Comments

Episode-537- Listener Feedback 10-25-10 — 20 Comments

  1. Diesel. I have 3 of the military Blazers and a M1008 as well. The 6.2l engines were massively produced in the 80’s. I can run 50/50 Diesel/Waste Motor Oil here in South Texas. I’m stock piling free waste motor oil for the future and may have to go to 75% in a SHTF scenario. Also, If you get a military gen set you can run a mixture as well. The tolerances of the fuel systems in the 80’s were not like the new diesel engines. You will have a hard time running 50/50 in a newer diesel engine.

    I take used engine oil and/or ATF and run it through 30 micron water filters and then 10 micron filters (cost $100). Then I run it through a centrifuge (cost $800) for a final pass at cleaning the oil. Then I mix it in diesel nato cans and into the fuel tank it goes.

    I would not mix veggie oil, wmo, and diesel…I had a hard time with one of my Blazers after adding veggie oil. I had to clean out the fuel system.

    Don’t be afraid if it says “diesel” on it…Jack has said this before. They are fairly simple to work on.

  2. @JimK,

    Damn it! Now look what you have gone and done you made me want one of those old beloved CutVees more than ever. A much as I cussed them when we had to make them “perfect” to turn them in for the Hummers I really loved them. Dirty, noisy, slow but powerful and run and run and run and run and just keep going.

    Any interest in coming on the show to talk about your set up?

  3. Jack…Call me Moses…I’m not a good speaker and you’d lose your listeners. Since the 70/80’s I only have two brain cells left. One helps me to breath and the other keeps the first one awake. 😉

    Seriously though…I’m rebuilding my setup to try and dewater the wmo on the prefilter side instead of making the centrifuge do all the work and will document it for the community as I finish it.

    http://www.govliquidation.com

    The highest mileage vehicle I have is 28k on my 1-1/4 ton. I paid $2500 or less for each and there is an aftermarket AC kit for them. You are so close to Saginaw it would be a shame not to pick at least one up. Email me if you need more info.

  4. One other thing about trees and mulch. You don’t want to have to much mulch. A thick enough layer of mulch will prevent water from penetrating to the ground and cause a malformed root structure due to the roots trying to grow up to their proper depth. I have seen people kill young trees with to much mulch.

  5. Jack,

    Thanks for answering my question. I’ve lived in trailers before, and im not ashamed of them. I was just squeemish about them as an investment, or a large purchase, because the mobile homes I’ve lived in have been “marginal” rentals. That is what gave me concerns about their longevity

    You’ve helped me settle it in my mind what I should do.

  6. @TheNortherSurvivalist

    What? Sometimes you just seem to want to be a pain in the butt. I never called you a foil hatter and as for your other recent comments about being banned from the forum they were nonsense. You were NOT banned for linking to an article you were banned because after I over road the moderators for the FIRST AND ONLY TIME EVER and let you back in you proceeded to physically threaten them in no less than six hours after I lifted your first ban.

    I know life has handed you some hard stuff bro and believe it or not I am rooting for you and want to see you get what you want in life. But stop the crap about being a put down or whatever here.

    In spite of the above I still let you post here don’t I? I respond to your questions and comments and always try to be respectful. Just because people don’t agree with you doesn’t mean they are attacking you or putting you down.

    Yes one day we may very well colonize Mars, you and I will not likely live to see it but it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from the question.

    Now please do me a favor and get off of whatever you were on last week and still seem burdened with this week and get back to being proactive for yourself and everyone around you.

    Like it or not I have chosen to consider you a true personal friend. As long as you have been here Chad you know that means something when I say it. That is why you are still here, able to post, etc. Trust me after the crap you pulled on the forum I was severely advised against it.

    Oh and if you were just being funny above then just consider my response to be for your other posts last week.

  7. One note on the military diesels that I think Jack may have mentioned before. Aren’t many of them 24v electrical systems? That could cause alot of complication for maintenance and parts.

  8. @Brian…you are correct, ALL are 24v but simple enough to change the starter to 12v if you don’t like it 24v…any SBC starter should work then. I like 24v personally. Running a 110v inverter taxes it not one bit as well. For the money these things are bullet proof…but you are not going to jump one with your Honda if that is what you are concerned about. 😉 AND If you have more than one you can jump them off of each other.

  9. @JimK

    I am here in DFW, and have been really kicking around the idea of getting a truck from govliquidation. It just seems a bit intimidating. Any advice or guidance from you would be very welcome since it sounds like you have gone through it!

