wyk

Do NOT buy from Lowes - those are only Husqvarnas by name. Go to a Husqvarna or STIHL dealer and buy from them. Here's me with our little STIHL 250(non cbe) with a dull chain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3xWIvUrFDU And here I am killing it with a soggy log(if ya know wut I meen) I just spent 2 hours and 2 tanks of fuel felling and bucking pines with it today. For a lil chainsaw, this thing gets on. I only adjusted the carb and opened up the exhaust and it feels easily 20% more powerful now. Sounds great, too. As for Husqvarna, ya may wanna look at the Rancher versions. But, bear in mind, they are harder to start than even normal STIHLs, at least in my experience. My MS250 on a cold day takes 2 pulls on normal choke(I have never had to use the cold choke) and then the choke off and a couple pulls gets ya goin. When hot, it starts up on one pull every time unless I fumble it. Just don't try to tackle a waterlogged..uh..log with it. ;) The 445 is the minimum Husqvarna I would even look at.: http://www.amazon.com/Husqvarna-445-18-Inch-2-Stroke-Powered/dp/B00280MV5C/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1286865399&sr=1-4 If you can swing it, the 455 Rancher is a better saw, if a bit heavier. Again, I would say that, for the weight, I would go with the STIHL 250 in your price range. I love mine. I have an 18" bar on it. Bear in mind yer local dealer can often swap out the bars for you. But, on a MS250, 18" is the largest you can get, I think. And, honestly, I wouldn't go larger if I could. If I need more, I reach for the 361. If I had to choose one chainsaw for all the work I do, I would probably go with the STIHL 361, with ported exhaust and minor carb dithering I can do myself, with the 20" bar. It weighs nothing for a pro saw, goes up ladders, it cuts down oaks. All for cheap(ish) at around $600. The 250 I have isn't really mine, it belongs to the ranch I work on.

She did a little work for me today. We had a 120' tall pine start leaning precariously close to a road on the front part of the farm. So, she had to go: The tree was leaning pretty bad on a 10% or so slope. The only way I could fell the pine was between two trees, downhill. Unfortunately, that's where the brambles were. So, I bucked as much as I could then tied the upper half of it to the MJ and pulled it out of the thickets. Here is about half of it ready to be unloaded.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I tend to disagree. I have lived in Europe, and I work there often. I also intend to retire in France soon here. More socialized countries have more government overhead than capitalized countries do. A good example is the NHS vs our, uh, lack of NHS. The cost in administrating Britain's health care system for all 60 million of them is £2.14 billion per annum. That is ONLY the administrative costs. Of that, management alone is £808 million. Doctors absorb of majority of what's left. How many doctors are on US payrolls? How many would be if we go socialist? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6890335/Spending-on-NHS-bureaucracy-up-50-per-cent.html We would also need to raise taxes. Not just on the middle class, but specifically on the upper classes(which pay the least taxes of any 1st world country). As it is, if your money is earning money(VS your working a job to earn money), it is taxed at 15%, with many bonds being taxed at nothing. This is ignoring any other tax breaks specific to your investment sectors. I dunno about you guys, but I don't pay 15% in taxes, and haven't in a long time, especially since I have to have Social Security withdrawn from my check as well. In France, capital gains is at 33%. In England, 18%. I actually pay LESS income taxes in Europe than I do in the states, but that's another conversation altogether. Anywho - America does not tax their rich, investors, and are easy on corporations. They have to be, it's capitalist, verging on fascist support of industry and the rich. Europe supports their state and their people, we support our corporations, and whatever trickles down from that goes to the people...sometimes... What's the point? The point is Socialism MUST be supported by more taxes and larger government compared to the US. The point is the US does not have the tax base to support socialism even in it's infant forms we see in Europe, let alone full blown Socialism. Things would have to change, and drastically so. We'll also ignore the fact that the US also is Europe's de facto military - freeing them to spend that money on other endeavors while the 6th fleet and our ground administration and troops(90,000 of them permanently based throughout Europe) protects them at our expense http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Sixth_Fleet. This basically allows Germany, France, and the UK to spend less than half of their budgets than we do on their military. To be fair, the last time I saw a doctor in France, I paid €25 for a 4 hour HOME visit and had no health insurance. Back to your normal scheduled programming.

