I only have one cordless drill, and it has the wonderful Ni Cad battery which lasts about 5 minutes if I am lucky.

Jim

 

DeWalt does have 18V LiIon packs that fit in the older tools. Pros: Physically much lighter, excellent performance, little discharge when not in use. Con's: Expensive, and needs specific charger. At work we have switched to mostly DW 20V hand tools, and have bought some of the LI 18V batteries/chargers for hammer drills and band saws. They did give new life to the older, less used tools.

 

Ryobi has 18V LiIon batteries available in their "One+" line. I bought a pair of 4AH batteries for $99 bucks recently. I have a cordless trimmer that knocks down the edging details in my large UT yard in a single battery. I have a Ryobi cordless circ saw for general use that's been really handy. For the house I have Ryobi, Rigid, and DeWalt cordless tools. I have a lot of tools. The new Rigid 18V LiIons are my favorite. Great performance, and good value. The Ryobis are great for light/moderate use.

 

I have three 1/2-inch chuck 12-volt DeWalt XLR drill motors. Only one ever gets used.

I have found aftermarket battery rebuilders offer great value, and have used a couple of them over the years. The rebuilts have held up very well, and would seem to have greater capacity, at lower cost, than new DeWalt-supplied batteries.

My average battery pack lasts about 2-1/2 years until I consider it my "second" unit, and send off for another battery "pack".

I now buy the raw "packs" and install them myself, since DeWalt's batteries now come apart with screws. They used to be ultrasonically welded together, making re-stuffing something only the pros could do. One careless drop with those, however, would break them open, and many of mine got wrapped with Scotch 33+ over the years.

12 volts still performs well for my light work today, so I suspect I will never upgrade to newer chemistry. For the heavier stuff, there's still 120-volts and cords (Sawzalls, string trimmers, hammer-drills, etc).

Pop

 

it may be old....but they work in direct sunlight!

Storytime,

was working on the roof of an aircraft hangar at Edwards AFB few years ago in august, it was 120* on the roof. the Li Ion dewalt 18volt packs all thermal protected themselfs just sitting in the sun. the "old tech" NiCad's kept on ticking! now days each type have there place, but it also depends what you do.

also all my tools are favorite tools! haha, none of them are old per say.... it not like the 18V dewalt line is dead and gone, it would be suicide for dewalt to can that line. i just hate to throw away good batt cases and buy new, when i can possibly rebuild.

i have used the 20V dewalt line a couple times there nice! but may be a while before i switch to them, if ever. after a while it can be hard to switch lines or brands of tools because over time you build up a base of stuff.

 

They're falling like flies!

RIP Bret Maverick......

Pop

 

Bummer. Private detectives all over the country are tipping their hats.

Jim

 

Yup. He will be remembered just as fondly as that character.

Pop

 

Just spent last week with my Father-in-law he's 82 retired from Ford.

We talked of days he spent at the Ford plant. At 82 he's a great story teller. Sharp as can be and a memory that would astound anyone who cared to listen.
I've grown real close to him over the past 16 years. I only wished we lived closer.
He's definitely a Ford man through and through.

 

Which plant did he work at Robert?

 

Mahwah assembly plant in Mahwah New Jersey
This certificate was given to him in 1966. He worked there until they closed the plant.

 

Dad and I watched Rockford Files years ago; good times.

Some good scenery in this one:

 

Ah, yes! The Lovely Linda Evans!

Pop

 

Very excited. After several months of repairs to my truck, I was able to scale the Camarillo grade holding 65mph. The truck dropped into 3rd gear about halfway up and touched about 18.5psi of boost according to my Torque Pro app. As an aside, the wastegate tube is removed from the wastegate actuator. The bad news is that the engine oil temperature touched about 222F (normally operates at 209F).

I filled up my tank this morning (actually a few clicks past shutoff) and refilled (again, a few clicks past shutoff) with 8.35 gallons of diesel this evening after driving 103 miles from Studio City to Ventura and back. So you don't have to break out the calculator, that's 12.336 miles per gallon. Before you get too worked up, the first 15 - 20 miles were in bumper to bumper (make-me-late) traffic on the 101 this morning, in addition to the hard commute up the Camarillo grade.

More good news was that the transmission fluid temperature stayed constant around 170F and the air bubbles seem to have worked their way out of the coolant in the degas bottle (which held a constant level between the high and low level).

Since I haven't said it in a while, many thanks go out to all of you (especially Marv and Trey) that have helped me bring this truck to its current healthy condition. I know I'm jinxing myself but even if I am, I'm looking forward to the fun of fixing whatever is next.

 

I'm glad to hear it! That all looks pretty good to me, even the EOT considering how heavy your truck is.