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Scott Stone

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Posts posted by Scott Stone


  1. 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


  2. 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


  3. 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


  4. 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


  5. 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


  6. I want a discussion on trucks. I don't necessarily want to discuss the particular merits on one brand over another, because we all know tha Ford's were best, until last weekend.

    I want to know what you use as guidelines in purchasing a truck.

    1. New, lightly used, or very used?

    2. Why do you buy trucks that way?

    3. How much do you think that it costs you to run the truck for expenses such as repairs and maintenance, and cost of the truck?

    4. When you buy, do you prefer 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, 1 ton, or a medium duty truck?

    5. Gas or Diesel? Why?

    6. When you buy a truck, is it all bells and whistles, or a stripper? Maybe bells and whistles for you, and a stripper for the crew?

    So what do you think?

    My philosophy.

    I bought my truck used, with 10,000 miles on it, because it was a good deal, and Scott is about making money. :) I recently bought a truck new for an employee, it is a stripper, but is also a Super Duty. Previously, I bought an optioned truck, but found employees don't appreciate it, and just abuse the truck. SO I saved some money this time.

    When I buy a truck, especially if it is dedicated to towing a trailer, or is anticipated to towing a pressure washing trailer, I want a 3/4 ton. Sometimes, it is a dual use truck, and it still ends up being a 3/4 ton.

    My truck is Diesel. I drive enough miles in it that I can justify the expense. I actualy do a spread sheet with anticipated costs before I make the final decision.

    My employee truck does not see nearly as many miles, so I bought a gas motor. More than enough guts to get it and a trailer moving. He also only drives it about 400 miles a week. So no justification for a diesel motor.

    My other employee truck also sees about 300 miles a week, but it never tows a pressure washing trailer, so I bought a Toyota for a specific service. It is excellent for what it does, although everyone prefers driving the larger trucks.

    Since I know what kind of abuse some of my trucks go through, beyond driving from point to point, I buy an extended warranty from the manufacturer, to cover any potential problems.

    So enough of my ramblings. What do you do about trucks?

    Scott Stone


  7. 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


  8. 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


  9. 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


  10. 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.


  11. 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.


  12. 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;)

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