Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Before there were speed bumps, and when shopping plazas were closed on Sunday for the Blue Laws (yea, I know, I'm old), they used to set up Jim Konas in the parking lots on Sundays with cones. It was a small course with lots of corners, and each car was timed. The 240s fared VERY WELL.

At the time I was trying it with a 65 289 4speed Fastback Mustang ... it was mostly stock (except for minor engine mods) and it was pathetic! Where was Carrol Shelby when I needed him! Extreme body roll, bias ply tires (instead of radials), etc.
 
260 or 240 ... I do older!!!! I remember well when the 240s were a real hot ticket!
I think 240Z. I owned one of those and a 280Z back in the 80's. A really fun car to drive. The 1971 240Z I bought from a friend after he totalled it. I paid $175 for the storage fees and got the car for free. I had the right front corner frame rail pulled. The bumper, right front fender and suspension needed to be replaced. The motor was seized from letting it run after the accident with a hole in the oil filter. I put a motor in it and painted the car with a nice coat of red Imron paint. The 1976 280Z I bought in 1982 for $400 with a blown motor. The kid owner ran it out of oil and seized up the camshaft. I replaced the motor in that one and gave it a new coat of green paint. Those were the fun days. A growing family had me selling the 280Z for a 4 door family Delta 88 Brougham.
 
I think 240Z. I owned one of those and a 280Z back in the 80's. A really fun car to drive. The 1971 240Z I bought from a friend after he totalled it. I paid $175 for the storage fees and got the car for free. I had the right front corner frame rail pulled. The bumper, right front fender and suspension needed to be replaced. The motor was seized from letting it run after the accident with a hole in the oil filter. I put a motor in it and painted the car with a nice coat of red Imron paint. The 1976 280Z I bought in 1982 for $400 with a blown motor. The kid owner ran it out of oil and seized up the camshaft. I replaced the motor in that one and gave it a new coat of green paint. Those were the fun days. A growing family had me selling the 280Z for a 4 door family Delta 88 Brougham.
I think he meant 240's. He can correct me if i'm wrong. Mornin boys and girls. Make it a safe one. :drinkingcoffee:
 
Bummer.
When you gonna get it out and let it rev a little.
I warm it up in the garage with the door open every month. Have a winter front on it so it comes up to operating temp pretty quick and the tanks are full and I have biocide in them plus AR diesel additive.

Been down the not so pleasant algae road before. Cost me over 1000 bucks to cure and I did all the work myself. That won't ever happen again and one reason I added the Racor fuel polishing filter. The 5 micron element not only pulls any water out but also plus pulls any 'junk in the tanks' out as well and the Racor has a clear bottom bowl on it with a drain and it has it's own built in 12 volt fuel heater and the filter element as well as the clear bottom bowl are replaceable.

The Racor's aren't cheap but quality is never cheap. What are used on large diesel powered offshore boats. She's got a straight 5" exhaust on it but the turbo keeps it quiet. All you hear is the turbo whining. Sweet sound. Got 5-40 Rotella T6 in the crankcase, oversized oil filter (Baldwin) and synthetic ATF (Ford's SVO recommended when they built the slush box), high stall billet converter, steel clutches and a huge deep sump custom built and TIG welded sump pan with a Hayden 4 pass trans cooler up front.

Never gets really hot even pulling my loaded Goose Neck. Trans gets maybe to 200 on a hard pull and it will break both tires loose (limited slip Detroit Tru-Trak in the back pumpkin). I don't do that but I know it can. In fact, it will smoke the tires if I want to but at my age, not interested. Besides tire are expensive today.

The E4OD's weak point are the clutches and the stock valve body pistons, all been upgraded inside by my buddies up at Fords SVO in Dearborn. When I bought the truck new, first trip was to SVO where it was for 3 months so they could play with it.

I'm no engine or tranny builder so they did it and they did it gratis, all I paid for was the parts. They installed a full Gale Banks kit on the engine including Gale's high output high boost turbocharger and his air to air charge air kit and all the other goodies too. It makes 35 pounds of boost at full pull and when I ordered it, I also ordered the limited build forged rod 7.3 Navistar engine. The stock engine has sintered con rods. This one has high strength forged rods as I knew what I was going to do with it when I ordered it back in 1996.

