bigcountry78

I just swapped out my two small box sets for this big craftsman. It’s on a permanent loan from my father in law, it belonged to his late father and was just sitting in storage. I asked if he would mind if I put it to use and he said to go get it. He knows I do most of my own work on my stuff, and he would rather see it safe and in use at my house. It came with quite a few tools inside, but most of it won’t be anything special. What do yall recommend to keep the drawers opening smoothly? Pb blaster or some other kind of oil? White lithium grease?

I’ve been reading reviews on the dewalt, and most of them are positive but a lot of people complain about it leaking. But thinking back, all the gas saws my dad has had leaked too. I guess it’s just a saw thing and most people don’t understand. But there’s always that crowd of people that complain about everything. The dewalt looks promising, especially the tool free tension adjustment on the chain. The 40 volt kobalt has something similar, but it seems like the dewalt parts are metal where the kobalt parts are plastic. That makes me lean towards dewalt.

Looking at a couple different battery powered chainsaws. Not doing anything crazy, just typical small homeowner stuff, small limbs and occasional storm clean up. I don’t need or want anything gas powered, I’m getting away from gas powered yard tools. I have the 40 volt weedeater and blower set from kobalt that I’m very happy with. I also have a 24 volt 1/2” kobalt impact, and several 20 volt dewalt tools. So, those are the three brands and models I’m looking at. 20v dewalt, 24 and 40 volt kobalt. I’m leaning towards the 40 volt, but I’m wondering if anyone here has any real world experience with any of these models? Anything good or bad to say about them? I want to stick with one of these three since I already have batteries to fit them.

I’ve decided to buy a new recoil starter cover. I’m still missing a heat shield, owners manual and full toolkit if anyone is parting one out.

That….. makes more sense lol.

Ok, I’ll try that this time.

Not entirely. I understand the line tied to the ball joint? And ran out front, but how do you know exactly where to place the pole to get it directly out front?? When I did the tie rod ends, I stood it on the rear rack and measured from left tire to right tire on center at the rear of the tire and then at the front of the tire and made them equal. But looking at it now, it looks like it’s toed out. Not sure if it didn’t hold the alignment or if it’s an optical illusion because of the angle of the front fenders.

What has everyone found to be the best alignment measurement as far as handling and tire wear goes? Should the tires be equal measurements apart front and rear, or should the front of the front tires be closer together? I know there’s a word for that but it escapes me.

Turns out it is continuous. But it doesn’t do it going backwards, only forwards. And I think it’s once every couple tire rotations, but you can feel something grab and release when you hear the noise. It doesn’t seem like it’s every rotation, maybe every other rotation. The ring is there, I double checked when I had it apart to work on the brakes.

Well, I decided against the dewalt box for now. Found a Pepsi crate in the shop and did some looking. Pops right in between the gun racks, so it can’t slide side to side or forward because of the bar. Throw some hose clamps around the bottom and done. Not as low profile as I wanted, but it was free, and I may cut it down a bit. May get some thin plastic to close the sides and bottom in with, and then see if I can make a lid.

FB marketplace has a ton of stuff as well. What do y’all think this noise is? I was pushing it out to get my son’s four wheeler out and it sounds like the brakes are grabbing? Only does it going forward, and only once. Doesn’t do it going backwards. I backed off the brake adjustment and it didn’t change anything. IMG_6020.mov

Yea I’ve always like the es floorboards, at least the design. I don’t like the plastic. I had a 2000 es back when they first came out, and really liked having the floorboards. The es problems aren’t worth the hassle though.

Two like new rear maxxis tires, 24x10-11. No plugs or patches. Also two rear 11”wheels, but one has bad lug holes. One is in good condition. $100 for everything, just looking to get my money back. Located in Hickory NC.

