? when to call it quit's?

[greendohn]

I bought a brand new gmc truck the summer of '94 and used it for wood cutting that same winter. Spring of '95, while looking at that truck, I decided "Never again" . That "NEW" truck wasn't new anymore!
Now I keep a crap-box beater truck that doesn't mind if he skips off of a tree...and neither do I.

 

[Whitespider]

L-O-L
Yup... "new" and pretty trucks are for Cadillac Cowboys and suburbanite DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids).
Us regular folks beat the livin' crap out'a our trucks... if'n ya' can't (or won't) abuse the crap out'a 'em, what friggin' good are they??
Heck, ya' might just as well drive a Prius.
*

 

[zogger]

A buddy of mine had 85 oaks logged and gave me the tops. The path to the landing was nearly a mile long winding through woods and fields and he had plowed a path to it. The 3rd time I got stuck, and he had to pull me out, I called it quits. After all I didn't want him to think I was stupid(LOL).

You running for real mud tires and some beater wheels into the woods, or trying to get in there with street tires? All I know from experience is street suitable tires don't cut the mustard off road very well. and vice versa, mud tires on the road are rather clunky.

 

[Speed]

Easy solution: buy pre-dented trucks like I do. "Oh, look at that new scratch" is about as pulse-raising as "Hey, my boot came untied."

You've never been around when my shoes come untied, have you? This last pair of Red Wings I have need better laces. Double knot them and they still won't stay tied for an hour. Someday I will remember new laces while I'm at the store.

 

[Speed]

L-O-L
Yup... "new" and pretty trucks are for Cadillac Cowboys and suburbanite DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids).
Us regular folks beat the livin' crap out'a our trucks... if'n ya' can't (or won't) abuse the crap out'a 'em, what friggin' good are they??
Heck, ya' might just as well drive a Prius.
*

No. Not at all. I will fiercely disagree. A nice truck is a pride point, it shows you take care of things. I've got a '95 Chevy without so much as a scratch on it, in over 220,000 miles as a farm truck. It has had the $$$$ worked out of it from day one. The inside of the bed will tell the tales, not the outside. I never remember ever seeing a scratch on any of Dad's farm trucks either. A banged up beater is one thing, the old one I just bought is so rusted out my wood gets muddy in the bed. It was bought to keep the good one out of the salt. To me, a newer truck with one dent is an accident. Now, a newer truck that is full of dents and banged up just shows me that someone has too much money and doesn't give a ####. An old truck that has been worked and is in good shape is a testament to someone who takes care of things. Look at chucker's old Ford, looks pretty dang good for the age, I think his was a wrong place accident.

 

[3fordasho]

My 92 F150 has plenty of war scars from firewooding but I still like it to look respectable from 30ft.
Currently fixing the passenger side box and cab corner that was caved in from a elm stump I turned into, and a rust thru above the rear wheels. Scuffs from driving thru buckthorn and minor dents from thowing rounds in the back I don't worry about. Dang thing was almost show room condition till I started firewooding...

 

[Whitespider]

No. Not at all. I will fiercely disagree. A nice truck is a pride point, it shows you take care of things.

Vanity ain't my strong suit... I don't need to "show" anyone I take care of things... nor do I care what they think.
Don't know how you use a "farm truck"... but, if you use it as an off-road utility vehicle, it's pretty friggin' hard to drive through the weeds, brush and woods without crap rubbin' on the body. What do you do?? Get out and cut or move every shrub, branch, stick, dead-fall and whatnot that might rub or bump?? Not me... the idea is to get from here to there, back again. If I wanted to walk... I wouldn't be drivin'.
Actually, I find washing things too much just makes crap rust or wear-out because all the grease has been washed away (talking more than just trucks)...
Now, the cab where I sit... that's a different story, I like 'em whistle-clean and non-smelly on the inside.
*

 

[Steve NW WI]

Spidy, you might have pulled that sled out of "crotch deep snow", but unless you've got a lot of lift and TALL tires, I'm gonna start callin ya midget. Ain't a tire made, radial or bias, that'll keep you going when the whole underside is sitting on the snow and the tires can't find ground under em anymore.

Like Chucker, it's tractor time here. Around a foot and a half on the level, but the drifts in the lane are easily twice that. It'll take a couple hours with the loader opening up the drifted spots before I can hit the woods again.

The few smaller dairy guys that still have to haul manure every day have the bigger tractors on the spreaders, and chained up.

 

[naturelover]

Well, I usually call it quits when I'm stuck..

