What do you look for in BOV?

Nothing special but will do that post soon enough

 

Harbor Freight "charge controller"

 

A 1980 Chevy Luv 4x4 like the one I had. I have my reasons. The Trail 90 will be in the back amongst a few other items of course. Rocks and sticks are free where I’m heading so......

 

Something to be said for horses and mules That being said I have had a 1971 international pick up truck since I was 16 and keep it in under a tarp in a barn and also keep it in good working order...... Old Blue sure is a gas hog though, so does not see much road time. Picked up a 1979 International Scout that is pretty rough on the cosmetic side but in great shape on the mechanical and drive train side and it sits next to blue....... Also not very fuel friendly. Both of them so brain dead simple to work on even I can do it

If computers are a non issue I go with the Big Red Thunder Chicken 2001 Dodge Ram with a 4.9LB C Diesel. Bought Red Brand New and modified him some over the years but still driving him as my primary 20 years later. Also he is very fuel friendly with the mod and pulls 24mpg highway with the mods. Drops to 10-12 mpg on the two lanes where there is a lot of speed up and slow down and is probably in the the 7-10 range in town. He weighs in at 11,980 pounds and is just a tank. I got rear ended by a kid in a Nissan SUV about a year back and it totally destroyed the Nissan, it scratched my balls and broke my 7 pin plug. cops estimated he was doing 40mph when he hit me. Felt pretty much like hitting one of the better IL pot holes on my end. If it had been MRs T5Rs New Dodge Truck it probably would have been just as destroyed as the Nissan SUV. I do have a very heavy duty bumper with two of the heavy spring hitches that absorb the shock of trailers with heavy loads on them one a pintle the other with a welded on 2 7/8 ths ball throw in the 8 big springs that allegedly absorb 20,000 pounds of shock per hitch......... Anyway the pintle took the initial impact and the ball picked up the left overs and the bumper was just the wall that brough the Nissan to a dead stop. A couple of cops stood at the back of the truck looking at the destroyed Nissan and then looking at Red and then back at the Nissan and finally one says "Looks like you don't have any damage and I want a truck like this one!" Red has been at Fred's all winter getting some major over hauls. Figure at 20 years it was time for the out of frame and complete engine overhaul. A complete inspection of drive train, suspension and replace anything getting worn or that looks like it might fail in the next 20 years. So far we are up to $18,000 in parts and labor. Fred tells me I should really like the new turbo he put on and he has about 10 more hours of work to do putting everything back together and getting the fuel system and injectors all calibrated right and the total bill should be just under $20,000.

Why spend $20,000 on a 20 year old truck? Because a new one comparable to Red would cost close to $70,000 and still be half the truck that Red is I am not impressed even a little bit with MRs T5Rs New 3500 everything about it feels cheap, thin and plastic and everytime I get in it I feel like if I touch something that it will break. Sure is a lot prettier than Red but pretty never meant much to me.