Rug_Trucker

Talking to a plumber friend he tells me PEX in the floor is "iffy." It can't sit in the sun for very long. He told me PEX hasn't been around long enough to really tell how long it will last. I want to do a barndo home and shop on my other land. I am in a quandry about that as heat right now.

KRB

My neighbor has it in his house. Going on the 12th year I think. Ran it in all 3 stories but only uses the concrete basement heat as it radiates up and keeps the whole house warm, all 9,000ft2....

oliver foster

I built my first section of shop when my daughter was less than 1, she is now 20+. That makes all that PEX in that section of my floor 20 years old.
If you did all the PEX tube and concrete work, like I did, the extra cost is VERY small. I think I ran less than $500 worth of PEX tube in my floor.

It is very easy to lay down the radiant tubing work yourself.

I would put it in ANY building I want heat in and has a lower floor that is concrete.

Rug_Trucker

I'm wanting to go to a steel house. With a separate shop. Damned prices are so high right now. If Brandon removed the steel tariffs I would ban it really quick. However my money is in the market. So if it falls, and infation sky rockets like the doom **** people are forecasting it may be a wash.

NJTman

9000 quare ft ?

What ? lives in a pauper's cottage ?

KRB

My house fits in his basement three times...

NJTman

haha, and I complain my house is only 1,165 sq ft....

edwinsmith

Off topic I know but I just finished fixing a PEX line on my water heater that was leaking a lot. It was installed less than a year ago. The brass fitting was badly corroded. At first I tried using a worm gear type hose clamp with a new fitting but no. I had to go back to ACE and get some new crimp clamps and the $55.00 tool to crimp them. I also replaced the short piece of line because I didn't want to do it again. Success! No leak this time. What a PITA!

That was on the hot side. The cold side has an identical fitting which is also corroded so I have to watch it to see if it starts leaking in the future. Makes me worry about all the other stuff in the house since the entire system was replaced a year ago.

Edwin

KRB

We've been best friends since kids and then became neighbors about 15 years ago. I became an Ag Extension Agent and he became an attorney, hence the discrepancy in homes (among many other things)!

Edwin, there are multiple types of fittings for PEX. What I used didn't need a tool.

And now back to Vermont, MOPARs and diesels...

oliver foster

Back to MOPAR stuff.

I had an old 3 gauge cluster that was likely mounted on the dash back in '93, on my parts donor truck for this build. I traded off the 3 pod gauge cluster along with the old boost and pyro gauge.
I kept the old RW tach. It only goes to 3000 RM but it "plugs" into the factory tach plug under the dash on my '93. In the donor truck it was plugged into using spade connectors. I plugged it into Project Covid to make sure it still worked after the donors trucks crash.

It worked great once it was tested with the truck running. Now that I know it works it is time to wire it up cleanly / locate it somewhere.
I have a steering wheel gauge pod on the parts donor truck for my 2wd Ramcharger build. I pulled it and test fix it on the '93.... The '95 steering column pod also works great on the steering column plastic of the '91-'93s.

That is as far as I got today. I am pretty happy with some left over parts finding a good home.

KRB

My tach is on the steering column and I really like it there. More in line with the rest of the gauges. And like you say, the 2nd gen pod blends into the 1st gen column just fine.

3K rpm should be plenty right???

edwinsmith

I have the 3200 RPM governor spring so my engine tops out at 3199 with an optical tach when I calibrated my tach. SO no 3000 rpm tach is not enough in my case.

BTW it's snowing and 0 deg. outside. My battery tender is plugged in but the block heater isn't. I don't intend to go anywhere today. Wife's little Ranger 4X4 does just fine in the snow however. Dually Dodge not so much.

Edwin

oliver foster

I got the 2nd gen pod and the gauge all wired and mounted up.
I discovered the RW tach would not recess all the way into the back of the pod with the light bulb installed. Once I pulled the bulb out I could install the gauge in so it was flush.

I also trimmed off several feet of the wiring to keep things a bit cleaner behind the dash.

As far as the RPM only revving to 3000, that works fine for me.
I will install a 3200 spring when it needs a reseal, but I really only use the extra RPM of the factory de-fueling point. I rarely just let it rev to the top of the rev limiter.

oliver foster

I rolled it out of the shop, filled it up with fuel and drove it over the the Thousand Islands of NY to visit a friend.
The truck handled the 10 HR round trip great. The "new" tach seems to have a hinky wire connection as it now only works above 2500 RPM well. The rest of the time it sits still with an occasional bounce. I am not sure if it is is the tach or the wiring.

oliver foster

Took the truck on another 12 HR road trip last week to pick up a Getrag / NP-205 combo as a spare. The combo had been pulled and stored in an old barn for 10 years.
The truck did great on the road. The A/C was still holding a charge from last years pre Carlilse show, A/C work.
Uma loved the extra cab space the Club Cab offers a big dog.