Author Topic: What I did this weekend...  (Read 4115 times)

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H8PVMNT

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What I did this weekend...
« on: Dec 18, 2017, 08:15:29 AM »
We had a crazy weekend.  We were moving cows to pasture so we could go on vacation for a couple weeks.  Kelly had them loaded in the horse trailer behind her Durango.  She left the e-brake on and applied a little gas and snapped the pinion gear in the rear end.  Apparently the hemi is too much for the Chrysler 8.25" rear end.

We were going to take the Durango on vacation Wednesday, and I couldn't get parts until later in the week, so vacation was off.  Luckily a buddy that runs the dealership heard about it and tossed us the keys to a spankin' new F-150, so vacation is back on :).  He want's a thorough review of the truck and recorded mileage and all that.  It has this new 2.7 eco-boost engine.  Sounds like a good deal!

So we drug the Durango out of the way and hooked on to the cows with Caleb's Toyota.  Got them out to the pasture and let them loose with no drama.  Then we got pulled over in Ft Benton because of no trailer lights with Caleb's pickup, tires stuck out too much, no mud flaps, etc,  it's not wired up for a trailer and it looks like someone rolled it off a cliff (Caleb kind of did).  The lady cop let us off with a warning.

Then Sunday we decided to kill and quarter Betsy, the milk cow.  She is dry now, mean, and we want some good meat.  Caleb shot her in the head and the boys and I had her dressed out and hung up in a couple hours.  The we decided to get the guts and head out of there so we don't get all the neighborhood dogs on our place when we are gone.

Guts were too heavy and floppy to get into the tall pickup, maybe 350 lbs easy, maybe more.  Never saw a gut pile that big in my life. We hooked up to the trailer again and were able to drag the gut pile on a tarp into the trailer.  Loaded up the boys and shot up into the mountains to get rid of the entrails for the coyotes to eat.  It is dark by now.  The creek crossings were frozen and had a good 18" ice step on the edges of them.  Bonked through the first one, dragging the trailer over rocks and 2 foot ice chunks.  Did a moab bump up the step on the exit side, three blips of throttle, front end, rear end and then trailer.  Went down into the second and could not get back out the other side, no matter what.  This one was easier than the first so I was stumped. Sat there and hacked on it with the throttle for a bit too long, no deal.  Then, while airing down it became apparent the front driveshaft slip had over-extended while doing the moab bump out of the first hole.

Then I realized I had no tools!  Not even the two 14mm wrenches it would take to get the driveshaft fixed.  So we un-hooked the trailer in the middle of the creek, bungied up the drive shaft.  Luckily since aired down we had enough traction with the rear end to wheel the icy crossings.  We then drove the 45 minutes home.  I quickly put the drive shaft back together and loaded tools, the hi-lift, a few wood blocks, bubba rope and an axe.  Took the wife along, because she is a level head and well experienced at icy recoveries (part of the reason I married her).  We crawled the ice holes with ease since the front end now turned   :gap:.  Getting the trailer on involved a sketchy hi-lift operation while standing in 18" of ice water and yelling alot, but after we got it on the hitch we crawled it right out in 1st double low.  Amazing the difference from 2WD to 4WD.  Any ideas I had about running a 2WD pickup for general use just went in the creek.

Then we drug the cow guts out of the trailer off the bank and went home.

Oh and with all that bonking around Caleb's combination of no bump stops and a 2WD oil pan, the pan got caved in by the front end and you could hear he crank whacking the oil pickup tube. Had to drive it to work the next day so I swapped a 4WD oil pan and pickup and was eating stir fry by 9:00PM.

Anyway that's what I did with my weekend. I guess the moral is always take your tools.

