FoxrunFarms02

Yeah I'd have the family more than lumber or supplies in the back and feel safer with them in this truck. If I need to get long boards can use the neighbors trailer.

1st ford I ever owned, pretty comfortable. Not a fan of the smaller center console. For what I do, it'll work. Underneath is pretty rusty to the point of do I try to prevent future damage or run it as is for 3 to 5 years. There's spots where you can see the bed liner. The off road mechanic is actually very well known and liked in town. He actually took away a lot of business from the big name dealers. He had the truck up on the lift and was showing me each part that was worn, sloppy or metal on metal. The lift was probably as old as the truck. The problem was trying to find new parts that'd work. He said it was all possible but depended on what I wanted to spend and how long I wanted to keep the truck. It was definitely more than the u joints and steering box even though stock 2nd gens ate known for those problems, then you add a lift to that. Growing up I helped a few friends I helped put lifts on. Get a 1200 chevy 1500, and a 1200 rough country lift off ebay and spent the weekend in the parents driveway. They don't make trucks like the use to. The whole 90s era with the cummins and powerstroke competition seemed like the last time of solid, good looking trucks in my opinion.

Well @CRVB91 is going to be disappointed. I ended up selling Barney. over the last month driving over 45 I had a terrible vibration in the steering wheel, hitting a crack, and pot hole I'd get a death wobble.....pretty soon it happened going 25 in town. I figured ball joints, maybe sway bar........I took the truck to the local shop who specializes in offroad trucks and they said it needed a whole new front end. The tech also suggested to replace the shocks, and bushings in the lift. Problem was the lift is discontinued.....was as old as the the truck. He was looking at newer kits but a lot of cobbeling would need to be done. I was looking at close to over 4k. The tech said if the truck was super special it'd be worth it definitely at just over 100k miles but it was hard for me to get in, and wasn't practical. I had it on market place and had a bunch of 16 year olds try to play 50 questions. I flat out told them if they don't understand what " needs front end rebuilt" means it's not the truck for them, I had an offer trade of a bmw with leins on it, and of course "what's your lowest ?".........people tend to get offended when you reply " what's your highest". I sold it off my lawn to an older gentleman in town who collects dodges and was all excited for the project. Sadly I had to hunt for awhile. I got a fair price for the truck but that price apparently doesn't get anything solid or good. 1 truck I was told was clean, and of course the pictures were above the rockers, and the side of the bed gone wasn't posted, 2 trucks I agreed at a meeting time after work sold the trucks out from me but I finally found this. It was posted for 20 minutes online. A 2003 f150 fx4. An 80 year old guy had it for hunting and that was it. Im not a big fan of " more cab than bed" but it's clean " low miled" the last year of ford before engine displacement, with cam phaser and timing issues. The wife is happy for a family vehicle she can drive too. It's not Barney but snow white now. I'm not sure if I'll do any mods to it or not. Some tail lights and an hd bumper would look sharp but we'll see.

I always try to think outside of the box for different ideas.

Haha yeah. Takes me 3.5 hours to mow with weed whacking. My wife likes to bring home trees or has Pinterest ideas which usually get in the way of mowing.

The tires only hold air for a day. I like how the tires match the tractor and it's weathered but not completely rusted out.

If I or someone wanted to, definitely needs tires.......more than what the tractor is worth, a starter and carb I'd think it'd go.

I enjoy landscaping and wanted to do something by the new shed. I always enjoy bringing my tractors out on the lawn for patriotic holidays but dont like them out in the elements. I had some play money and asked if I could get a junk tractor for yard art.........I had to mark this very rare moment down but she said yes. There's a gentleman locally who buys stuff cheap at auctions, and either takes pictures of it on his trailer with a made up back story or he sells parts. I reached out to him and asked what he had. He had a 41 h that claimed was lose but wanted to swap tires, and rob other parts off from it to make it more in my price range. He even delivered it. It didn't have a muffler so I put a cap over the exhaust and made one out of pvc pipe. I found some solar led lights that fit right in it too. My 10 year old son enjoyed pulling it to the spot while I steered, and enjoyed helping landscaping. It looks sharp, lots of ppl honk and give it a thumbs up, and I'm the talk of the neighborhood that I built a giant shed and have a 2nd tractor or 1 day aftet the shed is up I'm landscaping. I really like how it turned out but do have mixed feelings of using something that still has some life in it.

