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ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2011, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreshAir

I love my Buick but I'm kinda a Ford guy. My first cars were Fords. I've never owned a mopar product. I have 2 Jeeps, CJ7 and a J20 but were built by AMC. We have our son's Jeep Compass while he is sailing the Indian Ocean with the Navy. But our daily driver is a '94 Camry. 50% of the Buick convertible's mileage is towing the Trade Wind. 455 cid is plenty of power!
Neil

Hi, Neil. I owned one Mopar for a few minutes. It was a 60 Plymouth wagon. I was working at a Ford dealer and wanted to buy a nice 1959 Ford that they had in the bull pen. The manager said he would only sell me the 59 in a package deal. I had to buy a 60 Plymouth station wagon, a 60 Ford sedan, and the 1959 Custom 500 2 door Ford. I was willing to pay $200.00 for the 59 Ford alone, but when the manager told me that the package deal was $250.00 for all three, I bought them all. I sold the Plymouth to a friend for $50.00. I traded the 60 Ford to another friend for racing parts that would fit my 64 Falcon Sprint. And kept the Ford until a local needy family needed to buy a low cost dependable car that I really didn't need so I sold it to them for $200.00 , so that's my Chrysler owner experience. I bought a brand new 1978 CJ-5 with 304 V-8, stick trans, and manual hubs. i kept the Jeep for ten years; Somewhat of a record for me.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2011, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airslide

Bob.. the manual transmission behind that cummins makes it feel like a big rig. You can drive it when we get to Jackson..

Hi, Vinnie. Sounds great, but I don't know how to drive a stick shift.

I used to tell the mechanics that at work when they asked me [shop foreman] to road test a car they were working on. I scared the H*** out of them when they went with me, in a hot rod Mustang. They never seen anyone, yet alone an old man, throw power shifts like I did. In the old days, my power shifts were what won the drag races for me. After all, all of my friend's Chevys had way more power than my 292 Ford.

Airslide · 08-25-2011, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Vinnie. Sounds great, but I don't know how to drive a stick shift.

I used to tell the mechanics that at work when they asked me [shop foreman] to road test a car they were working on. I scared the H*** out of them when they went with me, in a hot rod Mustang. They never seen anyone, yet alone an old man, throw power shifts like I did. In the old days, my power shifts were what won the drag races for me. After all, all of my friend's Chevys had way more power than my 292 Ford.

Well... I suppose you can try. However at 610lbs of torque at 1600 rpm we might break something...

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2011, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Bob (of WNY),

I think they are using Ram now to emphasize aggression and the "hemi" engine. As I understand, every engine is a hemi and simply refers to the hemispherical area in the cylinder above the piston. I thought everybody has been doing that for more than a generation.

Neil,

By the way, I long ago had a CJ5 made during the AMC era and it is tied for worst vehicle I ever owned.

Bob (of Cal),

Sorry your Lincoln is wearing. How about a Sequoia with the 5.7 L.? Comfortable and big engine.

Gene

Hi, Gene. The new Hemi's are actually semi-hemis, But it sells Chrysler products. [the name HEMI] My CJ-5 was great, but they never made a stick trans or clutch that Bob couldn't break. My Lincoln is OK, but I don't like having the gas pedal on the floor to do 45 MPH up a seven mile long hill. I need/want more power. I want a pick-up so I can mount my generator in the bed and with gas cans if necessary.

Gene · 08-26-2011, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

I want a pick-up so I can mount my generator in the bed and with gas cans if necessary.

One of the reasons we have a pickup is because of the gas cans and generator—the other is to carry construction materials for our never ending remodeling. But the new gas cans seal so well (so does the generator) that when I get a can filled and put it in the SUV, there are no fumes. Still, I worry about an accident that breaks the gas can open and the big boom that may follow.

But it appears lots of people travel with gas cans and generator in an SUV without problems. I thought about mounting gas cans on the outside, but they are too easy to steal.

Someday we will need a new tow vehicle and we keep talking about all our options. The large pickup and a medium sized SUV combo works for us, but it is fun to talk about other ways to do it.

Gene

Phrunes · 08-26-2011, 05:43 PM

I want to tow my Argosy with a 77 Tbird! My first ex-wife nearly ran over me on a dark country road with one of those barges when we were in high school. I predict she's thinkin she should have just done it!? Haaaarrrrdeeeharr

overlander64 · 08-26-2011, 06:48 PM

Greetings Phrunes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phrunes

I want to tow my Argosy with a 77 Tbird!

I believe one of the 1978 Airstream publicity photos showed a 1978 Thunderbird towing a Tradewind. With the 460 V8 and an appropriate differential ratio, I would expect that it would make a wonderful combination. An even more unusual combination could be made with one of the early to mid-1970s Thunderbird 4-door sedans.

Kevin

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-29-2011, 11:11 PM

Hi, well we are home and working hard. Our yards have over grown in the time we were gone and a few appliances needed replacing. Boo- Boo got sick at went to the Vet. He was still acting up, so we took him back to the hospital and he wanted to walk a lot, and fast. Now he seems to be OK. We think Boo-Boo was having anxiety attacks. I took him out front and he went straight toward the Safari. He was restricted to the house because we got attacked by fleas. [thus the anxiety]

We are also working on our trailer. We decided to remove all o* the curtains to clean them. Airstream says to dry clean only. So we took them to the local dry cleaners, where they took one look at them and the plastic clips sewed to elastic, and said they would not do them. We washed them at home and they came out great. But I will tell you, i* you haven't ever done this, it is a real job removing and re-installing those curtains. Basically we are doing a major clean up in our trailer and I'm going to fix a few things while I can. We want to change out the toilet or a china type one, but not sure which one to buy.