 :thumbs:


Sadly the only photo from all this is Caleb with the dispatched cow...
« Last Edit: Dec 18, 2017, 12:55:28 PM by H8PVMNT »
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Lewis Hein

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #1 on: Dec 18, 2017, 09:31:03 AM »
An 8.5" rear end behind a Hemi?? Well, a ring gear broken that way serves you right for owning a Dodge in the first place :gap:

Well, my weekend wasn't that crazy. This was the Audubon society's local Christmas bird count. Because I have a real 4WD, I was sent on the route that needed it. I tried to drive with some friends into a road that was drifted full of snow. The first little bit of the road was possible with just 4wd, but the first real drift needed me to chain up the rear axle (I was ahead breaking a path for my friends in an S10 with much better tires). The next few drifts were easy, until we found one that needed me to add more tire chains. About the time I started having trouble chained up on all 4 and wondering if I was driving a fish, a snake, or a Toyota we all agreed to stop before we got so stuck we couldn't get out again without major shovelling. Then we took a 4 mile hike up a mountain and back down again. I was wearing my Baffin snowboots, and my legs did not appreciate lugging them around all day. Boy was I glad we were able to drive in as far as we got. I remembered then why I was dumb enough to insist on a solid axle truck that could take chains on the front end and dig through drifts.

Pre-emptively, this is a personal anecdote, not an attempt to start a fight about tire chains vs. airing down. I would have aired down if I could, but I have tire chains, and don't have an air compressor, beadlocks, or a tire deflator.

The moral is definitely to always take your tools. I carry mine with me at all times... I was lucky enough to score a good deal on a really nice WeatherGuard toolbox several months ago. A few wrenches along really ease my peace of mind!

redneckcustoms13

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #2 on: Dec 18, 2017, 11:32:22 AM »
It rained on me yesterday so I decided to work a little on my old ford (74 model f350). Missions were simple, make blower motor work, mount the heater controls back on the dash panel, get the gauge cluster back in it and get the cover on.
This all turned into the entire dash out to replace the blower motor. In the rain and cursing ford the whole time i was not a happy camper.
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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #3 on: Dec 18, 2017, 12:24:17 PM »
Drove from Utah to Texas in the old girl, an 86 f250. Beautiful drive although New Mexico roads suck.

Gnarly4X

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #4 on: Dec 22, 2017, 03:11:26 AM »
We had a crazy weekend. 
Sadly the only photo from all this is Caleb with the dispatched cow...

So... you all had a perfect pathetically disgusting time.

Will killing Betsy, documenting the butchering, gut-dragging, and the "trophy" photo go into the scrap book as memorable boyhood accomplishment?

Gnarls.
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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #5 on: Dec 22, 2017, 05:11:36 AM »
It's a good thing to know how to do. I'd give him the dad of the year award for teaching his youngins something useful. Most parents buy the kid an Xbox and don't see them for a week while they hide in their room playing grand theft auto or whatever else people play on them.
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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #6 on: Dec 22, 2017, 10:11:29 AM »
So... you all had a perfect pathetically disgusting time.

Will killing Betsy, documenting the butchering, gut-dragging, and the "trophy" photo go into the scrap book as memorable boyhood accomplishment?

Gnarls.


Gnarls you might not wanna read H8PVMNT's posts about his lifestyle. I think it contains a bit too much "real life" for you  :gap:
:)bestgen4runner [12:45 PM]:   I am so stupid.

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Mudder

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #7 on: Dec 22, 2017, 11:52:13 AM »
So... you all had a perfect pathetically disgusting time.

Will killing Betsy, documenting the butchering, gut-dragging, and the "trophy" photo go into the scrap book as memorable boyhood accomplishment?

Gnarls.

So you're one of those.

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #8 on: Dec 22, 2017, 03:07:14 PM »
It sounded like H8pvmnt and family had quite an adventure and learning experience, MUCH better than an Xbox any day in my book.  Happy vacation to you folks and good on you.   :biggthumpup:
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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #9 on: Dec 22, 2017, 05:50:01 PM »
Sounds like a pretty typical farmers weekend, I don't get how it was negative :dunno:
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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #10 on: Dec 23, 2017, 07:21:47 PM »
My guess is yall got trolled.  That or some city slicker got his panties in a wad because they didn’t buy their meat from the store where no animals were harmed.  Amusing, either way :gap:
RIP KYOTA

You can go through life being scared of the possible, or you can have a little fun and tease the inevitable.

