Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Updated

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LM14
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Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Updated

Post by LM14 »

Talked to a guy today, headed out in the morning to look at another truck. May have just bought a '65 short bed. Oops.

Spent 2 hours getting the paddle locks off the tool boxes, ramps and hitch and shoveling the snow off. It's a whopping -10F here and we had snow and ice all day yesterday and last night, poor planning on my part I guess. Had to break out the propane torch and melt the ice from the locks and tongue then heat the key and put it in the locks to melt the ice out of the tumblers.

Will post a few pics tomorrow if I bring it home. Will post info if I don't buy it. It's another guy's stalled project and I just couldn't walk away. Dianne is so proud of my right now.....

SPark
Last edited by LM14 on December 20, 2016, 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1932 Ford 5 window coupe. 302/C4
1962 8V-390/C6 Unibody Short Bed Soon to be Big Window - The Lincoln that never was
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2015 Ford Edge for the little lady, because she said so!
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slick4x4
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by slick4x4 »

I thought I had a problem....
Getting another truck in this weather ain't on my "to do " list
I bet you got a good deal though ! :clap:
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[b]'' I think what scares me the most about you guys is that I understand you '' ..... KID
'' lookin good, a little paint adds at least 100hp!'' ....... COOTER
'' well an old guy can dream cant he? ''............ICEMAN
''I would donate organs before selling my slick''........ HOOFBEAT RACER
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by shipwrecked »

You better have your food taste tested prior to eating... Diane not happy!


I bought my truck on a whim too... had to tow it 200 miles to Washington from my hometown in Oregon. 4 years later it's worse off then it was :mrgreen:
The months may change, but I am always APRIL
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Alan Mclennan
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by Alan Mclennan »

let me know if you need someone to steer it Steve :steering: ... you know I'm up too it, just have to wait for that white stuff to be gone is all ! :roll:
Honey, If I say I`ll fix something I will, there`s no need to remind me every 6 months!!
66 f100 tabletop swb 351 Clevo C6 "Beryl"

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Michelle
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by Michelle »

I had just the opposite problem. It was always "Michelle what do you need another truck for?" It was not a problem for me because I was the one that cooked.
Michelle

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. A Republic is a well-armed sheep.

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LM14
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by LM14 »

Sorry, this is long but figured you wanted the whole story. Here goes.....

Well.....that was interesting. This now ranks as m WORST all time trip looking at car/trucks and parts.

#1 - Our little town only has 3 traffic signals. I got stopped at all 3, that never happens. Should have taken it as an omen.

#2 - 4*F when I leave home with 25MPH winds, we had snow the day before, roads weren't all that great (remember that comment).

#3 - The guy selling the truck says it's in really good shape and sends me some pics.

Image

Those are pics of the floors in the truck. I should have walked away when I saw Alan's foot in the picture. Says they have had all new panels welded in, new cab mounts, all new suspension bushings, has all new seals for the windows and doors. Frame has been blasted and painted black. New king pins and all the suspension has been gone thru and the cab is ready to mount back on the truck. Only thing missing is the front fenders and the box. Clear title. He's just not able to do anything with it and wants it gone. $350. You can see why I took a trip this time of year to Minnesota.

#4 - I hate driving thru Minneapolis, period. It's worse when the roads are slick, you're pulling a trailer and there is suddenly a car stalled in your lane (middle lane of 5) right around the sharpest curve in the Interstate system. I missed it, not sure about the guy 3
cars back. That and a minor traffic jam cost me about 3/4 an hour extra on the trip north.

#5 - The guy lives on the last house on a very narrow, snow covered, dead end gravel road about 5 miles off the main highway. I don't mind driving on gravel, I managed a secondary road department for 34 years. I can handle it. There is no place to turn the trailer around. I finally jack around between a couple drives and get it turned and back up to the pickup in front of his house. Did I mention his "4 to 6" inches of snow was closer to a foot total? They got 6 in the LAST storm, they already had snow on the ground. It's Minnesota!

#6 - Nice guy. Starts showing me the truck. Something isn't right here. I start asking questions....he didn't do any of the work, his dad did. Then it hits me, things aren't adding up. The "new" bushings are dried and cracked. The floor is curling up, it's FIBERGLASS! The cab mounts have a nice coat of rust on them. The rear cab crosmember is 25% gone, at least. Both inner and outer cab corners on both sides have cracked fiberglass over the rust that is coming back thru. The doors do look good. This isn't adding up. I ask about the fiberglass on the floor and he says his dad was building a show truck. Welded new metal in then smoothed everything with 'glass so it looked nicer. I figure I can chip out fiberglass and cab corners aren't bad to put in. Then he says it, "Yep, I remember helping dad do a lot of this when I was a kid".

#7 - Get a definition of "new". This guy is 35-40 years old. Me, "you helped him as a kid? When was all this work done?". Him "well, I was about 14 or so....I of guess it was around '93 or '94 at the latest". Right. Lets start asking more questions. The truck has been sitting since at least '94. The frame is rusty again, the "new" bushings are all rotten and the fiberglass is hiding God only knows what.

