Wild and Free

I think overall the full ranch hand bumper is around 200# heavier than the stocker, according to the web site mine weighs 275#.http://www.ranchhand.com/catalog?setcookie=true Don't you mean 7k? My 1500 hemi weighs in @ a wee over 5K empty.

On my 05 with the ranch hand I added the 1.5 inch leveling spacers and it raised it about 3/8" over stock and now sits almost perfect level now. Nothing else done and it rides and handles nice. When I measure height I always measure from center of hub to bottom edge of fender to get a consistent measurement at the center line of the front axle. Not sure where everyone else measures from but in my opinion I think the raise should be measured from centerline of hub to a set point on the body to be accurate.

Go with the factory OEM snow plow package springs the part number ends as 988AA, I did these on my 02 with the addition of the ranch hand and it actually sat at total stock height with these springs and bumper. with the stock springs and bumper I sagged about 3/8-1/2 inch over stock. Ride difference for me was not really noticeable.

I get a kick out of how he originally spelled "RUFF" then scratched it off and spelled it correctly.

Ha Ha that last sentence is not a number it says "causing a rough idle" . I guess I went to a better school for learnin bout ciphering than most lol.

Private owner or dealer for the 2005? Find out how religious they were with and what fuel filters and air filters they ran and what trans service has been done. Pretty solid rigs overall other than I would want to know some details about the fuel system and trans maintenance and any history of issues. Probably due for Ball joints as well this is an issue the 3rd gens have the way the geometry of the axles are poorly designed but is minor.

This can go many ways but take it for what its worth from a guy who has owned three 2nd gens and have tried about every steering upgrade there is for them over the years, 2 main things is all I tell folks to go with, shop for the most economical 3rd gen track bar and conversion bracket and then get rid of the 4.5 turn steering gear and get a 3.3-3.5 turn gear like a Borgeson or others on the market now. These 2 things are the best of the best for starters, a lot will say that a steering brace is a must, I had one on 2 of the 3 rigs and I did not notice a lot of gain with it but felt more at ease with it on my 02 since I did a fair amount of off roading and had extra weight on the front with a ranch hand bumper on it.

There are several different types of sewer pipe liners now that do not require the pipe be dug up if the pipe is still in good condition. I had tree roots grow the pipe shut on one of my 2 septic tanks a few years back they got into the pipe where it meets the tank and grew into the pipe until it was about a 2 foot long ball of roots that no amount of industrial roto-rootering could penetrate, had to gig it out. Just heard a story on the news saying thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for plumbers or septic pumpers due to sewer backups. Don't feel alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd7vLDFgSn0

For cooking I roll a bit different. I have a fire pit built into my patio with an adjustable height grill on it. I like camp fire cooking and I only cook with cast iron. http://www.campfirecafe.com/shop/ This is me cooking pork chops over the fire a couple weeks ago and then bacon wrapped cottage cheese stuffed jalapenio peppers. We make cowboy coffee all the time when camping as well in the summer. Me getting the bed of coals prepped for cooking over. Can't cook over the fire that is too much heat and burns things too fast, easier to control the cook over hot coals once the fire burns down.

Bad cook eh? Over cooking chicken? Pullets = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken

My stove is old school too, no way to add an outside air source although mine sits between to windows less than 2 feet on either side of it so if I need a bit of air I can just crack one of the windows.

If the home is wired correctly with an actual transfer switch there is no way of power going either way as the only thing the generator sees are the circuits wired into the transfer switch which is past the main breaker box.

I have a pretty small house @ about 1100 square feet including the entryway where the stove is on main level and my wood stove is in the entryway and we primarily burn either Chinese elm or cotton wood. cotton wood cures fast and burns super hot and fast and gets the house HOT real fast, Chinese elm is a medium speed burning wood and about medium heat. If its sub zero and we are home for a few days we burn cotton wood if its around zero to teens we burn Chinese elm above 20 we do not use the wood stove as it gets too hot too fast and is un-tolerable in our small house. I Tend to try and mix it 50/50 to get good heat with a bit longer burn per stoke seems to work ok for us.

SHTF = Shits hits the fan. Ha ha it didn't edit me there to s***. by adding one extra letter I am so bad.

Yeah not only the super strength metals they use but they also hide all the nitrogen cylinders in many many different places now too like behind the plastic in the a pillars and roof lines for all the side curtain and numerous airbags in cars now days also. Some convertibles have roll over protection bars as well that have injured and killed many firemen and rescue personal. Those cool looking metal head rest type roll bars are actually hooked up to nitrogen cylinders and pop straight up to protect during a roll over and rescue persons have been killed and had their chest crushed while laying across the back of some of these cars when they deployed.

I have had several extraction classes specifically about airbag and roll over protection devices in new vehicles and the danger they pose to rescue personnel and first responders. Some of the best eye opening seminars and classes I have sat through, also taught about seat belt use along with airbags and what to look for as a first responder when coming up on a scene were the air bags have deployed to see if the people are lying or not about if they had their seat belt on or not a lot of which police officers are not even taught, usually only crash scene investigators are taught some of the stuff we as first responders were taught in a couple classes I had several years back. Also where to cut using extracation tools and the different metals cars are made of that will render the jaws of the extracation tools junk if trying to cut through the wrong spots of some newer vehicles like the A pillars and roof supports.

I think I shoveled about 2 inches of snow twice last winter and that was 2 times too many and not much more than that the winter before, also have had mild temps as well only a few days of -20* and not nearly as long of zub zero temps as normal overall which is also nice, so far looking to be another mild winter but time will tell, but either way we are all of a prepper mind set cause one never knows here on the northern plains, bring on the nice rains from april through October and call it good. Yesterday I got both generators fired and tested out, gas caNS FULL AND ALL READY TO GO. gOOD THING TOO AS MY OLD GENERATOR HAD A GAS LINE DRY ROTTED going to the carb so had to replace that, better now than when it was dark cold blizzarding and in need.

You are probably right, its Been too many years to remember the clearance when I had the fliudamper on my 02 so can't give an honest answer anymore. My brains Dang photographic memory battery is going dead I guess. Personally I would do a fluidamper and then go with an electric fan after running one and knowing the advantages of them. Heck in my world running no fan is not all bad either, know many Cummins owners who run w/o a fan with zero issues except running ac in town in the summer.

After seeing what his specialty is I think a bit of tweaking and some old fashioned metal fabrication is well within his abilities lol.

It is actually a vibration damper not a harmonic balancer, the B Cummins is internally balanced. Looking at the pics I would say its time for a replacement as the rubber looks to be deteriorated out of it which is probably what's making it wobble. You replace it with a fluidamper you will be amazed at how much smoother the rig will run. I looked at your web site.....beautiful work, that is almost a lost art anymore. I worked used to with a guy that still does old fashioned blacksmithing / forging and teaches it as well, he specializes in making the old style iron decorative German grave markers yet.

Lots of reading about it here. http://na.henkel-adhesives.com/vehicle-repair-and-maintenance-threadlockers-22093.htm

Boy do you have that right, I just sat through a 2 hour class put on by a Loctite rep for our shop earlier this week and I was mind blown at how many different products they have now, it was a class with a ton of literature on which product is the best in any application and the proper way to use them. Covered Anaerobic sealers and thread locking and retaining products. Was a very good hands on class.

Really depends on ho much of a load is on or in the rear end as there is a proportioning valve in the rear brakes that adjusts the amount of braking power the rear brakes apply depending on how much the suspension has dropped. You may notice a valve in a brake line with a linkage on it.

Wow coldest morning of the year so far saw 3-4 degrees on way to work this A.M. Crystal clear skies and not even a whisper of a breeze.