Give a man venison, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to hunt Blacktail, he'll be frustrated for life!

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #11 on: Dec 23, 2017, 10:00:06 PM »
I hope it's trolling. But I've got a suspension he's being serious.

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #12 on: Dec 30, 2017, 02:56:35 PM »
Some people just think their meat comes in a neat little tray and plastic wrapper and have no clue as to it's actual origin. Life is actually messy dude, get over it and pass me the skinnin' knife.   :clap:
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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #13 on: Dec 30, 2017, 04:03:42 PM »
Some people just think their meat comes in a neat little tray and plastic wrapper and have no clue as to it's actual origin. Life is actually messy dude, get over it and pass me the skinnin' knife.   :clap:

You can have a cow, but it can only die of natural causes and you must build a large coffin and bury it :rofl2:
:)bestgen4runner [12:45 PM]:   I am so stupid.

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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #15 on: Jan 03, 2018, 11:44:55 AM »
Nah the trophy photo was just Caleb being a clown.  Pretty much typical life for us.  The boys are always butchering chickens, pheasants, deer, whatever and helping their Mom cook or process the meat. He got to dispatch her because he got kicked, abused and drug through the brush more by that cow than any of us.  We took the "prime rib" and tenderloin portions on vacation and had it with some fresh seafood.  The organic alfalfa makes some awesome marbled meat.  It was great!

I think it's important if you are going to eat meat that you know that something has to die for that to happen.  I actually know a girl that told me honestly that we should buy our meat from the store where they "make it"...  No joke.

I like to do my own killing because I like to know where my meat comes from and how it was handled.  Really crummy handling for most of our grocery store meat. 

I think Gnarls is vegan so if he finds killin' unsavory I guess he has the right :).  Myself I am too addicted to eating animals to give it a second thought.

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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #16 on: Jan 03, 2018, 12:49:21 PM »
Back on topic though, got home from vacation in CA Saturday night, -13F, the inside of the house was a balmy 0 degrees.  Battery bank was down enough that the PH was down to where the water was frozen.  Oddly they still had a charge of like 11.2V.  Not enough for the inverter and the generator was frozen in a block of ice so out came the lanterns.

We got the house from 0 to about 47 by bed time.  Then I got up every 2 hours and fed the fire and achieved 67 by about 5:00AM.  Sunday night it got down to -29F.  That is not fun at all but we had a warm house then so all was well. Hauled water with Caleb's pickup and quickly pumped it into the barrels in the house.

About 16" of fluffy powder snow since we left.

Traveling from south to north on I-15 made me realize we live in Siberia :).
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"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #17 on: Jan 03, 2018, 06:20:42 PM »
How far north did you go on I5?  I'm guessing you made it nowhere near as far up as us, but if you did and went over toward Stocker's place, you'd likely feel more at home, or at least less uncomfortable
RIP KYOTA

You can go through life being scared of the possible, or you can have a little fun and tease the inevitable.

Give a man venison, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to hunt Blacktail, he'll be frustrated for life!

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #18 on: Jan 04, 2018, 03:22:13 AM »
... got home from vacation in CA Saturday night, -13F, the inside of the house was a balmy 0 degrees.  ....  Then I got up every 2 hours and fed the fire and achieved 67 by about 5:00AM.  Sunday night it got down to -29F.

Kudos for your survival knowledge!!  :thumbs:

Every living place has its plus and minuses.  I cannot imagine myself living in that cold, but I can imagine having the freedom of enjoying the wide-open spaces in MT, the small town environment, and the down-to-earth do-it-yourself daily activities.  :disturbed:

Where’s that “global warming” when you need it?  There are probably some people out there right now surviving the extreme cold who are burning their copy of Al Gore’s idiotic book.  :willynilly:


Oh... it's going to be a beautiful sunny blue sky day here... 74d F and it's only 60d F this morning at 4:28am.  :greengrin:

Gnarls. :spin:


« Last Edit: Jan 04, 2018, 03:27:54 AM by Gnarly4X »
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Oddmar

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Re: What I did this weekend...
« Reply #19 on: Jan 07, 2018, 07:23:17 AM »
Back on topic though, got home from vacation in CA Saturday night, -13F, the inside of the house was a balmy 0 degrees. 
We got the house from 0 to about 47 by bed time.  Then I got up every 2 hours and fed the fire and achieved 67 by about 5:00AM.

