01 Dodge 3500 4x4 dually challange!

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by slowmover

As DD pointed out above, there is more than one way to skin a cat. And one of those ways is to reduce the gallons used as the dollar price per gallon rises. I cut annual city miles from 12k to 10k while still getting everything done. And increased in-town mpg from 18 to 23 in that same period.

Time is money. Not only do you save the amount of fuel and wear on your vehicle by reducing number of miles driven, but you spend less of your precious waking hours doing something monotonous like driving or being stuck in traffic.

Originally Posted by dem45133

Smokes just a bit doesn't it? Be pure white and blue behind you I'd think... Are your really doing this or just trying to kill my Cummins.

I pour used motor oil from my changes directly into my fuel tank. That makes only a 1/15 ratio, but I don't notice any smoke or problems with it.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Not only that, the argument that big vehicles - and particularly 3/4 and 1 ton pickups - are safer just doesn't stand up to real-world data... You may feel safer in a big vehicle, but that safety is an illusion.

That was my hunch too, but I wasn't going to make the claim without backing it up with data. Thanks for sharing this info and saving me the hassle of looking it up.

My first thought of the big = safe illusion was of the infamous Ford Exploders that had rollover issues due to improperly maintained Firestone tires and inexperienced drivers.

Originally Posted by dem45133

At 6 am, there is only marginal traffic... but lots of deer.

As you may have guessed by now... we gave up on TV several years ago... we have no TV service and cant receive digital air in this location... but we will locate and watch a good DVD sometimes. I'll go tinker with something, read, or I go to bed.

Even the most modest of cars can keep a driver safe from a deer. Heck, I ride a motorcycle and the only thing that scares me about finding a deer in my way is the potential immovable object I might skid into.

While I think your tinkering is more productive, you could get Netflix to get your TV fix.

Originally Posted by dem45133

I'd bet she's right and there is not much that's actually designed around 250,000 miles in small, that's affordable. If there really is I'd like to know about them.

I would imagine most cars are capable of 250k miles. My Subie was extremely abused and never required more than new tires or brake pads. She went for 235k before getting rear-ended and totaled.

The least reliable vehicle I have owned by far is my Dodge Ram. Every damn thing wants to break on it. I've replaced multiple calipers, front end (track bar goes bad immediately), lift pumps (goes bad in 20k miles), blower speed control resistor, door switches. The rear diff let loose a few bolts internally and chewed around in there messing up my speed sensor. Cruise control doesn't work due to bad speed sensor. Tranny is shot again. AC doesn't work. The steering wheel has 1/8th turn of play in it. Truck pulls to 1 side when I brake. Doors are about to fall off...

[jamesqf]

You know another thing about safety that a lot of people don't seem to appreciate? The risk is cumulative: driving a lot of miles/hours in a very safe vehicle adds up to the same risk as driving fewer miles in a not-so-safe one.

[dem45133]

Mornin James

Yea, but I can't shorten the miles... they are what they are. We haven't run extra miles in many years... My truck sits most all weekend... if we go to town (15 miles) its once for materials... although some of them I sometimes can get from a place near work at noon and don't go to town at all. Melanie' dr's are where they are... they are all specialists and do not exist in the country so its 60 miles into Cincinnati seems once wek any more for her (using her Chrysler Concord).

When we bought this place... gas was less than a buck and it was well into the then acceptable 50 mile commute radius. We both worked professionally with ok incomes for the past 20 years... before that it was whatever we could get... now gas is 4.11... place couldn't bring 60% of what we paid as the incomes locally are abysmal (8 or 10 hr) if you can even find a job. And they wouldn't even consider hiring me as I'm way over qualified even though most of those types of skills I developed young, but never chose to make a living with once finished with college.

Hell, maybe its all mute anyway... likely a big round of layoffs coming... 1st to go will be us subcontractors... we cost too much (although its not in our pocket... its in the companies pocket...) getting REAL worried;

I'm 59... and not really employable outside DOE as its not recognized... my wife will never work again... shes 62 and will be forced to the abysmal early SS instead of her mediocre disability... we can't live on SS and UE will only go so long... then I'll be in my 60s... nobody hires us... I have a masters and 20 years in hazardous and radiological waste management... but in the private sector its not worth much and most are combined with the H&S function or tied to sales which I am not professional in, (I am an engineer/scientist type...not a salesman! Top it off with the insurance company's in essence forced age hiring limits due to their pricing schemes.

We are in that middle group where we didn't get into the company pension thing... and 401s were too late in coming to make a real difference... I have a house that is 1/2 way through a major remodel that if layed off I won't have the money to finish. We are planning to pull a good chunk of 401 and pay off the mortgage... but one still has to eat an pay its taxes or you can loose it to that ... then there's the MAJOR problem of medical... I make good money... (well sort off... on rate wage the janitor makes only about 8 dollars and hour less than I do and didn't need a Masters!)...but even with damn good insurance another 20k a year (after taxes) plus an HSA I feed for stuff not covered by insurance comes out of my pocket for my wife's needs. Medicare is essentially useless as most of her specialists will drop her... THEN what does she do...? If we were 70 (not far away!) Obomacare would have us just die. Retirement is not an option and its not looking too promising for our elderly years. But there are always those with worse problems and I'm not complaining but it sure isn't what we worked for for all these years... Its 4:50 am on my day off... now you know why I'm awake and not sleeping... and also why my patience level for BS, corp greed f'n with fuel costs is a negative number. Greeting people at Walmart or serving at McDonalds is an insult, but some how that seems to be what corp and govt seem to think is ok.

