flagmanruss

I was sitting on the throne, minding my own business... a blur of motion caught my eye & I heard an audible thud. I looked to my left & in the bottom of the bathtub was a 3" spider... apparently had rappelled down from the shower head. I wonder if he was in there when Sheila took her shower before leaving the house? After I recovered my composure, Mr Spider was still there. It was him or me, so it was him & a flush. I wished my camera wasn't packed already... Russell

I beg to differ with my knowledgeable friends... I think that the VP44 varients for HO and HotRod Pumps have increased fuel flow. If you add a chip or programer or devise which adds more fuel it might be too much & work against you. My impression is that the add on fuel devises are based on a SO pump. That said, if I had a HO motor, I'd use a HO pump. All the electronics are calibrated around which motor is in the truck. Maybe the people who build pumps might shed more light on this.

The cowel drains are behind the hood hinges on the Dodge trucks. I used SS pot scrubber (SS steel wool) to jam behind the hinge. Water still drains but no mice can get into the cab. I screen all my air cleaners. I can't keep critters out from under the hoods. Cats don't last here... the coy-dogs think they are a delicasy. Mice haven't bothered my wires yet... ate the windshield washer hose in my Cirus. I removed a lot of underhood insulation to get rid of mouse habitat & it was pretty well trashed already.

You'd think that the polution per mile traveled would be the way to do it. You'd think. I don't think anybody else is (thinking).

When I bought mine, TomTom was the only one with the possibility of free updates. I figured that the others would have to do the same... or go out of business! I generally like the TomTom unit but there are some things that are hard to use.

I bought a new TomTom with free traffic & map updates for life a year ago when my still working Magellan would have cost more for the updates than the new one I chose TomTom because of the updates deal. I constructed mounts to go in my car & truck... both wedge around the center air duct. In the truck, certain music interferes with the GPS mounted a couple of inches above it. I didn't like the bought air duct mount but I used the mounting ring.

I'm just going to throw up a few pictures of my various working cannons. (Not counting the various paperweight cannons that I've been gifted.) I was working on the yoke for the Crown Point Swivel... I have a modern SS collar with an allen bolt just to hold the 2 halves together for now. Unfortunately the yokes have a misalignment problem. Still a work in progress. Half scale replical of a 1756 swivel cannon recovered from Lake George, NY near Crown Point Fort (Just North of Fort Ticonderoga) It features interchangeable chambers (one under the gun) which were preloaded for fast use. More info: http://www.qaronline.org/rcorner/Report_No_122_-_QAR_breechblocks.pdf Desite their rapid rate of fire, these blacksmith made pieces fell from favor... their tendancy to blow apart might have something to do with it. The replica is welded from seamless tubing and the chambers bored from solid stock. .75 bore (same as a Brown Bess Musket) I have another later style cannon building with interchangeable chambers... in golf ball caliber... My favorite brass swivel cannon. 1.25" bore Swivel cannons Don't need carriages, just a block of wood will do... A working model brass "Napoleon" type, Civil War era. .50 cal. Too pretty to pass up. Now I have to get a carriage for it. Quite some time ago... I began making a piece of scrap brass propeller shafting into a miniature mortar. I took it as far as I could on my lathe. A friend in California with more skill & better equipment offered to finish the machining & welding. Since it came back, I've only gotten as far as laminating the blocks of wood together for the base. bore is 1.25"d, reduced chamber is 5/8"d X 1.25 Please note that one could theoretically put a projectile in these and go target shooting... I only use them for firing blanks at re-enactments, demostrations & the 4th of July. Blanks are potentially dangerous and must be handles following strict guidelines. I don't think much of the people on TV who mess with cannons. One TV crew blew a full sized cannon ball off the Sheriff's range & through someone's minivan & house. Lucky no one was killed. If you want to learn about cannons: http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php/board,88.0.html Russell

The blower motor is accessible in the passengers foot well. Follow the wire, you'll find the resistor block which sticks up into the duct work. Unplug the wires, unscrew the unit & replace. If you get mice into the duct work, the mouse litter blocks the airflow & makes them run hot & shortens life.

Thanks guys! The active fire was out before she came over from the other part of the basement. I stood on it to conceal the evidence!I'd forgotten how much steel wool would burn... It's been a lotta years (pre-smog) since a buddy got his Chevy inspected by shoving wads of steel wool up the straight pipes with a broom handle to quiet it down. A short distance down the road he put the pedal to the medal & the steel wool came out in balls of fire. Lucky nothing else caught! Several more hours of grinding (no more fires) to make the cannon mount accept a collar to hold the 2 halves together. There's got to be a better way when we remake it. Do the steel suppliers offer half round? That would be the thing to do, even if it it had to be welded to the blacksmithed part. The yoke binds but at least I can display it this weekend.