Manufacturer: Wollard Model: MB-4 Body Type: Tug Cylinder: 4 (turbo) Fuel: Diesel 2 or 4 Wheel Drive 4 Wheel Steering Automatic Transmission Drawbar Pull (max) - 11,000 lbs Towing Capacity -175,000 lbs Vehicle Weight - 12,740 lbs Speed Range - 0 to 15 mph Length - 162 inches Height - 102 inches Width - 84.5 inches

I'm not too worried about that. What I am worried about is when the government/police THINK you are doing something illegal, can't prove it, but move against you with purely circumstantial, or fabricated evidence. Can you afford an attorney to fight bogus charges or have him fight pressure to turn snitch on someone or something you may know nothing about? The government needs to be reigned in as much as possible. It doesn't take a genius to see how it abuses the power it already has. ANY institution or person is likely to abuse the power they have - imagine that institution being very powerful and nearly unimpeachable. You try and sue a police officer for abridging your rights while on duty - they are protected by their department by federal precedent if they can remotely prove there was even confusion about the department policy. In other words, they have near impunity to harass you as it is. You empower them further at your own risk. Make them work for their convictions and they will file far fewer bogus charges and spend more time evidence gathering and less time harassing.

Another off topic - I dated a lovely brummy girl back in 2007 and have spent a lot of time in Wales and Wolverhampton while I was living in Ireland and dating a Welsh lass. WYK

I enjoy making deep fried ice cream at home often. It's very easy to make and just awesome. I think my favorite state fair food would be corn dogs. I know, it sounds boring, but nowhere can you get a good corndog any better than at the fair. I was told the Oregon state fair is on right now, too.

I am bad at compromising. If you are good at it, and the woman may be worth it, try and work it out. I date on occasion, but eventually run every girl off. For now, this is my GF while I clear the property I just moved in to in Oregon: At least I can say the girl will always give me wood.

The 2.8 is a dog by anyone's measure. If it weren't for these 4:10 gears, I doubt it could push these 31's so well. I get good mileage - about 16 in town and nearly 18 on the freeway at 70mph with 4:10's in 5th, and over 20 at 55-60mph. I use my own synthetic blend by stuffing it half and half with Valvoline synthetic and non synthetic. It seems to take care of the oil passages part, and it only adds a few bucks to the oil change. She runs cool, and was happily chugging along in 100* weather last week. I wasn't happy, tho - NO AC. Ugh. I am moving up to Oregon now, though, so goodbye Cali. The only good thing about a 2.8 is when it dies, you can easily find 3.1's and 3.4's. The swap part may not be so easy, but at least it is possible.

All clear now. Obliged. Well, I FINALLY got around to replacing the gear oil. I put some 80-95 stuff in both the rear diff and the tranny. Since it is rarely used off-road, I didn't bother with the front diff this time. The rear diff had only a little more than a quart left in it. Someone had replaced the original bolts with torx, which made it a huge pain to remove them. What came out was pretty ugly. Also, the tranny had a torx filler cap in it which had the top of it marked "Do NOT Remove" WTH? How can you read that unless you remove it? The stuff that came out of the tranny was VERY thin, like 10-30 or so. Maybe even thinner. It was a decent color, though. There weren't many particles on the magnet of the drain plug. So that was nice to see. I am hearing a bit less noise coming from the rear axle now.

My 4X4 5spd 2.8 has 4:10's. Looks like a D35 in the back to me. Oh, btw, I am swapping the oil tomorrow, should I get a gasket from the Jeep dealer or use the goopy stuff?