Sintered rods won't take the power the forged rods will. Like I've said before, 350 at the rear wheels on the dyno with OD locked out and close to 1000 foot pounds of torque at full boost. You really cannot see (without opening the hood and looking underneath, all the modifications done to it) other than it's 6" over stock ride height and at my age (73) is a real detriment to me getting in and out now, even with the steps on it.

I have to use a step stool to get in. When I did the front axle flip (to make it ahigh portal front axle) it raided the front 6" so I had to raise the back the same and all that caused me to build a new driveline to compensate for the new driveline angles. Lot of work but the end result was a big truck (it's almost 20 feet long with the pintle hitch in the back receiver and a PITA to park anywhere but the garage to park and it won't fit in any parking garage either, too high). One of a kind. go anywhere off road truck so long as the trail is wide enough to maneuver it as the turning radius sucks even though I ground off the bump stops a bit.

Told my wife, when I pass, no less than 35 grand for it. Probably worth more considering what I have in it. Like I stated previously, was offered 35 for it this summer but the buyer couldn't come up with the cash and it's a cash only sale.

My issue is of course my insurance carrier will only insure it for replacement value, not that it could be replaced for 14 grand and the collectable insurers will insure it for ACV as it sits but they won't insure it as a farm truck, only as a trailer queen for shows, so I'm kind of screwed if I drive it to go camping or use it for a farm truck, Have to be real careful and watch idiot drivers constantly.

A crash could cost me dearly and that would really piss me off too. Got a ton of sweat equity and funds in it. Glad I did all of it prior to retirement. It gets 21 empty and 18 fully loaded btw and unlike the hopped up modern smoker diesel trucks that people have built and irritate everyone with the gobs of black exhaust (that really is only unburnt fuel for looking bad ass), this one don't smoke unless it working hard or you firewall the pedal). Normal driving (on cruise) or normal starting produces very little smoke. Why I specified a Gale Banks kit when SVO did the engine and trans.

Gale knows what he is doing and like me, he don't like the smoke. I bet I have close to 50 grand in it plus countless hours on my part as well and that don't include the cost of it new either, Still have the window sticker with the owners manual in the glove box. I was told the OEM manual itself is worth a ton of money. New, special order, I paid 32 for it back when I made a lot of money driving a big Michigan steel hauler, ruining the roads with163 grand GCVW or 100 ten thousand of sheet and slit coils on the deck.

I don't miss that at all and I still have my class A CDL with every endorsement but Haz Mat and I still drive a not so big truck (single axle rollback) delivering new Kubota tractors for my dealer part time plus I have my own 18 wheeler in the barn with a a grain hopper and I contract deliver for local farmers to the elevators in Toledo, Ohio. Andersons, mostly. Sometimes ADM.

I own a Timpte hopper bottom dump and an International long nose tractor with a 3406 NZ engine and a 18 speed Road Ranger on 373 gears and a double bunk I never use anyway. All Newway air ride. 100+ mile per hour truck that never exceeds 65 and yes, it smokes like all big pre 4 Cats do when you start out or shift gears and it's pulling hard. Only has 275 thousand miles on it and one of my very good friends and hunting bud's is a CAT certified mechanic so of I have any issues wit it, he can deal with them, not that I haver because other than an overhead adjustment and a dyno run when I bought it used, I have had zero issues. I'll have to post some pictures of it sometime.

It sleeps in the big Clearspan Truss arch building where all the farm equipment stays in the winter as well. I love big CATS, always have. Too bad they got out of the on road market when the EPA cracked down on diesel engines. CAT couldn't make the T4 emissions standards and got a big fine so they decided to get out of the on road market and concentrate on the off road market where emissions aren't as stringent. They do have some vocational on road they sell with neutered yellow blocks but nothing in the on road market today. Don't do dump trucks anyway unless bottom dump grain wagons.

I bet it don't get 20K miles on it in a full year now ( my Barnyard Buick that is)...
 
