Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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Scrounged up an old truck cap...well, I did pay $50 Canadian for it and it came with 2 c clamps and a pair of vice grips. Lol.
Always wanted to try one. See if I like it.
The color's perfect for a scrounger's cap! I always liked mine but my wife hates em. Says I look like a grandpa. So, the new truck has a tonneau cover. The jury's still out on that.
 
For the past 3-4 weeks I think I've been living the old curse... May you live in interesting times. Anyhow... yesterday's flavor of the curse:

I took a load of firewood down to my girlfriend's home not far from Mustang Mike. She went through 2 1/2 to 3 cords having "social fires" in her fireplace, and her daughter took some home with my blessings, this season. She ran out before fire weather ran out. I was also there to repair a few items in her house. Things went sideways on the NYS Thruway on the way home... the left front tire sidewall disintegrated. Traffic was moving at about 70 mph but I was able to safely get off the road. It was pitch black so it wasn't fun. I'd been wondering about the tires for a while now... They have maybe 8-10 K miles on them but it I knew they were old. I confirmed today via the date codes that they are from the 33rd week of 2015... basically 10 years old. The spare is original to the truck so it is about 20 years old. I had even less confidence in the spare and got off at the next exit and took slower rural roads home. It was flat this morning!

Anyhow, I'm thinking about going "old school" and running M&S tires on the back (2 wheel drive, regular cab, Chevy 1500) and all season on the front. This as I was not happy with the all seasons that were on the back this winter... Anyone have relatively recent experience with this combo in a matching set of tires?

The current tires are LT245/70R17 Michelins. This was my father's 2005 truck... He had Michelins on his 1988 Town Car years ago and three of them blew up sitting in the garage... The explosion from the one in the trunk bulged the trunk lid! Again, very few miles but old. I'm assuming this old age problem isn't unique to Michelin... or is it? I see that DOT recommends a max of 6 years regardless of miles.

P.S. The last thing I remember reading here was MechanicMatt asking about Browning T-bolts. I will respond to that... hopefully soon but no telling given the unpredictable elder care role.

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Griz the gun show had one!!!
Figures... Discretionary time has been scarce... I haven't shot any of my father's 7 guns that I inherited last summer... A couple Colts I haven't shot in probably 40 years will be the first: 1973 nickeled Detective Special and a circa 1983 satin nickel Trooper in .22 rimfire. Classic stuff back in the day! Sample photos:

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The wife returned from her trip to town today with a nice find. A shop there had a real clean 90's vintage CZ 511 .22lr. Put 50 rds through it, ran great.
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CZ makes some really nice guns. They are a great value too.
Now if they would just get rid of the "mud" finish they put on the walnut stocks of the new 457s.
 
For the past 3-4 weeks I think I've been living the old curse... May you live in interesting times. Anyhow... yesterday's flavor of the curse:

I took a load of firewood down to my girlfriend's home not far from Mustang Mike. She went through 2 1/2 to 3 cords having "social fires" in her fireplace, and her daughter took some home with my blessings, this season. She ran out before fire weather ran out. I was also there to repair a few items in her house. Things went sideways on the NYS Thruway on the way home... the left front tire sidewall disintegrated. Traffic was moving at about 70 mph but I was able to safely get off the road. It was pitch black so it wasn't fun. I'd been wondering about the tires for a while now... They have maybe 8-10 K miles on them but it I knew they were old. I confirmed today via the date codes that they are from the 33rd week of 2015... basically 10 years old. The spare is original to the truck so it is about 20 years old. I had even less confidence in the spare and got off at the next exit and took slower rural roads home. It was flat this morning!

Anyhow, I'm thinking about going "old school" and running M&S tires on the back (2 wheel drive, regular cab, Chevy 1500) and all season on the front. This as I was not happy with the all seasons that were on the back this winter... Anyone have relatively recent experience with this combo in a matching set of tires?

The current tires are LT245/70R17 Michelins. This was my father's 2005 truck... He had Michelins on his 1988 Town Car years ago and three of them blew up sitting in the garage... The explosion from the one in the trunk bulged the trunk lid! Again, very few miles but old. I'm assuming this old age problem isn't unique to Michelin... or is it? I see that DOT recommends a max of 6 years regardless of miles.