What pumps are we talking about here? VP44 Injector pumps or lift pumps (fuel pumps)? I'm confused about "Void Stickers" I have no idea what is being discussed here.To the OP: I hope you got a good deal on the truck. It might just be the seller stuck you with a truck with problems. The 24 valve trucks like ours have the VP44 injection pump, designed for low sulfur fuel not the ULSD available now. A known issue is the OEM fuel pumps are prone to failure... barely adequate/inadequate when new... and a fuel pump (aka "lift pump") failure deprives the VP44 of fuel which cools & lubricates it. Sometimes The VP44 will survive this. Mine did. Often not the case however. Cummins went to a totally different injection system (Common Rail) in more recent years (which have their own set of problems). Many of us run 2 cycle outboard type oil (TCW3 standards) as an additive in the USLD fuel... hopefully extends the life of the VP44. (Perhaps why mine survived the fuel pump failure?)The FASS fuel pump you bought should be a good one, located back on the frame rail nearer the tank and preferably with a big line hoses & fittings.

It's easy to stand too close to a problem... when it's yours! An outsider is not emotionally invested & not frustrated yet.

Manual hydraulic jacks are pretty simple creatures. It'd be easier if we had X-ray vision. You have a reservoir. You have a pump which draws oil from the reservoir & forces it through a check valve into the piston cylinder. You have a release which is nothing more than a bypass from the cylinder back into the reservoir. If it lifts & holds & releases when you turn the handle, then that part is ok.If there's oil in the reservoir, that should be all that required.It is possible to blow the O-rings out of the cylinders but that's pretty obivious under load. I used to blow the seals out of jacks jacking up boat cradles... with 40 foot Concordia yawls in them! The yard sent them out to be "rebuilt" but I don't think the did anything more than add oil.The pump... there could be a blown seal in the pump. My brother has had some luck matching O rings at the auto parts or hardware store by trial & error... he says something about jacking up train engines is tough on jacks. There could be something wrong with the check valve.

I am getting ready to go to a re-enactment... I haven't had a chance to connect with my blacksmith to make a new mount for a swivel cannon (1 of 3 I own, just like it sounds, a small cannon mounted on a swivel yoke). The mount that came with it was just not working out. I can't even exhibit it unless I grind the spike on the mount round, to stick in the stump. So I clamp it in the vise & attack it with the grinder... actually, I'm doing cut & try... grinding it more round and then trying a round collar on it. Yeah, sparks are flying some but I've seen far more & I was just doing a light pass at a time. No, I didn't clean the bench off. Just the area where my vise was on the corner.So I look up & I see a major glow. As a re-enactor, flint lock shooter, I know it only takes one spark to make fire. Well, I had a whole wadd of fine steel wool, had caught a spark & was glowing brightly... some smoke & flame. I drop it on the concrete floor, step on it & it goes out... Dear wifee comes over & says something about not setting the house on fire. I keep my foot on the steel wool. I'm thinking that her late first husband used to tune up snowmibiles (2 cycle kind) in the basement but decide I'd best STFU.

I would find someone who uses a waste oil burner in their shop. I just want to ask you why you must change the hydraulic oil in your splitter? If it's bad for your splitter... what does it make it for your expensive truck? Many years ago... during the first oil embargo... I ran stinky sour salvaged gas (boat was about to be junked) through my Datzun PU. I strained it through a paint filter coming out of the 55 gallon storage drum, into a gas can so I could handle it. I went through a lot of filter elements in the small glass bowl filter ~ seperator I was running. The boss (Dad) was glad to be rid of the hazzardous waste, never asked about the filter use.

Eric,You should not have to turn the starter over. Your truck, like mine, has an electric lift pump (fuel pump) run by the ECM. When you click to RUN (before START) the lift pump should run for a few seconds & then shut off. This is what the VP44 injection pump calls for. Cranking will NOT run the lift pump more until it starts OR you cycle the key again. Too late now. I have no idea what you toasted. Possibly the starter? Wish I had better ideas,Russ

FIRST thing to do is go under the truck on the driver's side & check the e-brake connector where the front section & the wheel sections are connected. Mine rusted very badly & when some repair tech stood on the e-brake it failed, leaving my e-pedal flopping around like a fish out of water. While you are there, check the 2 rear wheel cables for return action.Your 02 should be the same as my 01.5... rear "discs" but the emergency brakes are a small set of rear drums inside the discs.

Simplest things first... bad ignition switch?

I saved (4) 1 qt TCW3 2 cycle oil containers (now marker labeled Diesel Addative) which I refill from my blue WM gallon jug. I refill them with a bit of "squish" so they fit in my door pockets. When I top up the fuel, I just add one before filling. I have explained to a few folks... but mostly I just say "It's my pre-measured additive" & let it go.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/98-5-02-performance-parts-discussion/399144-superchips-d-box.html http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/superchips-d-box-t86247.html