Yea I hate FB too, but that’s where I found these. Anyway, spent the better part of the day swapping back to the mudlites. I figured I’d never find a matching set of maxxis tires for the front, so I just put these tires up for sale on FB. I posted the two rear rims I bought too, because one has the lug holes wallowed out and the other is a different style than what I have now. I made it clear in the post that the holes were bad, but I just want to get rid of them and get most of my money back. This all started because one of my mudlites had a slow leak. Well, now it has a big bead leak that will require a tube. Should have left well enough alone. Being cheap sure has bitten me in the butt this time around. I’ll run my current tires until they wear out, then I’ll just pony up for a new set, installed by a competent tire shop. Likely bear claws, or maybe swamp foxes. Both of those come in OE sizes and look like a good all around tire. I do appreciate the offer, but I think I’m set for now. This has been a fiasco for sure. Worst part is telling my wife that I was wrong and she was right. Again. You know, I’d like to be right just once this year.

Y’all ever feel like you made a mistake? Yea, I’m starting to think I should have left my mud lites alone. Idk why, just a feeling. May swap them back out. I’ve got one good spare rear wheel, I may mount a mud lite on it so I only have to change out one tire. I can’t leave anything alone. I should have spent that $70 on a red dot mount for my AK.

I’ve looked through the thread but I didn’t see anything for ranchers. I may do some eBay searching to see what else is out there. Google doesn’t bring up much besides strong made.

I tried the ratchet strap and have had success before, but it just didn’t work this time. And I have a healthy respect for anything flammable anymore, I was trying to start my big bear with ether one time and it backfired through the air box into my face. Singed off my eyelashes and part of my hairline. So I decided to pass on that option.

Yea I’m wanting it to close. I have a steel basket that I made for my big bear, but it won’t fit without some modification. The big bear had a bar on the rear of the front rack, up next to the handlebars. The rancher has a bar on the front above the headlights. To put the basket on the rancher I would need to cut an opening in the mesh to allow the basket to fit over that bar. It’s doable, but at the end of the day it’s not what I want this time around.

I know this is a controversial topic around here, but I’m looking at putting some floorboards on the rancher. Mainly looking at the strongmade ones. Anyone have any experience, good or bad with these? Any other companies still making floorboards these days? I know they have fallen out of favor now that everything has floorboards from the factory.

That would be even better, more room but still low profile. And best of all, cheap lol. I’ll check that out. When I think ammo cans, the first thing that comes to mind is the small one hand carry ones. I forget that they come in a bunch of different sizes.

Got the tires mounted up today. I broke the old ones down and mounted them new ones myself, old school with tire irons lol. Not terrible, but not the most fun I’ve ever had. I couldn’t get the bead to seat on either one no matter what trick I tried. I ended up going to the local tire shop and paid them $10 to seat the bead. Got them back home and mounted up, and I’m happy with them. They have more of an old school look to them. They also seem to be taller than the mudlites even though they’re both 24” tires on the sidewall. I’m definitely going to look for some M977’s for the front. If anyone out there is close to Hickory and wants to trade 2 front Maxxis tires for my 4 mudlites, let me know.

Agreed. I do see the idea behind changing to 12” rims for more tire choices. I don’t understand why Honda put 12’s up front and 11’s in the rear, but then again I’m happy with the OE tires so I don’t need 12’s all the way around. I wish they still offered the Bridgestone dirt hooks, I like those tires. I’ve seen a few sets here and there for sale, but they’re always dry rotted and wore out.

As I stated in my last post…. Picked up some new rear tires just now, 24x10x11 maxxis M978 tires from a newer rancher. Pics don’t quite do justice, y’all have to trust me when I say they look like they have less than 200 miles on them. No plugs or patches, and I got them locally for $60 for the pair. I’m not a huge fan of the mudlites, and they have a couple plugs in tnem so when I saw these I decided to go for it. I’ll be looking for a pair of M977’s for the front. People think I’m nuts to get rid of the aftermarket wheels that were on it and put the originals back on, but there’s a reason for the madness: people buy machines and then take off new or nearly new tires in favor of bigger meaner tires. That leaves boring people like me with a steady supply of almost new takeoffs for cheap.

It did, the adjustment is just about right and made it much easier to shift. The downside is I boogered up the threads on the adjustment screw because it was so tight. I’ll have to replace it at some point, but for now it’s shifting great.

I thought about a wooden tray, but I’d like something with a lid. Im not much of a carpenter, nothing I build ever ends up square.