I just had a roof torn off and put on. I knew I wouldn't be able to physically do it myself. I did have some roof damage that I repaired myself. Rebuilt the fireplace chase and roof sheathing in the effective area. When I was younger, I put on my original roof myself, hefting each bundle up the ladder by hand. Nailed down with a hammer not a gun. Dad helped a little too. I helped put on a couple of other roofs. Would not enjoy that as a profession.
Yeah... no way could I do the roof myself at this point in my life. It would take me weeks! My sons are the main labor, under my guidance, on this project... I did a bunch of roofs in the past... about half after designing, framing and sheathing the roof system. There were an interesting variety of gable, hip, gambrel, salt box and cape cod styles for houses, horse barns and two gambrel roofed 4 car garages. Some had valleys, dormers or shed roofs included in the design. The framing involved new construction, additions, and repairs... the later after a tree demolished a roof. The tree clean up is the arborist tie-in. 😉
 
I think 240Z. I owned one of those and a 280Z back in the 80's.
One thing I was never interested in was rice cars, My late father had a 66 Vette with a 427 big block rag top and off road exhaust and forged spoke aluminum wheels with 3 lug knock off's that I got to drive once in a while. It would run an honest 150 clicks on the freeway with the top down, with the 4 speed Muncie gear box with 323 rears and the gals loved it and so did I.

Problem was making out in the car, no room for fiddling....lol he usually drove his suicide 4 door Lincoln (like the one that JFK was shot in, in Dallas) but when JFK was capped, he sold it and bought a Mercury Marauder fast back with a 390 police Interceptor engine and a miserable C6 in it. That back seat in that was like a sofa and I took full advantage of it regularly. Of course back then, sex involved some cheap feels and French kissing, not like today. If you got a gals boobs out it was a miracle...lol Only car I ever drove that would hold passing gear to 85 before shifting into direct. It had a 150 click, certified accurate speedo in it but I never explored that. Too dam heavy and too little brakes plus I never trusted the bias ply tires. Maybe my dad did, never asked but dad was a speed demon at heart as well. Mom wasn't.

I still remember going to the grandmother's and grand father's house in SE Ohio and driving on US 250 by Tappan lakes (before the Interstate highway's were done and 250 had some real nice straight stretches on it) ( and 2 lane and no speed cops, not that any sane cop would try to stop dad and he decided to pass another car and put it to the floor and held it there with my mom going ape **** and me in the back seat watching the speedo go past 150. and my dad smiling and all you could hear was the big Holley 4 barrel sucking wind and gas.) Needless to say, I was smiling too, but mom wasn't. Back then, a big luxury car with AC and power everything wasn't a 150 click vehicle, the Marauder was. I wrecked the Vette myself, hit a straight truck in the side and that was the end of that. Once you bent the frame on a Vette, it was finished and dad totaled the Merc one night coming home from the tavern and got pinched for a DUI and spent the night in the jail. He bought a a Jeep Wagoneer after that, what a gutless POS. Least it was 4wd and had lots of room in the back for 'fiddling around'...lol Used to take it to drive in movie and park it backwards so I could watch the movie before the back window fogged up which was pretty quick....

I lived a pretty gifted childhood and I still do as an adult, other than the dam cancer that is but I worked hard for what I have and what I've learned along the way. I made big bucks and so did my wife and we squirred a lot away as well and invested well so we aren't hurting at all despite the economy and the stupid oatmeal brain president (that I didn't vote for).

Farm is paid for, all the land is paid for I own 3 rentals, all paid for cars are paid for (cash), no credit card debt payed in full every month. All I have left is farm equipment and I turn that over every 5 years when I depreciate it fully. and I have a sub contractor I use to keep the rentals up to snuff and I write all that off as well. All the machine tools and the fab equipment is also paid off except the 3 new welders I just bought and possibly the Amanda water jet machine I'm looking at but I need to add on to the shop to get that.

I have a very astute accountant that explores all the tax loopholes every year, He ain't cheap however but so far, we have done really well with taxes and farming provides an excellent tax shelter.

Now, if I can just live long enough, I'll be happy.
 
It was one of those cars that transformed Americans into worrying about handling, along with the Z-28 and Boss 302s, etc. Before that, it was all about the 1/4 mile!