  10. Ooops, the Kansas “free land” has special assessments … $5400. Not huge, but not free land (more than simply expected annual taxes). If you wanted to acquire less expensive land, do a search in rural areas to purchase lots for delinquent taxes. Usually, those small towns have multiple adjoining lots, and it almost never has a requirement to build on it … if you were looking for cheap rural BOL. Just a thought. Love the Podcast!!
    Mike in ND.

  11. From what I hear, the biggest problem with a permanent colony on Mars would be the frequent, lethal pulses of solar radiation that an atmosphere-less Mars would provide no protection against. I don’t know if you could build artificial shields for the settlers but I imagine it would be very heavy to get it up there, and with getting things into space, lightness is everything.

    I’d love to think there would be a colony on Mars in my lifetime, but given the amount of weight that would have to be transported there to make it happen: I doubt it. Unless we are able to build a space vehicle that can carry a lot more mass and is re-usable.

  12. @Spaghetti, Of course that is why they planned to use natural caves to establish the colony.

    Don’t get me wrong I agree, I don’t think you or I will live to see it and I would say colonizing the moon first might make more sense, well except for that pesky lack of water you know.

    Water gives you two necessary things in space not just one. You need water itself of course but you also need oxygen which you can produce from water.

  13. @Conor…it’s very easy when you are so close to the depot they are selling the vehicles from. I am in the Houston area so SA is the closest to me…logistics for picking up the vehicles are harder for me. If I were you I would buy from Saginaw. There are a few trucks coming up soon and you may even be able to score an M35…of course your HOA may have a problem with that. lol

    If you have specific questions about the process of bidding then send me “CapKrk” a PM in the forum.

    If you go to steelsoldiers.com you can download all the TM’s for these CUCV trucks. Hope this helps.

  14. Hey Jack,
    On the topic of reading books.
    Considering how little time you have for such things, my advice is to take in Thoreau in about a 4 to 1 proportion to Rand.
    I have very little against Rand, but Rand is to Thoreau what copper is to silver.
    He was an amazing guy. You could do a series of podcasts just on his life style.

    Keep up the good work.

  15. Robert Zubrin wrote a book called
    The Case For Mars
    About colonizing and terraforming the planet
    Pretty interesting stuff, makes you think. He discusses how to start by first sending automated rockets to start the process and manufacture fuel.
    He’s got a background in energy

  16. Good luck with Walden. Being into self-reliance, nature, simpler living, etc, I was really looking forward to reading it. When I put it down about 20% into it, the one opinion it left me with was that Thoreau was a whiny little bi*!#.

    I don’t disagree with many of the points he was making, but I thought that his constant pessimism and whining really took away from the work as a whole (or as a 20%).

    I’m not against trying to read it again in the future – maybe I’m just not ready for how he presents his thoughts.

  17. Jack, regarding your comments about Thoreau’s book, “Walden,” there is another book in a similar vein that you would most definitely enjoy. It’s called “The One-Straw Revolution,” by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese government bureaucrat who ditched his job to fulfill his dream of being an organic farmer, and in so doing became one of the pioneers of the permaculture movement. This book would be on the short list of “desert island” books if I ever made such a list.

  18. Regarding buying a house with $110K in income and $175K in student loan debt: The debt load is horrific, but your observation that he’s already paying $550 / mo in rent is relevant. That $130K house he mentioned (with a 20% down payment) would carry a mortgage payment of only about $520 P&I. The mortgage interest deduction would probably lead to him breaking even after considering higher utilities, property tax, and insurance. Also, with a fixed-rate mortgage, he’s hedged against inflation, while as a renter, he is not (note to indebted student–if any of those student loans are at a floating rate, refinance/consolidate them to a fixed rate with no delay). I would urge him to be on the lookout for bargains while paying down his debt. If the right property comes along at a good price relative to his existing rental housing payment, buy it.

  19. “Walden Pond” is a must-read for any survivalist. The problem is that the book is not easy to read today. Fortunately, there is a great on-line version with notes that make it easy to read. Jack: I encourage you to read this. I hope he reads these show notes. 🙂 If note and you know Jack then please pass this along to him.

    Link:
    http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/

    The guy who put this together lived the Walden Pond life. He built his own cabin, grew his own food, heated his home with wood from the woods (totally off grid), rode a bike so as to not depend on oil, etc. He studied Thoreau heavily and so is able to explain the difficult parts very clearly.