doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com "Huntin' Truck"

Thanks Stan for posting the pic. This is a 2001 Cherokee, the last year of the old version. 4.0 fuel injected straight six that came from the AMC bin decades ago, one of the world's best internal combustion engines ever made. I drive it daily everywhere. I cannot tell y'all how well this Jeep has served me in the woods and anywhere else. I don't ask too much of it, but it's been through its share of rough duty. It ain't goin' away anytime soon, afaic.
JR

They don't fit everywhere, but I've always went with pickups. The gear and other odds and ends, eat up space quickly.

My favorite was straight six Ford with a granny low first gear, it could go very slowly. It was difficult to stall, but if it did, I could leave it in gear and just bump the ignition and it would just start moving again, really handy if pushing in the clutch would make it shift on a grade.

For now, I have to stick with the drive train of a three quarter ton. Everything is a bit sturdier, not for bashing around, but for a little cushion against odds and ends that turn up. Last year, I broke a front axle going through a tough muddy stretch. I saw the tire stop throwing mud, but it held together. I made a good hour drive back to familiar grounds, and got it to a shop later. Priceless.

Got to carry tools, straps, stuff, just in case.

Can you imagine what the gear ratio is on the Jeep when I put it in Low 4WD, with 4.56 gears in the chunk? Stump pulling power. In High range it will swap ends with you on a dirt road if you romp down on it.

Pickups are my everyday vehicle on the farm. I've got two F250s, both with 6.2L gasoline engines. The 2011 has 277K miles on it, farm miles, with no engine work. The 2013 has 137k, with the same amount of engine attention. The 6.2L gas engine may just be the best engine Ford ever built. About 400 hp, and almost the same in torque. It's a long lasting hoss.

Stan

James I look forward to cooking some more steaks for you someday. Hopefully soon!

You are my brother to the North and while we didn't get much time to together as I would have liked, you are the one that woke me up to the SxS guns. And a lot of other things. The others around us looked at us confused while we were talking. You truly are my brother of another mother. Although not sure if I should curse you for directing down the rabbit hole of SxS guns or thank you LOL.

That is not true, I can not thank you enough!

Oh and we didn't even touch on footwear. And lasts, support etc. I live in Crispi boots with ankle bone support system once I blew out my ankles. That is for another discussion.

Spent 20 years wearing boots made by the cheapest bidder. Did not do me any favors.

Wore a suit for 20 years after I retired from the Navy. Never could get over the pointed toe Italian shoes or made in China shoes which can only be described as clown shoes. To me.

I wear Allen Edmonds shoes and boots when I have to go into work, many made with horses arse, I love cordovan shell.

The Park Avenue is good enough for enough for inauguration of US Presidents. Well at least the conservative ones. Not going to touch on the whacked out Left ones. But if it is good enough for the ones that I am willing to follow into combat it is good enough for me.



Brother James once the border is open again I look forward to meeting you once again. And promise I will cook you the best prime ribeye that is available. Anywhere. To say that that I enjoy listening to your knowledge and experience with SxS guns and life in general is an understatement.

If I had to find me another hunting rig I would be looking for a 4WD Tahoe or Yukon. The older ones sell for chicken scratch around here. One of my hunting buds bought one recently, an '05 I think, Vortec V-8, leather seats, a/c, good tires, no dents and good paint for $2000. IMO they are a deal, because nobody wants to buy one due to their poor gas mileage.

Mike, a man after my own heart! After almost 5 years retired from the footwear business, I finally had to go into a store and buy a pair of shoes a few months ago. First time in well over 25 years. Almost seemed like a novel experience. LOL One great thing about my career is I rarely had to wear uncomfortable shoes. The perks of one's career. After starting in the golf business in the late 1970's I've played golf my entire adult life and never bought golf balls......I'm just starting to run out now and we exited golf in 1991.

But, getting back on topic. I am, for the first time since the early 1990's, without an SUV. My 2003 Pathfinder gave up the ghost last year. I've been waffling between a choosing a pick up or another SUV. Up here, in the land of ridiculous gas prices, I'm actually considering a Tahoe Hybrid. Looking at a 2011 model right now. I need something with relatively generous towing capacity, thus the larger size SUV. I like the gas mileage. I hate the electronics. Whatever, I get I can't wait to get back down to the land of the free! (relatively speaking these days).

