Avoiding the unexpected deer

[user removed]

Just picked this up for $1900.

!! FORD F350 SUPER DUTY FLAT BED DIESEL 4X4 AUTOMATIC A.C RUNS GREAT!

The 08 Altima is just about finished, and I drive the Kawasaki 125 Eliminator when I can.

2 or 3 k on the bike a year, the same in the truck and about 10k in the Altima. Should average about 43 MPG overall.

regards
Mech

[mcrews]

AERO MOD,

AERO MOD,

AERO MOD!!!!!

Nice find Oldmech, what yr?

[Frank Lee]

So you ARE familiar with odds and statistics. Had me fooled

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Just picked this up for $1900.

!! FORD F350 SUPER DUTY FLAT BED DIESEL 4X4 AUTOMATIC A.C RUNS GREAT!

The 08 Altima is just about finished, and I drive the Kawasaki 125 Eliminator when I can.

2 or 3 k on the bike a year, the same in the truck and about 10k in the Altima. Should average about 43 MPH overall.

regards
Mech

Well, now if you hit a deer you can simply load it on the truck.

Don't laugh. My father in law was a long time cattle dealer. One day they hit a deer while coming back to the farm in the cattle truck, and they did exactly that, loaded the deer into the truck. True story.

He joked that the deer had the "Ford" brand on it when they slaughtered it.

[user removed]

Another friend hit a 2000 pound Bull in his 500k motorhome and did close to 100k in damage.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Its an 88, old tech with no computer controls. He says its a 6.9. Might be an 87, The info I get is they went to the 7.3 in 88, both non turbo. I'll pick it up in a few days. My son in law went there and bought it for me today.

My brother wants to sell his 8.3 liter (gas) Chevy dually, but he needs to occasionally haul his 10k gross trailer for his construction work, also his boat, and his sons hot rod Firebird. He can sell the Chevy and the trailer for 13k and use the F350, and not need the trailer, but he is not convinced that the truck is not to old.

We'll see.

Got the kit car running and the transmission tunnel welded in last week. Going to try to get the painless wiring harness installed this week. Drove it around my buddies body shop back lot. First time it had ever moved on its own power in 28 years.

Only about 3 k miles total per year.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Thymeclock

Well, now if you hit a deer you can simply load it on the truck.

Don't laugh. My father in law was a long time cattle dealer. One day they hit a deer while coming back to the farm in the cattle truck, and they did exactly that, loaded the deer into the truck. True story.

He joked that the deer had the "Ford" brand on it when they slaughtered it.

, maybe I can haul the bike in the back of the truck in case it breaks down.

regards
Mech

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Why should I know ?

With thankfully few exceptions, we still don't want to buy oversized American cars or trucks in Europe.

I don't know why either, especially since I'm one of the Americans who really like small cars. We had a '59 Chevy when I was a kid, and I wanted to run away and live with the guy down the road who had an MG-TC.

But I think claiming that Americans got big cars because they had room is not the right answer, for a lot of reasons.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Varn

Most of my driving neighbors drive fairly high vehicles, I can only assume that most who were killed in Missouri were driving compact cars.

Instead of just assuming, why not check to see if this is in fact the case?

You might also factor in deer-caused accidents, where the driver crashes in the process of trying to avoid the deer. Obviously, a smaller, more maneuverable car will give you better odds of safely avoiding (or failing to avoid) a deer. Certainly I've managed to avoid a number in the Insight. (Including one that seemed determined to be hit: I saw him in the road and swerved left, he jumped left. I turned back to the right, he turned around and got in front of me, Back to the left, and the sucker jumped again. Finally came to a stop (I was of course braking the whole time) inches from him - and he snorts and WALKS off the road.) In a couple of instances, I might well have rolled an SUV or pickup doing the same maneuvers.

[Grant-53]

If you need the van for towing there are a few things to try to improve both safety and mpg.
1) Deer whistles have to be mounded in clear air to work. Try the roof. I use my horn in a series of short toots when I am in an area that has good cover close to the road or open fields where they are likely to feed. So far I have seen plenty of deer but never hit one. They tend to stop and listen being curious creatures.

2) A 2 ft nose piece made of sheet aluminum bonded to both sides of 2 in. foam would improve the air flow and add some crush space. Consider adding a bead of high strenth epoxy to better secure the frame and body. An air dam, belly pan, and wheel fairings will help too.

3) Add a chain or cable restraint to the engine-GM increased the size if their engines in the 70's but were still using motor mounts from the 50's. A hoop around the forward part of the drive shaft will keep the shaft from digging into the ground if the U-joint comes apart.

4) A wind deflector on the front of the trailer and tight tarps will reduce wind drag while towing a flat bed.

American cars have been larger historically for several reasons. First, we have had more domestic oil than either Europe or Japan. Second, we have larger distances to travel and larger cars are more comfortable due to a longer wheelbase. When I went to college 250 miles from home, my '71 Torino station wagon was much more comfortable than my dad's '70 Falcon though both were 6 cyl. Now I have a '95 Geo Prizm (Corolla 1.6L, 5 spd) and get twice the mpg with a comfortable ride due to improved suspension design.