flagmanruss

I may be imagining things... I have only a 2500/8800gvw... but in the OPs truck: I think I'm seeing a piece of steel above the frame and below the rear body cross members... that the overloads are hitting. Is that part of the bed? I'm not seeing the stops. If I'm seeing it right, this steel would be making contact before the suspension has a chance to work.

I understand the engine turns over. Have you checked all the "other" wires connected to the batteries? I had my lift pump cut out, was traced to a connection a few inches from the passenger's side battery. Check the grounds too.

WOW! I've NEVER gotten that kind of MPG towing anything.

The truck sure looks nice. I see it has an intake. Is that a dry paper filter I'm looking at? (good) Oiled medium (bad)In the pictures of the engine. I think I'm seeing something I can't ID (frame 11)... maybe a plug in the exhaust where a EGT probe was previously. Probably had gauges. Did it have a chip or programer & was the truck abused?

The front stake holes are several inches back. The foot of the headache rack will need to extend to it.

Have a good flaslight. I've been dissatisfied with my day to day flashlights... hating the troublesome 3AAA type which eat batteries & the battery holders fail long before the flashlight. Until now my best was a mini-mag with 2 AAs in line... but it lacked a switch which I wanted. I've found a great light, so cheap you can afford to own several. http://www.ebay.com/itm/330617188487?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2648 The picture is slightly off... the light I recieved has 2 finger grooves where the picture shows a hex. I know... made in China. I don't care what the brand is... just about all lights are made in China. Free shipping from HK took about a month. But for under $3!! I'm buying these for all my gun toting friends.

Rotate magazines if you wish but Cooper's research was that modern springs didn't fatigue like the early ones. My last duty gun was a S&W 645... still have it, still love it. My FTO (Field Training Officer) showed me how to carry 3 guns... He had a second old fashoned cuff case, center of back with a small auto. I never could get the feel for an ankle holster like he did. I carried the 39 & 2 extra mags in a Miami Classic under a jacket. It was interesting watch people's eyes follow the 645 in it's security holster while I could have my hands crossed across my chest with fingers on the 39.

I don't recommend a roof rack that puts weight on the roof... I was trying to push snow off & felt it give... it would be easy to oil can the roof & not easy to fix. If you need a rack, it needs to transfer the weight to the bed.

Old John was the local equivelent of a Redneck... notice he had a loaded double 12 at hand. They may have thought the old man was an easy mark (especially since they had the opportunity to scope the place out in advance). The old man proved he was not one to fork with. Sometimes it helps if they think YOU ARE CRAZY! While not quite an "inside job", I have concluded that often times the perps or a another party with loose lips (a buddy or something) has had legitimate reason to be in the area... like a delivery man, a friend of a friend of a family member. A local farm/riding stable sometimes hosts music events... there was one that got out of control (in the Woostock era)... we've lived out here that long. The surrounding neighborhood was over run. Eventually it ended. In the next several months, there breakins reported up & down the road. No coincidence in our judgement in this otherwise quiet rural area. http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/aerosmith-freedom-jam-original-poster-1974 Time may have passed but the principals still apply.

Welcome. We're all about sharing & learning... even if you have to send your work out, if you know what's going on, no one can give you a snow job. You'll notice many of us have listed our truck & details in the signature line so we can use that to give advise.

Before you do anything, I'd suggest you get a reliable lift pump on it. I have the Quadzilla XZT+. I run it on the +35hp day to day which is the mpg setting (I am +1 mpg ave). For towing, I'll kick into the +65hp high setting... made a big difference on the hills. It's a straight plug in under the hood, run one harness through the firewall to the box & the micro-switch.