Oh and my wife needs a 100k+ surgery that they are finally starting to reconsider doing (Severe COPD preventing anesthesia) on her neck and lower back (severe disk degeneration, scholeosis, stenosis) so she can at least get some relief from the pain and hopefully do something other than sit or sleep due to the pain killers... she can't walk more than about 20 paces. If I get layed off SS and UE will just barely cover the COBRA payment... but I'll sell what ever I have to to keep it paid so she can get her surgery. This nero surgeon is one of the best, but does not take medicare. Oh and if the surgery kills her (which it could) then we (or I actually in that case) will have NO income once EU runs out... or my wife (who is truly the better part of who I am)...

I need to go figure out some things... later...

[dem45133]

Even the most modest of cars can keep a driver safe from a deer. Heck, I ride a motorcycle and the only thing that scares me about finding a deer in my way is the potential immovable object I might skid into.

Geez... Its not the the deer I need to be protected from (although the vehicle needs to be able not to be disabled from it too... seems one a year anymore)... its the idiots we seem breed more and more of all the time (on our dimes I might add!...its about the only skill they've figured out how to do, that and filling out aid forms...which we also pay people to do for them! Aghh!).

[dem45133]

The least reliable vehicle I have owned by far is my Dodge Ram. Every damn thing wants to break on it. I've replaced multiple calipers, front end (track bar goes bad immediately), lift pumps (goes bad in 20k miles), blower speed control resistor, door switches. The rear diff let loose a few bolts internally and chewed around in there messing up my speed sensor. Cruise control doesn't work due to bad speed sensor. Tranny is shot again. AC doesn't work. The steering wheel has 1/8th turn of play in it. Truck pulls to 1 side when I brake. Doors are about to fall off...

Mind if I ask what your ram is? You saw the service I got out of my 94 2wd. I was hoping the 01 would do the same. I did have replace the windows switches in the drivers door already on it. The 4x front ends are an issue though... if I can afford it I may re-engineer it to long leaf springs and get rid of the coils and linkage setup all together.

Upon talking to several 1 ton 4x owners of all three makes... the stock 85 series front tire is just to light I believe on all of them carrying the diesels. I'll be making changes in this regard too ...if I stay working.

[trooper Tdiesel]

seems like WVO in a two tank system and a bit of LPG is the best in this case for cutten cost.

do to the long 120 mile round trip drive.




using battery's for this reminds me of my electric skidder idea LOL
just not a good idea, unless you have a small engine to feed the batterys, and charge them at each end of the drive, vea grid power.



that's my thought on the matter.

[dem45133]

Maybe down the road the battery thing might work.... its conceptually doable which is why I posted this, but payback is slow. Conceptual engineering is almost a hobby. But I did not expect to hear all the guff over a 1 ton like I did in the beginning (not this thread).

Oh, 4 billion barrels untapped and technically feasible oil... out west... (the Bakken Oil find) that would cost us only about $18 a barrel to get (well so some one said... unknown on that accuracy... the 4 billion though is from USGS)... but hey I'm supposed to like getting screwed. I forgot. The whole thing could totally be underground and not effect the ecology and they could extract withOUT "walking all over" the surface owners rights and places and tearing everything up, but then that would cost them 10 cents more per gallon... besides why should they since they've got everybody and their brother convinced we don't have any oil and we have to import. Playing the "I won't play" game as some do by trying not to use oil is simply not feasible for us/me...

I did manage to average 19.2 mpg over 505 miles with the 1 ton on my commute 50-55 mph on 2 lane 60-62 mph of the four lane... that's 4-5 mpg better than my 3/4 was on the same roads. Using gravity for almost free miles is the biggest benefit... being a stick. I'll get the bed covered... and maybe get 20 or 21 (conventional tailgate is still in place).

For those that lent positive answers, I thank you... that's why I came. But for those that harassed me... you just keep on believing the party BS line... that's your right to do too. Remember that... and that DID NOT COME FREE! Many paid the ultimate sacrifice so that you can!

But on to other things now... you all have fun.

Moderator/Administrator... please delete this tread after a week or so, thus give some time for all to see this good bye post. Too much personal mind dumps.

This thread is dead now.

Dave

[Frank Lee]

Hmph- so ignorance isn't bliss after all.

[slowmover]

Dem,

You ain't alone in the stresses you've got going, and they appear considerable to put that lightly.

I got off on the wrong foot in my first thread a few years back (not alone in that either), but ding-danged if I was going to keep stretching my neck. I went away to pursue other topics, but I came back and read more. And I learned. I found stuff that worked. I wasn't way off in the woods originally any more than you, but it took a while for me to put it together in the same way as others around here. "Economy" wasn't a new subject to me, nor were others. The basics never changed: I wanted this truck (which has both personal and business use) to have the longest life at the lowest cost with the highest reliability. But how I view the future -- that it won't be like the past -- was the key for me. And I didn't learn that here or on other websites in the main.

I have no idea about tomorrow and "retirement" is an idea that was born and died in the 20th Century. Now, opinions I've plenty of . . but they are subject to revision in light of better information. Not my predilections. A big difference between those two. Humility can be a kick in the arse or a relief at getting rid of unworkable ideas.

In the meantime I find that this site is full of interesting people (their projects), interesting ideas (links to other places arising from discussions), and some h-to-G characters who spice it up. Then there's a few who come and go. Flash in the pan.

Do what you will, but I'd recommend that there is more depth here than is perhaps apparent to you at present. Give it some time. Let things stew.

We'll all need our personal transportation as long as possible. If it has an I/C engine you made it to the right place (is how I see it). As a guy who likes argument to find better solutions I'd also say you made it to the right place. And other places -- books, mainly -- might be the retreat that can gather and re-form what you work with. Did for me.

Best to you and yours

.