I should have called it quits beforehand though.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[jrider]

Vanity ain't my strong suit... I don't need to "show" anyone I take care of things... nor do I care what they think.
Don't know how you use a "farm truck"... but, if you use it as an off-road utility vehicle, it's pretty friggin' hard to drive through the weeds, brush and woods without crap rubbin' on the body. What do you do?? Get out and cut or move every shrub, branch, stick, dead-fall and whatnot that might rub or bump?? Not me... the idea is to get from here to there, back again. If I wanted to walk... I wouldn't be drivin'.
Actually, I find washing things too much just makes crap rust or wear-out because all the grease has been washed away (talking more than just trucks)...
Now, the cab where I sit... that's a different story, I like 'em whistle-clean and non-smelly on the inside.
*

Says the guy who routinely posts pictures of his awfully perty wood piles and neatly trimmed grass around them.

 

[Speed]

Funny you should say that, yes I do clear most all sticks, branches and downfalls. Pickup or tractor, let's forego the sheetmetal for a moment, tires are expensive, and I don't like buying them if I don't have to.

Now I'm trying to figure how taking care of equipment equals vanity. If I was going to hire someone to run my equipment, you can rest assured I will look at what they drove in with. If it looks like its been bounced off everything in the county, that tells me they arent very careful with their own stuff, and they sure as #### aren't going to take care of my stuff.

 

[mainewoods]

Decent tire chains all around plus weight in the bed can make a big difference in the snow. It's surprising how much snow you can go through with the right set up.

 

[Whitespider]

...unless you've got a lot of lift and TALL tires, I'm gonna start callin ya midget. Ain't a tire made, radial or bias, that'll keep you going when the whole underside is sitting on the snow and the tires can't find ground under em anymore.

That simply ain't true Steve, you're thinking of how you get through deep snow with radial tires... that is, ya' get a run at it and pray. That's because radials ride up on top of the snow... that's what they're designed to do. Then what happens is the radials dig in and leave you with your frame laying on top, wheels spinning in mid air. So what ya' end up doing is getting a run at it... hoping momentum will carry you through.

Narrow, traction-lug, bias-ply tires don't ride up on top of snow like radials... slow and steady, almost a crawl at times, is the way to run them through deep snow. If ya' feel a wheel start to slip you're tryin' to go too fast, you're allowing snow to get forced under the vehicle instead of around it. Time to stop, back-up, and start forward again, slow and steady this time. The tires should always be in contact with the ground, especially the fronts... the only way the truck and tires can ever get to the point where, "the whole underside is sitting on the snow and the tires can't find ground under em anymore" is if you screwed up, likely tryin' to go too damn fast and pushed the truck up over the snow. Sometimes, to go 50 feet forward, I may end up going 150 feet backwards... but I get there, warm and snug in the cab. Heck, I've driven where snow was pushing up over the hood and I needed the wipers to clear it from the windshield. Drifted and hardpack snow means you need to "cut" a path through it... slow going, sometimes just a few feet at a time, but you get there. By going slow and steady I've never once been in a situation I couldn't back out of... never once.

 

[zogger]

I only get beat on non runner junkers for weight in scrap mostly. I am more than pleased when they finally run and some of the lights and do dads work. Body work, meh. When I lived in town and was making regular middle class loot, sure, had shinier better looking rides, it was affordable to me then.

I haven't bought an actual runner, something I could get in, slap the new tag on it and drive, that looked good, no work required for nuthin, since..hmmm...hmmm...err....late 80s.

Dang....tempus fugit or whatever that is...double dang... .I guess I would like something nice for a change..doesn't have to be new, just new enough and nice....let me work on my voodoo lottery spell more.

 

[Steve NW WI]

I thought so. MIDGET!

 

[mainewoods]

Doesn't all the snow blow away in Iowa and end up in Michigan?

 

[brenndatomu]

This past weekend I drove out into the plowed field and pulled a stuck snowmobile out of crotch deep snow along the water way... never even slipped a tire.
They (the neighbor and his boy) told me I'd never get there... I just laughed at 'em.
What you need is traction-lug bias-ply tires...
*

I 'spose this was in 2wd, with an open rear diff too...? (and uphill, going backwards, draggin a loaded 5000 gall honey wagon with flat tires too!)

 

[mainewoods]

There ain't no hills in Iowa- flatter than a fresh caught flounder.

 

[Whitespider]

I 'spose this was in 2wd, with an open rear diff too...?

Naw, I needed the 4-wheel drive... this time.
*

 

[branchbuzzer]

If'n yunz ain't tradin paint, ya ain't tryin!

Oh, wait, that's racing...and cheating...and reverse that.....but it's a dang good phrase!

I never have trouble in the snow....until yunz are cuttin in nasty stuff like this I don wanna hear it.