Tractor

My brother married (wife won't work) with 2 kids gets at least 4K back every year. He works at a job making maybe 18K per year max. Her and the kids also get free medical care paid by our tax dollars and since they are white trash they use it constantly for everything. I see this as a problem. No one no matter what should get back more money then they have paid in. That to me is an attempt at wealth redistribution on the part of the government. Evan

Not to get into the housing argument to far, but I'm pretty sure those places you mentioned are up over 250-300% in the last 7 years. They are now down at the most 20% in the hardest hit regions and people are bitching because they got in at the wrong time. Bunch of whiners. Tell me housing is in trouble only after the 250% over 7 years has been erased by -250% over the next 7 and I'll agree with you, but at this time the prices are still good. I do agree though that unless prices do start to increase soon people are gonna have a harder time getting loans which will drive prices lower. Then we may hear me say the bubble popped. Evan

Good point Berto. Evan

Okay who wants proof? Because I promise my Taco pulls my trail rig on my trailer way better than my GMC fullsize truck did. Squats less and I am completely comfortable in traffic with it. I also promise its safe. I've been around heavy equipment since I was a baby (Dad has worked for what is now United Rentals for 35 years.) I know how to be safe around loads and how to properly load and drive a truck. I agree my truck won't out pull a 1 ton, but thats not what is being argued here. I only need to pull about 7,000 lbs as a maximum and only need to do it at the most 1 day per month. Last time I checked we don't live in mountains though my truck is capable of handling the same load in mountainous regions. Check http://www.ttora.com They will have people in Colorado pulling the same type of rig with the same truck. As for it doing it safely. Its definitely safe or I'd have gotten a 1 ton. Any of you guys saying "it can't stop the load." Thats a bunch of BS and you don't seem to understand anything about towing. If your using your trucks breaks to stop your rig then you are a danger to everyone on the road and I"m staying clear. You should have trailer brakes on anything over 1,500lbs in Ohio and should have them set up properly so that they lead your tow vehicle while stopping. In a panic stop situation I can slide the whole 11,800lbs (CAT scales) in a shorter distance then I can stop the truck without the trailer. It tows on the highway at 65MPH at 2,100RPMs in 4th gear (yeah its a 5 speed auto.) Okay enough of this, start a different thread if you wanna play with your e-penis. Evan

Smart guy ^. Another point is that investors seem to be watching to see if our down markets will cause the growth bubble to pop in China. If that does occur they are thinking we will see a global problem like nothing we've seen before. Who knows though. Theres an old saying, "When theres blood in the streets buy real estate." I wonder if it works:-) Evan

I've been toying with the idea of getting a C60 dump truck. I can get a pretty good deal on one with a 30ton trailer that my Dad knows about. Probably to expensive to keep tires on it though and would be cheaper less hassle to just get a 1 ton truck. Evan

Not to get into a fight about it, but there ain't no way to "load smart" when your pulling a car with a car these days. There could even be ORC rules on that one. The tongue weight of a 3,000 lb car + a 2,000 lb trailer would be 500 lbs if you go by the 10% rule. Myself I like to go with more tongue weight to reduce the possibility of jackknifing the rig. I suppose some of the `60-70's cars that had a live axle in the rear and heavy frames could haul quite a lot, but you'd still probably need to add leafs or air bags to keep it from doing a lot of damage to the rear frame. Evan

Get a `05 or newer tacoma 4x4 double cab. I had the same basic problem when I was looking for a vehicle. I wanted 4 wheel drive, 4 person seating when necessary, towing capacity, and not terrible gas mileage. I went all out and got the TRD offroad model with extra truck stuff like a locking rear differential. It gets 19-21mpg city or highway. Tows 7,000lbs easily. I've had it towing 8,500lbs and it was just getting sluggish and slower to stop. Then engine has over 50K on it now and still needs to go twice that far before any maint is necessary. We use it as a nice vehicle to go places in and the 4 wheel drive has let us take it to some fun places. http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f185/EWhytsell/P1010071.jpg http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f185/EWhytsell/P1030115.jpg Evan

Shhh, don't tell anyone. The masses aren't educated enough about the markets to handle that sort of thing. We'll end up with a 1930's depression again if the fear sets in right. Especially now that everyone and there uncle uses a 401K for retirement. Evan

Well West Virginia for one has a speed limit of 70mph for all vehicles including large trucks. Also having the slower traffic drive in the right lane still does not permit you to drive 72 in a 65. I say we need extremes. Either put up cameras/speed sensors so that anyone above 65 gets a fine or move the speed limit to something like 100 and just fine people who wreck. Further more a lot of the highway system around Columbus is designed for people to remain in the left lanes to keep clear of the merging traffic from ramps on the right. I drive 700 miles or so per week around this city and the only people I ever see holding up traffic and causing wrecks are the asshats who drive 55 in the right lanes. They get in the way of people merging in the right and people merging from the left. Then they get all nervous and start slowing down and I even see them panic at least a few times per week. God we need better driver training. I'm one of the 4 wheelers, but I drive as much as a local hauler so I keep out of their way and help them get to their lanes quite a bit out on the roads. People don't seem to understand what a 70,000lb truck can do to them around here. I've seen tires blow off and pwn cars that decided to just ride beside the trailer for 20miles:-) Evan

