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It's still a good thread... just keep it going.

 

Personally, I'm advocating as low a profile as possible. (Yes, I know my deuce doesn't fit that. But the CliTaurus does) And maximum capabilities. That might not matter to guys out in the west who don't have the population density we have.

 

I'm curious what people in each part of the country think and why. Bugging in or out... it doesn't matter. What old car do you think you can keep going the longest? What "special" needs does your part of the world need? Nobody would look twice at an old Army truck on a farm around here... especially if you show up at all the local parades hauling a girlscout troop... if it's nice.

 

Yarp... that bike is AWESOME! It reminds me of the "minibikes" that were around in the 1980s. That thing really does seem like a mechanical horse. Do they come in diesel? big_smile.gif

 

 

As for the cable cutters on helicopters... Anybody here fly? I never finished my flight training... but I can muddle through talking to ATC at controlled fields and sometimes get it in the ground in one chunk. Out west especially, I could see a small plane or chopper being VERY handy to get around quick.

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does this count? lol

Back to vehicles and accessories. I forgot to mention a Hilift jack. You can lift, pull, spread, and clamp with them. Great for trail fixes. I've seen someone use the handle to trail fix a busted

I have always liked 4x4 vans that I see. Seems like a cool spacious rig, but as with my 4runner, if it's inside the truck, " it will eventually hit your head" as we say when going off-road, so maybe a

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The engine info for the trailbreaker model is a Kohler four stroke 6hp 172cc, so anything about the same size would work. there's a site that states that 20 or so were diesel made in the 90s just can't remember which one.

Helicopters are cool as well as the brush planes, just never had the time or money to get in to it.

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A few people mentioned winches. I had the pleasure of using a chainsaw winch once and I am sold. Weld rings to your undercariage all the way around and you can pull from wherever you want. The thing is light and doesn't take up space. Also you can use it in places you can't drag your vehicle. For instance, you can run up the hill and hook to a tree and pull a log out of the road without having to rig a pulley. I think I would rather have a good chainsaw winch than a bumper mount unit for a normal car or truck. It is lighter and more versatile.

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Gunfun-that thing sounds awesome! I can think of a few times where something like that would've been really helpful. Any brand suggestions?

Deadeye-I've had my eye on some property on an island for a loooooong time. Just trying to convince the wife why we need to buy it, LOL!

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As for the cable cutters on helicopters... Anybody here fly? I never finished my flight training... but I can muddle through talking to ATC at controlled fields and sometimes get it in the ground in one chunk. Out west especially, I could see a small plane or chopper being VERY handy to get around quick.

 

Planes are maintenance hogs. Take a 70's Harley, add a requirement for *really* high-test fuel (116 race gas has NOTHING on 100NL avgas), and major PITA in terms of paperwork before SHTF. Plus they're damn expensive. Brand-new, something the equivalent of a Taurus is $200+k. Used, it'll be 30 years old, $50,000, and desperately in need of a $50+k overhaul.

 

Helos are worse. They don't fly, they just beat the air into submission and they're best described as about 10,000 parts 'flying' in loose formation around an oil leak, all held together by safety wire. If I was going to buy a helo, I'd get an old Huey. They're for sale, 1960s vintage Vietnam veterans, for about $1.5million. At least that will run on diesel if you have to, and can dead-lift about 6000 lbs.

 

Either way, you need specialty tools to keep them running, figure another $10k in tools.

 

Sorry, old (licensed) aircraft mechanic speaking. I'd get a horse first, and I don't know the first thing about horses other than the fact that those critters become your life.

 

Out west, I think a good call is either a Deuce or a Cherokee. Lots of either around, so they don't attract much/any attention and you will find lots of spares available. Downside is having to protect yours from becoming 'spares'. Diesel would give a huge advantage if you're trying to live off-grid, since you can make biodiesel with oil (like those big canola-flower fields in northern Idaho) and 200 proof alcohol. Besides, large quantities (~50lbs) of dessicant has other uses than making fuel.

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Gunfun-that thing sounds awesome! I can think of a few times where something like that would've been really helpful. Any brand suggestions?