Yep. If some of the folks that I have seen pay $300 for 'cold air intakes' put that money to gearing instead, they would have been a lot happier; especially the ones with big tires. If you do not need to speed on the HWY, put in the lowest gears your diffs can take. The only disadvantage I have seen with my 4:10's is the fact I have to putz around parking lots in second gear, or wind it out in first. I also went with a 3:73 locker in my 65 Mustang from a 3:08 and it was a HUGE difference. I then went from 3:27 or some such in my Hemi Dodge to 3:91's with an Eaton, and it was like adding 50 hp. That thing LAUNCHED. Gears, man.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,708896,00.html Kash for klunkers geschmerzt even in Germany

From the dyno charts I have seen, the majority of aftermarket intakes increase a tiny bit of power up on top(like 5200-6000 rpm) and hurt low end torque; basically the exact opposite of what you want for a truck. Few of them scrub particles from the air as well as a stock filter, either. Some of them are far worse at cleaning the air than stock filters. If you have a high performance engine with a lot of mods, it may make a difference. If you like your truck to make a sucking sound, sure - go for it. For a stock motor, I can see other areas spending the money could be far more of a benefit, like new spark plugs, an oil change, new filters, and maybe some BG 42 cleaning solution for the top end. Personally, I would rather have 30-100 gallons of fuel than an aftermarket intake that might be worse for my application than stock.

Thanks for all the help, guys. I ended up with some off of EBay for $11 delivered for both. They are used, but look good enough. I used a flash to take this image, so they appear a lil shinier than they really are compared to the bumper. Still, I intend to repaint the bumper here shortly:

Cool find. BTW, it looks to me like you took that image with a Kodak DX7440(according to the exif data). Next time set it to force flash(or fill flash as they call it). That way you can get more detail from an image that is in mixed light or when a subject is silhouetted or has a bright light behind it like the sun(though ya should really have the sun behind you when ya take a pic, ya don't always have that option). Here is a pic of my truck I took using the flash and having the sun nearly in the image. Without the flash, the truck would have been extremely underexposed. I couldn't move the truck because I was painting it at the time:

Yup. BS Gray. It came with the front bezel from what seems to be a 97 Cherokee? This truck has been to Moab a few times before I bought it, and it had been hit front and back, so that was part of the repairs. Nice thing though is it has been a central valley California truck all it's life - so not a hint of rust on it. I repainted it because I had it in Seattle for 6 months and the top started to show rust for being exposed. And at 50 psi at the corners, a 5 speed, and 4:10 gears with 31's, I get 18 mpg on the fwy at 65-70 mph. This was rattle-canned btw:

Bud owed me $700, so he gave me the MJ.

Thanks a bunch, man. I just bought some on line, tho. We'll see how they turn out...

Psh - it'll cost me $5 in fuel alone there and back to the junk yard. Then there's whatever they wanna charge to get in, and the 100* heat. I think I will lean back in my Lane Recliner in the AC and push buttons instead. ;) Thanks for the help, mang, WYK

Nice. I took a look around, and it does appear to be a 97 bezel. Thanks! Would sumfin' like this work?: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Genuine-Jeep-Emblem-Raised-Letters-glue-kind-/260634673462?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3caf098136 WYK

OK, I need the front letters. I purchased the vehicle used. There are no holes in the front bezel. I suppose I can make one if needs be. I can't feel any indentations on the inside, either. It seems to me, though, that the stick ons would work fine. So where does this leave us?