To stay on topic, i edited my post to add this...
This weekend i worked on my latest Rocket Mass Heater build. And rebuilt my carb, and the broken manual choke. Truck doesn't seem to start well in 0*F with an open choke...wonder why that is?

Sounds like you could use a Rocket Mass Heater.
Follow my build instructions and you'll have a furnace that will heat your house better than any wood stove you've ever had. Even starting with a cold house, you'll start the fire, burn thin sticks (no thicker than your wrist) for 2-3 hours. In that time you'll only burn through a 5-gallon bucket packed with 24" long 2x2 sticks. Then let the fire go out On Purpose, cap the feed, and go to bed. The house will be 70*F EIGHT hours After the fire is completely out. The furnace burns all the smoke so no chimney cleaning and no chimney fires. Super minimal ash production. The furnace's job isn't to heat the house directly (although it does a bit), it heats a bench full of rocks and dirt (the mass part), then that releases heat slowly, keeping the house toasty warm until 12 hours later when you need another 2 hour fire to recharge the mass. If you are used to burning 5-6 cords of wood, you will be happy to burn 1-2 cords a season with this furnace and be 10 times more comfortable.

I built an experimental one for a popular guy on here and it doesn't run as efficiently as i would like. It doesn't help he thinks he knows everything there is to know about burning wood and runs it wrong. He insists on letting a log smolder in it all night, so it's easier to get going in the morning, and that is a Big No-no with these furnaces...doing that makes creosote like crazy. He refuses to listen to me though. If you follow all the tips i describe below it'll work great. Zero soot in the chimney after a full season of it being the only source of heat in the house, and that was with keeping my place heated to 80-90*F. I like a hot house in the winter, cold in the summer.

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A guy named Peter van den Berg came up with several innovations. the P-channel, the tripwire, the backsweep, the kicktail, and recently the cold-air box. If i accidentally give anyone credit for something someone else created, i apologize.

A. P-channel. If you look closely, you'll see there's a thin metal plate 3/8" off the inside face of the feed chamber, curling around almost into the burn tunnel. This allows fresh oxygen to be siphoned into the burn tunnel by the inrushing air. A metal box sits atop the feed chamber, with an air inlet on the top left allowing cool air to enter the box, surrounding the wood, keeping the upper part of the thin wood cooler, helping to prevent flame/ smokeback. The air in the box is pulled in by the P-channel.

B. Tripwire. A ridge in the top of the burn tunnel, arrow-shaped, pointing towards the heat riser. Placed 1/3 of the way along the burn tunnel. Hot gases tumble over this ridge, mixing fuel with oxy, for better combustion.

C. Viewing window/ cleanout. Thermo-ceramic glass in a hinged metal frame, allowing you to see the fire (ambiance), and providing access to the burn tunnel for cleaning (like when burning pallet wood, to clean out the nails, and any ash that may collect in the burn tunnel.)

D. Backsweep/ kicktail. Curving the lower back of the burn tunnel reduces friction and keeps the gases flowing fast. An arrow-shaped ridge, much like the tripwire, protrudes into the end of the burn tunnel, just before the heat riser. This tumbles hot gases and mixes fuel/ oxy again.

E. Drum/ riser clearance. Most of my RMH's have had 2.5"-3" clearance here. According to Ernie Wisner, increasing the gap moves the donut-shaped 'torus' of the final burn lower in the drum, decreasing drum-top temps while increasing drum-side temps. I also shape the top of the heat riser to a sharp edge, otherwise ash may build up here and reduce airflow.

F. Exhaust plenum/ cleanout. WARNING! Problem area. This plenum must be quite a bit larger than the cross sectional area of the system to work well. Simply running an 8" pipe into the side of the drum usually chokes the system. YMMV.

