Never enough time

[steamin10]

Having sold the Red Ranger Splash this year, due to advancing miles, (97-130K) and picking up a wrecked 02 plain Jane, we have 3 Rangers left. The 02 had 58K when purchased, and is a handfull on ice, the Splash more so,c/o wide oval tires. The more standard tires help a bit, but we do not use snow treads, as the city-expressway roads are usually very clean and dry. I have a 4.0 97 x-cab (62K) that I love, and it is very light in the rear, and can burn tires on dry pavement all day long. Because of the longer wheel base I think, it is very predictable in a slide or on ice, no surprises like the shorter models. This black beauty was wrecked near Manitawok (sp?) Wisc, and had the rt front axle beam broken on a pole. Sat for 3.5 yrs. Looked worse than what it was. Hood-fender, straighten the inner fender, all the front plastic survived the wreck, airbags did not. We have run her 3 yrs now with normal maint. Love the space in the cab.

It doesnt matter. I buy the playsand tubes at the home store, add a 2x4 or 2x6 behind the wheel well and carry 3 bags all winter. It seems to help the balance a bit. 3 x 70# =210#

I have one 4cyl 96 ranger stickw/44K. Silver gray. It was terribly abused by a kid that off roaded it. My son has the truck now, and it is down with a failed fuel pump. (in the tank) PITA to repair. We are going to pull the bed this week and repair 4 shattermarks in the bed, and change out the pump with it off. It is wimpy on power, but a good grocery getter, and looks nice with the black bed softcover. Jr had his 05 Hemi 4door stolen this Aug. So he is avoiding the payment thing until after their contract in may.

I have the 97 Diesel dually too. Its a real truck, but I cant justify the fuel cost @ 275 gallon here. Reg gas is 247 today, down from 259 two weeks ago.

I have several other trucks, besides the just gotten e-250 work van, and an SHO 94 model. Has the Yamaha performance engine. It is down for the winter with brake lines rotted through.

I guess I can say I have a fleet, but nothing new, no payments, and only occasional repairs.

[steamin10]

E250 work van now has a starter malfunction. It is newer and from Auto Bone.I have the wood floor in, despite the rainy horrible weather. It is stained and varnished, and took a coupla days to dry in the cold. Have a Crapsman tool cabinet to strip the wheels off of and install right across from the cargo door, behind the pilot seat and barrier there. I will have to slither through the snow to dismount and check/replace the starter before further roadable progress is possible . (BBBRRRR!!) Its about $100 if its gone. ( !@ xmas no less)

The replacement for the Bent fender is painted and ready to go. The only other thing I will do is spray some canned undercoating on the inside for my own conscience. I will pull the two heavy Nylon seat covers inplace too, they being handy, and in hand.

Then will come the reinstallation of the liner and shelving for the Great White Whale to be a service truck. (It feels like a Whale to drive compared to my Ranger )

Merry Christmas, and TTFN.

[Harold_V]

Then will come the reinstallation of the liner and shelving for the Great White Whale to be a service truck. (It feels like a Whale to drive compared to my Ranger )

No pics?

Merry Christmas

And to you, and all the readers.

Harold

[steamin10]

Here is the whale a coupla weeks ago. The shot with me in front shows how badly the fender is caved in, the smaller shot shows the actual wrinkle that makes for the replace decision. Its simply not worth the time to fight it out. New skin is $72 tax included.

The other shot shows me taking off the roof rack, moments before I dicovered it weighs as much as I do! Nothing broken, but note to self- guesstimate weight better. It may be reinstalled depending on need, otherwise the aircatcher is gone for now.

The other one is the previous tool shelf setup, that is in the driveway, under the snow (grrr!) The rubber mat is torn all to hades and back, and was removed and replaced with a smooth 3/8 floor. It is dry enough now to work inside and not stick stuff in the varnish. I will work on paint tarps anyway, as the shelves and stuff go back in so I have some carry space.

[steamin10]

Crapola! The low temps caught me. The door to my tunnel/pump room fell open in the high winds Saturday, Alowing the cold west winds directly into the tunnel freezing the pipping to my well equipment. Saved the pump, but lost some piping and a valve. Had to dust off the Ridgid wrenches. Brrr, to cold for this stuff.

Drat, got a leaker too. More to do.

[Harold_V]

Crapola! The low temps caught me. The door to my tunnel/pump room fell open in the high winds Saturday, Alowing the cold west winds directly into the tunnel freezing the pipping to my well equipment.

Rats! Just what you needed, eh?

I hate to say anything, but we in the Pacific NW have been enjoying temps that are a bit unusual. Today we were in the mid 50's, which is well above normal. Nights are staying above freezing by a generous margin, all the while oranges are freezing in Florida. That's crazy!

Luck with the repairs, Big Dave.

Harold

[steamin10]

This weekend got to be pretty productive. After the water supply problems were ironed out, I turned to some house maintenance. I am pulling some registers, and repainting where some corrosion has caused some glitches with the paint. Sand blast and rattle can stuff, two screws and done. Amazing how little jobs like this can take all day.

Got back to doing some work on the Whale. The mat is out, the plywood floor is in, The Varnish-stain is dry, with its medium dark color looking good against the white. The edges have been caulked with OSI sealant to prevent a dirt catcher, or water penetration under the floor. Some 1/2 inch foam panels have been cut and fitted into the rib and window areas in the framework of the body. I will put in a coupla battens, and the cut some plain bath panels to skin the inside, white marlite. This should help the noise and heat loss for the road. Total cost about $100.