In laws were raising Belgian Shepards... historic farm house in VT. Mailman came to the farm house... no one answered the door... rather than leave the packages outside he walked in as he usually did, calling out, placed the package on the kitchen table... and that was where the inlaws found him several hours later when they returned home, sitting at their kitchen table. The dog let him in. Wouldn't let him leave. I know of a few instances like this with Shepards... The ex was on decent terms with her ex's father (grandfather to the daughter)... ex's property was broken off the farm. The father ran a excavation contracting business & all the equip was behind the house... beyond the dog houses for his hunting beagles. So we were sitting around the kitchen table having coffee when the dogs start in. John shuts off the light over the sink & peers out. "I can see them" he says, 2 steps he's at the kitchen door grabs up a double barrel shotgun & steps outside... BLAM!! BLAM!! I'm sitting there pretty much speachless. A minute or so we hear squealing tires headed down the street. In the cold clear light of day, knowing John's own equipment was in the line of fire... I'm sure he was using bird shot or maybe rock salt... I'm sure I wouldn't wait around to know what the NEXT round would be. John explains how the equipment had been losing fuel each night... but he could not see them sneaking through the corn. So he'd parked the equipment facing the other way. The fuel thefts stopped that night. His dogs slept through the night. But certain day-labor failed to show up for work after that.

If there's no load on the batteries, a little solar trickler would be fine, aim it toward the sun. Make sure it's waterproof. A couple of alligator clips. If you want to be sure nothing kills it, a cut off switch... I'd still wire the battery to the power lead in the trailer plug so it could charge when you're hooked up, replacing the power you use winching.It took a year but I trenched underground a few inches & buried 1 1/2 plastic conduit... fished my extension cord through... plug the camper into the barn 100 feet away. Don't hit the cord with the lawn mower this way. Heck... at my ex's we went a year with 200' of extension cord on top of the ground to the old horse shed just to run lights.

Yes, I presumed ya'll git the Redneck humor. (Kind of a take off on "Woman wanted, must have boat & motor... send picture of boat & motor".)She was gone from 8 AM, got home at 11. Showered & changed clothes & went back to the music festival... until Monday... with HER car. A friend has their car parked to save a spot for her tent... Let's see 12 midnight now, get there about 12:30 start setting the tent up... Seems she was delayed so long in the city, nothing like a big truck in narrow side streets... getting daughter moved, didn't even have time to come home before reporting to the music fest... served her volunteer shift before coming home. Probably ran the truck all over... she put the TCW3 oil in & filled it after the last jaunt... hope she did again. The full moon is out but no point in inspecting the truck tonight. She's been practicing her guitar with some pros for a couple of years... learning music & figuring out chords... I get to stay home & enjoy peace & quiet.

Dunno what's up? Daughter was supposed to have been moving with a pod they filled... supposed to be delivered to the new house tomorrow. Wife probably got sucked into helping the independant ones move... She was supposed to set up today, get her staff id & meeting tonight... it'll be cute setting up her little tent in the dark. I just hate have others drive my truck...

DESCRIPTION: Maroon Dodge 2001.5 QC, 2500, Cummins 5.9L 24V Turbo Diesel, AirDog150, big line, RE47 auto, 4X4, 4.10, Michelin 265/75R16 LTX A/T, 8800gvw, camper pkg, tow pkg, plow pkg, TCW3, Turbo back 4" SS exhaust, 5" tip, 36" FTE spiral resonator, straight through "muffler". IAT (mpg) fooler, XZT+. 59k PICTURE: REWARD for Safe return (perferably with full fuel tank!) Early this morning, wife took the truck load of lawn furnature to the daughter who's closed on a house yesterday. Was supposed to be back by noon to swap vehicles & she's volunteering at a Cajun Music Festival... camping out in staff area... beginning to get dark now.

- - - Updated - - - Some years ago, in a previous life, (the only bright spot in my disasterous first marriage)... the ex & I would trailer the horses out to the management area (where I now reside with the current Mrs). Some occasions we'd day trip, unload the horses at an extrance & ride from there. Often we'd meet other couples. On one occasion, the other couple had their truck broken into & her pocket book taken. (I carried mine & the 3" S&W 66.) The lady drove the road & found everything but the money scattered along the road. A couple of weekends later, we met the same couple at a different entrance for another ride. I kidded her about leaving her pocket book at home. No, she said it was again on the floor of her truck, parked in the shade. I walked over & her doberman was sleeping peacefully on the seat. Nope, not opening THAT door!

