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Visit from a Member!

Started by Jeff, May 20, 2011, 10:08:18 AM

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Jeff

Yesterday afternoon a very cool looking vehicle rolled into my driveway. It was Ron57 and his wife Ronda in their Wood Gas powered Ford Pickup!   As always, the Forestry Forum members I get to meet always seem like old friends that you have not seen in awhile, and Ron and Ronda were no different.  They were on their way to a friends place in Roscommon county, just north of us. I'm so glad that they took the time to stop and visit for a bit.

The old truck looks great! It's really an impressive piece of work and I know that Ron has to be proud of what he has built. When he rolled in he had developed a problem with his blower. It had locked up. So, before they left he did a bit of surgery in the driveway using the forestry forum tailgate for a work bench. Turns out some sort of debris had gotten into the blower and jammed the fan against the housing. After a bit of fiddling and prodding on it he was able to get it freed up and working again.  I snapped a couple 3 photos while they were here, and tried to get some video. I have to use my left hand to hold up the camera, so apparently the wrong side of my brain is working to try and do that. Several times I found out that I was just starting the video when I thought I was ending it.  I thought I had a great one where Ron and Rona were backing out of the driveway, waving, then heading on down the road in the old ford. Turned out I had 4 seconds of my feet. :-\

Anyhow, I truly enjoyed the visit and I'm hoping we have them talked into coming back up for the pigroast this year and bring their family with them. I hope they do. I'll be looking forward to it. They certainly do fit the rule that Forestry Forum folks are fine people. :)















The video clip is Ron starting the burner so they can get back on the road. Very cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Chrn5ax298
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Paul_H

Sure wish I was there 8)

Ron,you are probably not near a computer for awhile but I'd sure like a detailed account of your trip when you are able.We're you able to stay on the freeway or did you take the secondary routes?
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

metalspinner

Ron,
Is it safe to assume the bag contents are your fuel?  How many miles per bag do you get?
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Raider Bill

Jeff,

Looks like you are going to have to invest in some new shirts. That ones hanging off you. Great job on the weight loss! :)
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

thecfarm

I wondered who that guy on the right was.  ;D Glad you had a nice visit. How many miles is Ron going?
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

pineywoods

Hey Ron, I would be much interested in your woodgas to intake manifold connection. Jeff's underhood pic is a teaser. Single Barrel carb still functional ? I have an almost identical truck and I'm slowly tinkering with a woodgas generator..
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Brad_bb

Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

Texas Ranger

Wonder if you could smoke a couple of ribeyes in that thing as you travel?
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

Tom

You could rename it "The Roadkill Express" and be in business in a heartbeat, if you could find a place to park it.  :D

Warbird

That is pretty cool!  I'd like a more detailed account of your trip, too.

D Hagens


Very, very cool truck 8) Can you cook a steak on the motor while running it on wood :D

Jeff

First truck I was ever around that smelled like a BBQ  :)  Not sure when they were heading back home. That is fuel in the bags. :)

Bill, that's actually one of my short shirts. Most of the really long ones I sent off to Tammy's mom's church for someone that could use them because they hang like a dress on me now.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Slabs

Lookin' good Boss.  Reminds me of Dothan, Al. Ford dealer-Karl Bondy (Bondy's Ford)- who built up a Ford pickup up to burn wood gas as they had done in WWII Europe.  Local TV featured a video of the machine running about town on wood gas.

Bondy was an immigrant from that era and was familiar with the wood and coal gassification process.  Some of the old films of a gassifier mounted on a "30s vintage" auto showed a "furnace" mounted on the running board with visible flame cooking off gas from internal chamber.

I think the Mother Earth News hippies made a modle for running a sawmill also.  
Slabs  : Offloader, slab and sawdust Mexican, mill mechanic and electrician, general flunky.  Woodshop, metal woorking shop and electronics shop.

Slabs

Quote from: Tom on May 20, 2011, 12:41:01 PM
You could rename it "The Roadkill Express" and be in business in a heartbeat, if you could find a place to park it.  :D




Tom

Have you been reading Carl Hiaasen books?

Skink was a roadkill gourmet.
Slabs  : Offloader, slab and sawdust Mexican, mill mechanic and electrician, general flunky.  Woodshop, metal woorking shop and electronics shop.

Ron57

Hi Forestry Forum,
We are now back home in Indiana. Had a great trip to Mackinaw City.
Enjoyed our visit with Jeff, Tammy, Stacy and Icy, Thanks for the hospitality!
The whole trip was 906 miles on 35-10 gallon bags of 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" dry wood chunks.
We started out on the secondary roads and it went so well we went most the way on the freeway. The truck traveled 60 mph very well, when we got up past that it rattled and shook too much for our old bones so we kept it at 60 most of the time.
I had made a new grate we tried out on the trip. It was a frying pan stainless cone Hybrid, The grate worked really good. Checked for tar when we got home and just had a little soot in the hose that goes into the throttle body.

Ron57


pigman

2.588 miles per gallon of wood. 8) 
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

thecfarm

What's the name of the bridge behind the lighthouse? Nice picture.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Dodgy Loner

That would be the Mackinac Bridge. The wife and I crossed it on our way to Canada after attending the Pig Roast 2 years ago :)
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Ron57

  I was suprised to get this call ,but it was a fun story.

             http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/Truck_runs_on_wood_123049698.html

   Ron L

DanG

I don't know why you'd be surprised, Ron.  I would think they'd be crawling over each other for a story like that.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

metalspinner

Ron, with all this attention, don't be too surpised to get a visit from some goobermint type looking to collect some road tax. I remember a previous discussion here that mentioned tax collectors going after home ethanol brewers. ::)
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Weekend_Sawyer


That is a gorgeous truck. What year is it?
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Ron57

  The truck is a 1960 I think this style ran from 1957- 1960. I dont mind paying the road tax if I knew who to contact ,I would call them that is no problem I know in Washington state, I believe it is, they are working on a formula to tax the electric cars, that is only fair.
   I do also run some on gasoline if I needed to I could keep a log book, to be fair.

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