Hmmm... let me see if I can find a photo... ah, there's one, third heater shown on this page.

The bottom fitting (nearest the heating element) is plumbed to a block drain, and the top one to a heater hose into which that Y is installed. The circulation is all convective -- there's no mechanical pump involved. But they work well, and it's nice having some cab heat as soon as you start up. To save on the electric bill I throw an old comforter over the engine and down the sides as soon as it's cooled enough. Just gotta remember to take it out again before starting the engine. I had a neighbor in Big Thompson Canyon who forgot one morning, and it took out the drive belts and bent the fan. Oops.

 

Neat. May have to look into that one more after I get the block heater installed.

 

Filled her up! 34 gallons worth of midgrade.......$106.01

 

What else I did to my Ram today? Parked a ShurTrax water-filled bed weight in the back. And shortly, unless UPS is way late, it gets four new Bilsteins. Probably should have let the ShurTrax wait until after the shocks are in, but I'm like a kid at xmas when truck goodies arrive and just couldn't help myself.

Wouldn't that be kinda redundant/overkill/perhaps a bit silly?

 

Overkill is never silly. Redundacy is the hallmark of preparedness.

I use 7 or 8 60lb sand tubes in my bed for traction in the winter. Works great, plus if you get stuck, you can use some of the sand to spill on the ground for traction. That's why I never wanted the water bladder system. Be curious to hear how you like it though.

 

What else I did today are those four new Beelshtines. Wow, what a difference! I knew that new shocks would be, though, because the old ones are probably the factory originals. The fronts were totally gone, are sitting now on my garage floor still in the fully collapsed position.

Kinda interesting how they rigged those critters in there. The only one that's reasonable is the driver-side rear. The others all have way too much engineering effort behind them.

True!

I used to carry a 20lb. sack of rock salt for that, and will again carry one. The one I used to carry was given away when we foolishly left Colorado four years ago. (A mistake we won't be making again!)

The only reason I don't like tube sand is the fear of it shifting in a panic maneuver. It may be that it's never been implicated in a borderline situation going bad wrong, but loose things in the bed worry me.

So far, it's weight and with the baffles it doesn't slosh enough to notice. I like that it weighs only ten pounds going in and coming back out again, and just have to hope that while it's in there I don't have occasion to move something with sharp protrusions or any reason to remove it. It'd be a bear to get out while frozen. It might thaw some in the warmer weather this week (daytime highs in the upper 30's) but in another couple of weeks it'll be solid until Spring.

 

Well, the results are in of the last fill up.
12.1 mpg!
Not bad with my lead foot and a blown plenum. The brakes had me at 8 mpg consistently. I think the 3923's helped too.

 

Tracked down 4x4 vacuum leak to Transfer case vacuum switch. Grey hose had snapped. Snipped rubber hose reattached to switch working like a champ again thx to this forum.

 

Let the wife drive it again, so I could use the gas saving car.

Been in the car for a week now, I'm in truck withdrawal!!

(Also managed to get $6 worth of FREE gas)

 

Got all the soot off the side and back of the truck