mjeff87

What's really ironic is that those couple tripod trellises I made came from the leftover cucumber trellis panel I used in my failed growing experiment. I don't throw anything away

I've been struggling with maters here for the last several years too. Like you said, I've been taking knowledge gained and working on it. I've been doing them mostly in pots, not in the ground because the way my lot is laid out I don't have a really good spot for a garden (and the "soil" is pure crap to boot). I've been working a certain area over the last couple years trying to get it conducive to growing veggies, and I think it's finally there this season. Plus, like you, I was starting my planting too late. This year, I germinated my seeds in February inside the garage, then put them in the ground toward the end of April. I think I finally found the magic bullet Outside kitty keeps watch on them, lol.

I tried cukes a couple times, a couple different ways. Tried to trellis them once (vertical) and it was a hordicultural disaster. I gave up. Ive got 3 different kinds of tomatoes in right now, from seeds I saved and into soil I've been working on for the last 3 years. Fertilized them with fish fertilizer and some Epsom salt and they have exploded. Had to cobble some trellises together from some old furring strips and twine to keep a couple of them from self destructing, lol. The Land is one of the coolest exhibits in mouse land, IMHO.

Jon, I did some interneting....wow it's kind of hard finding good info on Dakota rear driveshafts. As usual, there's a big length size variation depending on driveline configuration, wheelbase, etc. The shortest one I could find mentioned anywhere was 63" for a "standard" cab, 4WD with manual transmission. Some Dakotas and Ram p/u's also came with 2 piece rear shafts with a carrier bearing in the center. So I don't think a Dakota shaft would work for you unless you had a shop cut it down. Again, that's all from Googling, so FWIW. You might try a Dakota to see if they are any shorter (??) Jeff

Closest I've ever been to that is courtesy of C.W. McCall. "Doggone it Roy Jean.....when I tell ya to put a rock under the wheel, I mean a ROCK!"

For a young, energized guy like yourself, I would recommend the RDU/Triangle area of NC. We had friends that lived there for years that we used to visit quite often (it's only a 2 hour drive from Richmond) and we literally watched the whole area blow up over the last 10 years or so. For someone like me, it was a great place to visit but I personally wouldn't want to live there (too crowded, higher cost of living). Our friends both retired last year, but they bought a house in Wilmington and had been rehabbing it little by little. They retired, sold their house in Cary for a BOATLOAD of $$$ and moved to the beach. Wilmington is @ 2 hours from the area, or about 45 minutes if you drive as crazy as our friends do LOL, so there's your ocean. Plenty of work in the area, good wages (but higher COL as I mentioned), and it's a very "happening" area. The only box it doesn't check is your demographic desire......there are alot of different nationalities there due to all of the IT jobs around.

Learn to embrace the delicate scent of gear oil. The sulphur imparts a beautiful smell

I've got cauliflower/Parmesan soup going on tonight, with a dead-of-summer heirloom tomato salad with fresh basil and some truffle oil with a grilled salami and mozzarella sammich. It's 102 degrees here right now....ain't nobody got tine for a full, real-deal dinner, lol. here's the salad and soup....ill be grilling the sammiches in about an hour. Along with some sausage patties for my breakfast tomorrow

Are those batteries lithium-ion? I love the power they provide but HATE how they just go from full power to dead at the drop of a hat. At least with older battery technology you knew the battery was draining by the performance of the tool. I know....get off my lawn.... I've got a 20+ year old Homelite weed whip (2 stroke) that absolutely will not die. Every spring I pull it out expecting it to finally quit working, but it starts up faithfully every year and keeps running through the season. I want to buy a Stihl to replace it with to match my other power equipment, but can't justify throwing out a good running unit.

I've heard about the soak method but have never tried it. I use a double-string head with cut length pieces of line....feed them through the holes in a "U" fashion and you end up with four cutting lines on the head about 8" long. I use .095 line, usually one set of them gets me through a cut session. Upside is 4X the cutting ability and not having to try to bump-feed the line out of the head (or wrap new line into it). Downside is once the lines are worn down too far you end up changing them and throwing away a couple of 3-4" pieces of line that are untouched. I take the tradeoff of that for ease of use. Lowe's has them for about $20. I get about 3 years out of them, cutting weekly about 9 months out of the year. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Shakespeare-Push-N-Load-Trim-Head/3381658

The TBI and the wiring clip/harness that attaches to it, along with the idle stepper motor.....or just grab the whole TBI. Power steering pump has a remote reservoir, A/C bracketry as mentioned, and the MAF sensor (if you can get it out of the manifold without breaking it). I've mentioned it before, but I have a complete 2.5 long block sitting up in a barn in PA that I picked up from a NAXJA guy (Danno) several years ago. It's free for anyone that can take/use it, but the only caveat is you have to go pick it up. Came out of a clean running 87 MJ when he transplanted a V8 into it. Probably should change the oil in it before firing it up though

Jon and I have been PM'ing about this. Yes, he's talking about the rear driveshaft. He's up in Alaska, doesn't have many options (that aren't quite expensive...)

