hex0rz

Alright, so in the midst of moving, I decided to try and kill 2 birds with one stone. Loaded up the dodge full with firewood. I had a cord of wood in the truck, but about 3/4 of it was just cedar. The other portion was maple. Really, I did'nt think it would cause a problem. I hauled alot more wood then that. I have stuck green paper birch in the truck in 8 foot lengths all the way to the top of my wood rack. Thats a crapload more weight in the truck then what I was just hauling.So, being that we were moving, I was driving the u-haul. I left the wife in charge of driving the dodge. She was not too confident in driving with this much weight in the truck. I told her she would be fine, just drive it like your driving in the snow. Keeping distance, slowing down sooner than later. Braking slow, accelerating slow, turn slow and wide. Those sort of things.Well, after a few mishaps on the way we finally get to the storage unit. I needed the dodge moved in a different spot than where she had parked when we got there. So she got in, and put it in (D)rive. She said once she put it into drive, the truck just died.So I went through mentally trying to think what is causing the problem. I got to the driver side and she said she could not hear the lift pump prime when she tried to re-start the engine. I thought great, the lift pump died AGAIN! :banghead:So I popped the hood and checked the fuse. Fuse was not blown. Okay, thats odd. So I got in the truck and turned the ignition on and the pump primed. Cranked it over and it started. Fuel pressure was normal at 19psi. Checked the gauges, everything was normal. So I started thinking vp44.Got the truck pulled off to the side, and unloaded the uhaul. About 3 hours later. We were ready to take off. Had to drop the uhaul off at the dropoff location and had the convoy following me to the place. I was leading the pack and the wife was behind. Occassionally checking my mirrors, I noticed that they were all turning off. WTF?So the wife tells me on the cell phone she had to pull off cause she felt the truck shaking. WTF? :ahhh:I was about a couple miles to the dropoff location, filled the uhaul, dropped it off at the location and my dad returned me back to the dodge. So I checked everything again that I thought it could be. Turning up nothing. I popped the hood, looked everything over. Noticed some slight wetness on the fuel line at the Tee for the FP gauge. Cranked the engine, nothing dripping from the line.Okay, what about some air bubbles getting into the system via the fittings? Well, then it should'nt run really, then. Hmm... :think:So, theres only one thing I could do. Drive it. I had to drive the truck over to a guys house and drop the wood off. Upon driving it, it seemed to be shifting funny. 2nd gear seemed to rev higher than normal. It would shift fine from 2nd to 3rd but then 3rd was short.Upon acceleration, besides the shift explained above, it had good accel. At about 35mph, the TC would lock-up. Upon lock-up it would shudder. So, I then came to the conclusion, that it was not the LP nore the vp44. Neither was it air in the line or water in the system.Its the transmission! :banghead: WTF!So, what I did, is for the rest of the way to the guys house, I would just goose it more than normal. The wife said she was driving as easy as possible. It seemed to improve it more, but the shudder still occured at lock-up. It also only locked-up or I noticed it only locking up at the usual 45mph or so.We get to the guys house, unload the wood. Head off from there and go get dinner. It seemed to shift fine after that and seemed to drive normally. Then after dinner, the drive home. 1 1/2 hours home and the truck seemed to drive fine.So, today, I tooke the truck to O'reilly's and ran the code reader on it just in case it did throw some codes. Turn out it DID throw some codes! It also did this twice!So, two events, of the same two codes:P0234P1698The code reader said the first code was from an overboost condition. How my wife managed to overboost the truck, escapes me... She said the egts never got over 700-800. Whether thats just because she failed to watch it when it was high or it just really never did get above that temp, I dunno.I tried to get the truck to create an overboost condition today and just could not do it. I peaked out at about 26psi. I also was hazing at that pressure and load. I don't remember ever hazing, period.Anyhoo, the only thing I notice the truck doing now is sometimes it revs higher in 2nd gear before it shifts. This is all so confusing to me. I don't understand why any of this happened, how it happened, etc.The transmission has a triple-disk TC and the transmission itself is rebuilt. The hard parts are not billet. When I had it rebuilt, the overdrive unit had to be replaced. Valve-body is a "tow-haul". I did not have anything else "updraged". I told the wife, for the duration of hauling the wood, to make sure that the O/D was turned off.I dunno what else I really can say. If there are anything else anyone needs to know to help diagnose the situation, let me know. The transmission was rebuilt back in December, only had a 6 month warranty on it though. The rebuilt transmission probably has less than 5000-7500k miles on it. I just hope I did not prematurely damage the transmission!

One thing you gotta understand is that people who eat meat from the stores on a regular basis are used to how it makes them feel. Its not until they get off of it for a while that they will notice a change. Then, when they go back to it, it will be like a night and day difference. I did not realize how bad it affected me until I could not eat anymore local farm raised beef. We ran out and ate some store bought beef for a little until I got my bear and other family members got their deer. Wild game IMHO, is the best meat I have ever had. In our family, we are very strict on how our meat is processed. When people who are not used to eating wild game have some, they do not even realize it was wild game. I cut some firewood for a lady that I worked with cause she could not do it and her boyfriend had a bad back. She paid us in some cash and some venison. Upon opening the package, we realized how poorly they processed their meat. Its amazing what people subject their precious meat to. If your gonna go into spending all the time and money on killing an animal for food, don't just stop at the kill. Only half the work is done.