P.S. The last thing I remember reading here was MechanicMatt asking about Browning T-bolts. I will respond to that... hopefully soon but no telling given the unpredictable elder care role.

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Not sure I've ever had a tire go bad from being old, except the ones that you could tell were bad before leaving lol.
I like snow tires for traction, and adding a bit of weight in the bed will really help.
Seems your gal was more social this yr, because I burned way less wood than normal.
 
Heaven when the college girl drives 10hours home for spring break!!!View attachment 1250229View attachment 1250230View attachment 1250231

My heart is whole!!!
Thanks for the perspective Matt! We're in the thick of little kid stuff with our 5, 8 and 11 year old boys. Sometimes I find myself wishing they were older. Time is going too fast and every milestone that my 5 year has is bittersweet because I know it's the last one. I need to be reminded that they're eventually going to grow up and time with them at this precious stage is fleeting.
 
For the past 3-4 weeks I think I've been living the old curse... May you live in interesting times. Anyhow... yesterday's flavor of the curse:

I took a load of firewood down to my girlfriend's home not far from Mustang Mike. She went through 2 1/2 to 3 cords having "social fires" in her fireplace, and her daughter took some home with my blessings, this season. She ran out before fire weather ran out. I was also there to repair a few items in her house. Things went sideways on the NYS Thruway on the way home... the left front tire sidewall disintegrated. Traffic was moving at about 70 mph but I was able to safely get off the road. It was pitch black so it wasn't fun. I'd been wondering about the tires for a while now... They have maybe 8-10 K miles on them but it I knew they were old. I confirmed today via the date codes that they are from the 33rd week of 2015... basically 10 years old. The spare is original to the truck so it is about 20 years old. I had even less confidence in the spare and got off at the next exit and took slower rural roads home. It was flat this morning!

Anyhow, I'm thinking about going "old school" and running M&S tires on the back (2 wheel drive, regular cab, Chevy 1500) and all season on the front. This as I was not happy with the all seasons that were on the back this winter... Anyone have relatively recent experience with this combo in a matching set of tires?

The current tires are LT245/70R17 Michelins. This was my father's 2005 truck... He had Michelins on his 1988 Town Car years ago and three of them blew up sitting in the garage... The explosion from the one in the trunk bulged the trunk lid! Again, very few miles but old. I'm assuming this old age problem isn't unique to Michelin... or is it? I see that DOT recommends a max of 6 years regardless of miles.

P.S. The last thing I remember reading here was MechanicMatt asking about Browning T-bolts. I will respond to that... hopefully soon but no telling given the unpredictable elder care role.

.View attachment 1250241
Don't know if it is just Michelin couple of years ago I bought four "new" Tiger paw tires from Priority Tires, thru Walmart, to put on my daughter's Ford focus before sending her off to school.
One of the tires had a blowout at Highway speed within a few days of being installed on the car
When I had all the tires inspected, the date code showed that they were all six years old
I went to a lot of hassle to get there, but eventually the local Michelin uniroyal dealer replaced all four of the tires and they told me they couldn't believe any dealer would sell me tires with a date stamp six years old
They said they pulled all of their tires out of inventory and sent them back to the manufacturer when they got to be one and a half to two years old
Eventually, the customer service representative at Walmart, reimbursed me the entire price of all the tires
Whether or not priority tires owned up to it and reimbursed walmart, I don't know, but I doubt it because they kept claiming there was nothing wrong with selling in six-year-old tires
At any rate, if I were you, I would get rid of those tires
 
Not sure I've ever had a tire go bad from being old, except the ones that you could tell were bad before leaving lol.
I like snow tires for traction, and adding a bit of weight in the bed will really help.
Seems your gal was more social this yr, because I burned way less wood than normal.
She was home a lot more this semester and often worked in front of the fireplace! 😀
 
I HATE caps on truck beds

My dad had one, you know how many times I scraped my back or clipped my spine moving firewood out of his truck

I’d rather put a tarp over my gear in the rain then have a truck cap!!
All depends on what you use the truck for . A firewood truck shouldn’t have a cap. But if you use it for gear then a cap makes sense .
 
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