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Just bought my first Deuce!!

tobyS

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IN
Have you tried drifting? I gave my neighbor a ride on our ice covered roads that would take your breath away!! he was talking real loudly about how trucks shouldn't drift?, I guess he aint an APPALACHIAN -AMERICAN!!
Drifting, or more accurately doing donuts in empty parking lots in my case... is more than fun, it saved my life (not in a MV). A woman I thought would stop came across the median and I had to make some extremely quick decisions to keep from plowing into the side of her. Thank the lord I didn't, she had 2 kids in her van that would have taken a direct hit. My swerve to the right managed to make her van hit the front corner at my door but my forward momentum had me headed sideways for a ditch that I know has claimed several lives in rollovers. I knew I was about to roll and did one one of those "power slides" that leads into a rather fast spin, cranking the wheel hard left. Later, looking at the flat tires, I realised that slide had shoved three nearly off the rims. Thus I went around her front (taking a significant hit) and spinning down the road...but NOT going rolling sideways down the ditch. It all happened so fast that if I was not an experienced parking lot donut aficionado, the results would have been much worse.
 
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tobyS

Well-known member
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833
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Location
IN
OOps, I wanted to say that I like the tan trucks as well as green, especially when the bottom and front grill is blacked out. Personally I would not go to the trouble of changing the color back to green. Here is a picture of my 817 with expanded metal that would look good on your front (and I'll do again when I get a deuce).

Have fun.
 

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Another Ahab

Well-known member
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Alexandria, VA
Drifting, or more accurately doing donuts in empty parking lots in my case... is more than fun, it saved my life (not in a MV). . It all happened so fast that if I was not an experienced parking lot donut aficionado, the results would have been much worse.
Man. Glad to hear everybody came out of that okay. That's a blue ribbon story for the telling.

Reminds me of the song Phantom 309 (only happily you avoided disaster). You know it?

Fellow named Red Sovine wrote it, but my favorite cover is by Tom Waits.


https://youtu.be/drSMRqINdaA
 
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tobyS

Well-known member
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833
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Location
IN
Man. Glad to hear everybody came out of that okay. That's a blue ribbon story for the telling.

Reminds me of the song Phantom 309
That is really good AA, like a campfire song... Phantom 309 blues.

It left an 18" dent in my drivers door and about ripped the bed off, which made the seat-belt really uncomfortable, but would have held me in if I rolled. My left side remembers the crash well.

Part of my kids driver training with me includes "donuts" in a safe place.
 

nchittendon

Active member
544
28
28
Location
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Clearing out the cell phone, ran across some more pics from recent......

This one was from moving day. A friend owns the truck and wouldn't let me pay him! He brought a crew of 7 and they had the whole thing loaded in less than 5 hours.
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In front of the old house......
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In front of the new house!
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Out playing the locals....
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nchittendon

Active member
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La Crosse, Wisconsin
This bad boy was at our local REGIONAL air port last week. They had to park it in a particular spot because it was the only place at the airport that would support all the weight. It was pretty awesome.

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nchittendon

Active member
544
28
28
Location
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Last week a friend called up. Said he had a bunch of shingles he had to get rid of. All he has is a little ATV trailer with sides. Every trip across the scale at the dump is $25. Plus tonnage. With his trailer we both figured about 8 trips. It just wouldn't handle the weight.

So I said, "sure i'll help!" We loaded her up one time. Got to the dump, and unloaded. Just over 2 tons. Saved him a couple hundred bucks.

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nchittendon

Active member
544
28
28
Location
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Our town houses a company called CHART. They build huge heat exchangers. This aircraft was here to ship one. If they put it on truck, then ship, it can take months to get to it's destination. Putting it on the Antanov (the only aircraft large enough to carry it), it can be there in only a couple of days. Albeit, costs one MILLION to ship this way.

This heat exchanger was going to an oil rig somewhere apparently. Made local news.
 

nchittendon

Active member
544
28
28
Location
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Changed my fuel filters this weekend. Easy Peasy. I've read the horror stories, but my truck must love me. Ordered the filter/belt kit from RealCustomTrucks and it had everything I needed. That was nice. The o-rings didn't fight with me. The truck fired right up when done. No complaints.

Then had a parade on the 4th with a couple of locals.

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Small........I mean SMALL town Minnesota parade. All of about 6 blocks. Made a lap around the last block, then went through a second time. haha, first time i've done that.

There was a polka band on a hay wagon in front of us. At one point they stopped because the group of people sitting there were all dancing their butts off. So they sat there and played. While we were sitting there, the HEMTT which was behind me during the parade, suddenly went slowly by me in the ditch! Watching the beast sulk through the tall grass gave me the image of a hippo in my mind. Just the top of it exposed in the water, calm but ready to crush anything in it's way. He was hauling a local councilman, so i'm guessing it was an approved maneuver. And likewise, instead of sitting in the line up waiting and burning fuel for no reason, myself and the other deuce jumped in and joined him. It was a riot and the people ate it up.

Now we have more parades to come, and the Iola show in about a month. Still have to drop the oil out of the truck, hook up the woobie lights, bypass the FDC, eliminate the flame heater, add my 12v alternator, and spend some time with my axles and bearings.
 

nchittendon

Active member
544
28
28
Location
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Removed the switch for my flame heater today. Replaced it with my new switch for my beacons. Hoping to use the same wires from the flame heater for the beacons.
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Replace a broken board today on my troop seats. For the seats themselves I'll be using the white oak. But I had some pine laying around, so I'll use that up on the parts that aren't seats as shown. Also switching everything over to stainless hardware. Carriage bolts, and cap nuts.
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