ArmyofOne

You got rid of your GS? WHY WHY WHY?! LOL. Can we get some pix? I love GTi's...:)

I didnt say there was anything wrong with it! LOL. Just said there wasnt alot there.

We went to wall drug, but didnt go in. Looked like another tourist trap. Did we miss something good? If so, I am going to have to get back on the highway :D NOT! Truckers coffee FTW! Love that stuff. And we love kids too. Damned shame we cant have our own.

Cheyenne is off of I-84, not I-90, so no pix of Cheyenne, or Idaho cause there really wasnt anything to see going through couer d' alene. LOL, same with Montana.

Open the oil cap and shine in a flashlight. its DOHC so any sludge should be immediately apparent. As long as the oil was changed, and the tranny is in good shape, I would pull the trigger in a heartbeat. Beats a CRV by a long shot.

From there, The Ram ran flawlessly across the rolling hills of Wyoming, and the mountains of Montana and Idaho. We crested the continental divide at like 10pm, so there were no pictures to take, LOL. We stopped again for an overnight stop in Missoula, MT. We woke up early the next morning and drove into Spokane WA, where we spent a few days with a friend of mine and his family. But let me tell you, after a week and a half on the road…nothing looked more amazing than crossing the Columbia River, driving up a giant hill, through some fog and then having my truck burst out of the clouds and BAM, Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Mountain Range came into view. It was breathtaking. It reminded me a lot of Alaska. . So here I sit, in my Studio-tel at Crossland Economy Studio’s, wondering when I will receive a call telling me my home is ready for move-in. Meantime, I have a lot of time to explore the Cities of Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Everett, Vancouver and Joint-Base Lewis McChord. I can actually sit and reflect on how privileged I am to be in the United States Army, because without this Job, we would likely not have gotten the chance to make the journey we just did. I am extremely glad I chose to drive instead of flying and shipping the truck. Good times.

The Badlands National Park: And the wifey: And once we reached Rapid City, we went to see Mt. Rushmore. Not much to it, so I guess someone was just trying to save face :P :

Once we cleared Chicago, it was Wisconsin and Minnesota…the land of almost nothing. And of course, the obligatory “me” shot :D We arrived in Sioux Falls and turned in for the night. Hotel was nice enough, it was a long drive so we didn’t really care at that point. The next morning, we took a short drive, across the state of South Dakota from Sioux Falls, to beautiful Rapid City. On the way though, we stopped at the Corn Palace (which was more of a tourist trap than anything else), and the Badlands National Park and encountered some REALLY nasty weather. Corn Palace (the siding is all corn):

We made it a point to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I am going to make another thread with all of those pix. Its ridiculous the amount of cars in there. We spent 5 days in Indiana, on the 5th day we set off on the longest stretch of our journey. The 14 hour drive to Sioux Falls, SD. Let me tell you the only interesting part of this trip…was Chicago. We drove through downtown on I-90. We did not stop because it was 3:45 in the afternoon…and well…Duh. We wanted to miss rush hour. Also we had a hotel reservation in Sioux falls, so we could not. So I am sorry NC211, I just couldn't make it happen this trip. :( I wanted to, but in addition to the above mentioned reasons, the wifey was also cranky. ^Check out that car on the right, I was doing 80mph, he passed me like I was stopped. Gotta wonder about people sometimes…LOL.

Hey guys/gals. I have 2 purposes for this thread. The first is to let you all know my wife and I have arrived in the Tacoma WA area safely. If anyone local wants to meet up, PM me and we can arrange something as I am on leave till the 10th. The second is just to post up some pix of the journey, and the (I must admit) BADASS cross-country drive. I am SO glad we decided to trade in the Civic for the Ram. It just made traveling much more comfortable. I also managed to spend only about $500 in fuel if I count only the receipts from the main route (not the detours for sightseeing). My wife has never really left the state of NY, aside from my trips from there to DFW, TX. Which frankly got boring we made the trip so many times. So she hasnt seen alot of what America has to offer. This trip, I think I remedied that situation. This thread is going to be VERY picture heavy, because we took alot of pix. But I think you all can appreciate them. So here we go...Enjoy! Fort Drum NY, on 10 January...truck loaded and ready to go^. If you are wondering why the squat in the truck, here is why \/ ... ^what that says is the truck weighed 5,520lbs EMTPY (running on fumes and without me in it), and now with the gear we hauled here (we get compensated by weight for moving some of our own stuff...), the truck weighs 7,360 lbs (I cheated a little, the 26 gal fuel tank was full on the second ticket LOL. The lady at reimbursements told me to do it that way, so I did :D ). Basically, the difference of the 2 tickets is what we will get paid for. So it is 1,840 lbs of Household goods= a nice chunk of reimbursement cash. Anywhoo, off we went. We drove South from Watertown NY, to Syracuse on I-81. Then we hopped on I-90, the highway that would bring us to our new home. We drove past Rochester NY, through Buffalo, Erie, PA, Columbus OH and then we arrived at our first stop… Indianapolis IN, to visit with my grandparents. It was quite the drive, about 13 hours. Went straight through and really was not tired on the drive at all. The truck was amazing to drive, didnt make me tired, or sore or anything. My bum hip didnt hurt at all after that drive. Something that could not be said for the Civic. Indianapolis: ^Hey! I said "no salt!":egads: Next stop was a carwash. Then it was off to downtown: ^the monument in the Center of Indianapolis. You can climb up it, its about 150 steps, but it was about 5 degrees outside, and its not heated, so I passed :P. ^post office downtown. Its huge. To be continued....

