Category Archives: Miscellaneous

And here is the “catch all” category for stuff that doesn’t have its own.

Transmission Replacement for Dodge Ram 1500

by Woodsbum

This post is a bit of a departure from my norm. Over the weekend I had to replace the transmission in my Dodge Ram 1500 4×4. Unfortunately, I found that there are very few videos online that are specific to the type of transmission I have or year of truck I have. To put it mildly, I was hunting and pecking a lot. To help anyone else that has to do this swap, I decided to add a few tidbits of knowledge that I gained while doing this job.

Make sure to take out the 4 engine mount bolts on the driver’s side. I am referring to the ones that actually bolt to the block. There is a bracket that the frame engine mounts bolt to that has to be loose enough to pry out of the way for the transmission to make it past. This bracket also attaches to the front of the transmission (same side) by 2 bolts.
Remove the transfer case. You will be lacking about 3 inches of room to be able to pull the transmission and transfer case as a single unit. To get to the bottom bolts of the transfer case, you do have to pull the cross member and transmission mounting brackets.
Transmission jacks are very nice and almost required. Don’t assume that you can strong arm it or just use a couple of floor jacks. The problem is that you have to turn the transmission a little and then twist it back into position to miss the engine mount bracket.
There is an inspection plate right behind the oil pan. It is held on by 4 bolts and the transmission actually bolts onto this pieces as well. Make sure to take it off to bolt your torque converter onto the flywheel.
Don’t listen to any of the old Chevy guys that say that you should just put the torque converter onto the transmission and slide it all in as a unit. You will end up dropping the torque converter several times and probably get hurt. Even though it is hard no matter what way you do it, just bolt on the torque converter and then slide the transmission shaft into the torque converter from there.
There is a metal plate that goes around the whole bell housing that likes to slip while trying to place the transmission. Don’t let it slip down a hole on the driver’s side. It will try to and loves to make your life miserable. Don’t let it.
The wires and loom at the back of the engine will also get pinched if you are not careful. Just move them out of the way because any use of zip ties WILL cause you to blood your knuckles up while trying to get the wires loose after the transmission is installed. Don’t ask…..

I should have taken some pictures or video of the whole process, but I was more interested in getting the transmission installed. These tips I gave you above will really help you out while doing the swap, however. All other aspects of the swap are fairly straight forward.

Custom Pistol Grips

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by Woodsbum

Finding a nice set of pistol grips that fit my personality was not an easy task. That is when I started looking for actual custom pistol grips that I could send in my design to have scrimshawed on. Several companies that I spoke with would only do their designs or promised “custom” work that had to be sent off to another company to complete.

Finally I found one company that would actually do what I wanted without trying to make me pick one of their stock designs. Boone Trading Company actually specializes in ivory, bone, simulated ivory, scrimshaw, and various other animal products. When I contacted them back in the middle of February I picked out some simulated ivory grips for my Smith and Wesson Model 10-1 and sent them some graphics to have scrimshawed. They originally promised me a final product in about 3 weeks. This would get me my grips by the beginning of March. The grips never came so i contacted them again and they told me that they had gotten behind, but the were going to expedite my order. This was in the middle of March. My order arrived at my door on May 1st. It ended up being around 11 weeks from order to delivery.

At first I was kind of irritated at the prolonged and stretched out fulfillment of my order. Although I do a lot of business with custom makers, I do expect that my orders will be completed within a few weeks of their initial time estimates. Waiting an additional month is not uncommon, albeit a bit annoying. This is just the nature of the business when ordering custom work. An additional 8 weeks is a bit excessive however.

Even though it took a long time, I am really happy with the final product. The quality of the grips and the actual scrimshaw work is quite good. I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to custom work and expect to receive every dollar’s worth when I pay for things. For example, I have one hand forged custom knife that I paid over $500 for and then sank another $200 in a sheath. The money I paid was definitely worth the products I received. I feel the same about these grips. They were almost as much as I paid for the actual pistol itself, but they really make the firearm mine.

Here are some shots of the new grips on the pistol. The artwork you see here was a piece that I had an artist do for me several years ago. This will eventually be (and fairly soon) my newest tattoo across my back. I am quite partial to skull and crossbones type art, which you can see in both these pieces of scrimshaw.

Custom scrimshaw on pistol grips

The holster you see is an old military M3 chest rig. I did add an additional pieces of leather to lengthen the strap. I wanted it to ride a bit lower on my side as more of a Baldric type rig. Here is a good picture of the other side of the pistol.

AOD logo on my pistol grips

Both of the pieces of artwork came out quite nicely and look really impressive against the dark blue color of the pistol frame. I was impressed with the quality of the scrimshaw work. I do not think that it will discolor or chip very easily.

Close up of my AOD logo

Here is a close up of the other side. As you can see, they did do a very good job on them.

Close up of the other side

As with any custom work, you need to keep in mind that the one doing the work is usually an artist. Their freedom to work at their own pace is directly representative of how nice of a final product you will receive. Don’t give up on a company or a maker just because they did not meet you proposed deadlines. Let them do their job and they will get you what you want eventually. Also, remember that you will get what you pay for. Custom work doesn’t come cheap.

