Pretty cool set, but the $75 shipping charge seems a bit excessive.

 

Expedited shipping is less than half of that, with regular shiping at $14.65. Reasonable to me.
Regards, Mark.

 

Sir I had "lower back surgery" January 1998. I sheared the "locks" off of L4 & L5 vertebrae in an accident at work. My surgeon was great. He installed two titanium strips, 4 bolts and welded in a chunk he chiseled off of my right hip to get me to function. I was in fighting shape at the time of my injury with very low fat to muscle ratio. I was both in the gym and the karate studio on a regular routine at the time of my accident. He was very pleased at my muscle tone etc.

The most important things I took from that period that I attribute to my excellent result was my mental stubbornness/focus and prayer. I expected to be as good as new back then and I still consider myself a poster child for back surgery gone RIGHT.

I had a 20 year reminder of my repair last year when I moved from the building where I stored Ethyl THE tool truck and my hoard of crazy parts I had collected. I had worked very hard for 6 weeks in this move and pushed myself very hard. Around three weeks into that move my back started barking at me and I stupidly pushed through anyway. At the six week mark just after the move, I had to be carted out of my home not able to move. My back locked up after stepping off of the tool truck. I was parked a block away so I forced myself and walked a block to my home. My wife was not home so I laid on our living room floor expecting to rest some and then be ok enough to move. That did not happen. .After the nine hours I laid there, I had to have paramedics come and take me in to get looked at.

It took several months to recover from the stupidity I imparted on my body by undertaking that move by myself. I had only inflamed my back so I just needed time and the proper exercises to get myself stable again.

The good news is that I have always kept fit. I have fully recovered again having not damaged any hardware in my recent abuse.

Today the techniques are VASTLY improved over the slice and dice stuff that I endured. You can have an excellent result.

Another thing I learned back then is to get clear with what was being done during this surgery.

Im a social talkie type. My surgeon was NOT. I would try to engage him and he wouldnt. Finally a few weeks before my date on the table, I had enough of his one answer responses and decided I was going to fire him not wanting an emotionless robot working on me. Since I actually intended to fire him I was emboldened to demanded for him to detail how he would do what he was intending. I wanted to see his tools etc. He was very taken back because of the departure in my easy personality to this demand to show me everything I now expected.

He showed me the hardware he would use. Some of the shims he said he might use looked a lot like what would be used in a front end alignment on an old Chevy to adjust caster and camber so I said that to him. I called him nothing more that a glorified front end man. He loved it. He was so sick of reverence from patients for being a doctor and none for being a CRAFTSMEN. After recognizing he was a craftsman I couldnt shut him up after that.
He showed me the cutting tool he would use. It was a very fancy chrome plated cut off tool. I told him I had the exact same tool but his was very shinny and beautiful. He agreed that much of what he had for tools his profession had repurposed from fabrication shops etc. His of course were made to be as sterile as possible.

Armed with the personal touch he gave me and with a strong understanding of the exact procedure he intended to use gave me the ability to envision the positive result I now could fully expect.

Attitude really makes a huge difference. Envision the great result you want----expect. Go get it done!

 

Thank you for your reply, Gary. So far my wife and I are pretty impressed with the neurosurgeon. He is about 2 1/2 hours away from us in Little Rock, so our first consultation with him was by phone. He spent over a half an hour with us, and would have spent more if we had had more questions. He wants to do an in office visit and explain my MRIs and explain what he sees going on with my spine and what he believes will be the best course to take. He already said in our phone conversation that he didn't believe fusion was what I needed, at least not multiple fusions like my other neurosurgeon was suggesting.
Thanks again, Mark
BTW, did you ever get your pinion repaired for your two speed or did you find a replacement? You talked to me on the phone about it a couple of years ago.

 

I ended up using the pumpkin out of what is now my resto mod. It was in great shape also although has a different gear ratio, my damaged pumpkin had 35 teeth on the ring gear and the replacement one in ETTT now has 37 teeth....I had a hard time deciding which one works better....This one seems to pull hills stronger but doesnt have as much flat out speed. I dont need flat out speed this truck carries 14k lbs and will stop well enough if I dont fly down the freeway....With San Diego freeway traffic being what it is, I need to start and stop much of the time and this gear ratio works well for that. I still have the one with the damaged pinion shaft. I hope eventually Ill find a replacement or find some way to repair that damaged threaded end where the pinion nut tightens the Ujoint holder down...meanwhile this damaged one sits in a corner of my storage unit....It is a crime that it was damaged...it has no mileage on it. ....I was nervous to make new threads and reduce the diameter of that end....Back then my repaired back was sore some from the work needed to change the pumpkins out but I was careful and actually when I was done doing all of that rolling under the truck and the like my core muscles were seriously worked and my back liked that, Its only when I get off of my exercise programs and do too much sitting that I end up with stiffness etc....do what you can to strengthen your abs they are your back's best friend.

\All the best to you....It sounds like you have things lined up nicely with your surgery.

 

The smudge pots bring back lots of memories. 1954 building of the NYS Truway in our neighborhood. Lots of smudge pots every evening. Best of success with the back surgery, L4-L5 lamindectimy in '93,

 

Im not sure about how inflating the shipping charges helps limit the sellers ebay related fees or not...but when a seller sells for LOW buy it now prices and INSTEAD inflates the shipping costs to make his desired profit...YOU PAY LESS SALES TAX. Its a work around to keep the tax guy from winning... the seller still gets his profit but is taking his profit from his inflated shipping cost which is considered LABOR and not taxed. I personally smile when I see something that should cost $100 and the buy it price is $20 but the Shipping /handling cost is 90.00 I know exactly what that seller is doing.....

 

Sounds like the lower gears are better for your use of the truck. I'm glad it worked out for you. I do need to lose some weight, which I know would lessen the strain on my back.
Thanks again, Mark

 

I remember seeing the smudge pots as a kid. I always thought they were cool. Thank you for the well wishes. Glad you had good success with yours.
Thanks again, Mark

 

That doesn't help us here in Arkansas, all labor and shipping is taxable.
Mark

 

Same here. I just like for people to be honest. If it truly costs $75 to ship something, fine. But if it costs $20 to ship it and you're jacking the shipping cost up astronomically, don't expect me to be excited about paying retail for the parts you're selling. It's all part of the cost of goods, to me.