(Cobras and Porches were just too expensive).
For sure! When I was a kid I worked at a Ford dealership. I recall driving things like big block Novas that were barely drivable even in the city! One of the parts guys had a 302 Boss Pinto that was a street legal drag car... It didn't look like it belonged on the road with it's roll cage and wheelie bars.😉 A friend from school had two Road Runners. One was his driving/tow vehicle and the other was a drag car that he trailered to the strip. He washed and waxed the driver so much that he wore the paint off! His Road Runner love started when they were a hot ticket in the late 60s and early 70s... before the emissions and gas crisis era. His notebooks in Jr. HS were covered in Road Runner sketches! As far as I know he still has the driver as I see him around town occasionally. I don't know about the drag car.
 
One thing I was never interested in was rice cars, My late father had a 66 Vette with a 427 big block rag top and off road exhaust and forged spoke aluminum wheels with 3 lug knock off's that I got to drive once in a while. It would run an honest 150 clicks on the freeway with the top down, with the 4 speed Muncie gear box with 323 rears and the gals loved it and so did I.

Problem was making out in the car, no room for fiddling....lol he usually drove his suicide 4 door Lincoln (like the one that JFK was shot in, in Dallas) but when JFK was capped, he sold it and bought a Mercury Marauder fast back with a 390 police Interceptor engine and a miserable C6 in it. That back seat in that was like a sofa and I took full advantage of it regularly. Of course back then, sex involved some cheap feels and French kissing, not like today. If you got a gals boobs out it was a miracle...lol Only car I ever drove that would hold passing gear to 85 before shifting into direct. It had a 150 click, certified accurate speedo in it but I never explored that. Too dam heavy and too little brakes plus I never trusted the bias ply tires. Maybe my dad did, never asked but dad was a speed demon at heart as well. Mom wasn't.

I still remember going to the grandmother's and grand father's house in SE Ohio and driving on US 250 by Tappan lakes (before the Interstate highway's were done and 250 had some real nice straight stretches on it) ( and 2 lane and no speed cops, not that any sane cop would try to stop dad and he decided to pass another car and put it to the floor and held it there with my mom going ape **** and me in the back seat watching the speedo go past 150. and my dad smiling and all you could hear was the big Holley 4 barrel sucking wind and gas.) Needless to say, I was smiling too, but mom wasn't. Back then, a big luxury car with AC and power everything wasn't a 150 click vehicle, the Marauder was. I wrecked the Vette myself, hit a straight truck in the side and that was the end of that. Once you bent the frame on a Vette, it was finished and dad totaled the Merc one night coming home from the tavern and got pinched for a DUI and spent the night in the jail. He bought a a Jeep Wagoneer after that, what a gutless POS. Least it was 4wd and had lots of room in the back for 'fiddling around'...lol Used to take it to drive in movie and park it backwards so I could watch the movie before the back window fogged up which was pretty quick....

I lived a pretty gifted childhood and I still do as an adult, other than the dam cancer that is but I worked hard for what I have and what I've learned along the way. I made big bucks and so did my wife and we squirred a lot away as well and invested well so we aren't hurting at all despite the economy and the stupid oatmeal brain president (that I didn't vote for).

Farm is paid for, all the land is paid for I own 3 rentals, all paid for cars are paid for (cash), no credit card debt payed in full every month. All I have left is farm equipment and I turn that over every 5 years when I depreciate it fully. and I have a sub contractor I use to keep the rentals up to snuff and I write all that off as well. All the machine tools and the fab equipment is also paid off except the 3 new welders I just bought and possibly the Amanda water jet machine I'm looking at but I need to add on to the shop to get that.

I have a very astute accountant that explores all the tax loopholes every year, He ain't cheap however but so far, we have done really well with taxes and farming provides an excellent tax shelter.

Now, if I can just live long enough, I'll be happy.
Great post! Bias ply tires, car sex, and fast cars.
 
Bummer.
When you gonna get it out and let it rev a little.
When it becomes mine I'd be more inclined to sell it, as well as all the rest of my father's vehicles except the 2005 Silverado 1500 with it's 18K miles, than drive it. He has (and had) a lot of neat vehicles over the years but I'm already at the point where I've been getting rid of stuff to shed clutter and maintenance. I certainly don't want to add any more maintenance as it's nearly a full time job now! The last few years I've been buying replacement things like lawn mowers (Ferris FW15 a couple weeks ago), chainsaws, hand tools, etc. that will last me the rest of my life. These replacements/upgrades will also enable me to keep doing tasks that most guys stop doing as they get older (present company excepted!).
 
