Good afternoon Michigan...cannot believe the crazy cold weather you all are having! Stay warm and safe...

 

It's a beautiful snowy day, tons of fun to drive around in.

 

Hey y'all! Thought I'd check in since I haven't been on FTE for a couple weeks now, just been too busy. Haven't even started the Ex in a few months, it's happy sitting there all clean and on the battery tender.

However, since the F-450 is out this winter, I figured why not have a little fun. Last Monday, since I was up north for the new year, I figured I'd take a little drive in it. Covered almost all of the back roads in Williamsburg and Rapid City. Mainly just for fun, but also looking for old trailers. I've decided that I want one of the old Shasta trailers with the wings on the back, to compliment my boat. I had this dream about finding one tucked in someone's back yard, so driving I went!

This is what I'm referring to:



Well, I didn't find any, but I did get some pictures of some other old trailers, even though they are scarce up in those parts. If anyone knows of one of these old Shastas in someone's yard, let me know!

Driving around was fun, but this truck is definitely not an off road truck. Went down some roads that turned into seasonal roads, and some that I think were snowmobile trails. I turned down one, started sinking, and quickly threw it into reverse. Even though it has the optional all terrain tires from the factory, they aren't worth anything in snow. Luckily speed was my saving grace in many cases.

Here's a picture from my adventure- this was a tight squeeze:



It may have been close to zero, but I did stop and thoroughly washed it before heading back, since it was dirty from a few weeks ago. It's actually nice to wash at that temp- the roads were dry/snowy/icy and it didn't get dirty on the way back!

 

If you had gotten stuck Torr's truck is now better than new now to come pull ya out......
The 450 will need a good cleaning after today though.......haven't seen this much snow on this side of the state in a long time.

 

Haha I did have one close time! I was on a kind of main road, had someone come up and ride my tail, so I pulled down a DNR boat launch that I know to lose him. Goes down maybe 300' and loops around. It hadn't been plowed, but someone had gone down before, and there was maybe 3-4" on the ground there. The truck literally didn't know what to do. Could not get it going again once I hit that turn. It would only go a couple feet and want to spin. Throw it in reverse, struggle to back up even, then try again, make it a few more feet, and repeat. Of course I couldn't turn too tight without the steering binding. Even once I got on the straight part, it was difficult to get going. Luckily I got back out, but not without getting really worried. At least I wasn't far off a main road though. This truck is an absolute joke in 2wd in this weather though, so at least 4x4 is an option! Even though the roads weren't bad, it rode the best and had the best traction going up north a few weeks back with a big ATV in the bed and a heavy trailer on the ball. Smaller tandem axle trailer, so no sway issues, and it was just enough weight to help but not too much to make it uneasy feeling.

It's staying up north now cozy at 45 degrees, so it is still clean and will hopefully stay that way! I swear my Cruze gets better traction in this stuff than the F-450 does. Luckily I didn't have to go out anywhere today and my boss said to not bother coming in tomorrow, so they'll have a chance to clean the roads up before I go out in it.

 

I'm going in, apparently there is an outside chance that someone will come in and buy an RV........

 

i got to work @ 6 .... feels like i'm the only one here

 

You work at an rv place? I might pm you with a couple questions if you dont mind..

 

Lansing closed everything down. Im feeling pretty non essential now that I got the fire going..

 

most of my coworkers drive matchbox cars and minivans, I'm predicting a similar scenario when I get to work.

 

nice! some people are finally starting to trickle in.... still pretty quiet though

 

Same here I am in today, nice drive in the truck this morning. Feels good to have it back. Roads by us are not plowed yet, no way the impala was going to get down the road. We are supposed to have a big meeting tonight for work at the country club heres to hopping it gets cancelled since there are only 3 people on my floor right now.

 

We had a company meeting this morning, I got here at 7:30. There were a few that have not made it yet, but most of the company made it.

Feel free to send me a pm about an RV. Be glad to help out.

I guess I should have figured out how to make my truck start and run for a bit through out the day. I guess I'll have to take it for a ride at lunch time. Of course I'll have to do the whole antigel technique that we have put in place

 

put some winter blend Diesel Kleen in my tank yesterday, hoping the anti-gel properties it advertises work. gas generator is in the back of the truck ready to run the block heater lol.

 

That is one nice thing about being here. We have a few spots by the building that I can plug into. Should not need it though.

I have just used the regular white bottle for additive. It says it's good to -40* so...... Glad that I did fill up yesterday though.