1just4don

My 91 Dodge Cummins has an Optima gel type battery in it and whole truck is becoming a electrical nightmare. Jumped in it today and no go,not even a peep,completely dead. I hooked up battery charger at 2 amps and used other car to go places. Came back home 3-4 hours later and battery charger is still charging 6 amps or more,pegged out needle. usually this means on a regular battery the cells are shorted out. is that what happens to the gel cell ones too? This is my first gel cell. I LIKE it because I dont get top moisture on battery to corrode stuff. still wont turn the motor but does buzz and make a sound. I am used to batteries going bad in middle of winter, not when temps are still 60 or so. well it was colder for couple weeks but it has recovered for a couple days. Maybe I should have disconnected the battery in case there was another short someplace,well there is always morning. what you experts think?any other quirks of these painted over Coors cans??

..that John Deere lovers BLEED green also,,,,is THAT true??? I can imagine this coat perfectly matches,,,,,,your John Deere green custom made underwear she MAKES you wear also?? Or is that too personal of question?? BTW cool coat!!!!

Most people use toothpaste rather than spackling compound before painting a wall. It works 'great' on small nail holes etc. larger holes need more help and structure than paste can provide. But the small holes,toothpaste doesnt need to dry like spackling,can be painted over immediately. All the pro apartment quickey painters use it!!

My first car I got to drive to school was the family buggy hand me down ,A 51 Plymouth Cranbrook. A front tire was so out of line it squealed going down the highway. dad said that was my problem,keep putting on tires with bumper jack and tire iron change method and nary a air compressor to blow them up with,,,just a hand pump. As time went by and more hunting was done by all my friends and myself,,a two door doesnt work so well. So I found a 50 Plymouth 4 door in a grove for 25 bucks. scooped out 8 inches of dirt and leaves and hooked a chain on it and drug it around till it started. Drove that a couple years,found out why it was parked. going down a gravel road the frame would flex badly because it was cracked,,,but never was allowed to fix it since alignment wasnt even considered either. About my senior year a local older guy had this 50 Dodge more door and seemed like the perfect 'hunting' car. He just wanted to 'give' it away to a good home. It was heavy enough to ride smooth on rough fields and drove like a dream . The fluid drive was awesome. the front visor was a great handle for riding on top. where we didnt go with this car was easier to say than where we did. used it almost every day and night. Boy what a ride!! NOW I have my grandpa's bought brand new '50' Dodge 2 door in a storage garage and I want it OUT and running,,,but alas I have NO garage to work on it in,,it needs a motor overhaul and reinstall. I have NEVER driven it,I bought it that way from a relative. I thought I would have it done by now,let alone never started YET!! Its a shame to have a car like this for 30 years sitting in a dusty garage,,,it NEEDS driven!! People that see it marvel at its condition,,no bashed fenders,no bashed glass(except something fell on windsheild now and broke it. I doubt the car has too many miles either. Grandpa didnt go far,the local guy that had it later didnt,he drove it from his house to his bar,he owned. and my cousin that drove it last didnt drive it barely. Now if only I could find a decent running fluid drive motor to slip in and drive into the sunset. THEN grandpa would be proud(think he passed away in about 1968)

somewhere down south this lady was pulled over for having a BIG box on top of her van. She couldnt figure out how to hold it down so she had her 13 year old daughter ride INSIDE the box for weight. Old saying"Ya cant fix stupid"

one heavy base that wont tip easy is an old cast flywheel from an old John Deere 2 cylinder tractor.specially if you can find a restorer that has a cracked one that they arent too proud of. Otherwise a cast brake drum from an old truck works well too. or like norms idea with a twist,,find a narrow tall old tire and fill with concrete. If you have a nice shop,put a pipe sleeve in the floor that you can slip the pipe holder right into,,that works well case you can turn it any direction,,and cap it when not in use. or make it swing out from bench crosswise,,,thats handy also

still round up the covered wagons at night to protect ourselves from attack!! You would be amazed at how many left and right coasters think we really do!!! Let alone that,,,just a few years ago people who were born and raised in our largest city and never been out side there city limits ask such questions as Do you really live as far out as Valley??(which happens to be 5-10 miles from the farthest they have EVER ventured!!) How people can be THAT tunnel visioned is beyond belief,,,in THIS day and age!!! This was when i was working for a large banking corporation,,,and they were the home office. ask anyone,NO ONE 'wants' to travel by choice to Nebraska!!