In evaluating this company and the work that they produced for me, I would definitely buy from them again. I have already started thinking about some other projects, actually.

WDFW In Service Training

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by Woodsbum

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife In Service Training for hunter’s education instructors. These happen every couple years where all instructors are invited to go over different subjects associated with teaching hunter’s education. The best way to imagine it is a lot of retired hunters hanging out together while a few people under 60 years old run around helping to keep their elders out of trouble.

It really isn’t quite that bad, but it is no joke that the average age of the participants was probably in the 60’s. This really made me think about how the sport of hunting might actually be dying out. This is actually a quite scary proposition for many reasons. Hunting not only helps to maintain the annual surplus of game animals, but hunting and sporting is the main source of revenue for government conservation programs. If you have never heard of the Pittman Robertson Act, you really should do some research. To assist, I have added this video.

As the numbers of hunters, shooters, and sportsmen diminish so do the funds associated with conservation programs. When bird watchers buy a set of binoculars the funds from that sale go to support, but that is only a single sale. The reoccurring sales to hunters and shooters is where the majority of the funds come from. This is actually a scary realization for most because it means that the harder it is for people to shoot and hunt, the less conservation program funds will be coming in.

Along with the realization that we are seeing fewer and fewer young hunters comes the reality that much of the information being passed along in sporting goods stores and gun shops is not that accurate. Let’s use the increase in wolf population and electronic devices on archery equipment as two examples. People talk about how the wolf population in Washington is growing so quickly that the numbers are almost out of control. Some people claim to have seen wolves in town or near towns, watched them take down an elk, or any other sort of bush story. From what I heard from the WDFW representative that is in charge of tracking wolf populations, this really isn’t going to be the case. There are several packs throughout the state, but the numbers are not high enough to cause enough harm to anything (including livestock) to warrant any special programs to control their numbers. There have also been very few reliable sightings by those outside of the WDFW organization. In regard to electronic devices on archery equipment, the law is quite clear: No electronic devices are allowed on archery equipment (excepted lighted arrow nocks). This means that the sights that have battery powered lighting systems for the pins are not legal. Capt. Mann from the enforcement program did say that a sight that has been disabled will not usually warrant a ticket, but it is still an electronic device by definition. Disabled to him did not include just “taking out the battery” of the device. To him a device must actually no longer function as an electronic device to be okay. He stated that it was easy for someone to just take out the battery, put it in their pocket until in the woods, and then reinstall it.

These were just a couple things that really struck me, but there were many other speakers and subjects covered. There should have been a bit more education on the two subjects that are almost never covered in any great length during a class: archery and muzzle loading. This is especially important since there are a few states that require an additional hunting class to enable them the opportunity to bowhunt for instance. Alaska actually just starting requiring all archery hunters to have an approved bowhunter education class with no grandfather clause for those that have already successfully bowhunted in the past. According to WDFW, there are some “Advanced Hunter Education” classes in the works that might help new hunters to be more successful. I do know that the NBEF Bowunting Class that I help teach does double the success of hunters that take it. Maybe there will be more of a push to teach new hunters these skills. One can only hope.

All in all, I was quite pleased with the IST and do plan on going back. It was quite nice to see all the key players in a single room and gathered for the single purpose of passing along information to the instructors and getting it to their students. I would love it if they happened more often than once every three years, but it really was a hard weekend and I am no where near 60 years old.

Ray Mears – The Forgotten Forest

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by Woodsbum

Every once in a while I get wild hair to go and track down some more main stream bushcrafting programming. One of the few people that I do like to watch is Ray Mears. Although he is a bit goofy at times the cinematography and many locations that they shoot in are just incredible. This episode is no different. I love the shots of all the cattails. They always remind me of playing around the lakes and stock ponds as a kid.

Enjoy this episode. Even if you ignore a lot of the “TV Drama” the images are definitely worth the watch. There are a few good tidbits in there if you keep the sound on….

Tobacco Pouch

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by Woodsbum

I have been looking for a good tobacco pouch that really just screams “outdoorsman” for a while. Since I was in the process of having a sheath built for my son’s custom hunting knife, I asked the maker (Skab from BushcraftUSA) to make me a pouch. This is what he came up with.

Tobacco Pouch

I wanted something that was about 3 x 5 inches in size with a draw string and some fancy tidbits on it. Of course dark colored leather is one of my favorite colors, so that was a must as well. What Brandon came up with was quite remarkable. It is an elk hide pouch that was rubbed down with rendered bear fat to give it the worn look. The claw is from a badger and the other dangle is a piece of antler. The cordage is leather and done in a 2 strand twist style for appearance as well as strength.

Tobacco Pouch

The overall effect is quite nice and I love the style. This is how I will be carrying my pipe tobacco to the field from now on. It really is quite amazing work.

If you want to get in touch with Brandon, you can hit him up on BushcraftUSA.com in his vendor forum. His prices are quite reasonable considering each item he does is a one off in a custom design.

Skab’s mark

If you run across this maker’s mark, you know it is quality and handmade. Make sure to hit him up if you need something that is quite rustic and antique looking. He works in leather and rawhide.