Here is the e-mail I received and it also includes a link to their source for the tax and the rate: HOME SALES TAX PLEASE READ THIS. HOW THIS FALLS UNDER THE HEALTH CARE BILL IS BEYOND ME. [TABLE] [TR] [TD=bgcolor: transparent]I thought you might find this interesting, -- maybe even SICKENING! The National Association of Realtors is all over this and working to get it repealed, -- before it takes effect. But, I am very pleased we aren't the only ones who know about this ploy to steal billions from unsuspecting homeowners. How many realtors do you think will vote Democratic in 2012? Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it? That's $3,800 on a $100,000 home, etc. When did this happen? It's in the health care bill, -- and it goes into effect in 2013. Why 2013? Could it be so that it doesn’t come to light until after the 2012 elections? So, this is ‘change you can believe in’? Under the new health care bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% sales tax. If you sell a $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax. This bill is set to screw the retiring generation, -- who often downsize their homes. Does this make your November, 2012 vote more important? Oh, you weren't aware that this was in the ObamaCare bill? Guess what; you aren't alone! There are more than a few members of Congress that weren't aware of it either. You can check this out for yourself at: http://www.gop.gov/blog/10/04/08/obamacare-flatlines-obamacare-taxes-home I hope you forward this to every single person in your address book. VOTERS NEED TO KNOW. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Johnny Crapper... I have not achieved that sort of level. In fact, I would hate to be called a doomsday prepper. I'm just being real. Recognizing the issues that can arise and the tension mounting, there is a definite need to be ready for such a thing. I'm building a bug out bag, but its been slow. I'm trying to figure out how to get my EMT license so I can start investing in those sort of supplies. In a doomsday event, no one is gonna survive, so why bother?

WELL SPOKEN! I received an e-mail on the issue. It said 3.5% tax on house sales.

Mikey! You need to get a window-unit... No sense in not forking out the cash for one! I know, there expensive... I guess you are probably doing all your work in your truck, huh.

Stocking up on food has been a goal I've been in the process of trying to achieve for a couple years now. Forecasting things, I see a crunch coming. Even if I'm wrong it always provides for other situations. Things such as natural disasters or influx in prices.Buying canned goods on sale is a huge deal to me and the wife. We literally buy enough canned goods to last us until next year when the next sale happens.The next thing we are gonna hit on is smoking and drying meats. Were gonna get a dehydrator and do fruits, veggies, etc.Great way to preserve the foods and cuts down on weight dramatically. Great survival foods too, as it can be put in a pack and all thats need is water to reconstitute it. Father in-law makes a dried meat, I can pronounce it but probably cannot spell it right. Its pronounced Wess-NAW. Its meat dried so much to the point it is almost disgusting. But once you eat it and then drink some water, it makes your stomach feel nice and full.Probably more than a mouthful that anyone here wanted. LOLBut, me and the wife prefer to stay CLEAR AWAY from store bought beef. Seems like anytime we buy any, we get problems from it. Speaking in terms of the procelain... I think its been like 3 years since I have eaten store bought beef!Chicken is the only meat we ever buy. Hoping to get meat and egg birds soon when we move. But, we can't eat chicken and dehydrated food all the time. Gotta have some steak and ground meat. Preferably ELK! WOO!

Codes, check for codes. That would tell you for sure if anything was going on with the VP.

Try this: http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/26-engine-systems/258-how-to-reset-calibrate-apps-sensor Dead pedal sounds like the APPS. If the reset don't work, a replacement from TIMBO could do the trick. It sounds like your transmission is an auto. You ought to look into this as well: http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/28-transmission-systems/260-torque-converter-lock-unlock-issues Other then that, you'll have to see if someone else can chime in to help. Have not experienced this issue, yet.

101F in the shade, 115 in the sun! I think something must be wrong with the thermometer... Certainly don't feel that hot..Maybe cause I'm acclimated to the heat now from all the fire dept. stuff. :lol:A cool 70F in the house with the A/C on. :thumbup2:Weather site says I'm at about 92F though.

Whew.. talk about a long-winded topic...

Freezer is getting empty. Running out of meat...ID fish and game shut down Cow elk season in my area this year.Drought driving up food prices in the stores.Cattle prices rising because of it.Alot of local cattle places already have their meat spoken for through fall....1 deer in the freezer won't get us through the year. What to do?

Without a DOUBT, re-installing the vacuum pump/PS unit into the truck was the HARDEST repair I ever have done on this truck. I was by myself and with the weight of the P/S unit it was heavy in the rear. Was very hard to get it on while re-meching the gears and keeping the gasket and bolts straight. I almost had a lawn ornament that night. I was ready to leave the truck for dead and became America's No.1 Sailorman.

You bet! I try to show my peers these sorts of things and they just look at me with this face of disgust. Its hard for them to just even care...