Just wondering IF anyone from this board will be at this show and sale this weekend. Its a relatively large show for this area Known as 'Last Fling Till Spring' I am NOT affiliated with it but may be passing that way Friday and again Sunday. Sale listings here: http://www.fowlkesrealtyandauction.com/auctions151.htm NOT alot of our era cars but some oldies none the less,,,and of course some whacked and wanged on ones also. Would like to meet up with anyone going!! thanks-d- GEESH---I forgot to say its in West Point Nebraska.(I know you coastal guys are allergic to Nebr,,,but none the less)

back in the day of driving these every day to high school,,,we dumbies only used those for spotlight outlets. NEVER rarely used them as a lighter. Fond memories of the hunting we did most every day back then!!

Most unfortunately NOT in an old mopar. Going to fly out to Cali-forney to drive a friend to New Orleans. My question is since I am geographically handicapped,,,what sites along the leisurely trail should one see,,or NOT pass up?? Headed south thru Ca.,heard we are going thru Big Sur,whatever that is,and the loop, then probably head thru Vegas and stop to see Hoover dam and Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns,,,maybe the Alamo. Stop along the way and see a few friends. What sites along he way are MUST sees,,,or defined 'good looks'??

Anyone stranded in the backwoods of Nebraska (Northeast part specificly) has to have a few screws loose anyway. I do have a screwdriver. AND alot more tools. Probably more helpful is the car trailer, but cant leave the state with it!! Its legal here but not elsewhere. ALWAYS willing to help other people to a fault. Some days I think my dump trailer gets MORE neighbor use than personal use!! And my skid loader seems to find its way around the neighborhood!! Life in MORE fun that way!! AND yesterday I got help running that 25#,,, pipe handle,,, rock hammer on a chunk of 2 feet thick 'crete!!(it ought to be illegal to run concrete 2 feet thick,ever) NOBODY ever passes this way unless extremely LOST!!!

This may be slightly OT but pertains to this subject well. This guy was into restoring rusty dusty tractors,of which many are stuck tight. He parked the tractor against his favorite tree(maybe shaped correctly for this) with the front end about 3-4 feet of the ground,in gear so full weight of front end was directed to stuck engine. Opened spark plug orifices and filled with GOOD penetrate such as Kroil and filled and soaked all else down also. The story I was told was there was NEVER a subject tractor that didnt give up the stuck feeling. How this relates to cars,I am sure the weight of the car off the ground would assist also. keep filling spark plugs and leave them out till the car or tractor drops down and meets the earth. IF the engine is out ,all bets are off and dont know how you would get equal torq to it. Other than the wood tap and crank removal as talked about. My imagination says this requires a pretty good clutch to work effectively also,but am told it DOES work!! not all penetrates are created equal either,,,Kroil or PB Blaster would be my first choices. WD-40 and some others similiar,my LAST choice. AND if your doing stuck engines it ONLY makes sense to buy by the gallon rather than the spray can!!

Norm, Anybody knows the "REAL" reason for a back seat anyway. Wonder how much 'nookie' occured back there in the good ole days!!!

Just read the article and thought MAYBE somebody here would enjoy reading it. cant believe they can get THAT much HP out of any small block. That HAS to be a ton of mods to getter dun!! Would be something IF they required those cars to drive to the test site!!