My 70 Boss Mustang came with belted wide oval tires (which were supposedly the performance tires of the day), but I was not impressed with them.

When I stuck the 427 Ford Motor in it, I replaced them with BF Goodrich Radial TAs (which were the 1st wide radials). I also put an Aluminum intake on it, which substantially reduced the weight of a FE Ford motor (they have very wide intakes). It handled very well for a big block pony car! The Boss Mustangs came from the factory with Staggered Rear Shocks.

The Boss had 3:50 gears in the back, but I replaced the close ratio tranny with a wide ratio one sourced from a 67 289 Mustang. It gave me a 1st gear like I had a 4:11 rear. I still lost my first 3 races, then I added slapper traction bars and never lost another race, and I beat built 440s and 454s. I would race anyone with street legal tires who was not tubbed.

Being good at driving was just as important as having a fast car. If you did not launch and shift well, you would lose!
 
You could spend that 'sitting on your rear' time learning how to post pics... :innocent:

First I would need a new computer. This one got so messed up by a kid....

Yesterday I went through my entire picture file looking for pics I know I downloaded. Not to be. I know how to psost pics, used to post bunches. But that was back on computers that downloaded the pics to the home screen where you could do something with them.
 
Far as loading the rears, I don't and never have. because I run forage and sell it, the heavier the tractor is, the more it crushes hay plants and reduced yield. I run integral cast weights on the back (Kubota option like the excavation buckets are) and that is it. Never had a traction issue but I do have R1 bar treads front and rear, and rarely use front wheel assist either.

Truck....

Don't sell it. Older it gets if maintained, the more it's worth. Glad I got the extra cost diesel when I bought mine new on 97. Get yourself a set of Air Ride air bags for the back end. Not hard to install and the onboard compressor and under dash air gage. Mine maintains a low pre set pressure (activates on the starter key) and they really improve the ride (goes from 'logwagon' to somewhat tolerable unloaded). My wife still has to wear a'sportsbra' when riding or her boobs get sore right away. me I don't mind the bounce but she does...lol

My 350 rides like a lux your ass car when loaded or the camper is in the bed. and I keep it level with the bags, all the time.

Mine gets 21 with the 7.3 kiitted diesel and 18 loaded. and she just turned 100K. With the 7.3 mileage is not relevant so long as you maintain them. A typical 7.3 will go almost 500K miles with not a major rebuild and our old trucks are all the sought after long hood (OBS) style. I have leaf springs front and rear and I did an axle flip on the front as well which does improve the ride somewhat, gives better clearance in the front and lifts the front an additional 4" plus I added an extra leaf in the front which gave it 6" lift.... UUG now should have left it stock front and rear.

I have an ARB air locker in the front, Detroit Tru-Trakiout back, the entire driveline has Super U's, all greasable and Thompson roller linear bearings and new greaseable pins in all the spring pivots. Did all that back when I bought it and was way more physically mobile and financially flush... and yes I use Fluid Film on mine and my wife's Suburban, couldn't remember the name of the stuff but it is messy and it works. Stens sells it btw. I think they bought the company...

I'll have it until I die I suspect and my wife can sell it and become a sugar momma for some young stud. between that, my paid for machine shop and all the paid for farm equipment, not to mention my armory of guns, she makes out like a bandit. Should walk with about a million in cash all said and done. Time for a paid for young stud to take care of her needs...lol
Most don't farm, and even when we did have a farm all the tires were loaded, and had weights on them. No one owned anything 4x4 that wasn't articulated till the late 90's. Even then the old masseys and steigers still ran loaded rears and full compliment of weights. Farming differs vastly now a days, and tractor use for utility reasons has become darn near a household thing. Idk about messing up the orchard grass or alfalfa. I do care about stability at max loader weight. Which even large farm tractors are supposed to have tire ballast and counterweight as per every manufacturer of tractors I've ever come across. Kubota, actually, devotes quite a few pages to this in all their manuals with "proper" loader use techniques. The sub manual for their loaders also covers the proper use of counterweight and loaded tires. I don't care how big your tractor is, when used for loader work it should be ballasted.
 
First I would need a new computer. This one got so messed up by a kid....

Yesterday I went through my entire picture file looking for pics I know I downloaded. Not to be. I know how to psost pics, used to post bunches. But that was back on computers that downloaded the pics to the home screen where you could do something with them.
They are in the download file, or in the pictures file. Keeping the desktop full of stuff hog up memory.
 