I just thought it was funny. Mean and rude to be sure. But funny. LOL. Its things like that, which make me glad to be a part of the mature, responsible and helpful Lexus Communities.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/96-jeep-cherokee-need-opinions-1149721/ Spread this mighty minions, to all corners of the automotive interwebs. :D :D Post 1 and 2 are pure win. Someone should pay that man HAHAHAHAHAHA!

So I will be in and out of the net for the next week, until the 15th of january. Then you all wont hear from me (except for a few cell phone posts) until we reach Fort Lewis WA. We are hitting the road on the 15th of January, and allowing 21 days for the drive. I have taken all the nesecary precautions. I'll talk to ya'll when I get to Washington.

it may very well have been but 2 days later, its matching perfectly ;)

the trend in my area is no tint. There is no contrast in my tint levels. They are the same. Dens, it may be a 15%, I will have to double check, either way 5% is not much off. I know Llumar is the only company that makes film that matches factory tinted glass.

Went ahead and pulled the trigger on tint yesterday, For $80 I got the 2 front windows in 20% to match the rear factory and the brow is 5%. It looks fantastic. Film is Llumar. Before: After: The only drawback right now is not being able to roll down my window at the gate of the Army base everyday, but hopefully itll be dry in a week. Oh, and I gotta put my window vent visors back on, but no biggie.

Paul, Any longer than a month I would put a trickle on it, but just a few weeks you should be fine.

As true friends, I need your opinion/help. Really need your advice for a serious problem. I have suspected for some time now that the little woman has been cheating. The usual signs; phone rings, if I answer the caller hangs up, going out with the girls a lot. I try to Stay awake to look out for her when she comes home but I usually fall asleep. Anyway last night about midnight, I hid in the shed behind the boat, when she came home she got out of someones car buttoning her blouse, then she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on over her heels. It was at that moment while crouched behind the boat I noticed... A hairline crack In the outboard mounting bracket!!!! Is that something I can weld or do I need to replace it? :cries:

The truck is back, as good as new!

They are doing 4 hours of free work for me because of a previous repair that was botched. They are doing that out of the kindness of their hearts (was not their repair, but it was minor and I already knew about it and was going to fix it, thats how I got the truck so cheap). Its on the opposite side of the truck, so there was no way for them to be compensated through the insurance, and they could very well have charged me for the extra time on the L/F Fender. However, they told me since they were going to have paint left over, they would go ahead and sand, prime and repaint it, fixing the filler, rust and "primer sinking" in the paint. Here is the only in-progress pic I could get, they dont allow customers in the shop for insurance reasons. I took it this morning at 930am. Just for clarification, this is NOT where they painted the truck. They have a State-of-the-Art paint booth, complete with rotisserie, and oven racks. They had already painted the doors and cab and bed, and they were in the process of wetsanding/reassembly, which is why its not in the paint booth anymore. Should be ready today or tomorrow, a full 4 days early! I included some pix of the inside of the rental as well, a 2011 Kia Sorento AWD V6, a nice car to be sure! Look at that interior! and 7 passenger seating in a mid-size SUV for under $26000! I cant believe the improvement of kia's interiors and general build quality over the years! Seems most carmakers are improving!

thats ok, I have a 5-11 rear ready to go in, when it gets out of the shop. this will be nice...and stupid!! 0-60...well uh...never. but 0-30 we can do in a half second! Not literally. but it would be fun to try. The 5-11's in the rear, towing should be cake...but gas mileage goes down.

thats ok, I have a 5-11 rear ready to go in, when it gets out of the shop. this will be nice...and stupid!! 0-60...well uh...never. but 0-30 we can do in a half second! Not literally. but it would be fun to try. The 5-11's in the rear, towing should be cake...but gas mileage goes down.

Ram has 5AT w/OD4 (Overdrive, 4cylinder mode). S0 it has 6 gears, hwy cruising yields 4 cylinders, 75mph@ 1700 rpm. 4:55 gears in the rear end. I think whats doing it is the full time-AWD in the kia. This thing is a gas HOG.