Just saw this posted on another site and 'borrowed' it to bring it over here!! Thought it was interesting,,,for someone 'else' to do and me to 'read' Thought you guys might like to hear about this. A high performance muffler company put on a contest this past summer. Rules are minimal, must be a street legal car running pump gas and mufflers. Ten qualifying events thru the summer with the ten best getting together in Vegas for the final run. Strap you car to a wheel dyno and let 'er rip. Winner gets $25000. Well 7 of ten showed up at Vegas, proud to say 3 were from the great state of Minnesota. A couple of the finalists qualified using E-85, by the time they all got to Vegas ALL SEVEN were using E-85. Winner built a all new 427 small block chevy with twin turbos in a '64 Rambler 4 door that cranked out 1642 horsepower at the rear wheels. Second place was a 70 Chevelle with a 540 Big block chevy also twin turbo but no intercooler that laid down 1455 hp and third was a '71 Hemi Cuda with a 605 Keith Black Hemi with a 500hp shot of nitrous oxide that put out 1435 hp. Fourth went to a 427 small block ford in a '95 Mustang, twin turbo and 1382 hp, fifth was a supercharged 65 Chevelle wiith a 540 BBC, sixth was a 59 Impala with a 509BBC at 1218 hp, and seventh was a 98 Corvette running 408 Generation III small block cheby with a stock block and heads and stock t56 trans and rearend holding dowm 1200 hp. UN-FREAKIN' BELIEVEABLE

Looks like the floor or bottom is the BAD part from the pics,of the tire well. How about a strip of nice clean metal cut proper width and just bowed welded into place?? Would it HAVE to be rounded on the edges?? IF so any decent blacksmith could do that in half an hour!! Scrub the rust and debris from the inside and shooter black or what ever color trips your trigger!! Little caulking and I doubt you could even SEE it in there!!(Make SURE any caulking or sealing is 'paintable') OR spray some undercoating on it first

Saw a rosewood steering wheel with a 'defect' and the 'beginning price' is a short 4,000 buck a roos. I guess I would steer with a scrap iron makeshift before I bought THAT!!

Last time I drove my daily driver cummins diesel dodge pickup(1991) the radio and clock didnt work. switch was too far turned so after a while the clock started but no radio. I turned it off Today I go someplace AND the radio and clock both work,,,for about a minute THEN radio went to buzz fuzz constantly. So I turn it off again,,,no cigar,,,turning it off didnt make the fuzz quit,,,kept right on fuzzing till I shut the truck off to go inside at a store.(with the radio switched to OFF) THEN it stayed off and wouldnt come back on,,,I came home,parked it, did a hour or so of things and hopped back in to go another place and lo and behold the radio worked like always the whole 15 minute trip!! Whacked out is an understatement with THIS thing!! The one that really amazes ME is NOT shutting off with the radio switch!! On a related NOTE the high speed heater and defroster speed doesnt work,,,blows fuses constantly,put a new one in every week if not day IF you wanna have it run,,,would a relay be better than a fuse?? How would one wire such a thing correctly?? Sorry for such an off topic item BUT I consider some of the worlds BEST mechanics POST here!!! The whole truck is a wiring nightmare!!(Half works-half dont) Thanks for reading this!!-just don-

Haye to burst your bubble,,,but just a correction of fact. Water and beer would weigh 'about' the same,,,unless it was real ""LIGHT"" beer d:~) ,,,its about 8 pounds a gallon,,,so a 30 gallon keg was 240(plus alluminum keg),,,call it 250,,now times 3 thats 750 now add a couple hundred for block ice and other necessities and you know darn well this all rattled to the front of the trailer. So little wonder with NO tail weight that the 1000# tongue weight broke a suspect trailer hitch attachment. That is about like 3 or 4 fat women in the trunk,,,tails a dragging!! Okay math class over,,,carry ON boys!!!! BTW,,,,NICE true story!!!!