Never heard of 'Viking hands' until i asked my doctor what the lump in my hand was. That was two years ago, i now have two lumps.
Currenly 45 years old, can't see it going away by it self. What were your options apart from living with it and surgery?
Never heard of viking hands, but my son used to have two goose egg size lumps on his wrist. when he finally went to the doctor about it they lanced it and squeezed it like popping a pimple. If was full of white thick goo, just like a pimple. I dont remember what they called it, but it hasnt came back.
 
For sure! When I was a kid I worked at a Ford dealership. I recall driving things like big block Novas that were barely drivable even in the city! One of the parts guys had a 302 Boss Pinto that was a street legal drag car... It didn't look like it belonged on the road with it's roll cage and wheelie bars.😉 A friend from school had two Road Runners. One was his driving/tow vehicle and the other was a drag car that he trailered to the strip. He washed and waxed the driver so much that he wore the paint off! His Road Runner love started when they were a hot ticket in the late 60s and early 70s... before the emissions and gas crisis era. His notebooks in Jr. HS were covered in Road Runner sketches! As far as I know he still has the driver as I see him around town occasionally. I don't know about the drag car.
When I was much younger and dumber, I had a Chevy Vega wagon and I stuffed a 350 4 bolt block with a side mount turbocharger under the hood, welded and bolted on a sub frame and tubbed the rear fenders for wrinkle walls. It ran consistent low 9's in the quarter mile and carried the front end for the first 500 feet and I drove it on the street as well. Turbo dumped right in front of the right side front wheel and I could literally 'blow a gal's dress up at a stoplight. Never got beat in a stoplight drag either. Only give away was a cold induction hood scoop and the huge rear tires (ran super wide ovals on the street and the Mickey Thompson wheels of course. it was a death trap too. 900 double pumper carb on 260 Sunoco. TH 400 with a high stall converter, naturally.

My turbo Focus is a pocket rocket too, though I rarely run it hard, and I can handily beat a 5.0 Mustang in a street drag and lays rubber in the first 4 gears and I can bury the speedo at 150+ as well. Only did it one time and about peed my pants. I like the 6 speed close ratio box. Problem is, being front wheel drive, it torque steers pretty bad and the shift linkage leaves a lot to be desired as in no power shifts. It's all cable operated, not hard linkage. I really wanted the European RS Turbo but the wife said no, she knows me too well.

Nice thing is, it insures as a 'station wagon' compact car here in Michigan, so insurance is really cheap. Little do they know it outputs 350 horses in a roller skate.

Only real downside is it's a GDI engine with a dry intake so I have to inject Sea Foam top end cleaner every oil change or even my grandfatherly driving drops the fuel mileage. I like 40 but it's getting 38 presently and it's time to 'douche. the intake and then I'll have to put the Autel code scanner on it to clear the engine trouble codes because the ECM detects an 'over fueling' condition. No big deal. For a grand for the Autel, I expect no less.

Took all the graphics off it, only give away now are the 4 exhaust outlets in the back and the wide, low profile tires on 17" aluminum rims and the Brembo 4 piston calipers that are powder coated bright red and if you look inside, the Recaro bucket seats and all the gages inside. Wife won't even ride in it, she said it scares her too much even when I drive it like the old man I am and it's hard for us to get into and out of as well. So low to the ground, which is the opposite of my 350 diesel truck. It's scary fast too, but if you drive sanely, it's a milktoast car. Too bad Fords quit producing them. Mine was assembled in Wayne, Michigan and the engine and transmission was built in Germany and sent to Wayne for final assembly. No Race Red or putrid green either. It's silver metallic with grey interior. Only the front buckets have the Recaro signature red racing stripes up each side. DOHC with VVT and single port fuel injection. Looked for a long time to find it and lucked out as it was an off lease car and owned by a female teacher so I knew she didn't run the bags out of it. Had the original Michilens on it at 22K miles and still under factory warranty and I bought it for basically 1/2 of sticker too. 11,500 bucks OTD, tax, title and plates. It's a sleeeeeper, a sheep with a wolf motor and transmission. Last car I'll every buy I suspect.
 
Back
Top