What did you do WITH your Ranger today?

[LaBalbe]

Thursday - Saturday, I deployed with NC Baptist On Mission for Disaster Recovery in northwestern NC. My team helped cleaning out mud & debris in 3 homes and a community center to be used as an assistance distribution location. The devastation is unbelievable, what is shown on TV doesn't do it justice. Every creek/river has vehicles, farm equipment, trailers, home debris, things that don't belong there. Roads are washed out, bridges are gone. The was one complete bridge - steel beams asphalt and guard rails sitting in a field that had washed away from a road upstream. That being said, the people joining together to help each other was amazing. Spoke with 1 guy, on his 3rd trip out from the community center, that said "I don't have power, just a little water but I have gas and a truck to get help to neighbors that can't get here". The center director was hoping to have about 100 people there Saturday to help, my guess is over 200 was there. It was great to see everyone banding together to do what needed to be done. I can't wait to go back to do what I can to help. It really changes your perspective on things.

I have a lot of friends up in the impacted area, so thank you for helping out. If it wasn't so far, I'd be chipping in on the weekends, too.

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[bsr956]

I have a lot of friends up in the impacted area, so thank you for helping out. If it wasn't so far, I'd be chipping in on the weekends, too.

Prayers and thoughts go a looong way. Personally, I wasn't prepared to the emotional toil it took on me, I can't imagine what the people that lost everything are going through. Seeing the relief on their faces makes it worth what little tiny bit of discomfort I have to deal with.

 

[TheAssuager]

The crane! Now in real use. When I first got it, I lifted an electric Toro snow thrower in the driveway and it did fine, but that wasn't real-world use.

Today I picked up a 350-pound lawn aerator (Classen CA-18H) and that was a bit of a different experience.

I placed the crane in the receiver and assembled it except for the stabilizing legs and drove to the rental place (only a mile away with 25 mph speed limit). It stayed in place without any issues.

When I lowered the tailgate, I had the crane slid toward the hitch about a quarter of an inch too much and nicked the paint! Bah! But I guess being an aluminum tailgate, it's not a huge deal. Still though, I'm going to get a Race Red Ford paint pen.

A friend was with me (he actually paid for the rental) and the two of us were like a pair of monkeys with a football trying to rig the medieval torture device (the aerator, I had never used one and holy crap, what a heavy bucking beast!). I'm sure we were good entertainment for the rental guys! =D

We got it in the bed, left some load on the crane, and tossed on a 2" ratchet strap (left the tailgate open). As we started to pull out, a rental guy comes running out the door yelling: "you left the effing legs down!" =p

So a quick pull of a few pins and off we went - LOL, those rental guys are alright in my books (and we returned the diabolical machine with a full tank of gas as a small thank you).

I did two things as "mods" to the crane. First, I used a smaller shackle to take up some chain slack, I think that's a good enough solution for my needs. As you can see in the pics, it lifted the thing plenty high enough.

The second thing I did was wrap electrical tape on the crane base so I would not slip in in too far again.

All in all, I like the crane and even if we had pulled out the removable weights (2x36#) from the aerator, it would have still been too heavy for this old fart. =D

back home with the infernal thing

I unloaded by myself on a pretty level spot and it always felt in control

plenty of lift height for this use

you can see how close it has to be to the crane because of the boom length, especially when lowered down

d'oh! nicked it! =(

didn't have a paint pen, so used 3M vinyl electrical tape, maybe I'll used the paint pen when I get it =)

3/8" shackle taking up chain slack, not the most ideal I suppose but rated to 1300# in optimal use, if you know of something better suited, let me know (not that I need much reason to buy something!) =D

crane FTW! Aerator not so much!
little girl neighbor commented that the dirt plugs looked like a whole lot of poo! LOL, that made it all worthwhile! =D

Dr Color Chip instead for your tailgate. Just the cheapest package. It's a much better color match than the ford pens. I've helped so many friends with chip repairs at this point I can almost guarantee that you will thank me later!

 

[subquark]

Dr Color Chip instead for your tailgate. Just the cheapest package. It's a much better color match than the ford pens. I've helped so many friends with chip repairs at this point I can almost guarantee that you will thank me later!