Another cardboard guy. I'm lucky enough to work in a distribution warehouse, and have an endless supply of slip sheets and other large sheets at my disposal.

Pull the front DS and see if it goes away. If'n it does, you found your culprit. Those zeppa joints aren't serviceable, but they are replaceable.

I did the VFD for 20+ years back when we lived in PA. Even made it to Deputy Chief in one department. Everything down here in VA is career (which I almost became back in '99). Now I just work, shoot and work on my yard, lol. Wife and I just got back home from a 700 mile roadtrip to attend one of my best buddy's wedding reception. Next month were heading back to Florida again to spend a week with my other best buddy and his wife.

^^^^I've got one of those, but in vintage Craftsman. My wife's grandfather passed several years ago, and we were cleaning out his basement. He wasn't much of a tool person/handyman and didn't have much, but he had one of those. There's no date stamp on it, but I'm guessing it was from the 60's-ish. I took that plus a vintage Craftsman 1/2" ratchet. I was using the ratchet a couple months ago and snapped the pawl inside the head (I need to take it apart and fix it someday). I don't use the dogbone wrench at all. It just sits on the workbench as a remembrance of him.

Cool, I'll have to crawl under and see what I've got going on.

No, I'm talking about inside the cab on the transmission tunnel, underneath the carpeting (or cargo mat). It bolts to the tunnel and has a cutout for the shifter handle to fit through up inside the cab. Each transmission has a different cover. You do need the AX-15 dust shield that bolts to the bellhousing too, good catch.

And don't forget the cover plate for the transmission tunnel (inside the cab). The cutout for the shifter is different. You can mod your original one via snips/sawzall/etc. but if you have the chance to grab the correct one I would.

Pull the cables and hold the terminals together for a minute or 2. That is supposed to discharge any capacitors or other electrical thingamajigs in the entire system (basically a factory reset). Any time I do anything substantial I always do that so it can re-establish a baseline. Let me tell you, that 45RFE transmission sure shifts a bit "harsh" until it relearns things after that, lol. Especially the 1-2 shift. It eventually settles down though.

I was >> << close to owning a Bronco II way back in the day. My car got stolen and had been gone for almost 2 weeks. The actual night before my insurance company was going to write me a check for it, the city police called the house and told me they found my car. The thief was still driving it, and was in the drive through lane at a McDonalds when a cop pulled in behind him and ID'd it. In those 2 weeks I had already picked out a burgundy Bronco II from the local used car lot and was set to go purchase it. Definitely a mid-80's ride....had aluminum running boards, crushed velour interior (matching burgundy), but it was a 5-speed. I was crushed....told the cops I didn't want my car back, they said it doesn't work that way. Friggin thief broke my ashtray, put a cigarette burn in the back seat, and ripped off the muffler. No Broncette for me

FWIW, I did finally install these rivets (with the Horrible Freight tool) yesterday. It worked perfectly. Right into the drawer of one-time use/purchase tools it goes I'll probably never need to use it again.

Yeah, he is tiny. And his owner didn't seem too upset about his escaping....he told me he gets out on occasion through a hole in the fence in his back yard. They are a younger couple, just moved in about 6 months ago. I watched a similar sized dog from the (old) neighbors up the street from me get squashed by a car right in front of my driveway a couple summers ago. It was not pleasant.

What about a KL? Earlier models "should" be coming down in price some. I'm thinking I'll be trading in my KJ on one some day (not anytime soon though). It's funny, when KJ's first came out I swore I'd never drive one, let alone own one. Well, here we are now LOL. I said the same thing about the KL's too, but the more I see them the more I'm starting to like them.

So this just wandered into my garage this morning while I was out working on the house. Thankfully the owner had his phone number on the collar tag ( he lives in the same neighborhood). Its 105 degrees here today, little guy had no business being out walking the streets in the 'hood. My cats would have eaten him as a snack, lol. Say hello to Mr. Reese