Hawkez

Good to hear that you got it fixed and even more glad to hear that it wasn't anything more extensive.

The chicken is staying in the box for because she has either gone broody or is sick. I would bet that she is broody. This is when her instinct has kicked in that she needs to incubate eggs. During this process they will not lay nor will they leave the coup. they will stay like this until something triggers them to exit this behavior, like eggs hatching and the sound of chicks chirping. This behavior has been bred out of most domestic chickens, but it will still happen. I used to have a bird that did this about every 3-4 months. It agitated the other birds because she was always taking up a nesting box. Google how to deal with a broody hen and there are thousands of ideas. I made it a point to lock mine out of the coop and throw her out when I found her in there and I tried to remove the eggs as soon as I could. While she won't be laying any, others will and she will move around trying to sit on something. Birds that are going through a molt will not lay, but they will still be active outside. If the laying box is occupied by a broody hen the other birds may be going somewhere else to lay there eggs. It is funny how a broody hen can piss off the rest of the flock. I hope this helps.

Gauges are a must. Whether you have a super-expensive aftermarket pump or the stock pump you need gauges. Expensive pumps fail too and the low pressure light may be too little too late. An actual fuel pressure gauge in the cab will help you troubleshoot and be aware of issues that may be coming. Personally, I went with the Fuel Boss from GDP and I am very happy with it. My stock pump is still installed and used to prime the fuel system. I've had it for 20K miles or so and I have yet to have any issues.

I tried and tried to rebuild the calipers from my '99. The calipers on my truck are single piston and I couldn't' seat the boots to save my life. There isn't a lot of info out there for this version of caliper, but what I could find is that there is a special press to seat it. The parts are all readily available at local part stores, but in the end I gave up and bought remanned calipers from Napa. I hope you have better luck than I.

You're a good man for spending time like that with your grandson. I spent a lot of time like that with a grandfather, but he passed away 20 years ago when I was a teenager. My paternal grandpa is still alive but we've never had much of a relationship. I feel bad because my boys probably won't have that special connection with either of their grandfathers either. I'm willing to bet that he'll never forget spending that time with you. Did you change out the hub/bearing unit as well?

Why does he think the lift pump shuts off once the engine is started? I would start small by checking voltage and FP. How is his filter? Have him check his alternator for excessive AC voltage.

We've never sold the chickens. We try to put 90 chickens in the freezer each year and that keeps us from buying anything from the grocery store. My boys sell turkeys for thanksgiving and Christmas each year, that is all we ever sell. Though, if you ever find yourself down this way I can send you away with a chicken.

We ended up processing 21 chickens and 5 turkeys on Saturday. We had some neighbors come over and we taught them how to do it. I enjoy seeing that realization in other people's faces when the see how doable this is. We made a few changes to our Hill Billy equipment. In the past we heated the scalding water over a fire. That requires a lot of attention to keep it within a few degrees of the desired temperature. Another issue we were having was my boys are too small to scald the turkeys on their own. They are too heavy to lift and dunk in the hot pot of water so we came up with this new piece. I built it over a turkey fryer burner. It takes about 45 minutes to get the water to 140*, not too bad at all. And it was so much easier to maintain a constant temp. The boys don't need my help scalding the birds which allows the process to go faster. What do you think?

I've never used anything for flushing the inside of the radiator except for water. I know prestone and I'm sure others have a flushing product out there.

another 5 minutes and you could have had the radiator pulled out of the truck. When I did mine, I contemplated spraying the radiator while it was still installed. I had just flushed the coolant and didn't want to dump it. I ended up pulling it and I couldn't believe the grime that was hidden and I couldn't see when it was installed. The radiator is too east to pull out, why not do that and get your eyes on all of it.

Holy Crap!! That is a story and an half. It sucks to see animals die unnecessarily. If the fawn wasn't developed enough for birth, there wouldn't have been anything that you could have done. I respect your willingness to try to help. How about some pictures of the truck?

If you are going to flush the coolant don't forget to pull the radiator and clean that well. It is simple to remove and it will save you a headache in the future. The way the crankcase vents it leave oil residue on the radiator which in turn traps grit and grime that blocks air flow and prevents cooling. I did mine last year and I was surprised at how bad it actually was.

Those temps sound about right. If you don't know the last time the coolant was serviced you ought to consider doing a flush. If your crank case vent is stock you would need to pull the radiator and clean that as well. It is simple insurance. Welcome to the site.

Don't forget your black and grey water holding tags are outside exposed--maybe dump some auto antifreeze down both of those. Mine froze up once on a fishing trip in Wyoming, everything on the inside was fine. The more running fans that you have the more draw on your batteries. If your fresh water tank is inside the trailer you should be alright as long as you keep it above 32*. That is pretty cold and with regular heaters and furnace I imagine it would be easy to keep that above that. When I go camping in colder temps we open the cupboards so the plumbing and P traps are exposed to the warmer air as well.

I was just going to say the same thing.... Except I didn't' understand any of it. . What a great resource to this site.

I've always used the Mr Heaters. I've used them in my RV and Ice tent. I've never had a problem with them nor have I smelled the fumes. Usually in my ice tent I run two of them (it's a big tent) and after a couple hours, especially if the tent is wet, the heaters will shut off until I can air the tent out. I have been very pleased with mine.

16 is a good number. I think I am up to a 100, but that will decrease to 70 in a couple of weeks. I also have 5 turkeys that have been put on notice. A few more pounds and they will be done. We are up to 10 geese and they finally stopped laying eggs. I have two incubators going with their eggs and they sell as soon as they hatch. I always have a waiting list for goslings. Next month our Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys will arrive and we'll start that process. My wife says that I have a problem, but I don't see it.

Do you plant your garlic in the fall or early spring?

That looks really good.

We have Potatoes, Onions, Tomatoes and lots of corn. One of these years I'd like to plant garlic.

If you can find a DVM that has different styles and sizes of clips, pins and probes it can make life a little easier as well.

I don't think you have to go super expensive. Make sure it has the options that you want/need. I have one from radio shack and it is easy to use. It does everything that I need it to do.

Good to hear, hopefully you have no problems in the future.

This is the rectifier and repair kit that I bought for my alternator rebuild. It is much cheaper than Larry Bs. I should have done a write up, but I never took any pictures. I googled how to rebuild the Denso alternator and found a pretty decent video (probably shouldn't drop yours as he demonstrates in the video). The brushes and rectifier are very simple. The bearings aren't hard, but they require the persuasion of a hammer. After buying the kits and paying for shipping I rebuilt my alternator for almost the same price as a unit from OReilly...and I get to warranty it myself. But it did solve my high AC problem. http://www.aspwholesale.com/rectifier-nd-p1375.html http://www.aspwholesale.com/repair-kit-nd-er/if-136a-p6046.html

It could be, it would be easy enough to test.