Not sure if it was flame sense or weak spark delivery. These same parts are used in furnaces, ranges, as well as refridgerators. Yeah, a tiny piece of SS wire would make too much sense. All I know is this seems to fix it.There is lots of room in the wild for bees & hornets but I have no tollerance for them in my barns in rafters & under overhangs, sheds, trailers inside roofs & under goosenecks, decks (under & railings), ground dwellings (stupid yellow jackets that build right into a trail), paper wasps/white faced hornets in bushes about head height over a trail in just a week). Last year there was a huge paper nest under a stabliizer foot on the backhoe, went all the way to the ground. I keep bee spray around... I just have to. We learned quickly to out run bees with the horses. Because of my allergy, I'd ride lead. If we ecountered bees we'd sing out & nove out so those in the back would not be blocked. It happened once with my ex in the lead & she stupidly blocked the trail so others couldn't get clear. A half mile down the trail, I got off & picked a couple of dozen off my horse, even under his saddle blanket. I got to try out my meds that day. (Antihistamine counters a lot of the effects... I used to carry AH with me whenever riding horse or Honda. Taking the AntiHistamine quickly makesall the difference.) I had a life threatening reaction once on the shooting range... before I knew I was allergic.

Thanks to all for the well wishes & ideas, especially Karl (MS Trucker on my MS site) who put me on the right track. I had followed all the steps in the troubleshooting guide... without finding a "fault". I had tested the sparker/thermocouple in place and it tested "good". However, I had previously bought a spare sparker. The placement of this part inside the unit, makes it hard to see the whole part. I decided to take Karl's advise & just install the new part I had. They don't make it easy to get it out... but that's to be expected. When I got the sparker out, I could see the last 1/2" - 3/4" was rusty... where the propane flame is on the electrode. It's easy to imagine the flame burning the plating off... then in the off season, the bare steel rusts naturally. I just installed the new part, and tried starting the fridge on propane. 6 X 6 successful. I put the covers back on. Too soon to do a Victory Dance... that'll be after Rendezvous... but I think it's fixed. I will pick up another spare. I had finished up a few other minor projects while I was in there scratching my head. Sheila spent some time cleaning up some things in the trailer, this morning. I need to get out the tools & separate what travels with us VS what stays home. Russell PS, I have noticed bees & wasps swarming, looking for new homes. I noticed one particular HUGE yellow wasp hovering around a compartment that wasn't closed tightly. I knocked down the beginning of a paper nest inside that compartment. Well, that Queen Bee came back... started over. Sheila used the spray & permanantly solved that problem (for this year). I am allergic.

My ex's brother definately a red neck... had a problem with the neighborhood dogs dumping his 55 gallon trash cans behind the garage. Ole Johnny put the trash cans up on tires. He stragically placed a secion of the Navy CB's aircraft landing mat (makes beautiful trailer decking if you can find it.) He connected the barrels with jumper cables. He stuck the end of a 110 feed under one clamp, the ground to the landing mat... plugged it in. The trash was not tipped over after that.However, Johnny had to get a new trash man after he forgot to unplug it on trash day. I swear, I saw it with my own eyes!

Once upon a time we own a mini-stud horse, named "Hoby". He was definately virile... had climbed over or run through fences to get to the mares... remember Hoby was only 30" tall. I took my HD fence charger, drilled a hole in it'c case & ran a wire to a RV/Marine battery with the wing nuts on the top. The internal battery was specified as a 6V battery & the RV battery was 12V. Hoby tried the fence 3 times in under a minute. I knocked him down on tries 1 & 3. The third time, he snuck around behind me & sneakily put his nose on it to test it! When the kids were young, Sonya was helping me feed the big horses one rainy day. We both had high rubber boots on, the rain was coming down. We take the top hot wire down & stepped over the lower cold wire. Poor Sonya was wearing thin shorts & the bare inside of her leg touched the bottom wire. The rain had shorted something, the bottom wire was live, she shreeked, got stung a couple of times. I was able to turn around & just lift her off the wire. The next day, I rewired the fence so that could not happen again. Sheila, Sonya, Ginger (Sheila's shetland) at rendezvous.

I found a complete step by step trouble shooting chart at >>> http://www.liveworkdream.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/norcoldmanual.pdf I was able to copy the chart (link above) to a thumb drive & took it & my laptop out to the trailer. I have gas at the stove. I have good power at the fridge. The refridge runs on shore power so the closed system is good. I was just getting started... then it started raining harder... If I go it lucky it would just be the sparker. The other item is the circuit board.

To continue what I added to my earlier post. I have good DC volts to the refridge. The 110V AC is unplugged to test the Propane operation but I expect the AC operation to be fine. When I try to start on propane I can hear the solinoid click, then a minute later it clicks back off & I get the F code (Failure to ignite). I took a peek through the outside access. Things to check tomorrow:I notice the sparker thing is on the wrong side of the key hole slot so I want to examine that (maybe 1/4" from where it probably goes). Maybe it's positioned wrong. Maybe repositioning the sparker is all it needs. I have a spare sparker. Last year I could use a BBQ lighter & manually light the propane & it would stay running for a while. I want to check that again, as that would indicate the propane is ok right up to the flame. (Maybe the problem is sensor related.) I think I need to plug in the 110 AC just to get the coolant to circulate and prove the closed system is still good. I am out of my league here but I'm thinking this a controls problem... focusing on the sparker/sensor.