#8 - "How's the radiator core support? Inner fenders? Hood? You said you have a lot parts still new in the packages?" Him, "I think the core support is just great, same for the inner fenders, hood....let's walk up here where all the parts are stored so you can see them". We walk 500' thru the snow, uphill, to a little shed. Parts aren't in the shed. They are under a tarp BESIDE the shed with another slick. The tarp looks new. "New tarp?" "Yep, the old one just rotted away so I put a new one on a few months ago". We pull back the tarp. First thing I remove is a badly rusted inner fender for the left, then a worse one for the right. Grill is decent, few dings and dents but not horrible. He opens the cab and proudly points at all the "new" stuff still in packages. Get ready....LMC door seals, window seals, cowl seal...everything says "made in Taiwan" and hard as a rock. Another box of stuff that looks like spaghetti at a gay rights parade. Wiring, lots and lots of OLD wiring and a bunch of bright yellow plastic wiring cover. Probably enough for 4 or 5 trucks. "Where's the core support?" "Hmmm, you don't see it anywhere? Guess I don't know what they look like" as he turns little boxes over and looks in them.

#9 - Great hood, NOT! Front is gone like normal. I just shake my head and start walking back to the truck (STOP LAUGHING AT ME!) and try to decide if it's really even worth $350 at this point.

On my walk I try to rationalize this deal. Who knows what lies under the fiberglass floors. Everything that's been done to the truck needs re-done. The parts are junk. I make a command decision and tell him I'm not interested and high tail it back towards the south.

#10 - Did I mention how much I hate Minneapolis? 1:45 to drive from the north edge on town to the south edge on I35S. That's averaging around 7.5MPH. I hate Minneapolis. I get south of town and things open up. About 35 miles later I'm trying to plan my next fuel stop when my "traction control" light starts flashing. We've got black ice. We're down to 20 MPH, we're back to 70 MPH, jumps back and forth as we go different directions. Minnesota did a crap job on snow removal so all the shoulder snow is blowing back across the main lanes and turning to ice.

#11 - Road has been pretty decent for 30 miles or so. Everyone's speed starts to creep back up. Then we slow for an accident. Past the accident we start to pick back up on speed. I come out of a curve and see a sign for Exit 2, 1 mile ahead. Almost back in Iowa! Then my truck turns completely sideways at 65 MPH right between 2 semis. Nice ditch, looks wide and flat. I instantly hit the 4wd switch and hammer the gas. I shoot straight into the ditch, trailer and all, and neither semi gets to hit me. By time I'm getting close to the fence I've slowed enough to turn back towards the Interstate and I hammer the gas again and make it within 3' or the shoulder before technology takes over. forgot to turn the traction control off so just as I approach the shoulder, climbing the little 4' of slope back to the road, it reduces my engine power so I don't spin my tires. Stuck in a foot of snow 3' off the shoulder. You don't want to know what I said at that point.

#12 - I switch off the "traction control" but it's too late, I'm stuck. I call 911 and tell her I passed a car getting pulled out of the ditch about 2 miles back, she knows exactly where I'm at and says I'm next. Nice Patrol officer checks on me, makes sure I'm warm and OK and says the wrecker will get me next. I sit and wait 15 minutes as the wrecker drives right past. Off he goes into the darkness. I wait another 30 minutes and he comes back. Pulls up and is a really nice guy. Apologized for driving past but he was almost out of fuel and had been on that stretch on Interstate since 11 AM. It's 8:15 PM. He quickly pulls me the 3' onto the shoulder, we sit in his truck and I pay him $130 for the privilege of not turning off my traction control.

#13 - I run down the road to an exit with decent lighting and check everything over. No damage to see. Everything looks good. Drive about another 25 miles and stop for gas. Check everything over, remove a little snow in wheelwells, everything looks great. Iowa Interstate is bone dry. I cautiously head for home, 250 miles to go!

#14 - I stop in Des Moines for a snack and drink. Walk around looking at everything again. No concerns. Pull into the house at 12:15. Done!

#15 - I get to tell Dianne why I've home 2 hours later than I told her I would be. She seems really happy.

#15 - First thing this morning I look out the window at my filthy truck still hooked to the filthy trailer.....wait....where the hell is my right trailer fender?!?!? We have removable fenders on the trailer and mine seems to have removed itself. More choice words, insert your nastiest favorites here. I go out and sure enough, the mounts are all still there, just the fender missing.

#16 - I drive the last 75 miles or so of last nights trip. I know the fender was there in Des Moines and I remember a time there was a bang or clunk once so I drive back to that area. Also stop at a few IDOT shops to leave my number should the plow trucks run across an nice aluminum car trailer fender.

#17 - I then call H&H Trailers to see about getting a new fender. "No problem. 2012 is a standard aluminum fender. I get the last 6 of your VIN number and we can make an exact match for you. All I need to know is how was it held onto the trailer" I ask if there is more than one option for mounting the removable fenders. "Yeah, we used to use a big black knob but they tended to crack the fender around the mounting point so we switched over to a turn buckle latch system in mid 2012 that we stull use with no problems". Guess we're getting a new $160 fender and going to upgrade our latch system at $60 per hour shop labor some time after Jan 9th.