I'm going to stop here tonight because my key board is broken.

SteSpot · 08-30-2011, 05:26 AM

We are finally headed home. I have gotten hooked on backroads we are taking 20 across northern Ne. Not sure what we will do in wyoming. We are in big sky country. More milesto go. Our stespot needs a good cleaning after three months on the road. P

Gene · 08-30-2011, 05:43 PM

Bob, your keyboard is fine so long as I remember * = f.

Barb washed the curtains some time ago since we didn't know they were supposed to be dry cleaned. No problems doing that either.

I hope Boo Boo gets well. Maybe he just wants to travel.

Gene

pmclemore · 08-30-2011, 07:03 PM

We've been there: the fleas that were left in the house have been starved - as soon as lunch arrived, they attacked mercilessly. At least that is what we have experienced.

Pat

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-30-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteSpot

We are finally headed home. I have gotten hooked on backroads we are taking 20 across northern Ne. Not sure what we will do in wyoming. We are in big sky country. More milesto go. Our stespot needs a good cleaning after three months on the road. P

Hi, SteSpot. We used Wyoming as a stop off point on our way to South Dakota. We saw many thousands of acres of wheat, [I think] many train cars loaded with coal, [looked like to us] and more fireworks stores that I ever imagined. We use wheat bread, but have no use for the coal or fireworks.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-30-2011, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Bob, your keyboard is fine so long as I remember * = f.

Barb washed the curtains some time ago since we didn't know they were supposed to be dry cleaned. No problems doing that either.

I hope Boo Boo gets well. Maybe he just wants to travel.

Gene

Hi, Gene. You got it right; My eff'n "F" broke last night. I'm hard on key boards and my excuse is that I type hard like you would on a type writer, even though I never really typed much. I have to have my own key board for Lee's lap top, so I don't break it. I think Boo-Boo got hooked on traveling and is having a hard time getting used to living in a stationary house. We told him that he was a Gypsie dog, but he can't hear, and some how he knew what we were telling him.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-30-2011, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmclemore

We've been there: the fleas that were left in the house have been starved - as soon as lunch arrived, they attacked mercilessly. At least that is what we have experienced.

Pat

Hi, I think you are right, not to mention the roaming neighbors cats. [especially while no-ones home] Boo-Boo got the worse of the fleas and I was in second place. Fleas don't like Lee, But during our trip, I was number one with the mosquitoes, Lee was second, and I don't think they bit Boo-Boo at all.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-30-2011, 10:21 PM

Hi, today we finished the inside of our trailer. I re-adjusted our door and re-adjusted part of my door's weather strip, for a better fit and seal. I replaced the Velcro piece that fits by the screen door cut-out for the main door striker. The black Velcro piece kept coming loose. I found some white Velcro pieces in our house today. I cut them and installed them with more overlap on the door frame so hopefully they will stay in place better than the factory ones. I also had to repair my tongue jack, as it would blow the fuse if I let it bottom out. This started on the day we left so I was very careful with it until I found a 30 Amp, fuse type, circuit breaker for the jack. I never had to use the circuit breaker until we got home. I miss read some information about adjusting the tongue jack. I read that I was supposed to turn the jack all the way down manually and back off 1/2 turn before re-installing the power head. This was my problem. Today, I read my Barker instructions and it said to bottom out the jack manually and back off 3 full turns. Also make sure that you run the power head all the way, in the down direction until is stops by it's self, before re-installing the power head. I was happy to be able to cure this problem without buying any new parts.

Gene · 08-31-2011, 08:59 AM

Bob, I had this image on you hitting the keys like an overcaffeinated madman until I remembered I broke the shift key on my last laptop and had to glue it together. I read somewhere that people use the most force on the return key as if they had to hit the lever on a manual typewriter. This proves we are old.

Your jack story reminds me I should renew the grease on the gears in ours. That is something easy to forget to do.

Gene

OB Bambi · 08-31-2011, 11:04 PM

Gene: Do you guys have that Underwood Olivetti computer with Intel inside? I seem to remember the keystroke was a bit firm.

Randy

ROBERTSUNRUS · 09-01-2011, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OB Bambi

Gene: Do you guys have that Underwood Olivetti computer with Intel inside? I seem to remember the keystroke was a bit firm.

Randy

Hi, I'm not sure what Gene uses, but mine is a Royal.

Gene · 09-01-2011, 07:20 AM

I have a Mac keyboard, but I use a hammer to hit the keys. I want to make sure the computer gets the message. When the computer doesn't work right, the hammer is very useful.

Gene

tpi · 09-01-2011, 08:51 AM

On the subject of gas cans and generators- I had a class B before the Airstream and carrying the Yamaha generator filled the van with gas odor. Especially in hot weather or when climbing to higher elevations and the tank vented. Having the gas items in pickup bed is a big plus in my opinion. So is having dirty items like bbq, walk up mat, etc.

On suggestion to Bob- I had a porpoising problem with my F250 on some buckboard freeways pulling a nearly identical 25 to his. If you're moving up to a heavier tow vehicle I'd suggest identifying bad concrete freeway pavement in your area and testing your proposed rig before you buy truck.