, so there was no point in us taking that when the shop classes were so plentiful.

Nope. Senior year, I went from lunch to wood shop, then over to drafting, before finishing my day off with auto shop and a study hall (which since it was the final class period of the day, I didn't have to stick around for). Only class I HAD to pass spring semester to graduate was P.E.

Nasty Light? What are you, 19? I ain't poured that stuff down my throat since I was old enough to buy my own at the bar & didn't have to rely upon the kegs at the house parties to get my drink on. Picked this stuff up today...Walmart was out of Shiner Bock and I didn't feel like drinking that grapefruity stuff again, so I got their variety 12-pack. 5 new beers to try!

I run 4.17 gears w/ 11R24.5 rubber...basically like having 3.73's & LP22.5's...and that's about as "fast" as I'd even THINK about gearing a truck that spends any time off-road. I've replaced the front carrier twice now, and snapped the through shaft once. If I had the money, I would've swapped 'em both out for 4.42 or even 4.64, but money was tight and I could only afford to do the one that broke. Unless it breaks again, I probably won't do anything until I can upgrade to full lockers with the lower gearing...or better yet find a cut-off with 44-46K rears (mine are 38K) with a walking beam suspension, then upgrade that to a Raydan Air-Link or Hendrickson AR2 when I put it under my truck. If I could get the stouter axles on the air-walking beam with the lower gearing & full lockers, I'll have me a decent truck. Then I'll just have the steer axle beam left to upgrade (looking for a 16-18K axle to replace the 12.8K...already sprung for 16K, but tires are only good to 14.3K). I'm thinking maybe I ought to win the lottery...

Repealing the 17th Amendment would probably do more to help the situation than anything else. Put the legislature back to how the founders had intended...the people have the House representing them. The state legislatures select the Senators from the state to represent the individual states at the federal level. Once the state legislatures lost THEIR voice in the federal government, the 10th Amendment became irrelevant and with no real means available to reign in the federal government when it goes too far. The states need their voice back. The people have the House. Let the states have their Senate. Repeal the 17th.