The Stembridge 2021 RAM Classic "Warhawk" Build Thread

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From a few weeks ago on opening day, a nice 8-point.

 

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Took a yearling doe this morning. I walked in and settled down in front of a four-trunk tree; about an hour later, I noticed a doe slowing walking up just inside the tree line (about 60-75 yds out), but unfortunately on my right side - I couldn't swing around enough to get a shot.

Sat there and watched her browse a bit, then lay down a bit, then browse some more. All of a sudden, there are 5-6 deer up and browsing around - they had all been laying down together.

I slowly scooted myself around to get a better angle, and every little noise I made would have one or two looking straight at me for as long as a couple minutes (I froze). Then they'd settle down and go back to browsing.

I finally got twisted around enough that I could draw a bead, and the only one I had a clear shot at was laying down. I could clearly see the head, so that's where I aimed. I saw a large puff of breath fog when I shot, but couldn't see the animal anymore and assumed I missed and it had jumped up with the rest when I shot.

After standing up and starting to walk toward where I shot, I realized the rest of the deer were still there… they heard me and were looking right at me, so I froze again. After a minute or two, they decided they didn't like what they saw and all bolted out across the field.

I walked up to where I thought I had shot, but didn't see anything - no blood trail, etc. Walked over to the fence line, then back to the area where I shot. After searching side-to-side a bit, there she was, shot right between the eyes with a .30-06 (took the top of her head off). So no wasted meat and a clean, instant death.

She'll make good eating, for sure.

 

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At our veteran's memorial today (senior lunch and bingo!).

 

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After nearly 44,000 miles, my Geolandar X-AT tires were down to the wear strips, so I dug out my original factory Geolandar ATs (with only 2,500 miles on them) and had them put back on. They don't look as good (don't fill the wheel wells as nicely), but I avoid dropping a grand or so on a new set for now. We have a "snow event" on the way tomorrow and it seemed prudent to have a good set mounted…

 

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Time for some mods! Heads and tails this time… Spec-D dual halos up front. The instructions weren't very clear, and coupled with the fact that the head and parking light connectors are interchangeable, my first attempt ended up with the headlights flashing as turn signals, easily rectified.





The aiming adjusters require pulling the buckets back out, but I eventually got them aimed (2" below the center point of the lights, as measured 25' away).



Out back, I went with Auto One LED units, as well as an LED third brake light.

I'll have to add a pic later, but I also cut the factory exhaust tip off and welded on a black dual-tip…

A muffler swap is next…

 

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"Level Completed, Achievement Unlocked!"

 

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Our latest saga involved picking up a JD 755 from my Uncle, who is in bad health and wants it to go to my cousin. One hot, sweaty hour later, it was loaded and we safely made the 4-hour trip to our home, where the tractor will wait until we can schedule the 10-hour drive to my cousin's place. In the meantime, I'm sure I can find a few things to do with it around our place.



We were kinda dwarfed in the truck parking area at a rest area stop! The truck did fine pulling the load, albeit at about 12-13 mpg.

 

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Went and got a load of "black gold" today (free). Goat and cow manure for next year's garden. It's a bit 'hot' right now, so it will age over the winter.

 

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Well, my truck turns four years old tomorrow (since I took delivery). Only one recall (for delaminating driver-side mirror glass, which mine was not), and had to replace the sun visors because the plastic bezel around the mirrors cracked apart.

56,618 miles to date (a bit over 14K per year) with a hand-calculated average MPG over that time of 17.5 (3,168.4 gallons, at a cost of $9,225.89 if anyone's counting).

I've been doing a lot of trailer towing the past few weeks, too:



First, we hauled my buckboard wagon to my BIL's Christian camp in WV where we work every summer (we had an 1850s Western theme this year). We went a couple weeks early to do some repairs, so I figured I'd just leave the trailer there until after camp, since we had to scoot back home for a week.



However, while we were there, I got a call from my Uncle, whose health is declining rapidly. He wanted his JD 755 delivered to his daughter (my cousin) in MO. Since I had the trailer (now empty), we diverted through Knoxville on the way home to pick up the tractor and stage it at our house until we can make the trip to MO.



Went back to WV for two weeks of camp, and my younger son's car broke down while he was there… since I had the trailer, I went and rescued his Element (250K miles), and he used the trailer ramps to be able to get under the car to replace a sensor that had failed. I used to have to rescue him a lot with his first car (a very-used base-model '84 Mustang L), so I kidded him about that.

After camp, we hauled the buckboard wagon back home on the trailer, then…



Went and got a load of free manure (5 bucketloads).



Then went back to Knoxville to pick up my Uncle's dump trailer, also going to my cousin.



Got home with that today, and immediately put the big trailer back on and loaded the two tractors to take to our local tractor show tomorrow.

The Pentastar actually does a decent job of towing, but really has to rev when pulling the loaded big trailer through the mountains (my former '15 2500 5.7 Hemi revved, too, but definitely had more torque). We averaged about 12 MPG with those loads. With the dump trailer (empty), we got about 17, as compared to 22 on the way there with no trailer.

Happy birthday, truck!

 

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Meant to post this a couple weeks ago… I rolled 60,000 miles sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day. Put almost 14K on the truck in 2025, actually a few hundred more than my wife put on her TourX. Still percolating along great!

 

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13 months after installation, one of my Auto One LED taillights completely failed, so I'm currently back to the stock taillights.