Big Halogen spot light... right in the windshield, blind the crap outta them but you ought to be able to see inside. I've had motion detector on the driveway... I loved knowing when delivery guys showed up. Drove us nuts when a herd of deer wandered through repeatedly in the small hours of the night. I do think several motion activated lights are a good idea... the sneaky person lights himself up. Another idea is a game cam... infrared... might be able to get a picture of the plate.When I started with the Police, I was still married to my ex... her house was up a long drive. We'd occasionally get lost people driving in. I wired up serious flood lights on the barn so they covered the driveway. Actually I could light up the entire yard in all directions... came in handy with the horses when we'd get in late... as well as security. Anyrate, I got tired of going out to confront people who'd make an excuse... just turned the flood lights on them from inside & watched them leave. My dog had an overhead run that swept a lot of the driveway & would not give them much room to turn in either. Sometimes I had to hold the dog out of the way so they had room to turn. I do have a friend whose location is more remote than mine... He uses a welded farm gate. I'd not chase them... beyond your immediate yard... it wouldn't do to wreck trying to catch them.The hard part is you don't know what they were trying to do... sneak thieves? Kids looking for a place to park (do kids still do that)? Are they possibly dangerous?When I first dated the wife, she had continued in a state owned caretaker's house in wildlife area. In winter the gate in front of the house was locked. One night some Yahoos busted through the gate... only to discover another locked gate beyond it. We were in the park road, inspecting the damage with my Police Kel Light when they came back & came very close to running us down... intentionally. We dove out of the way or we would have been struck. I flung the Kel Light at the windshield... it was still lit when it landed in the woods. The paint on the light matched the vehicle the State Police stopped... they were convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. However, I should have put my truck across the drive with it's 10" channel iron bumper in the gate... as a Special Officer, I had a blue light... should have used it. The punks would have been trapped & waited for the State Police to arrive... & not risk our lives.

Hard pressed to pick a favorite... probably my S&W M39. Or S&W66 w/ 3". Or Star BMK Long guns... would be an Anchutz .22 sporter (Duhh) followed by Marlin 1895 in 45/70 with smokeless handloads.The 39 has an extra Barsow barrel in 9X21.My 1911 is a 1980's custom by the late pistolsmith Austin Belert... Barstow, S&W revolver sites milled into the slide.

I love the Thomas Jefferson quote... Actually misses the first rule of Gunfighting... have a gun!

Years ago, I had a Datzun P/U... the CEL would come on periodically. There was nothing wrong. It just wanted a "trained mechanic" to pop the hood & push the reset button with a skinny screwdriver. It was based solely on mileage.I bought the truck "used" with 310 miles on it due to the owner's untimely death. I drove it 50K miles & sold it for more than I paid for it.

It would be neat if it worked. I'd need to see some test results before I'd trust it.

As you've figured out by now... from the responses... the OEM lift pump (fuel pump) is weak & prone to failure. IF the lift pump goes out, it can cause your injector pump to fail which is big bucks. A upgraded lift pump & FP gauge should be early on.Additionally, the 01 (like ours) were built for "Low Sulfer Diesel" which is generally unobtainable. The sulfer acted as a lubricant. The Ultra LSD is hard on those injector pumps. The VP44 injector pumps that this era 24 valve Cummins came with has been a little fragile... maybe it wouldn't have been on the fuel it was designed for... Many of us run a small amount of outboard oil as a fuel additive. It adds lubricating to the fuel & is intended to burn clean. The Spec for late model outboards is TCW3 & you may see it abreviated that way.Welcome.Russ

I still see a 12v as the transplant king...

A friend has a neat signal cannon in 8 gauge. Yeah, right, try to find 8 gauge cases. The plastic industrial shells have to be modified to work and then melt after a few firings with black powder. Brass or SS is the way to go. He contracted some cases made, but in the mean time I've been playing with some brass stock (cut off propeller shafting)... to make one. 8 bore 3.25" shell. It's been interesting as my 1930s vintage SouthBend is several generations of tooling obsolete. I have not kept up so it's been a learning curve to adapt my machine to new cutters & especially a new boring bar. It's do a few minutes, think about it for a day or 2... try something new... etc for a couple of weeks. Anyrate, I think I have a workable case. Gotta get it to him to try in his gun... Russ Big Boys Toys (Nope, lathe photo a previous mortar project... 8 G isn't that big)