America

Boy, if you can figure it all out and tell me what it all really means, let me know. Even our "leaders" can't even agree what to call the individual mandate as. The illegals receive free medical already, they don't need to worry about this bill. If they only knew what ALL of the benefits they receive for being an illegal. Obama is shooting for granting amnesty for the current illegals. Soon enough it will just be like grand central station. Come and go as you please, it don't matter.

56% of US hit with heat wave I'm not gonna speculate the craziness on why things are happening in the world. We all have differing opinions. But, talk about compounding our problems!

Heck, with the way things are going, I'm sure you could get back into wild-land real quick! Amazing how much burned up between NM and CO.

DANG! Mike, your forecast is showing temps of 104!Its an emergency in my book when the temps start getting into the 80's. Bleh!ISX, whats the cooling tower for?

AMEN TO THAT!

Who knows. The most ironic thing is that he is the dept. mechanic for the apparatus'. Probably why his got away on him, eh? Yes. Haha, yea. Rotational mass gains... The gain in speed from the lack of brake power!

Theres always time for storytelling. Are you gonna have to take a test? Otherwise you won't get it. I wonder how you could get it as well as FF1 involves other aspects that I don't see you being active in working at a refinery. I been known to be wrong though. IT has been the most challenging, rewarding experience of my life, so far! If I could ever become the 30%, I would. Great career to gave IMO.

It eventually came to pass, that a house within our fire district was utilized as an opprotunity to receive some training. The homeowners turned it over to us and we were able to burn it down. Much preperation was taken to ready the house for us to conduct our training. Asbestos crews had to come in and remove the nasty stuff before we could do anything to it. We utilized their garage for a previous dept. training in fire investigation. Later, it became another means for adding more fuel load to the house. The local paper had a photographer come on Saturday while we were doing our live fire training. He actually suited up and went into the house with us! He was able to take some pretty spectacular pictures. On Saturday, we had 4 rotations and two battalions. Our rotations were: 1. Initial fire attack 2. Control, to keep the fire at bay while the fire attack team made their way to the fire for safety aspect 3. Search and Rescue team, to find a 150lb. dummy while the attack team went in 4. Backup, to come in after the initial attack team just in case the fire got out of control All in all we did this for 8 hours of training. We had 3 other dept. in the surrounding area we invited to come join us in the training. WHAT A DAY! So, on Sunday, to conclude our relationship with the lot, we burned down the house! We had our dept. apparatus' doing the work. We brought our old and trusty long-time dedicated pumper, Engine 5. We also brought our newly added apparatus, pumper 1121. Then for added protection, we brought our quint, Ladder 1 or AKA 1141. We deployed 4 handlines, One 3/4" wildland line to protect exposures on the apt. roofs behind the house. Then deployed the water cannon on the ladder. Our plan of action was to burn the house down in a fashion that would cause it to fall away from the nearest neighboring house and to protect all exposures doing this all in the safest manner possible. I was assigned to the handline at the Alpha, Delta corner to protect exposures. The neighboring house, trees and fence were to be kept from catching fire. Also, to keep the A, D sides of the house cool to all it to be the strongest remaining part of the structure to allow it to collapse away from the neighbors house. We had a good turnout from the public watching. Some driving by even thought we were trying to save the structure and commended us for our attempt. Little did they know this was done on purpose! I for one had a great time and was excited to see it all go down and let alone be apart of it all. It was great training and one heck of way to spend my last days with the fire dept. Here is the EYE CANDY! We built a cradle out of pallets for the accelsior so we could burn the house down. Holes were made right above to allow the flames to go in between the walls. This was the earliest picture my wife took of the house. Nothing much special happened before this anyways. In this picture, flashover has already occured and the house is fully involved. Any attempt for initial attack and search and rescue would be fatal to firefighters and no one would survive this if they were entrapped. Fire conditions have caused the house to decompose to the point now that a structural collapse is imminent. House is structurally unstable and collapse has occured on the Charlie side. I'm the one sitting on the ground with the handline protecting exposures. The house collapsed not exactly as hoped for. But, nonetheless, nothing occured that was not expected. The A, D side of the house pretty much just folded in on itself and it did not breach the collapse zone. There was alot of hardwood that made up this structure and the fire was still burning when I left for home. We had a duty person on site to babysit the fire. I imagine that today, it is still hot, even. Well hope it was somewhat entertaining for you guys to see some of these pictures! I certainly wish I could have gotten video!

One of the career guys at the fire dept owns a Ram 1500. The other day, he had to emergency brake due to a person stepping out in front of him. This is the product of doing so! I think his rotor was so rusted out that over time the fins in the rotor just were not strong enough to hold the braking force anymore. Create that oreo half-seperation effect. He had no brakes after this and had to limp it home on the e-brake. All he heard was a clunk when it fell apart.

Nice! I wish we could have known about this earlier. I would not have minded getting to know you. I'm moving out of the area this month so it would be difficult to make it work, now. Your 5th wheel is a BEAST! What does it gross and what is the pin weight?