The starter that is new, replaced just before I got the van, stopped working. With an ease of the weather, I pulled the engine cover, and found the selnoid working, and the pinion operating, without the motor running. The nut on the Buss tab from the pinion operator was only snug. It showed a little black pip on the untarnished metal, so a 13MM wrench went into action and rolled the nut back and forth about 2 flats, before getting 2 more flats of tension on the connection. A twist of the key, and everything works as it should. Loose from the rebuilder, THANKS Auto-bone.

Continued on til dark and falling temps began freezing the standing water puddles from the day ran me off. I got the Drivers Door mirror changed out, with an unbroken unit off of ebay $15, and took the bolts outta the right fender for the changout. By the turnsignal there are two bolts that are impossible access, so that is tomorows project, finish the process and mount the prepainted replacement. Progress finally.

YL is kinda PO'ed that I did not finish an attic project. While checking out the wall area above the waterbed for a tracklight, I discovered some insulation moved and missing from long past renovations. I bought some 1 x 8 and some unfaced batts to overlay some of the attic, to handle the 'cold spots' in the living room. The 1x's will make the crawl path up the middle, so I dont punch the cieling or stress the sheetrock too much. Well, they didn't make it up the ladder into the attic yet. After all, it is Super Sunday. We have priorities...

[spro]

You're getting a lot of stuff done simultaneously, the climax should be great. Anyway Dave you are an inspiration. Around here there are either roof collapse or ones going to happen. i made this tool which is a simple thing really. It's on a long piece of conduit. The idea is that it folds pushing forward and opens up when pulling back. You can pull a few hundred #s of snow off the roof. There is some weight to it and I just all outa breath these days walking to where I need to go. something about the cold air or that age thing. Anyway, best to you and forget that wrinkle till spring. Good stuff.

[steamin10]

Snow thing shut down the Whale project again. Fender incomplete for now. We got about 18" of white stuff to contend with now. BAH! Shoveling snow with a *10 aluminum grain scoop. School is delayed for 2 hours today. Wish it were in the dumper for the day.

Moved the Insulation materials into the attic, will get 3-4 more bales of 6" batt while they are on rebate, and cover the east end of the roof, about 400 ft of 900 accessable. Cold snap is coming. Hoping for the best, already damaged water lines this year.

I wish I had built Dream shop outback. The conc block are still there, just never got the base money to raise the roof. I would be working in the warmth of my constructions. ( sigh ).

[spro]

You know Dave maybe you will and maybe i will have to rebuild mine. nobody knows except I was a fool in retrospect. See I had built an extension to an existing narrow garage with a steep pitch. Now that old garage had seen all previous storms and snows but it would've cost me a few grand more to have that extreme pitch mateing to the origional structure. So I went with a shallower and it's been a headache ever since. Some of the metal structures are falling in. i just wish good to everyone else.

[steamin10]

Spro: I have a constant battle with Nature, she is a Mother. Last coupla years she has made bombing runs on various roofs with widowmaker branches from crookedy trees, and sent an onslaught of critters and flood waters in biblical fashion. I feel like moses keeping the Arc afloat for the animals and the YL. The saved lumber put into piles and racks, are attacked by ants and termites, and reduced to firewood, as my efforts to maintain wane with growing age and abilities lost. The mind is sharp , but the body is tired, I must enlist some younger friends to conquer the jobs at hand.

The roof insulation wound up being 6 x 50 ft of R-19 batts, and is a little short of my goal, I will have to get another 2 bags to finish it out. My young 30 something friend John got drafted and helped my aching knees crawling around in the attic. We need 2 rows down the center to finish, with the rest of the material already inplace. It should be noted that not all of the 960=ft of the roof is available, about 3 ft of the edge is too low on a hip roof to accept insulation without blocking the soffit venting. And the West end has a Hopper ceiling over the Bedroom that takes out a full width by 14 ft of roof space, It has 22 inches of insulaton there, and that material was all new, the old 3" batts were pulled back into the rest of the roof, and re-laid.

Running the heat loss numbers says I should save about 8% on heat loss. If correct that means my sub $100 investment should pay handsomely and cost out under 5 years. We shall see, as the gas provider has Therms consumed and temperature averaged days to chart with, so a drop should be small but clearly evident.

Next project will have to wait for spring: The rehabbing of a rotted door frame for the full glass French doors that lead into the lower level. ( I dont like calling it a basement, as it is only three block in the ground.) The threshhold is hanging by invisible force, and the frame is rotted away 3-4 inches up from rain water splashing on it. I have factory pieces, to renew the assembly when I pull it out in the spring. New door $500+, or making the old one live some more= parts on hand. It never ends.

[steamin10]

Woo-Hoo! The YL heard me carping about the CRT screen for my aging Puter causing me to scroll back and forth, so she ran down a deal at Tiger Direct. (The store is headlined Comp-USA) in Orland park IL. A computer outlet store they have lots of store samples and computer bricka brac, along with factory deals on complete systems at reduced or low cost. Anywho, we went to Orland this morning, and sure enough got 2 lcd monitors for $99 each by E-Machines. They are a respectable 18.5 inch wide and have the wider pixel standard. Model E181HV. I am trying to get used to them at the moment, as the view is diferent than my CRT, but scrolling is OVER.

I love progress.