Wife knows the Owner. He's having the grand opening this Tuesday night. If you've seen people there they are just people he's inviting and maybe a few accidental visitors at the moment. Evan

I'll never understand why anyone would make a pre runner. Especially for off roading. You can have the same high speed fun with a 4x4. Most manufactures made the 4x4 models heavier duty as well. Sure you'll need a little more HP for the added weight, but ain't HP what we're all after anyway? A pre runner is fun and all that, but not once you've gotten yourself stuck in a place that any street stock 4x4 could have gotten out of. I run my trail truck in 2wd on a lot of the trails in Ohio just to see how far I make it and even with 38" swamper boggers and a locked rear end its not impressive. Shifting into 4wd makes a world of difference. Evan

That right there is the truth. Not sure why the wife and I are still in Ohio either. I'd move to North Carolina or Arizona myself. I gotta get my wife out to the west sometime to see it for her self. I love exploring on road trips and the west would be a great place to do that. Evan

The program telling you your infected is in reality also a spyware program. You need to get the freeware program Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoft.com/products/select_your_product.php. Also get at least a free ware firewall and set it up real good. Spybot is also a good program to set some immunities for your browsers. Evan

Yeap. Evan

Correct and according to the BBC reports we aren't the only ones with housing problems and loan problems. Evan

Markets move up and down and markets have trended upwards since the end of the true recession (late 70's to early 80's for anyone who remembers or will look at a chart.) Just look at a 100 year chart. I see no problem at all until the bottom falls a lot more. All the investor forums I read have been "praying" for the type of correction that we may be on the edge of now. Most all smart investors have had 80% or more of their funds in cash accounts since the 1st quarter of last year and have been waiting for the correction to come so they can pick up stocks at bargains. Just read some forums and see. Sorry about the 401K's guys, but this is why the guy in the 401K meetings preach about staying up to date on your account and making changes as necessary. You can move all the money from the regular stocks into something safer such as bonds any time you want to make the call. Then you can move it back to its usual growth stocks when you feel the market has starting moving upwards again. This type of thing needs to be accessed at least every 6 months and quarterly would be a great idea for the average person. The least you could do is call from time to time and ask the broker if there is anything better you could be doing at the moment. Evan

+1 Evan

I know what you mean. I grew up far from Columbus and I think its a nice place. Looks like Ohio's population thinks so too since all the other cities in Ohio and losing population and Central Ohio is growing. I wouldn't want to deal with a city much bigger than Columbus IE New York, LA... I got 5 acres in Marengo now though so YEEHAWW. Evan

I know some things about 22RE's. They are found in pickups from 1985 1/2 - 1995 1/2. I pulled the one from my `92 pickup to swap in a chevy 350. The 22RE and all its gear takes up more space than the 350 does. I've never done them in a car though. I do know a guy who sends LC engineering blank checks though and he's got a really hot running 22RE from it:-) Really if you want the best information on free 22RE mods you should check the toyota 4x4 forums. They are packed with guys doing anything and everything to those engines. I know a lot about them myself and might be able to help with some stuff. Evan

Wife and I went and the Butterfly Conservatory is worth visiting. Its another one of those 1/2 hour from the falls places. Its also a flower conservatory so if you like Innis Woods or Franklin park then you'll like that place. The revolving restaurant is also a neat thing to dine at, but IMHO not worth $80 for two people for admission + dinner. Evan

Well since a lot of them are South American I'd say they picked it up somewhere down that way. Evan

Ugly? Are you from France or something? j/k The main fight would be over within days just like the other wars. Sure if we tried to police the country we'd have problems, but you'll always have problems when trying to control religious fanatics. I say we "roll dice" (ie blow up their shit and let another government take over.) If we don't like that regime we "roll dice" again. We get to do the fun part and let their own population fight over who runs what. Probably the only thing those people can understand anyway though thats sorta whats been going on there for the past 70 years. Evan

If they don't watch it we might end up considering them active terrorists against us and take the bait. I don't think I'd be playing that game with us. Evan

7 foot ain't the largest bird, though thats big . I don't feel like looking it up atm, but California Condors (maybe called North American Condor) get really big. Another large bird is in the Andes Mounts in South America they get 9 to 10 foot wing spans. I just watched a show on one of the science channels about large birds of prey. Very interesting and I guess there was a lot of sitings of some huge ones in the `70's within the midwest. Anyone remember anything that happens to be old enough? Evan