Recent content by Malamute

My first thought reading your comment about the noise was it sounds like the secondary, or 4 barrel on carburetors. I dont know what the fuel injected version would be on a Ford of your era. Making the sound when it started sort of ruins that idea though, unless it was stuck open. I-80 across...

Theres special RV toilet paper that starts breaking down faster, its all I ever used in my RV and didnt have any trouble with it clogging up or dumping. I also ONLY had the toilet going into the black tank, so had to add water before dumping to get it to flow well. I preferred that to letting...

Trail Mater, Matts Offroad Recovery and Fab Rats all have interesting content, one of the things I like about them is seeing all the different places they go, it has added places to my list. They also have interesting projects they build, and just seeing the problem solving on the fly is good...

The slider on the ones Ive used was to manually apply the trailer brakes, such as when it starts to sway, or on steep downhills where you may want more trailer braking than normal. There may be a small wheel on the side to adjust the brake force to desired level, thats what all the ones Ive had...

Ive never been particularly impressed with the 4 way lug wrenches, they never seemed like they had all that much go to me. A 1/2" drive breaker bar and correct socket work better. A cheater pipe can help but the breaker bar can usually get it. I go find them relatively cheaply at pawn shops with...

I forgot to mention, in my area, pre-existing outhouses are grandfathered in, new construction allows them, but they have to be on a tank or vault, basically a septic tank with no baffle. I had the top cast with a hole for a 5 gal bucket to use as a riser, a 3 or 4" vent, and offset it so the...

All of the costs associated with developing land have gone up, it may depend on where as to how much. The septics I had done when i was building were in the $3500 to 5k range, I know they are more now here but dont know how much. Regs changes since the last time I did one. My contractor...

States vary on how they do real estate transactions, but using a realtor because of title insurance I dont believe is needed. The states Ive done transactions in, anyone can walk into the title company and have the title work done. realtors can be beneficial, they also will often deal on their...

I may have posted this before, if so, apologies for a repeat. Great story.

I live in the N Rockies and am tired of winter. Im going to at least snow bird to the Verde for winters, hopefully by next winter. Id like to find a place id be happy in there, though with the real estate price explosion after Covid hit it doubled and tripled most real estate in Az. Its starting...

A large part of my extreme dislike of winter now is after a disabling injury on ice, its a permanent condition. I turned into a broken down old geezer in a relatively short period of time after the injury. At this point I have absolutely zero interest in being where theres snow or having to...

I dont care much for Phx in the summer, but the Verde area is my main interest, it breaks over 100 off and on through the summer, cools off nicely for the most part at night, gets minor amounts of snow in the winter, has a good monsoon season most years that cool it off in the summer heat for a...

Its my opinion that staying cool is easier than staying warm. Cooling down in a dry environment isnt that difficult, a swamp cooler takes relatively little power, if you have solar or grid power and water you can cool down. In that elevation and climate it cools significantly at night. 105 isnt...

The ones Ive messed with had what was called a sail switch. The fan comes on first to disperse any possible leaked propane before the igniter will fire. The fan will run a minute or two or whatever before it ignites. The fan moves the sail switch, if it doesnt move it (meaning the fan isnt...

The place I mentioned that the grey water went on the ground had a simple barrel septic system with a couple sections of perforated pipe and gravel on the outlet side. It was high perk soil, sandy and gravelly. With the bathtub and grey water hooked to it it overloaded and backup up in a week...