JAG1

Very interesting! Nice job though as no one around to bug you anyway. Can you sneak in the O.A. when they're not looking? I know... no on one wants to pay the heavy fine, right?! Why don't they bring in a nice sized Track hoe with a thumb to crush up to smaller size? Thank you for sharing @wil440

I was on the otherside looking back at you many years ago. We took gravel/dirt roads to see the mile deep canyon below.. We were camped at Wallowa Lake campground. Real nice place with the highest gondola in N. Amerca.

On my 12 valve the second and third starters were free due to lifetime warranty's so I actually only paid for one in those years. I guess it's a dice roll these days with rebuilds. I saved My ND starter and will have done what @Tractorman had done at Lazer Auto Electric. I can have it ready if needed on my parts shelf.

Trouble is it's always nightime, by march the forum should go light again. That's the welcome flag from Oregon

He needs one to push him out the door in the morning.

I had to change starters 3 times in 24 years on my first gen 12 valve (465,000 miles). They were all rebuilt starters but, I searched the company that rebuilt them first to stay away from Bad rebuild shops and brands. I checked reviews to avoid those that were commonly sold real junk out there. I always had to pay a little more for better rebuild brand names. I have 2 second gens now and changed out one starter with a supposed better brand 3 years ago and it's been no problem so far. Good batteries and clean connections help make them last. Putting a few drops of motor oil on the batt. posts helps a lot. Also batteries will develop a ghost draw by having dirt build up across the top of the battery case so I keep the battery clean as well. Don't forget to clean that ground that is accessible when the starter is pulled... it's just next to the starter maybe up a bit on the engine block.

See, now you got to go campin' with us this spring and everything be all right!

If you turn the wiper assembly over, exposing the gear cover and connections, you will find it very easy to pull back the rubber cups at the pivot points on the linkage arms and inject some grease in there. The rubber cup/covers close back up over the ball joints when you let them go.

Acme Threaded Rod? We used it to lift and close an irrigation gate we built in front of spillway. It shut off the water to the spillway, raised the water level high enough behind the dam to feed a waterwheel. Coolest day at work getting that going again after many many years of just hanging there all crooked with long gone shaft bearings.

Are you planning on using gas support shocks to help lift the front clip? Asking because I think it's going to be heavy anyhow!

Since we are sharing electrical problems... both my trucks suddenly had very slow wipers about the same time on my 01 and the 02. They also sit out all winter so what I found was the electrical ground and power leads are connected at the wiper motor gear housing, always exposed to the rain and whatever underneath the cowell. I could smell hot electrical wire smell both times since the heater gets it's intake air from the cowell area. I removed the cowell and remove both wiper assemblies, sanded and cleaned the connections and added dialectric grease. Wipers now work beautiful. Just wanted to let you know where the culprit is if you ever have slow wipers.

So far Red Head Steering Gear has done alright for me. Going on 3 years now with their standard rebuild it's worked out great. My 2002 doesn't need one yet as it only has 117,000 miles.

Once upon a time I bought two 1964 chevy pickups in order to put together one nice 64 stepside. It had a mildly pumped 283 with 4 barrel carb, 3 on the tree. I loved that truck when done. The beautiful wood plank flatbed was nice but, I had to sell it when I put too much time into a nice home that I built for a good family just 8 miles from me. At least I thought they were until... well we won't go into that.

I understand buildin' that truck cost him 3 girfriends and two wives...

So Kewl.... yep you'll be sellin' it to me because I'll nag you to death! BTW, Your truck just got an official inspection... my wife looked it over and says, ''everything is alright''!

@PilotHouse2500, forgive me I do not know what a front 'clip' is. Those look like some sort of pivot. Is that so the entire front opens up around the engine? Like on a big rig where the hood and fenders are all one and lift up out of the way?

@5akman, thank you for sharing. The gov't is legislating God out of the equation. So sad to ruin a great country from within.

I had not driven in over a week. For this old guy it seemed like a month since it so easy to forget but, I was thinking about this the other day... why give up your independence and put a ball and chain around your neck with an EV? My diesel purred so nice how could I ever that it up? think about running the heater blower, lights, wipers etc. all lowering your chances of making it somewhere. I realize electronics can keep track of how many usable amp hours are left in batteries which lessens your risk of attempting to range too far, getting stuck an all but, also I've read how inaccurate/ difficult to make accurate those meters are. So when batteries start to deteriorate in a couple years you have a bit more stress under you when going somewhere more than short jaunts. I'll stay with my purring road cat

Nice post @Andyba20!

It's more than that Mike, a 747 burns approx. one gallon each second. I believe this is correct and each take off burns 5,000 gallons on average so an 8 hour flight across country uses 33,800 gallons. what I don't like is the misty vaporized sewage they drop right over everyone's nice country farms and towns. May be the reason so many are getting sick, covid flu lung problems. Especially out here in Oregon with the hospitals full and no beds available now from just lung problems they are seeing.

Thank you LorenS, good information expressing another tradeoff. 'No such thing as a free lunch' as it were!

What do ya know, I finally got a laugh out of @Max Tune

Yes I go down the freeway and it only takes 10 mins to see 3 or 4 of them each morning and it getting worse. I saw an suv this morning with the rear wheels like 35's only they were very wide and sticking out past the fenders like at least 5/6 inches. The fronts were stock so it made it look even more like giant toilet paper roll profiles sticking out,

Sorry for the joke everyone. Micheal Nelson has indicated I'm on a thin skinny sagging beam for all the bad jokes, I'm being watched. I'm still wondering though, are there any bad trade offs to hydrogen? For example, possible explosions which require higher safety precautions etc.?

You could get an electric pickup and bolt a big diesel generator in the bed