Deadeye-I've had my eye on some property on an island for a loooooong time. Just trying to convince the wife why we need to buy it, LOL!

 

I've never seen one for sale. I decided it would be a good idea to lose a CV joint in a farm town 110 miles from nowhere at about 1:30 am in a blizzard with a girl in the car. The town was so small it didn't even still have a gas station, and the only business operating was a bar without a liquor license. We got a ride from the only patron to the only hotel within 40 miles, and got the only room. The next morning some nice guy used one to drag my car onto his trailer and haul it to a mechanic's. It had a Stihl chainsaw motor and body with a winch where the bar would go, but I don't know what company made it. I've talked to a few loggers who swear by them too. It was so handy. My car wasn't lined up with the trailer, and he just hooked on, found a post in the parking lot or something and swung the car straight, then moved the winch to the front of the trailer and drug it right on. I've done that with come-alongs, and it takes a long time and a lot of cranking.

 

here is the first one google mentioned. http://www.lewiswinch.com/

 

Mr. Kenny-- the canola thing makes sense in a lot of ways but don't do it. Then you would have to tell people your truck runs on rape.

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GunFun, those chainsaw winches are really handy for things like pulling a car onto a trailer but extracting a full sized 4x4 from a mucky hole will more than likely take a much bigger winch and a snatchblock to double the pulling power.

ETA: I have actually broken the winch housing on a Warn 12,000 lb winch extracting from a hole. It would have ripped a chainsaw winch in two I reckon.

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@gunfun: Yeah, that's why the Canucks changed the sales name to some weird acronym: CANadian Oil, Low Acid.

 

It's a pretty plant, bright, bright yellow flowers, though, and the oil-extraction is easy: Mash it in a big press. Then you take the mashed remains and throw them in a big kettle to boil, cool down to ~100F and add yeast. Wait 3 weeks, filter the crud out, then distill the canola-wine until you get 98% alcohol. Then use a chemical dessicant to get the last of the water out. Mix alcohol and oil in the right proportions (1 part alcohol to 4 parts oil), you have biodiesel and glycerol as a leftover.

 

Lots of uses for glycerol, including making soap, and if you're making soap it's OK to have some lye already in the glycerol.

 

Ok, it's a bit more complex than that, but you *can* make it all yourself with NO reliance on electricity.

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Back to vehicles and accessories. I forgot to mention a Hilift jack. You can lift, pull, spread, and clamp with them. Great for trail fixes. I've seen someone use the handle to trail fix a busted tie rod so they could limp out. They slipped it over the two broken parts, then welded it together. Did you know you can weld with a few batteries connected together with jumper cables and use another set of jumpers with a welding rod? I've seen that done too. An under the hood welding set up is another option, like a Premier rig.

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Much depends on why the SHTF. If an economic breakdown or civil unrest is causing you to move to safer, calmer spaces then gas mileage, cargo space, and reliability/spare parts are the main considerations. If real armageddon stuff like a nuclear attack or, more likely, an EMP attack causes the SHTF situation, then nothing with a transistor is likely to work. The gold standard is something that will run on low octane gas and which has a carburetor and points and condensor ignition; that means pre-mid'70s vehicles. To me that means an old US truck/Blazer/Bronco/Jeep/Ramcharger or an old FJ Toyota, and I'd pretty much eliminate the FJ and anything really old due to parts availability issues. In any event, fuel availability is going to be the biggest issue assuming you have something that will actually run. An old VW Bus or Thing starts to look very attractive, but parts are getting scarce at the scavenge/junkyard level. So, you get into the "it depends" world ultimately. It is easier to define what you don't want: high-performance, high maintenance vehicles won't go far; rare and expensive vehicles can't be repaired, really old vehicles can't be repaired unless you're carring a trailer of you NOS parts collection behind you, and that leaves a '70s or earlier Ford, Chevy, or Dodge truck with good tires and in good repair, some Jeeps with common engines, and that's about it.