23 December 2006 is a day that will be burnt into my memory for life. That morning, my Company (Fox Co, 4-31 Infantry Forward Support) awoke for a mission around 0430hrs (430am), Local time in Yusefiyah, Iraq, in the heart of an area known as the "Triangle of Death". Specialist Christopher "Chuck" Norris, and the rest of his squad mounted up in his M1114 Armored Humvee for a LOG-PACK (Logistics Package...Basically a re-supply convoy). I was awake because I was the Maintenance Platoon's Service and Recovery Support for that mission. I was on stand-by in case I needed to go out to get a vehicle. Its a good thing I was, because I ended up doing just that. At 0830hrs, I got a call on the radio with the location of an IED blast. Then came the casualties. We were in a convoy, standing by with myself (Service/Recovery), Medics for CASEVAC (Casualty Evac), and 2 squads of Infantry for Protection. We started our trucks and rolled out to the site. On the way we recieved the Battle Roster Numbers of the casualties...there was only one. For the sake of security I cannot divulge his number, but they are easy to identify, no 2 soldiers have the same number, and you are supposed to know your buddies'. I knew who it was as soon as it came over the radio. They were calling for Dustoff, the Helicopter Medivac, but clearance was denied because the area was too hot, we rolled in shortly after the news of this was relayed. I pulled up to the drivers side of SPC Norris' Humvee. It was still mostly intact, as far as I could see immediately. I dismounted and soon found out otherwise. I ran around to the passenger side of the truck and found a hole right under the seat where Chuck was sitting. I immediately looked around. We found him in a field 50 feet away. The Explosion went through the bottom of the Humvee, took the batteries (that sit under the passenger seat), along with the passenger seat, snapped the seatbelt, and ejected the occupant of said seat, in this case, SPC Norris. The Bomb was what we call a Shaped-Charge. It was HME (homemade explosive) that was shaped in a canister/container in such a way to direct the force of the explosion primarily in one direction. In this case (as you can see by the pix) it was straight up. We rushed to Norris' side, there was blood everywhere. It was not my first time seeing something like this. I knew, almost instantly, that he probably was not going to make it. Myself and a medic managed to get him breathing again using CPR, but he did not stay that way for long. It had to now be around 0930, and we could not get him stable enough to move, but we began taking fire. We had to move him, so we did. We drug him back between my wrecker and his disabled truck. We continued to treat him, but he was bleeding internally and externally, and another 10 minutes or so passed before the enemy fire was suppressed enough to allow the MEDIVAC choppers to land. It was too late. He stopped breathing for the 5th and final time. We could not resuscitate him. We were relieved by in-flight doctors from the choppers. We proceeded to continue our recovery of the truck and headed back to our FOB (Forward Operating Base). We found out after pulling into the FOB and dropping our gear, that the doctors on board the helicopter tried to resuscitate, to now avail, all the way to the Combat Surgical Hospital (CaSH-a 10 minute flight). His official time of death was called at 0948am, 23 DEC 2006. A damned shame this. I am a man, and I am not ashamed to admit that I cried for several days. This man, a son, a father, a husband, and a friend had died the day before Christmas Eve, Defending the freedom of people to celebrate said holiday. It tore me apart, thinking of the news the family would recieve. Sure enough, the Chaplian and Casualty Assistance Officer (CAO) Arrived at his wife's door, in Class A (Dress) Uniform, at 0800hrs on Christmas Day. Chuck's daughter and son were opening presents. Mrs. Norris opened the door...and knew instantly what had happened when she saw the uniform. I spoke to her recently and got an account of all this. She said when she opened the door, she fell to her knees and screamed. I could not help but question my faith at that point. Why would God take away a father and ruin a holiday for an entire family, forever? Eventually I came to my senses, and realized it wasnt the first time, and it wont be the last. I justified it the only way it made sense...Freedom. So this holiday season, Don't forget the men and women who wont be home for this Holiday, or any more holidays. Personally, I set an empty place at my table every holiday, for the soldier who didn't make it home.

Yes, micah, they are just as removeable and cleanable. And yes, you can use ATF to clean an engine, I do it alot. I have done it in this Ram as well, about an hour before my first oil change. Just dont run ONLY ATF in it. Reason being is that temps kill ATF. ATF is good till about 180 degrees, which is where engine temps typically range. After that, ATF breaks down rapidly. Draining a quart of oil and replacing that with ATF is more than sufficient for most engines, once every 50k or so, run it for 10-15 mins before you drain your oil. In the case of this LS, you might need to run straight ATF. I believe I would go ahead and take drastic measures before sourcing out an engine that is bound to be hard to find. If you decide to try it, buy about 24 quarts of the cheapest DexronIII you can find, usually about a dollar a quart. I would not run it long. I would say clean all the crap out of the pan and valve covers. seal it back up, Fill it with straight ATF, then run it for about 2-3 minutes. The drain. Change the filter, repeat with ATF again, and again a 3rd time with a new filter. On the 4th change, drain completely, fill with your reccomended oil and another filter, and play the waiting game. As long as you can get it clean, you may not have done any permanent damage.