I might be late to the party, but it's nice to see the picture situation taken care of. Here's a catch up. The she wasn't supposed to be built until October. August 10th it got started and in 2 weeks it was completed. Unfortunately right now we discovered our power pole and box is outdated and wouldn't be able to handle to amps, and the power and light company doesn't install new poles, everything is required to be under ground good bad and indifferent. We applied for an electrical upgrade permit and just got it approved, so hopefully in a week or 2 the electricians can come out.

Congratulations. I use to love plowing snow. Was usually in a skidloader. 18 business on my list about 100yd x 100yard open parking lots, some condos, and church's. Usually 6 to 7 hours for a basic snow fall. Go catch up with the side walk crew for another 5 hours and extra 10.00 an hour for " element" pay. Go home do my driveway. Take a quick nap and in the afternoon go back and do tree work. It's different working at night and having off during the day. The other place I worked no one had a dedicated place everyone just scattered like rats and went. The older I get the less I enjoy being out in the elements. Congratulations on the soon to be retirement. Hopefully you can enjoy it. I've seen a lot of family members so beat up and wore out they can't do what they worked so hard for.

The landscaping company I was at we were required 2 Saturdays a month during the busy season. Making it optional we had more guys volunteer and worked better cause they wanted to be there. Years later though it was hard to get anyone in. One perk was 30.00 cash and buy lunch with the company credit card.....then it became 50.00 cash. The factory I worked at was 4/10's....that lasted a week. Then 5/ 12's then a 6 Saturday even sometimes a 3 on Sunday. You could tell after 8 hours production went down. The landscaping company I was at I was just like you. In 10 years maybe 3 call ins. Funeral, or little guy sick. If it was something expected I'd text them the night before as a heads up. Storm damage, snow storm just get home and get called back in, early mornings, late nights, getting yanked around different departments to cover and then when I got hurt " sorry we have nothing from you " it's not right to judge company's off a bad one but I learned do what just needs to be done cause you're just a throw away.

A bit of an update. I decided to pass on the job. An answer I got from hr on an over time question was " we've been on required over time including Saturday for 2 years now, and no sight in the future slowing down" . Sounds like a lot of robot treatment. Thank you everyone for your advice, thoughts and storys. I also sat down with a local plumber. It was kind of a waste of time but got some good info. They wanted to talk to me, get to know me, and was thrilled I was taking interest but the programs they do is almost 10 years. .......by the time I'd finish I'd be close to retirement.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I was born in the wrong generation. I'm 40 but feel like the world is changing and moving too fast and feel bad for my son but try to give him the same experience I had as a kid, and it makes me so happy to see him wanting to play outside, but there's no cool vehicles out there, farm equipment doesn't look like farm equipment, farming isn't a way of life anymore, not much for stores or malls, everything is just a click away. I think about everything my parents and grandparents saw in their lifetime. Fighting dinosaurs, horses to tractors, owning a muscle car, owning a piece of equipment that picked and shelled corn, neighbors helped each other out, store fronts decorated for the holidays, church every Sunday....granted when we were kids we saw the world differently and I think we always to feel a sense of wanting that back. I took 2 different jobs that I had in my youth to feel young again......the only thing I accomplished was wearing down my body more. Change is all around us it's just something that has to happen. I don't like it, but then I open up my front door and see I'm knocking down someones old farm buildings, buildings that housed animals and supported their family something they saved up and built, I'm un doing what they did just to put up a shed. America is great and we're free but it's also so corrupted when you start going down the rabbit hole. The farm crisis " we need your help to feed the world, go big or go home" to " you're a bad farmer we're taking away what's left". Was 9/11 set up? Cash for clunkers, get rid of all the old solid dependable cars and trucks for something that won't last before your last payment on it. Was covid created to minimize the population? Farm land for solar panels and data centers? Local government officials paid be quit? Mail in ballots? The list goes on.