If they are the same curvature as my '86 needs, just let me know if ya find em. WYK

And you hadn't even touched on the amount wasted on the fact we have about 90,000 personell in administration and military in Europe alone. The reason socialism works so well in Europe(well, semi-socialism) is due to the fact we cover most of their military presence. As you pointed out, we spend a ridiculous amount of GDP on military. This is mostly to protect assets for corporations and investors - and very little of it helps your average tax payer - not unlike NASA. Two wrongs don't make a right. There is no future in America. Everything will eventually be manufactured overseas. Make a call to tech support sometime. I was speaking to an Eastern Indian last time I was on the phone with ATT. Again, whatever comes from NASA helps corporations(usually aerospace and military IE - the people that hold those patents you spoke of) and Engineers, not the tax payers that funded it. The patents are worthless to your average tax payer. We have no technological edge - china has access to our tech via spies and the fact we hire their engineers to save money at home(both on the fact our engineers earn more and cost more to educate) and Europe has access as well. Again, similarly to the arrangement we have with our military protecting Europe, we also feed them our technology without their having to invest in it as we do. Add to this the fact that our rich pay far less taxes then European rich, and we can not hope to have a system as beneficial to the average tax payers as theirs. Grab google and look at the 'quality of life' reports. We usually fall into second digits behind most of Europe. There is a reason for that. So, yes. NASA is a waste if you are not directly associated with the industry, and our military complex is also a waste of tax payer funds if you are not tied to the military or oil, or other resources that make the corporations wealthy. In the end, the Americam middle class dollar has stagnated - we make LESS than we made 30 years ago. And Europe's buying power has increased significantly - to the point they are now investing in the US because we work our workers harder and pay them less due to stagnating US wages. The top .05% in the US now have something like 100X the amount of this country's wealth they had 30 years ago as well. Say good bye to the US middle class. Thank you NASA, the military, China, and the US GOV for selling the middle class out. Again - socialism for aerospace... http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#City_Ranking_Tables You don't see the US until #31. In International Living the US Ranks 7th - which is the highest I have seen it there. Having lived abroad I can say it's not looking good for America. I hope we get back on the right track, but such a thing seems doubtful. WYK By that logic NASA wastes peanuts compared to what the US socialized industrial military complex wastes. Yet if you were to say that the DOD's budget was one big waste of socialized tax dollars you might find yourself quickly hanging from a noose. NASA's budget is about 3% of what the DOD's budget is. DOE's budget is about $60 billion a year, other institutions like the NSA and NRO.....your guess is as good as mine. However, for the peanuts we spend on NASA we reap all sorts of economic benefits, same goes for military R&D. It was massive government spending during WWII that spurred all sorts of new inventions, not just a new gadget, but chemical and metallurgical engineering, the birth of the polymer industry, the nuclear age, etc. Now it was private business that pushed forward with those things, but for so much of it the catalyst came from government funding research. A classic example(though not related to research), is the interstate highway system. Eisenhower sold it saying it was for defense, but look at how indispensable it is to our current economic structure. China even went as far as to copy our system nearly verbatim with the exception of slightly wider lanes(to accommodate shipping traffic better). The DOD spent metric-$#!& tons of money on the GPS system, but look how important the GPS system is world-wide? Ever watch star trek? Did you know that all of the windows on the ships are supposed to be made of "transparent aluminum"? Guess what? Nasa invented that, the transparent aluminum is now used in the HMMWV armored windows.(polycrystalline alumina that is). Infared thermometers that have been used for abotu 20 years now were developed by NASA, kodiak film, ya, that 35mm film you used for decades untill you got that shiney new digital camera, was developed by NASA for use on the moon. Regular film wasn't good enough, so NASA worked with kodiak to develop a film suitable for use in outer space. The film turned out to be so good that kodiak pushed for its use in all consumer camera's. There are something like 6500 patents registered by NASA, if you cannot see the intrinsic value in that then let me leave you with one last argument. China and Japan turn out 60 engineers to every 1 of ours. Japan has 130 million people China has 1.3 billion The US has about 310 million(we will wait for the new census results to be sure). We as a nation cannot hope to maintain our technological edge and risk sliding into third world status without the research programs that go on with NASA, DOD, and DOE. You may call it a waste, I call it investing in America's technological future. I know I sure don't want to compete with a chinese guy getting paid 39 cents an hour to assemble iPhones.

If only they weren't wasting our tax dollars on all that nonsense. It's basically socialism for the aerospace industry.