Scott Stone

Thati s wierd, I have never had problems with my front end, but I have heard of others that have. I would probably end up doign it myself, to save a little money. I hate doing ball joints. Scott

I am balanced, so I don't roll off the back seat when taking a nap. It only happens a couple times a month though, so maybe it is just enough shut eye to get the job done and me home. I never turn off my OD when towing. Up hill down hill, I don't worry about it, and have never had any ill consequences from it. I have 112,000 miles on it and probably about 75,000 miles of it is towing a trailer, so I can say it has been problem free. And only Jon would say that the Fords are too quiet!!! Scott Stone

I had a 99 Ford that I hit an ambulance with. (Yes, It had lights and Sirens on when I hit it. It didn't when it entered the intersection, though, and I did not get a ticket.) I hit it at about 45 mph. I was towing the trailer unit that I had at that time, with 450 gallons of water on it, for a total of about 8000 lbs of trailer weight. The Airbag did not go off, and the damage did not even damage the cab of the truck. The Front end was toast, and the frame was bent, so my insurance company totalled it. I had a bruise from the seat belt on my shoulder, and my guy did not have anything. I had another truck that happened to be parked about 3/4 of a mile away, and while I waited for the police, he ran and got the other truck, and we were down for the two hours it took to investigate the accident. Worked the rest of the day, although I did kick off a little early though. I was a bit shaken up from the whole mess. Got to love metal out front. Scott

The M.S. is a bummer. My heart goes out to her. The PSD Excursion is a really nice cruising machine. Especially if you did not get one of the defective transmissions. :o My wife loves hers, as do the kids. Much more comfortable than some of the newer Suburbans, for our family. Now I have another question, If you could change something about your truck, what would it be? Scott Stone

So Ron, since you buy used trucks, how much more cost effective are they? I know that you have to spend a lot on maintenance, so what is the monthly maintenance and repair costs per truck? Have you found one brand of truck to be more cost effective than another? Jon, Something tells me that you are either dreaming, or smoking the wacky tabaccy to relive your surfer days. Don't look for any keys soon... Scott

It sounds like your truck is the same model as mine. I've got a few upgrades, but it is basically a lariat 4x4 Crew cab diesel. So how did you reach the decision to buy that truck? Scott

Okay, I guess it could be 200K in Payson. As for it being in my area, all that I see is a see of tile roofs. After that it is tumblweeds and cactus. I'm an hours drive up the hill froma pine tree. Scott

David, Why did you choose medium duty over a smaller load of water, or les equipment. Is it because it was what you had, or because you could not carry enough water in a one ton for some of the work you did? I am always impressed by your trucks. I am thinking that it is about time for a new one for you. ;) Scott

That is the amazing thing about it. It has never towed a trailer, and she drives it like a middle aged mom with little kids. This truck is pampered. Now my truck on the other hand tows a trailer a minimum of 400 miles a week, and if it is not full of water I am doing something wrong. I have an account that I have to literally stop and start at least four times every mile, and put it in park every time, and my transmission is solid. Never a problem in 112,000 miles. Of course, I probably just jinxed myself. One call, It is interesting that you say Fords are junk, and that you will buy strictly Dodge. I have heard even more people say Dodges are junk, and they will only buy Fords. What I want to know is what the compelling reason to only buy Dodges is for you? As for the Gas mileage, that does not seem that far out of line to me for a full size truck, unless you are talking a diesel pick up. Then it seems a bit on the low side for a Cummins. Scott

Jon, My wfes excursion ate her transmission this past weekend. It seems it was a 9 month long experiment, and I lost out. It was out of the Ford warranty, so I got the privilege to pay for the rebuild with the Ford update. I was really disappointed with how Ford treated us this past weekend, especially since I own 3 super duties. I will have to look harder at the other brands next time I buy a pick up, though I know that they all have their problems. As for the new VS used argument, just to be Devils advocate, if you are buying a slightly used vehicle in my area from a dealer, they are quite often more expensive than a new truck. I can't justify that expense. So, when you buy used, do you set aside extra money to take care of some of the problems that might come up, that you did not know about, or do you get them so that they are still under warranty? If you can, do you buy an extended warranty, or do you shoot the dice like the manufacturer does that the vehicle will last outside the warranty period? Andy, Since you looked at the Isuzu, did you look at the warranty, too, when you decided on the Dodge? Scott

It depends on which mountains you are talking about. In our area that would be a $400,000 cabin in Flagstaff, $550,000 in Munds park, and $150,000 in Payson. You might be able to get a deal outside of Show Low, but only due to the Fire a couple of years ago. It is really too ambiguous of a question. Scott

Another thing to consider is that, at least in my state, LP tanks are not allowed to be filled after dark. I know that David Olson runs LP in his machines, but I think that he has figured ou how to refill them, or else he carries very large LP tanks in his truck. Scott Stone

