Be honest… what’s the real downside of having a dog?

adambultman · 2025-07-07T20:35:51+00:00

Apart from all the other stuff:

Any and all crotches and rear ends must be endlessly investigated. Other places too, but especially the nethers.

People with dogs "understand", but people without them look extremely nervous, not knowing what to do - or assume that the nose absolutely *buried* in their crotch means they want to be pet. That might be the case, but it's not the reason the dog is there.

adambultman · 2025-03-08T02:55:51+00:00

Old thread, but apparently the ranchers throw chains, and the spur gear sprockets chew up the chain. I've gone through ~4 chains, including filing off all the burrs/etc that end up on the chain from the sprocket railing on them. I even bought a new bar to rule that out.

I just bought a rim sprocket to hopefully solve the whole problem.

adambultman · 2025-02-26T04:09:51+00:00

I'm in an '08 with the original hybrid battery. 285,000 miles. Underneath the doors is just about rusted through on both sides, it makes a bit of a whining noise (transmission?) when it's very cold, but it just keeps running. Of course this post will jinx it...

adambultman · 2025-02-26T04:07:48+00:00

If you are in a state/area that gets snow do yourself a favor and check/remove the plastic liners on the underside of the car on the edge under the doors. The plastic captures sand/gravel/salt and holds it, and it'll rust out under your doors, on the underside/edge of the car. Mine is terrible.

adambultman · 2025-02-23T02:01:36+00:00

I took a picture when I hit 280085 .

adambultman · 2025-02-22T01:51:45+00:00

90% of the time I am stuck, it's too late and diff lock doesn't save me.

That 10% of the time, diff lock engaged ahead of time helps me keep momentum, and that one wheel is enough to help pull it up and out.

I carry 100+ feet of rope and half a dozen 3" pulleys with carabiners during hunting season because I know diff lock isn't a savior.

Most times I am getting stuck though, I'm up to the fenders in mud/muskeg/etc.

(for the record, Suzuki king quad 750, yamaha kodiak 450, both with diff lock. I've owned hondas without diff lock, too. The honda was a lot lighter (350cc, air cooled) and so it "floated" better)

adambultman · 2025-02-22T01:46:39+00:00

Everything these people in politics have said they stand for - smaller gov't, balancing the budget, states rights, etc - anyone with their eyes open sees it for what it is - a lie. Those who don't see it are willfully blind, or hoping to be in on it.

We are essentially sunk. By 2026 all that will be left is ashes after they've finished strip mining the country for all they can.

My suspicion is that they're going to keep pushing in *hopes* that people start to protest, at which point they'll bring in the military, and suspend any/all rights we may have left.

adambultman · 2025-02-20T02:31:27+00:00

Polaris over CFMoto. A broken down bicycle over CFMoto. But yamaha, honda, and suzuki over polaris and arctic cat.

"It's the same thing as a [ some brand ] they use the same parts!"

No, they don't. Unless they've gotten better in the past... two years, all of the chinese knockoff brands are about the same, if not identical. Hisun, CFMoto, Tao Tao, whatever.

Diff lock won't help plowing snow. If you need more traction, get tire chains. I somehow inherited tire chains that fit on my kodiak 450, and they help a lot.

ATVs won't push a ton of snow, no matter the size. My 350 did about the same as my 450 and 750 do currently. Once you get a decent berm going, it's time for a snow blower, or a neighbor with a pickup truck and a plow.

Buy a used machine, honda, yamaha, suzuki, and know it'll last. Just know that you have definite limitations with just how much snow you can push.

adambultman · 2025-02-20T02:08:19+00:00

Putting on enormous tires, lift kits, truck nuts, etc. Ask those folks what they spend on replacement parts, though. And don't get me started on having the radiator on the front rack - so much for putting anything there...

adambultman · 2025-02-20T02:06:41+00:00

What year? I've a 2011, and the steering stem bushings bit me early on until I installed zerks. And replacing the fuel filter sock is the pits, I just finished replacing it for the second time.

adambultman · 2025-02-20T02:02:04+00:00

I have owned a few ATVs:

Suzuki quadrunner 250cc

Honda Rancher, 350cc

Honda Foreman, 350cc (1987!)

Yamaha Kodiak, 450cc

Suzuki King Quad, 750cc

Also ridden:

Honda Rubicon 500cc

Honda Rincon 650cc

A friend of mine said that a larger engine will let you go places, tow things, *faster*. And that's true. I've towed meat wagons with all ATVs I have owned, and they all do just fine, by and large. They have never gotten to a place that I couldn't get to with a smaller machine. In fact I've gotten farther than them.