 

I wrote this sorta stream of consciousness but I think it captures the essence. If it is just a government breakdown thing, Hell, a Prius might be the best thing so you can get far away cheaply. If it is something serious and long-lasting, you need an older, common vehicle that is well-equipped and maintained, and which you know intimately and for which you have a decent supply of spare parts.

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Can't find a pricetag on the parts, best guess is "I feel violated" expensive.

 

Besides, the reason you don't see halftracks in use in the militaries anymore is that newer 4wd systems are just as capable and tracks are a maintenance nightmare.

 

Lots of maintenance isn't a good idea for SHTF scenarios. Your transport should be AK reliable. Too bad Izmash doesn't make vehicles.

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Another issue in the rusty north anyway, is the what is "Common/cheap" changes every 5 years.

 

VW bug/bus parts used to be a good bet... but certainly not anymore.

 

Cherokees are pretty good... f150's... caveliers... What can you work with?

 

You could retrofit points and a carburetor to anything with a distributor fairly easily, and after a bit of effort. Electric fuel pumps can be bypassed even to the point of using a pressurized air tank to push the fuel to a carb.

 

Nothing is that complex.

 

Don't forget... if your fear is EMP... the nice metal body of a car will shield one heck of a lot of flux.

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Another issue in the rusty north anyway, is the what is "Common/cheap" changes every 5 years.

 

VW bug/bus parts used to be a good bet... but certainly not anymore.

 

Cherokees are pretty good... f150's... caveliers... What can you work with?

 

You could retrofit points and a carburetor to anything with a distributor fairly easily, and after a bit of effort. Electric fuel pumps can be bypassed even to the point of using a pressurized air tank to push the fuel to a carb.

 

Nothing is that complex.

 

Don't forget... if your fear is EMP... the nice metal body of a car will shield one heck of a lot of flux.

 

Dont forget many fuel pumps were manual up until the late 80s (driven by a belt system)

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Another issue in the rusty north anyway, is the what is "Common/cheap" changes every 5 years.

 

VW bug/bus parts used to be a good bet... but certainly not anymore.

 

Cherokees are pretty good... f150's... caveliers... What can you work with?

 

You could retrofit points and a carburetor to anything with a distributor fairly easily, and after a bit of effort. Electric fuel pumps can be bypassed even to the point of using a pressurized air tank to push the fuel to a carb.

 

Nothing is that complex.

 

Don't forget... if your fear is EMP... the nice metal body of a car will shield one heck of a lot of flux.

 

Dont forget many fuel pumps were manual up until the late 80s (driven by a belt system)

 

I have never seen a belt powered fuel pump.

Mechanical fuel pumps are almost exclusively driven off a cam lobe, or in the case of some mechanical injection systems, off a timing gear.

 

What vehicle are you referring to?

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Another issue in the rusty north anyway, is the what is "Common/cheap" changes every 5 years.

 

VW bug/bus parts used to be a good bet... but certainly not anymore.

 

Cherokees are pretty good... f150's... caveliers... What can you work with?

 

You could retrofit points and a carburetor to anything with a distributor fairly easily, and after a bit of effort. Electric fuel pumps can be bypassed even to the point of using a pressurized air tank to push the fuel to a carb.

 

Nothing is that complex.

 

Don't forget... if your fear is EMP... the nice metal body of a car will shield one heck of a lot of flux.

 

Dont forget many fuel pumps were manual up until the late 80s (driven by a belt system)

 

I have never seen a belt powered fuel pump.

Mechanical fuel pumps are almost exclusively driven off a cam lobe, or in the case of some mechanical injection systems, off a timing gear.

 

What vehicle are you referring to?

 

You are correct. Dont know why I put belt driven. I meant driven by the engine rather then electrical. Like the Ford musang during the 80s

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Motorcycles and even scooters can be more utilitarian than you might think. The Vespa you REALLY don't want to screw with in traffic. Vespa 150 TAP

 

 

 

5940186074_deddd89a07.jpg

 

 

You won't haul anything, your only protection would be mobility, and numbers... But I can see these types of weapons having a home in certain areas... as well as just being cool as all hell.

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