I live on a busier hwy and always try to make some sort of patriotic display. America is more than lights and flags but it feels nice making something like this or show off that I'm for America.

I remember growing up in elementry school and always reading or doing classroom plays of the " 1st Thanksgiving ". All the books and teachers made it sound like the native Americans welcomed the pilgrims with hugs and kisses, hung out, showed them the ways of the land and they were all bff's and party'd it up with turkey, and pumpkin pie. When in fact it wasn't even remotely close to that but that's what got engraved in our minds.

I couldn't agree more. Growing up in the 90's. I knew of the sprite of 76 agri kings, and that the 70's really brought upgraded changes to agriculture but I never knew the extent. I find it really fascinating how so many different agriculture equipment brands put their twist to patriotic theme tractors or equipment, and even shed companies offering red white and blue themed sheds. Maybe it's just me, and maybe it's just my area but I really thought the 250th would be a big deal. Yes Case and fendt did make a themed tractor, but that seemed it. In my area there wasn't really no big picnics, celebrations, parades, or huge firework shows. Is a day to celebrate our independence just an excuse to have a day off? Every year I line up some of my things on the lawn with some flags and lights around them, and usually the neighbors even have a tractor or two out with flags on them, but it was just me. Talking with my parents they said the Country was different back then, and not as divided. Maybe the 300th will be different.

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These were in the latest Hertitage Iron magazine.

Picked up the current issue of Hertitage Iron yesterday. In my opinion it was a really neat magazine to read and page through.......also a little disappointing . Growing up in the 90's. I knew of the sprite of 76 agri kings, and that the 70's really brought upgraded changes to agriculture but I never knew the extent. I find it really fascinating how so many different agriculture equipment brands put their twist to patriotic theme tractors or equipment, and even shed companies offering red white and blue themed sheds. Maybe it's just me, and maybe it's just my area but I really thought the 250th would be a big deal. Yes Case and fendt did make a themed tractor, but that seemed it. In my area there wasn't really no big picnics, celebrations, parades, or huge firework shows. Is a day to celebrate our independence just an excuse to have a day off? Every year I line up some of my things on the lawn with some flags and lights around them, and usually the neighbors even have a tractor or two out with flags on them, but it was just me. Talking with my parents they said the Country was different back then, and not as divided. Maybe the 300th will be different.

Thank you for all the replies everyone. I was really leaning towards the assembly job. The pay was okay for the area the hours would've worked out nice. 2pm to 10pm. But Saturday hours were 10am to 3pm. Can't plan anything in the morning and late enough in the afternoon you can't plan much or the family is ready to whine down. Wednesday day I'm sitting down with a local plumber to discuss future goals, and plans and see if they have anything available.

Thank you. You made very good points and what you mentioned I previously saw working at a factory. Many similar likes and dislikes. My dad worked for FS out of high school for almost 20 years. After that he worked at a purina mill for 12. Then hopscotched to other places. He's supposed to be retired but the purina mill got bought by FS and they remembered him and asked if he wanted a job. Familiar with 2 companies, buildings and customer lines. He said he still runs some of the equipment from he originally worked at FS lol

Thanks. Landscaping we did a lot of pvc pipe sump pumps, and buried pvc pipe downspots. I really enjoyed that and figuring out where to get the water moving. I thought about plumbing, I had contractors compliment me on my clean temp fixes until they could arrive and thought of trying to get into something like that........except Idk about clogged toilets...

That is one thing im worried about. I actually tried a desk job and it was worst sitting all day.

All you can do is try.

I use to feel good and kind of brag where I worked. After I had to switch jobs I felt ashamed going from a foreman to making high school wages at the local hardware store. Oddly more people knew of and had better things to say about the small llc company I worked for vs the bigger one. Now I'm at the point of my life where I don't care what others think. Life is short. You're right as long as you're paying the bills is all that matters.