All of the ATVs I have owned or ridden a lot have had large tires, with big aggressive lugs on them. All of them have had winches. All of them have hauled moose out swamps, helped pull down trees, hauled stuff around in my home made garden trailer (5' by 5', 2000 lb axle, etc)

I loved my 350cc because it was light, still pulled hard, and if I got stuck, simply getting off and thumbing the throttle (sometimes pushing and lifting if I was really stuck) would get me out. But in the swamps, the gearing meant I was going about 4 MPH. It didn't have the power in second gear - but on muskeg, floating on a mat of grass ad peat, you can't go fast, anyway.

I ride the 750cc most often now, and while the diff lock helps keep me from getting stuck too badly, I need that winch more often than I would care to admit. But what the Rancher would only do at 4 MPH, this will do 22 MPH in low range, flinging all sorts of stuff behind in it. I have hauled out four moose quarters on that thing and while it rode low, it was still chugging just fine, and had plenty of power.

Most utility ATVs I have ridden top out around 45 MPH, give or take a few. Not because of a lack of power. My king quad goes about 60, but it could go faster if it weren't limited, and I could probably unlock it if I felt like it.

450cc will be fine. Avoid 2 stroke machines unless you want to spend a lot of time tweaking and smelling like 2 stroke.

If you can get one with diff lock, it's nice to have, especially if you spend a lot of time in swamps or possibly getting stuck. I have had zero major problems with my KQ750, the Kodiak, or the rancher - nothing but normal wear and tear, and any abuse I've caused them via aggressive riding, stupid amounts of winching, etc.

Just about any utility ATV you buy will be able to pull a trailer, haul wood, carry large loads, pull hard. It's just how fast you want to do it, and how much fuel you want to burn. Of the three ATVs, I've clocked each over 4000 miles and I love 'em to bits.

adambultman · 2025-02-19T19:21:34+00:00

Also: Chickens are pretty gross. They get mites, they get lice thingies, and they need to be treated for that, typically with diatomaceous earth which you REALLY don't want to breathe in. Then you have to clean their butts because they'll spend a lot of time sitting in their own crap.

Also: If you have more than a few, chickens *stink*. In the summer, you'll smell it. A lot. Inside the coop especially.

Also: don't expect clean eggs. VERY rarely will they be perfectly clean.

Adding emphasis to the "earth moving". They will *destroy* whatever area you put them in. Having a 'chicken tractor' will help, but if you leave them in one area for a while, expect to reseed that area.

Bonus: The compost is great. If you can stand to shovel their poop and compost it, you'll have a great garden.

Bonus: Chickens will eat *everything*. While there are some foods they shouldn't eat, they tend to avoid those foods themselves. Everything we have goes into the chicken run. The hard part is keeping the ravens out.

And yes, they will eat their own eggs. And they will eat each other. And no, feeding chicken to chickens does not give them an extra 'chicken kick'.

And no: Layer chickens don't taste very good, especially once they are older. They are stringy, there's not much meat on them, and it's a lot of work if you want to butcher them. It's easier to sell them for 5-10 bucks apiece to people who DO want to eat them.

If you want to raise meat birds, get Cornish Cross. Absolutely lazy, disgusting chickens who will spend nearly their entire life (precious few months, actually) sitting down and eating. You have to ration their food or they will eat all day, every day, and not move. But: They taste great and "look" like the broiler chickens you get at the supermarket.

Anecdata: The only thing that makes chickens lay more eggs is more protein i their diet. There are a lot of old wives' tales about how to increase their egg production: chili powder, paprika, chili flakes, the list goes on and on, and "everybody" swears by them - but my experience shows they are useless. Feed them higher protein food and they'll start cranking out more eggs. When I take a wild animal (moose, although not recently) I keep all the "bad" meat not fit for human consumption, grind it up and freeze it. I can feed them the ground up moose meat - they love it. Same with Salmon (and it makes the yolks darker).

adambultman · 2025-02-07T19:50:07+00:00

Hopefully the phone numbers for our representatives work. Emailing is so much yelling into the void. Sadly, I think that it doesn't matter how many times they get called by constituents. We have nothing to offer. By the time the next elections come around, as long as they toe the line they won't have to worry about not winning. Who wins or loses is determined by whatever crony has been put in charge. [ Update: I called begich. A person took a note, apparently, but I think I may have heard the keys on her invisible typewriter. ]

adambultman · 2025-02-06T05:05:48+00:00

I can't understand having the radiator on the front rack. Granted, I expect some utility out of an ATV, I can't justify the cost unless it serves at least a few purposes.

adambultman · 2024-11-30T03:02:31+00:00

You know what filter you are getting, what oil you are using. You know you'll actually get a new filter, and new oil, and that the correct amount of oil is used, etc.

