MrGiggles

So how did you do? I just couldn't help it and fished Crabtree yesterday. Couldn't believe the water temp was 50*. Didn't find a whole lot. Trolled around for a while looking for shad and couldn't find much but a small school here or there. Found one and spooned a small white and bluegill out of it. I hit a brushpile after that until dark and only managed one crappie.

I'm not sure what you mean? Like on a separate pole that you can swivel 360*? When I had it set up that way on one side, I could see every direction, the boat didn't impede anything. Could even see the trolling motor and the prop spinning.

Crabtree is the worst ramp when there's a bad south wind. Can't go anywhere without crossing the big water. At Hawker you can hug the west bank and work Hawker branch, all of those bluffs to the north, and the coves that run up to Orleans while staying out of the bad stuff for the most part. If it's bad windy, I prefer Cedar Ridge since that cove is pretty sheltered and you can go either way in calm water with a south wind. That said I like the ramp at Masters a lot better. I haven't seen the giant shad schools that I like for spooning yet. Not quite cold enough. This is the hardest time of year to catch walleyes for me. Turnover is all over and done with, so they can pretty much go anywhere.

Delmar's expression in the back of that GIF cracks me up the most.

One short of a limit in 1.5 hours tonight. The bite is hot and not many shorts either. Main lake brush in 25 feet today. Caught most on a white shad style plastic, but natural and black/chart produced as well.

That was one of the good ones, along with the 5.4/4.6 2V motors, although they still have the spark plug issues. It's the later ones that were a trainwreck. I still see them around quite a bit. Farmers loved them, super reliable, always started in the winter, and would pull pretty good. They love to break manifold bolts and eat coil packs but are usually pretty trouble free.

I agree with you. More stress equals more wear, and there's a lot more complexity added with turbos. Plus a fuel issue becomes a lot bigger deal with forced induction on gas engines, lose fuel under boost and things go bad real quick. Seems like Ford learned some things with the Triton and 6.0/6.4 diesel debacles. They really invested in engine design and the results show. That would make sense since the whole front clip doesn't need to come off to slide the cam out.

Do you see similar claims with Ram and Ford? I have only done a little bit of work on Ecoboosts, enough to know how much of a PITA they are to work on. I don't know if they could've shoved that motor further down and under the cowl if they tried. Rams have all of the same MDS crap on the hemi.

Ole' Scotty is also a Youtuber and hasn't worked on anything in any significant capacity for years. He's right in this instance but I don't put much faith in his squawking.

Jeez. I bet the flat rate guys are loving those jobs. You could pretty much dismantle the whole truck in 36 hours.

You seem to know a lot about them, what do you do? Is that time for for engine replacement or lifters?

Just 2D. I sold my Livescope. Any graph will do it. Turn up the scroll speed and sensitivity. 1/16 oz shows up no problem.

Stockton gave up a few yesterday. Last pile that I hit was a winner. Deep and down in the pile. A few on the drop shot tiny fluke, and a few more on a bone colored baby shad. Only one short. Left them biting, it was getting dark. The angled line on the graph is my jig falling into the pile.

Usually the blower motor is to blame. Worn and drawing too much amperage, or it has a candy wrapper or something wadded up in the fan.

The 5.3 we have now is hardly comparable to the 99-07 5.3s that earned their reputation. Those didn't have any of the cylinder deactivation or VCT stuff that they do now. A lot of the problems were limited to the 07-13 generation. GM made many improvements, the biggest being that instead of shutting off the same 4 cylinders in eco mode, they will now shut off 2 or 4 differing cylinders, and periodically switch between varying combinations to equalize conditions in the engine. Most of the problems were lifter failure and oil consumption in the cylinders that deactivated. To reduce pumping losses, the valves need to remain closed on the dead cylinders, so the lifters essentially need to collapse on demand. It's a new concept and GM didn't quite get it right the first time. I have an 06 with 330k. Original engine (has had a rear main and oil pump seals, probably several water pumps), on its second trans and rear diff. I want to see if it'll go to 500k. It burns some oil and needs a transfer case.

I resemble that remark... I'll admit that I let my own stuff slide. I also know what needs to be taken care of soon and what could leave me walking. I'm not going to spend a weekend chasing down an evap code, but I will take care of oil changes and needed repairs in a somewhat timely manner. I have never washed an engine that I wasn't about to work on. I ruined the ECM in a Honda Foreman once with a pressure washer, so I'm pretty hesitant to go nuts with the pressure washer around all those electronics. 3000 psi easily defeats any weatherpack connector.

I've seen one go from a total cesspool to civilized after it changed hands. They don't stay the same though, that's for sure.

Get the 6.2/8L90 combo and disable the AFM. I used to be a pretty big GM guy but some of their engine designers need to be fired with the crap they've made recently. The new 5.3s, 3.6, 2.4, all turds. Ford is eating their lunch with the 6.2, 7.3, and Ecoboosts.

I agree, pass on the cedars. Plant some type of forage, beans, corn, winter wheat, whatever. and let some pockets grow into CRP. Deer love that stuff.

SCR setups still have a DPF. Injecting DEF allowed them to reduce the EGR's role quite a bit, which also reduced the amount of regen required, at the cost of a lot more complexity. Those early DPF only setups were a pain for sure. Soot has never been the problem with diesels, it's the NOx emissions. There is no easy way to deal with those.

Well they don't really have a choice, conform or find another line of work. I've yet to meet someone that is okay with it. It's only a matter of time until you start having issues with the various sensors, heaters, and pumps in that DEF system. The exhaust components are big money too, and have a limited lifespan. Plus when you have an issue with that stuff it'll immediately derate the engine. Things have improved greatly since it was first implemented, but I wouldn't call it trouble free by any stretch. The DPF is running 1000+ degrees during regen, it's why they have those goofy vented exhaust tips, so they won't burn the paint off of nearby cars. They'll start grass fires easily too, and a lot of combines and tractors have burned from debris getting kicked up near the exhaust.

Is that the alumaweld brazing rod stuff?

You know it's bad when the original manufacturer makes a kit to disable it...

15-17 average is what I would expect. I'd just keep your truck and leave the new stuff for someone else. That DEF BS is nothing but a headache.