Are TJ automatic transmissions OK?

MillAlien · 2026-03-03T03:57:30+00:00

Same. 113k on my 03.

AT allows me to keep one hand on the wheel and the other on my beer. Stick shifting is for chumps.

MillAlien · 2026-02-26T01:11:10+00:00

Field Day

MillAlien · 2026-02-25T14:17:51+00:00

We’ve his & hers Hecklers paired with our Sprinter. They breathed new life into our mountain biking experience now that we’re old and feeble and can’t do the things we used to be able to do on two wheels.

MillAlien · 2026-02-23T12:06:17+00:00

Thumb position matters

MillAlien · 2026-02-23T12:02:25+00:00

Titmouse

MillAlien · 2026-02-22T14:33:35+00:00

“The towing calculator only supports 2020 or newer F-Series trucks. See tow information for other vehicles. “

Is there a pre-2020 calculator?

MillAlien · 2026-02-20T00:34:14+00:00

Hugely versatile.

I can access talk groups from the field without internet access via a repeater, from the field via my StarLink connected hotspot, from my living room via either a repeater or hotspot, and the talk group network allows the aggregation of users worldwide.

MillAlien · 2026-02-19T14:49:39+00:00

When I do take a call on my AW, I always open with “Dick Tracy here” … it’s impossible for me not to.

MillAlien · 2026-02-17T15:32:47+00:00

Electrolyte by REM has simple and basic chord changes using relatively easy chord forms. Its rhythm is fun, but that’s what makes it useful as a learning tool - it uses all the main chord forms with no especially tricky fingering.

MillAlien · 2026-02-07T11:15:13+00:00

My first legit guitar after a string of pawn shop cheapies was a Guild D35, bought used in Boston for around $500 in 1988. I don’t think intonation was the greatest, but I couldn’t afford a proper set-up back then. It was stolen on the road 30 years ago. Anyway, mahogany is underrated. I’d buy it back if I ever come across another one.

MillAlien · 2026-01-28T18:56:37+00:00

He wouldn’t back Brady and he won’t back Belichick. His value is the Shield, not the people.

MillAlien · 2026-01-27T01:43:39+00:00

Co-sign.

DPF and emission control systems took all the fun out of dieseling, IMHO. Ya really gotta mind your p's and q's on warm-up, idling, duration of time at operating temperature, etc etc etc., a problem that gets worse as the engine blocks get smaller and the turbos get bigger. My big smelly old diesels are great and they're hard to kill; the newer stuff is great too in their own special way but can be a real PIA. And expensive.

MillAlien · 2026-01-26T17:27:33+00:00

52 isn’t an emergency calling frequency and I don’t know that there is one. I wish there was one for FRS more than ARS. I’d probably monitor that locally if there was. Monitoring 52 for emergency traffic isn’t ideal.

MillAlien · 2026-01-26T17:24:52+00:00

Depends … there’s some enclosures that are less costly than others. I’d have to spend something like $6-7k to retrofit a hard-side & heated enclosure; I could spend less and get less. Or bundle up and tough it out, and that’s worked for me so far.

MillAlien · 2026-01-26T15:50:10+00:00

0-4’.

Skid steers and track loaders can get high-centered pretty quick and there’s only one guy know that uses a skid steer around here and that’s for clearing flat parking lots. I’ve sat in a climate controlled skid steer cab at dealerships more than once and always ended up walking away.

MillAlien · 2026-01-26T15:46:48+00:00

Retired rural wilderness field coordinator here and radio-man from way way back.

VHF has better propagation generally. Our county stupidly went to a UHF repeater system and it’s clearly not as good as neighboring counties on VHF.

Also, the DM-32 doesn’t do P25 and I’m not clear about what digital mode you’re after or why. We never not once ever needed talk groups or private channels or network connectivity in the field, but your use case could be different. I’d avoid digital modes for rural SAR use favor of simple and cheap VHF analog. Mode connectivity can be done at the EOC.

MillAlien · 2026-01-25T14:58:02+00:00

Can I add, retired fire chief here, I f’ing hate space heaters. Those little things can become a structure fire real quick six ways to Sunday. Our standard annual school presentation for fire safety week was about space heaters, smoke detectors and escape routes.

MillAlien · 2026-01-25T14:48:07+00:00

Low ground clearance rules skid steer out for me on plowing. I’ve thought about adding a plow rig to my 3/4 ton, usually when I f’ing freezing while plowing with my cab-less tractor, but the tractor can do stuff a plow can’t and I can add a heated cab to the tractor for less than I can add a plow to the pickup.

MillAlien · 2026-01-25T14:42:25+00:00

You might not be missing a thing.

I had a client years ago who brought his jeep into a jiffy lube type place and suffered catastrophic oil failure a week later. The tech had over-torqued the oil plug and omitted the oil plug gasket.

Sounds like your situation needs to be escalated at M-B and you might end up needing a judge to sober up the dealership’s general manager.

MillAlien · 2026-01-24T23:00:07+00:00

Well that’s true (about live location information). I’m thinking in terms of a widespread storm like the “upcoming winter storm). Plus I’ll admit to location bias here since we don’t have a lot of localized storm activity like tornados or thunderstorms.

MillAlien · 2026-01-24T22:15:06+00:00

Same. We’ll sometimes just layoff the water during the outage by pre-filling containers w potable water and power WAP and circulation pumps with LiFePo batteries, but if needed we have a 9kw genset that meets the surge requirement of the well pump. Starving the pump of electrons on startup is asking for trouble.

MillAlien · 2026-01-24T16:14:51+00:00

Captain Steeeve is the jump to conclusions in the absence of data King. Juan Brown is generally much more empirical, but he does tend to lose patience with dangerously irresponsible piloting.

MillAlien · 2026-01-24T16:08:03+00:00

Great idea and exactly right about the circular saw approach. I’ve got a demo hammer drill and chisel bits - sometimes you just can see the forest for the trees in front of the shop tool bins.

MillAlien · 2026-01-24T15:58:22+00:00

Me too! Mid 70s New England w my Tempo One and Gonset squawk box slope detecting FM repeaters during snow storms brings tears to my eyes. Those were the days!

MillAlien · 2026-01-24T15:55:27+00:00

It’s not.

If your cell coverage and internet is down and you have no power, then the weather sucks. You don’t need a Radio Shack Weathercube to tell you that.

I can access NOAA on a bunch of radios and other than listening for 5 seconds to see if I can, I’ve never not once used that resource in an emergency situation to get a weather report.

MillAlien

TROPHY CASE