I doubt I EVER owned a car or pickup that the latches worked right its whole life,,,maybe a result of owning them TOO long Even the Dodge pickup I daily drive the door doesnt close and these days is darn cold cause the heater doesnt work on high,,,just a mere trickle on lowest setting AND doors never catch on the closed position. THOSE cabs were always a junky piece of tin. I think I need new hinges or in old days could replace hinge pins and bushings,,dont know about these,,,they didnt account for this while designing them!! On my OLD Dodges and plymouths we drove while high schooling(50 and 51 plymouths and dodges),,,they popped open all the time,on washboard roads etc. AND when we were rabbit hunting in rough native pastures at 25-30 mph. Nobody ever got hurt or even fell out,,but dont know WHY!! One time we were rabbit hunting and leaning out the window to the waist with spotlight in one hand, 12 gauge shotgun in the other. Door popped open while 'chasin' a jack rabbit across the grass. Here I was swinging out in the wind,hollering STOP let me back in,,,answer was NO,,,not till we get this one. I shot the 12 gauge with my magnums reloaded myself and the force of THAT blew me back into the car. It was a pump and it was ALMOST an automatic,,the recoil would throw it wide open and ALMOST closed!!The last 1/2 inch was up to me!! I quit driving a 66 Dodge pickup once cause couldnt get in the darn thing,the doors wouldnt stay closed,and couldnt get OUT the doors when you wanted to,,,went to the dealer to BUY new door parts so it WOULD work,,,said sorry dont sell THAT old of stuff!! BIGGEST thing is NOT to use greasy stuff in the hinges OR the latch that grit gets on and wears faster!! Dry silicone or graphite only!! Biggest pain is have to squirt them daily or weekly or its all gone!!

saw the 12v models in Bomgaars yesterday $160.00 a pop but Bomgaars NEVER was the cheapest place to buy batteries!! No 6V on the shelf,spose they dont sell many of THOSE. Didnt look but sure they had 6V regulars around tho. VERY few Optimas even 12v. I think three,,,tons of regular battereis. I bought an optima for my Dodge pu a couple years ago and never got it installed in there,,I should now,,battery is getting weak. It instead got put in a Ford Peecup and got parked last winter. To this day I bet I could walk out there and start her up, open the door and lites still bright!! IF I could just find a 90's E4OD trans for a 460 4X4 I would love to drive her again!!

,,,Ralphie caught the clap and it has affected his BRAIN!!!

I had a first cousin( name was Ken Norton) that graduated from the Naval acadamy and was BEST friends/classmates with Elmo Zumwald Jr. who was the son of the Admiral Zumwald that was the guy that decided to drop agent orange on the forrests,,,which ended up killing his son(from cancer) and deforming his grandson. Anyway they both went to Nam and were swift boat commanders. Ken stopped in one day while crossing the USA in his new white Jag (from graduating from acadamy). He shipped out from San Diego. He wasnt there very long and a sniper shot him between the eyes(As depicted in the movie"My Father, My Son"). Somebody (whoever the actor was)was a dead ringer for my cousin. Those swift boats did have high causulty numbers AND alot of officer fragging Thank YOU for your service martybose,,,and sorry for the loss of Lt. Wyrick!!

Had 5 inches just this morning. Thats how much the news said,they are always low. Havent been out yet,still snowing BUT 7-8 looks more like it. The kicker IS we had about 3 inches of ICE last saturday. And it never melted off,,,so slick is an understatement,,,course the roads(paved) were fine before this dumping,,but gravel roads a sea of ice still. A couple MORE warmer days to break up that crap underneath the snow would have been nice. EASY to find feet flying higher than your head!! I DID notice the highway was white with the ice melt stuff before this snow. Thought this stuff was supposed to be more friendly,,,guess NOT!! if thats what it is,,,corrosive beyond belief!! have it in tractor tires and a small seep will rust a rim clear thru!!

Since those harmful Mcdp(Dunno the initials) but harmful additives was removed and replaced with certain amount of ethanol and THAT eats pure rubber like a dog eats his doggie biscuits,,, you NEED ethanol resistant line AND then it may disentigrate too fast. Looks like the steel line would be more permanent,,,but the resistant rubber would 'work' least for a while. Till you saw that tell tale puddle under there. I 'think' mostly steel was used because of all the gravel roads and how many rocks get thrown up under there!! Still get those even on paved roads but not the volume!! At price of gas,,,hate to lose a tankful cause of a 'cut' line etc.(even tho it's rubber on the end!!)