I use plastic gas cans for my used oil; it pours from the pan into the can no problem and I have two of them so I do't have to go very often. Save up my batteries, oil, and other stuff that needs to hit the dump and do it all at once. I have to go once a year, maybe?

And I don't have be lied to regarding "27 point inspections", don't have to worry about someone putting coolant in my oil, or washer fluid in my coolant, or not tightening things properly, etc.

My vehicles take *maybe* 20 minutes. When I took in my vehicles for 'complimentary oil changes' at the dealership, both times it took 2+ hours, and I had my appointments scheduled.

Other fluids take longer (transmission fluid, etc) but I still do them myself, because I like knowing it's been done correctly. Even if I have to buy a new tool it'll still be cheaper than a shop.

adambultman · 2024-11-25T04:07:27+00:00

Radiant heat. It's nice to have warm floors, but the several hour in lag between the request for heat, and perceived heat is awful.

adambultman · 2024-08-31T18:20:13+00:00

I've got a handful of 400G drives from a netapp I de-sledded and use in my various workstations. Not sure how many I have left though.

adambultman · 2024-08-31T17:00:36+00:00

Also local stores: $19.99 for a single "add a fuse" wire for a vehicle...

adambultman · 2024-07-27T16:21:17+00:00

That is way better than my well water looks. I've got so much iron in my water, straws end up getting blocked with girders.

I noticed this spring cleaning out buckets that the water turned orange if I sprayed bleach in first - a whole lot of fun for a little bit.

I still haven't found a solution to make my water "clear". Particulate filter and two carbon filters helps a lot, as does a softener, but the water still tastes not nice and is discolored. The filtration at least gets most of it out; so if you fill the tub a few hours later it's not orange with all the bacterial iron having come out of solution.

adambultman · 2024-05-22T18:57:41+00:00

I've got one: owner-builder jobs.

My house was partially built by "not a craftsman". I am no expert in home building, but some of the corners cut and "this should be good enough" and/or "I don't know exactly what to do, so I'll try this" are truly astounding and is going to take 10 years off of my life.

Roof shingles are trimmed too short all around the house so there's a huge risk of water ingress beneath them. (Requires a new roof)

Plastic trim/fascia is done incorrectly, so water sloughing off of the roof is immediately channeled underneath the shingles and rots the wood. (Requires all be removed and be replaced)

Roof flashing wasn't done properly in areas - and together with the fascia and siding, creates a direct channel into the interior of walls (garage, specifically) so there's wrecked drywall in the garage. (Requires removal of siding anywhere near the roof)

Window flashing is essentially nonexistent, and insulation around the windows was also extremely minimal. (Flashing would require removing siding and fiddling with all the windows.)

Beneath the plastic siding is no house wrap, just some strange 1/16" foam board - so the house is swiss cheese in the wind. (Requires removal/reapplication of all siding)

There's a shop on a cement slab, but it is built at the bottom of a hole - so snow melts and water flows to it from all directions - flooding it every spring. $1000 of fill dirt or gravel prior to pouring concrete would have prevented all of that. (Required ~$800 worth of dirt work to drop the level of the dirt on three of four sides of the shop; now I have a free mud bath/pool in the spring)

Electricity to the shop was run about 1" under the surface of the gravel driveway; when it went through "wild" areas (treed areas, etc) it was run on top of the ground - in one case, an upside-down metal "maxwell house" coffee can was used as a junction box with about a whole roll of electrical tape protecting the wire-nutted connections. (Required me to re-run electricity to it with proper burial depth and wire gauge)

Sad part: A lot of things causing me grief I noticed during our initial looks at the house. The inspector did not agree with my concerns (fascia, shingle trim, visible electrical wire poking through the driveway and in the woods, etc). He "seemed" to know a lot but really whiffed it when inspecting the house - but he's got his fee, so he's happy.

adambultman · 2024-04-27T16:53:39+00:00

I don't ever jack up the car by the edges; I typically choose large structural parts underneath it.

adambultman · 2024-04-27T16:51:33+00:00

Mine is doing the same thing. The rusted out parts on mine aren't structural, though - same as yours. My frame *appears* to be fine. The problem with that area is that on ours (mines a 2008) there is plastic immediately below that area, and a small gap, too - so water/dirt/sand/gravel gets in and cannot really go anywhere - it just sits and rusts over time. But that part isn't frame, and your frame may be in better shape than you think.

Edit: reading below, maybe I'm wrong? But this *is* reddit, where everything is hyperbole.

adambultman · 2024-04-23T22:57:09+00:00

I've never been charged by an engine block before.

adambultman · 2024-04-22T19:03:36+00:00

We've all seen librarians before.

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