bikinkawboy

I'm restoring my '77 Dodge D150 2-wheel drive pickup with 3.21 rear axle (my first truck, sentimental value). I have a '77 W150 full time 4-wheel drive parts truck that I plan on swapping parts from and convert my 2 wheel into a 4 wheel drive. Both differentials on the W150 are shot. Did Dodge use any 3.21 differentials on the 4-wheel drives, either full time or part time? My '73 Dodge factory shop manual shows that ratio was not available in '73 and earlier W models, but I'm not sure about the later ones. Thanks.

I have a 31" Sanyo DS31580. Several years ago the picture started flashing on and off rapidly accompanied by noise through the audio system. I replaced the flyback with a new one, but no improvement. Spring came, the farm required my attention and that was the end of it until the other day. I was doing spring cleaning and figured I either needed to make another effort to fix it or junk it.

I'm well experienced with electrical systems but I'm pretty weak with electronics. I know just enough to be a menace to society. I originally suspected a bad capacitor, but without a schematic searching for the culprit was hit and miss. I now doubt my earlier suspicions. I fired it up tonight and here's the symptoms. At first the pictures flashes on and off approximately 3 times per second. As it runs, the flashing gradually slows down. After approximately 90 minutes, the picture stays on for around 8-9 seconds, then the screen goes gray for approximately 4-5 seconds, but not without some squiggly lines and other antics. When the picture goes off, the audio makes a sound reminiscent of a kid making a motorcycle sound as they shift gears. The picture then suddenly comes back on, but with a few seconds of degraded audio.

I'd appreciate any help from people smarter in electronics than I. I'd like to get it going because I know my 27 year old RCA console TV isn't going to last forever.

I was scanning slides the other night with my Konica-Minolta Dimage scanner and everything was fine. Today it is putting a streak across the entire upper area of the image. The streak is dark with slides and light with negatives, and I know the streak isn't on them. I've never had a Dimage apart in all the years I've had it, so I'm not familiar with it's internals. Is this something as simple as a piece or dirt or dust (hope so)? Or something more serious? Thanks.

I have an older Craftsman riding mower with the vertical shaft, single cylinder, overhead valve 14.5 hp Briggs. Anyone know what the valve clearance should be?

The power window motor is failing to activate the window. The motor runs and after removing the door panel, it's obvious the gear on the motor is stripped. My question is, is the gear replaceable or is Ford going to want to sell me the whole motor? Thanks.

I have a Nikon D40 and I would like to get a faster lens. I know the E would require fully manual operation on my camera, but they can be had for 1/4-1/3 the cost of the DX. My question is, when using the 50mm E on my camera with its cropped sensor, will it admit as much light as would the 35mm DX?

I have a 1974 Dodge D300 using the deep dish, 8 hole, 16 inch, split rim dually wheels. I want to run tubeless radial tires and tubeless is impossible with the split rims. No one will change split rims any more, I hate doing it and I don't want to spend $20 each for a radial tube and still have a tire that goes flat as soon as something penetrates it. One salvage yard has Ford wheels, but they aren't sure if the center hole, offset and bolt pattern is the same as the Dodge. Anyone out there know? Thanks.

I can't get my mirror to lock in the up position. I've done it before so I know it worked in the past. I can go to the setup menu, then to mirror lockup and I right arrow the control button to get it to check the box, but when I hit ok, instead of getting the screen display that has the printed directions, it unchecks the box. Hit ok again and it checks the box. When I hit the shutter button, the screen goes back to the original display screen, in other words, back to square one. The battery showed full charge, but I charged it fully and that makes no difference.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong or if it's something in the camera (I suspect it's me)? I'm planning on taking off on a motorcycle vacation Wednesday and I need to clean the screen. Thanks!

A recent question asked about how long or far to ride. ninebadthings reply was, "Personally I ride for pleasure after 6 hours the pleasure is over and I'm in grind mode. So about 300 miles or less a day is how far I plan to ride if it is supposed to be a fun trip."

ninebadthings almost always bashes a non-sport bike, HD in particular but any make if it's a cruiser. Do you find it ironic that he brags up sport bikes and says he rides for pleasure, but loves bikes that apparently get very uncomfortable after 300 miles? There's plenty of cruisers, HDs and other non-sport bikes out there that capable of being comfortable way past 300 miles. I'd love to have the opportunity to let ninebadthings ride 300+ miles on a slow poke dresser like my old Kaw and see how good he still feels compared to a sport bike.

My boy has a MX3 and the AC recently quit working, specifically the compressor clutch won't engage. He brought it over and I made some checks. When the system is turned on, the compressor clutch does not get current. Using a jumper wire, I can energize the compressor clutch, it engages and the system functions, blowing cold air, meaning the compressor/clutch is fine. I bypassed the high pressure switch on the firewall by the sight glass but that also makes no change, meaning that's not the problem either. The electrical relay in the left rear corner of the engine compartment clicks when the system is turned on, but swapping relays also made no difference either. Since I used a known good relay (but of different outside physical configuration), I also assume that's not the problem.

