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Winter's here, it's cold and dark, time to post some fun stuff on the web.
So earlier this year I was out traveling in my 93 Dodge club cab, with my camper occupying the bed of the truck, when I ran across an engine that I just had to have. I managed to finagle it into the back seat, barely. I figured a crew cab would be better for this job, it should be a lot easier to load cargo into the back seat.
So in October, I found this 68 Dodge crew cab on the internet. I figured I could put a Cummins and a Dana 80 dually in it, and use it for a camper hauler. It was in Arizona, and I am in Minnesota. When I called the owner, he told me what a fine truck it was and it ran and drove nice. But when I suggested that I wanted to fly in and drive it to Minnesota, he said he wouldn't. It's a 55 mph truck he said. I asked if it would make it to my Dads place in FLorence AZ, about 150 miles away. He just didn't know, he hadn't driven it too far from his town.
So I made a deal, sent him a deposit via paypal, which he agreed to refund if I didn't like the truck. Before I booked a flight, I looked for fun stuff going on in the vicinity, so I could build my trip around more that just driving a truck home.
The seller picked me up at the airport on a Saturday morning, and drove me the 1-1/2 hour trip to his house. The truck is awesome, a solid AZ truck in great shape. 318, automatic, 4.10 gears, nice aluminum wheels with new tires, and power steering. THe pic he sent me of the back of the truck wasn't too clear, and I assumed it was a long bed when I bought it. But I found it was a short bed when I got there. Oops.
This is at the sellers house:
He gave me a couple gallons of water before I left, "just in case".
So I'm thinking it must have overheated at some point.
On the way to my dads, I felt a driveline vibration. I stopped at home depot and found a shady spot under a tree.
I felt like a homeless guy digging thru the dumpster for a piece of cardboard to use as a "Norwegian creeper". I pulled the driveshaft out, and the ujoints were dry and a bit loose, so I greased them up and continued on my way. The driveline vibration was gone. I kept the creeper.
The little 318 was buzzing away going down I-17 with the 4.10 gears, and it felt really flat and ran pretty hot when I pushed it above 55 mph. SO I was thinking about how I was going to solve that as I drove.
Arizona is a beautiful state. Lots of Kodak moments:
The sun was going down before I got to my dads, so I stopped to take a picture to send to my friends before it got dark.
My dad has a pit. He dug it with a shovel and a wheelbarrow, then lined the walls with block. He put a ramp going into it so if a rattlesnake falls in, it can slither out.
So earlier this year I was out traveling in my 93 Dodge club cab, with my camper occupying the bed of the truck, when I ran across an engine that I just had to have. I managed to finagle it into the back seat, barely. I figured a crew cab would be better for this job, it should be a lot easier to load cargo into the back seat.
So in October, I found this 68 Dodge crew cab on the internet. I figured I could put a Cummins and a Dana 80 dually in it, and use it for a camper hauler. It was in Arizona, and I am in Minnesota. When I called the owner, he told me what a fine truck it was and it ran and drove nice. But when I suggested that I wanted to fly in and drive it to Minnesota, he said he wouldn't. It's a 55 mph truck he said. I asked if it would make it to my Dads place in FLorence AZ, about 150 miles away. He just didn't know, he hadn't driven it too far from his town.
So I made a deal, sent him a deposit via paypal, which he agreed to refund if I didn't like the truck. Before I booked a flight, I looked for fun stuff going on in the vicinity, so I could build my trip around more that just driving a truck home.
The seller picked me up at the airport on a Saturday morning, and drove me the 1-1/2 hour trip to his house. The truck is awesome, a solid AZ truck in great shape. 318, automatic, 4.10 gears, nice aluminum wheels with new tires, and power steering. THe pic he sent me of the back of the truck wasn't too clear, and I assumed it was a long bed when I bought it. But I found it was a short bed when I got there. Oops.
This is at the sellers house:
He gave me a couple gallons of water before I left, "just in case".
So I'm thinking it must have overheated at some point.
On the way to my dads, I felt a driveline vibration. I stopped at home depot and found a shady spot under a tree.
I felt like a homeless guy digging thru the dumpster for a piece of cardboard to use as a "Norwegian creeper". I pulled the driveshaft out, and the ujoints were dry and a bit loose, so I greased them up and continued on my way. The driveline vibration was gone. I kept the creeper.
The little 318 was buzzing away going down I-17 with the 4.10 gears, and it felt really flat and ran pretty hot when I pushed it above 55 mph. SO I was thinking about how I was going to solve that as I drove.
Arizona is a beautiful state. Lots of Kodak moments:
The sun was going down before I got to my dads, so I stopped to take a picture to send to my friends before it got dark.
My dad has a pit. He dug it with a shovel and a wheelbarrow, then lined the walls with block. He put a ramp going into it so if a rattlesnake falls in, it can slither out.
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