The single worst truck I owned was a 1990 Grand Wagoneer Jeep with the "J" in Jeep spoken with the Spanish pronunciation. The only almost good thing about it was its 7/70K warranty which didn't cover much but came in handy at the end. It was an old carburetor model, Navy Blue with the fake wood grain siding. The same model was used in Old Navy TV Commercials around Christmas season. The carburetor was rebuilt 5 times during my ownership as the mechanic said that it had a part that gas dissolved. No kidding. It was 1997 and my father-in-law was dying in Louisville, GA, 120 miles from home. Louisa was already there and I was to bring the kids. The Jeep had 69,900 miles on it, just under the warranty limit. Early Saturday morning I took it to the dealer to go over and do all maintenance necessary and check for potential warranty issues while it was still in warranty. The oil pan was removed to replace a small filter inside the crankcase. When I was 30 miles out of town I noticed no oil pressure and checked the oil's dipstick. I had a full stick and called the dealer who told me it was probably okay and when they went over the engine they make have loosened a connection to the oil pressure sending unit. By the time I got to Louisville, I was over the 70K and the engine was making noises. I flatbedded the truck back to the dealer who told me I had burned up the crankshaft due to oil starvation and I was just over the 70K warranty so "too bad" for me. A buddy's son is a factory trained mechanic and he told me that when they resealed the oil pan the morning of the trip, it was done with a silicone cement and some of it clogged the oil pick up starving the engine of oil. He had seen this happen. The dealer gave me Chrysler/Jeep's Southeastern Rep phone number who attended the tear down when I raised hell. I told the rep what had happened. The crankshaft was shot. The rep said that the dealer was still sticking with its story that they did nothing wrong that morning while inside the engine with the oil pan off, but they would rebuild the engine with a new crankshaft and replace parts unaffected but recommended to be replaced. The cost to me would be $250. "Book'em, Dano". I paid the $250 and got $8,500 in trade in the following week on a 1997 but used Toyota T100 4X4 truck. I drove that truck until 2010 when with 177,000 miles I applied it to a new Subaru Outback for my daughter and received $4,000 credit on the Outback and a check for $250 when the engine in the T100 was destroyed as required by the Cash for Clunker Program. I had bought the Jeep from my hunting and fishing buddies in the used car business and they knew all about my problems with the Jeep. They took the Jeep in trade, like the men they are, without batting an eye for the T100. In 2003, they helped me buy a Toyota Sequoia 4X4 from a dealer at a $100 over invoice. The dealer was from another town who ferried it to my home for the check. I still drive the Sequoia with 226,000 miles but also have a 2016 4Runner which is my main ride. Toyota: "Oh, what a feeling." Incidentally, the 4Runner and the Land Cruiser are the last two Toyotas made in Japan for the US market. All the rest are made in the Western Hemisphere--Mexico, US and Canada. When I cross the Savannah River Bridge going over to Floyd's in SC, from the bridge one can see on the loading docks hundreds of Toyotas made in the US ready for loading on ships for transport to Africa where they are sold. They are all right hand drive according to what a Coast Guard inspector told me. Gil

Over the past 30 odd years, I have owned-in a row, 5 used Ford Rangers-- all std cab, 5 spd. 4 bangers- bought 'em used from a one owner, mostly had 125K miles, ran 'em for years driving to my work welding at powerplants and boiler shops in WMich. I also owned a Ford Bronco II- went 250K on it, had the FI V-6 and manual hubs- it's still up at our deer hunting property near Mio-runnig like a Rolex- Not too impressed with the newer Bronco-but thanks to the goofy marketing structure of the used vehicle market afoot, I can get in cash money, more than I paid for the current 2009 Ranger in my driveway than I paid for it 5 years and 65K miles ago. I don't baby those Rangers, gas, oil changes, replacement tires, batteries- but they are a very low maintenance $ vehicle--and like redheads, there's just something about them that I like- Very Much!! RWTF

Foxie,
For me, I know what it is about Rangers, I can get into them. I switched from F-series when I couldn't raise my right leg high enough to climb in. I'm driving my second Ranger now, looking for the third. I have to get another one when I have to buy more oil than gas. I wouldn't mind if they used it, they waste it by running onto the ground past the main bearings. None of the other problems bother me, except I would like an extended cab, so I could carry a small tool box and floor jack. The 95 I have now doesn't have the room behind the seat that the first one had. You mentioned a 5 speed transmission above, I much prefer the 4 speed with overdrive, the 5 speeds are coupled so close together I can't tell which gear I'm in. As for changing to an automatic transmission, I may have to, but With the 4 speed I can start it with no battery by rolling it down a very small incline, where I would be dead in the water with an automatic. New Rangers are as high as a F100, so I need an old one. Sorry about the rambling, it was just on my mind.
Mike

The old Mazda pick-ups were rebadged Rangers. Find'em if you can. Gil