I don't know. Ryan's is pretty sweet. Scott Stone

Thet op one would be about a $30,000 glider. Basically they take the old drive train and put it in a new truck. That happens more often than you would think. Of course, it is always someone else that it happens to... Scott

Yep, I have done it, and it works well. I also bought one that can easily be duplicated. Here is what you need. 1 4' section of 4" ID semi rigid vacuum hose 2 4' 8" sections of 2" OD semi rigid vacuum hose a bunch of self tapping screws a drill a drill bit. 2 2" plumbers test caps Split the 4" hose in half. Using tin snips is best. take one of the 2" hoses, and use tech screws to attach it to the 4" hose. Make sure that both sides of the four inch hose are able to touch the ground or a flat surface. Drill some holes along the base of the 2" hose, attach a plumbers cap tot he end, and voila, a vacu boom. You will have enough material to easily make two. You can also use some thin foam on the base of it, to filter out debris, if you want, and use a tube of fabric to hold it all in place. Scott Stone

The Glow plugs are not like spark plugs. You only need to change them when they fail. They are mostly needed to heat up the combustion chamber so that the compression of the engine will ignite the fuel air mixture. The oil is recommended by Ford to be changed every 3000 miles on the later models of pickups (1999 to present). It should be about the same for yours, but I am not sure. International has a change interval of 10,000 miles for the same engine. I don't know why there is a difference. Don't be shocked. It takes 15 quarts of oil to change the oil in one of these. If you want more information on Ford Diesel trucks in particular, you might want to go to www.thedieselstop.com and click on the forums. Some of those guys have an incredible amount of knowledge on the International 444 that is the Ford 7.3 Scott Stone

A Lance and a wand are interchangeable terms. Sometimes a dual lance is called a dual lance wand. Scott Stone

Or do you mean a Lance like a Winslow. Not very effective, and really noisy.

Paul, I am so embarassed:o I knew that, but was just flying by the seat of my pants on that one. I was being silly. One other mistake on the very first post, which is really a moot point now, is that The Moslems do believe in Jesus, but they only accept him as a great prophet, the greatest behind Mohammed, and not the savior of the world. Sheepishly, Scott Stone

Jews that have converted to christianity are called Coptic Christians. You took the statement "I don't hate Jews because of that," out of contex, looking for somethign inflammatory. It wasn't there. Judas was Jewish at one time, but one could make the point that since he was one of Christ's apostles, that he had converted to Christianity. It should be noted, that it was part of God's plan that someone should betray Christ so that he could be crucified. Judas just pulled the short straw. The Roman Centurion could not have been Jewish. They all were supposed to be Pagan's. It wasn't until the Nicean conference that Christianity became the accpeted religion of Italy, and thus Europe. Constantinople used Christianity so that he could gain control of the world. Jewish people were mostly confined to the middle east at the time, but shortly before and after the crucifixion they started to spread throughout Europe. There are some that believe that the common interpretations of the Bible are mistaken concerning the life of Christ. ( I will not give my opinion on this subject) The Bible says that Joseph was a carpenter, yet the Hebrew version more closely translates that he was an architect. (meaning that Christ was not the earthly child of a humble Carpenter, but of someone that was Wealthy.) It is also thought that he was the Nephew of Joseph of Arimethea, who happened to own a fleet of ships and was the second wealthiest person in the world, at the time. From this many surmise that before Jesus started his earthly ministry, that he had traveled the world, and created Jewish settlements throughout the world. The Pharisees and Saducees (both Jewish sects, The pharisees, were letter of the law people, and the Sadducees were the law, or governement employees) both cried out for Christ to be crucified when they were asked by Pontius Pilot, who was the Roman Governor. He was quited as saying that he would wash his hands of the act, and let them do what they wanted with Jesus. There were also other Jewish sects at the time, just like there is a multitude of Christian religions, now.

Nope, not what I was implying at all, although, I have heard some describe him as the south end of a northbound horse. But, I guess that happens to all of us at one time or another.;) Scott

Jon, Trust me, you would not recognize it. I think that Ron lives in one of the last sanctuaries for horses in that town. Scott

See, I told you. My Avatar is the best, and no one can compete with it. This has been up for four days now, and NOT one person has even tried to match it. Obviously, I am the dominate force in stupidity, er, whackiness:o. (did I really say that?):confused: Scott

Nope, I have only lived in two different locations. Phoenix area of Arizona, and France. Never lived in the land of fruits and nuts. I do like to vacation there. And the only thing that I have ever chased is girls, wasn't very good at it, so I practiced a lot. I quit when I finally got one. I have also never had to kill a scorpion, in my house. And above all remember, it is a dry heat.

We live in Arizona because we are lucky. Now if we could just keep all of the Darned Californians, and Minnesotans from moving here I would be really happy. I really don't care how they do it where they are from, we do it our way here. I counted the rocks, but I keep losing track of how many... after 4 of them. Scott;)