Thanks for the tip on the cheapest kit, and it's ordered - thanks!!1 =)

 

[OGMix376]

Thursday - Saturday, I deployed with NC Baptist On Mission for Disaster Recovery in northwestern NC. My team helped cleaning out mud & debris in 3 homes and a community center to be used as an assistance distribution location. The devastation is unbelievable, what is shown on TV doesn't do it justice. Every creek/river has vehicles, farm equipment, trailers, home debris, things that don't belong there. Roads are washed out, bridges are gone. The was one complete bridge - steel beams asphalt and guard rails sitting in a field that had washed away from a road upstream. That being said, the people joining together to help each other was amazing. Spoke with 1 guy, on his 3rd trip out from the community center, that said "I don't have power, just a little water but I have gas and a truck to get help to neighbors that can't get here". The center director was hoping to have about 100 people there Saturday to help, my guess is over 200 was there. It was great to see everyone banding together to do what needed to be done. I can't wait to go back to do what I can to help. It really changes your perspective on things.

Hero Tuck Stuff . Being in Cali all I can offer is thoughts and prayers for all those folks… soupie needs to get out there (fastest dump runner in the states?) he’s have all that cleared out in a few days..?… Stay safe out there.
It’s amazing seeing folks band together right away (wish the administration was fonder of American citizens, but better late than never.)
My brother and his kids are in Georgia they got tagged a bit (no where near the devastation that’s more common place in NC at this time.) just a formally standing fence, permanently opened windows, and vehicle damage (just a newer Jeep Cherokee so it kinda deserved it ?.)… he and the kids are all safe and his work (army) gave him a ford ranger scab Temporarily… so he’s good to go.

 

[AzScorpion]

Thanks for the tip on the cheapest kit, and it's ordered - thanks!!1 =)

Who here knew (probably before you did lol) that you were going to order it ?‍

 

[Cabose-1]

Got a new phone.
Check this out on Android Auto!!!!

 

[KNI]

Like the font-family: "Comic Sans MS", "Comic Sans", cursive;

 

[TheAssuager]

Thanks for the tip on the cheapest kit, and it's ordered - thanks!!1 =)

? ? ? Happy to hear! The product is designed to be used on chips on flat surfaces. You literally just slap some paint on the chip, and then 5-10 minutes later rub off the excess paint with the included sealact. The paint will remain in the chip.

HOWEVER, your chips are on an edge... So, try that above method first, but what you may end up doing is using the smallest possible fine tip brush you can find, and putting the paint in the crack manually. It will come out looking great! Luckily it's in a rather inconspicuous spot.

Good luck!

 

[IdahoRanger]

Got a new phone.
Check this out on Android Auto!!!!

Did you need to add the "car scanner" app to your phone?

 

[Cabose-1]

Did you need to add the "car scanner" app to your phone?

Yes. I purchased it a while back ago. It was inexpensive, 2 or 3 bucks I think. And I paid 20 for the Bluetooth dongle.
But with my new phone. It just appeared on the android auto , I said let me give it a try, and it worked!! So now when I tow long distance, I have it on my screen! Really convenient

 

[underwhelmed]

Drove up into the GSMNP closest to the house and got in a couple hours of fly fishing. Amazing fall weather today! Caught 3 small Rainbow trout. Fairly slow fishing today, but gorgeous.

 

[ControlNode]

Got a new phone.
Check this out on Android Auto!!!!

Reminds me of the old app I use to use that Google kept blocking.

This was where I settled on the layout, nice and clean. If any codes popped up while driving it would announce them as a notification.

 

[veedubtuner]

Thanks for the tip on the cheapest kit, and it's ordered - thanks!!1 =)

Dr Colorchip FTW!! I ordered mine as soon as I bought my truck. Best stuff out there IMO. And VW's paint pens suck as well lol.

 

[RD_Kona]

? ? ? Happy to hear! The product is designed to be used on chips on flat surfaces. You literally just slap some paint on the chip, and then 5-10 minutes later rub off the excess paint with the included sealact. The paint will remain in the chip.

HOWEVER, your chips are on an edge... So, try that above method first, but what you may end up doing is using the smallest possible fine tip brush you can find, and putting the paint in the crack manually. It will come out looking great! Luckily it's in a rather inconspicuous spot.

Good luck!

I used these for my paint chip repair (Dr. ColorChip for the win).

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