When the system is turned on (but the compressor is failing to engage), checking the 4 wire electrical connector slightly forward of the sight glass, I get battery voltage on the white-brown (I think, can't remember all the wire colors), but zero voltage on the two wires that are the same color as those on the high pressure switch and zero on the remaining wire. This 4 wire harness is the one that goes through the fender skirt and into the cabin it appears. My boy called Auto Zone and checked on a low pressure switch, but they said none is listed.

Any ideas of what else to check? Is there a low pressure switch somewhere? I'm familiar with AC systems, although this is the first Mazda I've ever had my head under the hood of and the boy's Chilton shop manual is worthless as teats on a boar hog. All it says is to take it to a professional. Any help wouild be appreciated. Thanks!

I can't find this anywhere-- if anyone can help me, I would be grateful. Thanks!

seem to think that everyone wants or needs a fast, high horsepower sport bike? They especially love to rag on Harleys, but most are generous enough to include all cruisers of any brand. They can't seem to understand that some of us don't need or even want 150+ hp bikes capable of <10 second quarter miles and 186 mph top speed. Some of us want to see the country we're riding through. Oh, I ride Jap bikes (dressers), not HD or cruisers.

How do I get the feature turned back on that flashes the overexposed portions of the photo on the display after taking the picture? Mine has stopped and I use that quite a bit with manual lenses. Thanks.

I have a D40 with the 18-55 DX lens that came with it and a 55-200 VR DX. I'm satisfied with the camera body as it does everything I need of it. However, I'd like for the images to be a bit sharper and I the sharpness issue is more of a lens issue than the pixel count. That said, how does one differentiate the cheap Nikon lenses and the really good ones? Most of the letter designations are similar between a $100 18-55 f 3.5 and a $800 17-55 f 2.8, so how does one tell them apart? And what are the differences in performance between the high dollar Nikon lenses and the cheap ones other than how fast they are? I know the cheap ones are plastic and made in Thailand or China, but I would expect the clarity, sharpness, etc is better on the good ones, or least it darn well better be. Thanks!

I see cameras advertised as having 10K shutter clicks, etc. Are they just estimating or is there an internal counter that keeps track of the clicks? If so, how do I access that information? Thanks.

It's entertaining to read questions here concerning what people have done to their cameras. In just the last week I've seen where one dripped fingernail polish on it, a can of soda blew up in a backpack dousing the camera and another dropped her camera into a cup of hot chocolate. (That I would have like to have seen.)

My worst bad was being caught in a sudden Texas downpour while on my motorcycle and with my old (it is now) Kodak digital under the clear map cover of my tank bag. Water puddled under the cover, soaking the back of the camera and the display screen failed to illuminate after that. After a night of setting on top of the AC vent, it dried out and worked fine after that.

My brother had a momma cow gore his instamatic into tiny little pieces, but that was only after he dragged himself out of the corral after having her nearly kill him. The only piece left bigger than a quarter was the wrist string. In that case, he didn't care about the camera and was just happy to get away alive.

I know there's nothing wrong with my camera, but I'm just curious as to the mechanics of why this happened.

Today a took a photo of my mom's peacock. It was sunny with bright white snow as the only background. His neck is a vibrant, brilliant blue and there's a narrow purple band between his neck and the featureless snow in the background. I was using a 30 year old Spiratone 400mm and my Nikon D40. My photo was overexposed somewhat, especially for the background but I still have good detail of the feathers on his neck. He was in such a hurry to get away I didn't get a chance for a second photo with different exposure. Anyone know why this phenomena occurs? Thanks.

I'm looking at a Vivitar 75-300 zoom lens on Ebay. It was used on a Nikkormat camera, what year I have no idea. I have a Nikon D40 and while I know the zoom won't auto focus or set the aperture, that's no biggie because I did all that stuff by hand for 35 years before I got the D40. Knowing the old Nikon F lenses can't be used on my camera, I'm concerned whether or not the lens mount is the same between the Nikon and Nikkormat. Supposedly the Vivitar lens is AI. If it helps any, the serial number indicates it's an older Kino made lens. Thanks.

When you show someone a decent photo of yours and their response is, "Gee, you must have an expensive camera!" You know, let's give all the credit to the camera and none to the person running it! I may be mistaken, but I believe even a great camera can take a lousy photo when in the wrong hands.

My computer runs Windows XP service pack 3. The problem is that it won't detect a flash drive. I've tried a new 1 gig SanDisk as well as an old 128 mb and neither are detected on this machine. Others yes, but not this one. I've tried all four USB ports and none detect them. The ports work with other applications and the device manager shows all as being functional.

I also have a card reader installed on the JP1 connection and here's the crazy part. The computer detects the reader and it's four drives and will detect an old 32 MB compact flash card but it won't detect a SD card.

I went to the Microsoft website and downloaded a scan program for the USB-CD drives and nothing came up missing or failed. There was one update I was missing, but it has nothing to do with the USB. Nothing changed after downloading the update. I don't know if it would detect flash drives previously because I was given the computer and had to install a new motherboard. The CD and floppy drive all function properly. Anyone genius out there who can help me? Thanks!