After researching for several years online, i found many people complaining of poor system flow, and they all had a small exhaust opening out of the drum. So i built my exhaust plenums big, and have had no problems. A large plenum means lower air pressure which will help ash fall out of the exhaust stream. This area will be the spot where you clean out the most ash...with RMH's, very little.

G. Floor Standoff. While the side of the mass may be coupled to a stone/ brick wall, the bottom should be separated from the floor. A concrete slab floor will suck heat away from your mass. You want to slowly radiate heat into the room, not lose 1/4 to 1/3 of your heat to the earth beneath the slab. The bottom of the burn tunnel/ core MUST be separated from the floor/ wall. I didn't do this in my most recent build (for a friend), and while it heats his home/ shop, the burn tunnel never gets up to the temps required to efficiently burn all the smoke. Smoke out the roof vent and alot of ash production. Creosote buildup in the plenum/ mass ducting due to the combination of smoke with the low exhaust temps of a RMH, which will probably result in a future chimney fire. My friend won't listen to me or let me rebuild it.

H. Duct Sizing. If you have an 8" riser, you MUST have 8" duct through the mass, and 8" exhaust stack. Restricting the pipes here will choke the system. You COULD have an 8" riser with two 6" ducts running through the mass. 8"=50.32 sq in. 6"=28.3 sq in. 28+28=56. You would have better heat transfer with the two 6" ducts as well...more surface area. 8"=28.6" dia, (2) 6" ducts = 37.6" of metal transferring heat to the mass. The ducting through the mass can be larger in cross-sectional area than the riser, such as with Matt's half-drum benches. Feeding an 8" RMH into a 6" stone chimney will Not work well. The burn tunnel can be a bit smaller, this will just result in faster airflow. I like to expose as little of the wood as possible (vertically) to radiant heat from the burn tunnel, to reduce flame/ smokeback.

I. Duct Cleanout. It's a good idea to have a tee wherever possible, to allow for cleaning out the ducting through the mass, should the need arise. Burning damp wood might produce fine black ash that will collect on the inside of the ducts. Right Matt? :)

J. Priming Tee. If the mass or heat riser is cold (first firing of the season or you've been on vacation?), getting the flame to draw into the burn tunnel instead of back into your face may be frustrating. A tee is placed in the exhaust riser with a bit of expanded metal grill in the pipe (to support burning paper, candle, etc). Prepare kindling/ paper in the feed chamber. Light paper in the priming tee then cap it. This will create an updraft which will draw the flame through the kindling and into the burn tunnel. As soon as the heat riser warms the draw will be self-sustaining.

If you prefer, a three-bladed fan with blades set at a 45* angle (to minimize restriction) could be placed in the exhaust riser, preferably in the attic space. Avoid using large motors (such as in a bathroom exhaust fan) which will reduce airflow when the fan is not running. A 12V cordless drill motor would work well. A 555 timer circuit could energize the fan for say 2 minutes, creating the necessary startup draft.

K. Insulated exhaust riser/ chimney. RMH's typically have low exhaust temps. Hot air rises. If the mass is cold, absorbing most of the exhaust heat, the gases in the exhaust riser may be too cool to rise quickly. This may choke the system. Insulating the exhaust riser will prevent heat loss here and help the exhaust gases retain much-needed heat for proper system operation.

A side note. Many people have made the mistake of venting their RMH out a window or side of their home. This is fine as long as you run the insulated pipe up above the roof. Venting just outside one side of a house works ok until the wind shifts, blowing on that side of the house. This creates air pressure higher than system output, creating reverse flow and flame/ smokeback out the feed chamber. I always run my exhaust riser up 4' above the roof line. The air flowing over the rain cap (no matter the wind direction) creates draft which helps the system breathe.

As always, Your Mileage May Vary.
« Last Edit: Jan 07, 2018, 08:03:47 AM by Oddmar »
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Only when i am finished will there be peace: The peace of an empty wind as it blows across a land strewn with the bones of my enemies.

 
 
 
 
 

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