Two cents and four thoughts.

[phuque4074]

Ziplock bag use #134 (I guessed)- These neat inventions have the obvious uses for storing food, items you don't want to get wet, your buddy's finger that just got cut off from drunken stupidity (allows you to put the finger in the ice without ruining the ice!). But our use for the ziplock bag in the 4wheel drive community has saved me a few times. My friends and I do some moderate to hardcore 4wheelin and there have been quite a few occasions where I have broken an axle. Most of us have straight axled vehicles and carry spare axles for this exact instance. So you get out your large ziplock freezer type bag and go to work. Open the bag and place under differential cover. Loosen the bolts but do not remove. As you peel the cover away from the differential catch all the oil in your ziplock bag (this also keeps the enviroment mostly free of our aftermath). Now you go on to replace your broken axle. Once you're ready to put the cover back on, put the whole ziplock bag inside the differential, put the cover on and start all your bolts but do not tighten. What about the gasket? Take a roll of twine or small synthetic string/rope like twine and proceed to wrap around the outside of the bolts a couple of times (a continous line starting at one bolt working around back to the same bolt, do this three or four times). Now tighten the bolts down smashing the twine between the diff and cover making a makeshift temporary gasket. Now drive off. The ring and pinion will grab your ziplock bag and tear it open dispursing the gear oil to necessary parts. Of course you will need to get in there and clean it out later. But it's much better than trying to figure out how to catch it and fill it if you didn't bring fresh oil, a drain pan/container, gasket maker, etc... These ziplock bags can always be used somehow and take up almost no space at all. It can also hold your steel wool and 9 volt battery for emergency fire starter. Happy fixin!

[ELK_HUN10]

Dumb dog. I bought me a new dog and the dog is too smart for his own good. I have a 10 ft by 10 ft by 6 ft kennel for him. I put him in it and went into the house. Next thing I know, the dog is waiting at the back door with the throwing dummy in his mouth and the gate to the kennel is shut. Next time I put him in the kennel, I watched him from the house. He just walked up to the gate, using his left leg, knocked the latch up. He pushed the door open with his right leg. After he walked out, he turned around and pushed the door closed. Then he walked over to the throwing dummy and brought it to the back door. I guess I'm the dumb dog.

[ELK_HUN10]

Seat belts. Why I don't wear seat belts. A long time ago I used to be a rubbber tired skider operator for a logging company. OSHA regulations are written such that an operator must wear a seat belt at all times when operating a vehicle. We had an announced OSHA inspection so I wore my seat belt that day. When the inspector came over to talk to me, I showed him a scar I have on my chest where a jill poke had come in and got me. A jill poke is a bent over tree or limb that snaps up when you hit it and more often than not comes into the cab with you. This particular jill poke was about 15 feet long and about 3 inches in diameter. As soon as I seen it coming it I started to get out of the seat. It hit me square on the chest and turned me sideways. It then impaled itself into the seat back and started to bend. The bending jill poke pushed me clear out of the skidder and I stood on the offside step. After the tree had bent enough, it broke and pieces of the tree flew out of the cab. I swung back into the cab and sat down. Slamming on the brakes and shutting the motor off, I sat there until I got my wind back. I pulled up my shirt and I had a large contusion on my chest. After a few minutes it quit hurting so much so I went back to work. If I had a seat belt on the jill poke would have speared me through the lung. Another skidder operator a few years earlier had one come in and speared him in the guts. He was in the hospital a long time before that healed up. He did go back to work after two years. I told the inspector both storys. He said he knew but he was paid to enforce the regulations but when he wasn't there, we could do what we wanted. If that reg was followed, it would kill for sure. I had a coworker that rolled a skidder. He rolled out the side when it went over the first time. It rolled end over end seven times. The roll cage came off on the fifth roll and the seat back was bent over flat with the back of the skidder. If he had a seat belt on he would have been killed..


With this all said, I still don;t wear a seat belt when I am in the mountains with my RZR. If I am taking my grand daughter for a ride. I put the seat belt on her and put the side curtain up. I then take her for a ride on flat ground trails and roads that have no trees beside the road. In the desert, I should put a seat belt on. In the mountains, I got a jill poke come in and get me a few years ago in the RZR. I have a nice scar on my left shoulder. That one got me and it would not have mattered if I had a seat belt on or not. It was on flat ridge top with a lot of trees and brush. If I was racing on a race course I would wear a seat belt but in the mountains going across country I do not. Everyone has to decide whether a seat belt is safer or not for the terrain they are riding. Tip over and rolls should never happen when you have a passenger with you especially young ones. I still do not wear a seat belt even though I can still scare myself sometimes.

[mikey]

Bought a Bird Dog the other day. Got him home and nothing! He wouldn't do Nothing. Told my buddy, "I will throw him up one more time", "If he doesn't fly this time. "Shoot Him"

[ELK_HUN10]

Originally Posted by mikey

Bought a Bird Dog the other day. Got him home and nothing! He wouldn't do Nothing. Told my buddy, "I will throw him up one more time", "If he doesn't fly this time. "Shoot Him"

You should have gotten an airedale. They are a rather large dog so you have to have a good head wind before you throw him up. The only problem with them is once they take off, they do not want to come back. Your shooter might want to yell "Throw" before you release him.

[ELK_HUN10]

A flat tire. Yesterday, I took my pickup and camper into the Owyhees to set up a camp for an upcoming antelope hunt. The 4-wheel drive SUV that accompanied me had a flat tire. After jacking the car up and taking off the lug nuts, I could not get the tire off of the car. I pounded on the side of the tire with a splittng maul and it did not not come off. I ended up driving back 100 miles to get some fix-a flat and a compressor and 7 gallon tank to get the tire aired up. I had to use the pickup with the camper to go to town with. It has a 460 and only gets 8-9 miles to the gallon, so I was not a happy camper having to buy the extra gas. After getting back to town, I took the car to a tire shop. They told me that what happened happens to them all of the time. An aluminum rimmed tire somehow binds to a steel hub. He said they use a sledge hammer and pound on the tire from the back side while someone else is spinning the tire. I bought four new tires and he said two of the old tires were stuck and they had to pound on them. I have Aluminum rims on my RZR and once I put then on, I have never taken them off. The tireman said it was very possible the same thing would happen to them and they would be hard to get off. This is a first for me. I never had aluminum rims before and every other time I took the lug nuts off, the tire came off easily. I would not want to be 100 miles from nowhere and go back to get an extra tire and then not being able to change it. I carry a tire plug kit, fix-a-flat and a small electric compressor with me. That has always fixed the tires well enough to get out with. But if I ever have side wall damage where I absolutely have to change the tire. It would be nice to be able to.
This is just a warning for others. If this happens on the trails, the winch with pulleys or another UtV could use their winch to help break the tire loose. A heavy hammer would help also.
Like they say if it doesn't work, get a bigger hammer.
One other thought, Fix-A-Flat, once it freezes, does not work very well if at all. I had an old can with me and it would not even put anough air in the tire to measure with a standard tire gauge, ( 10 Pounds).

[Russ Chastain]

I've had aluminum wheels on my trucks since 1997, and I've never had a wheel stick like that. But I've never driven them in snow or on salted roads, either.

[h2otoo]

In the past I have had alloy wheels bond to the hub, get out the big hammer. Whenever I have a wheel off one of my vehicles I apply never seize to the area where the wheel and hub come together. Maybe I should do this to the Ranger as a little P.M. Thanks for the thought, well worth the 2 cents

Bob