Great trip overall......sucked from one end to the other and continued to provide entertainment even today! Would I do it again? Yep! Will I do it again? Yep! I'm an idiot, what can I say? It's a disease.

Stay safe and warm fellow Slicksters.
SPark
Last edited by LM14 on December 20, 2016, 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1932 Ford 5 window coupe. 302/C4
1962 8V-390/C6 Unibody Short Bed Soon to be Big Window - The Lincoln that never was
2013 F150 Super Crew Eco Boost 4x4
2015 Ford Edge for the little lady, because she said so!
2007 Mustang GT, 4.6-3V/5 Speed. Only 8680 miles on the clock.

More toys, I need more toys!!!
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Macon ACE
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by Macon ACE »

Dang! Well, I think you handled that pretty well.
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MN66
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck

Post by MN66 »

If I had known you were in town I'd have bought you dinner.

Can't argue with you about anything road or weather related up here.

Roads seem to have gotten much worse under our Target Corp trust fund governor Dayton. He prefers building commuter trains to building or maintaining roads.

Glad you made it home safe!

Corey
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foodstick
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by foodstick »

Dang, you did everything but spill your last cup of coffee on that trip ;)

I don't ever even want to know what pulling a trailer in snow is like ;) hahahahahahah
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by slick4x4 »

Much funner to pull Slicks home when you have
#1 an Australian
#2 Santa Clause
#3 a redneck

As your copilots and recovery crew :burp: :burp: :burp:

You dealt better with that than I would have ....
Sucks when you have to deal with a guy that is a bull crapping sugar coater
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.
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[b]'' I think what scares me the most about you guys is that I understand you '' ..... KID
'' lookin good, a little paint adds at least 100hp!'' ....... COOTER
'' well an old guy can dream cant he? ''............ICEMAN
''I would donate organs before selling my slick''........ HOOFBEAT RACER
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Michelle
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by Michelle »

I knew I lived down here in Texas for some reason. It was 25 here a couple of nights ago and that is cold to us.
Michelle

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. A Republic is a well-armed sheep.

I hope I always stay crazy, because I know if I ever become sane, it will drive me crazy.
LM14
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by LM14 »

slick4x4 wrote:Much funner to pull Slicks home when you have
#1 an Australian
#2 Santa Clause
#3 a redneck

As your copilots and recovery crew :burp: :burp: :burp:

You dealt better with that than I would have ....
Sucks when you have to deal with a guy that is a bull crapping sugar coater
Pat, you don't have to worry about me towing something for you anymore and putting my truck in the ditch doing it, I ticked that off the list for you.

In all honesty, I probably would have unloaded on the guy except he was 15 years younger and about a foot taller with 75 to 100# over me. He could have fallen over and killed me.

I can just imaging the conversation that would have happened at 65 MPH when we turned completely sideways between 2 big trucks and shot off the road. Alan would have lost a flip flop in the foot deep snow, your beer would have spilled and Gary's beard would have turned white.....oh wait......would have been a good Slick Stock story though.

SPark
1932 Ford 5 window coupe. 302/C4
1962 8V-390/C6 Unibody Short Bed Soon to be Big Window - The Lincoln that never was
2013 F150 Super Crew Eco Boost 4x4
2015 Ford Edge for the little lady, because she said so!
2007 Mustang GT, 4.6-3V/5 Speed. Only 8680 miles on the clock.

More toys, I need more toys!!!
mercuryv8
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by mercuryv8 »

Oh man! What a trip. I think you handled it better than I could have too.

Is it standard down there to phone 911 when you go into the ditch? That's a no-no here.

Nic
LM14
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by LM14 »

mercuryv8 wrote:Oh man! What a trip. I think you handled it better than I could have too.

Is it standard down there to phone 911 when you go into the ditch? That's a no-no here.

Nic
About the only thing you can do in the middle of nowhere where you know nobody and aren't even 100% sure where you are. They just switch you over to the "local authority" and that group handles all the info. It's technically an accident.

If I was at home, I have all the local cops and that kind of stuff in my phone from my work days. I actually called my local dispatch once because nobody at the 911 center in another town would pick up so we could report an accident we came up on. They got on land lines and made the connection for us to get somebody to an accident over 100 miles from my home town.

SPark
1932 Ford 5 window coupe. 302/C4
1962 8V-390/C6 Unibody Short Bed Soon to be Big Window - The Lincoln that never was
2013 F150 Super Crew Eco Boost 4x4
2015 Ford Edge for the little lady, because she said so!
2007 Mustang GT, 4.6-3V/5 Speed. Only 8680 miles on the clock.

More toys, I need more toys!!!
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by slickstysix »

Ha! Great story, glad you made it out alive. Reminds me of a trip back to college after Christmas break. Except I wasn't pulling a trailer.
I don't blame you for leaving that nightmare project for the scrap heap..
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bird55
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by bird55 »

Great story! Glad you made it out alive!
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by orangeRcode »

slick4x4 wrote:Much funner to pull Slicks home when you have
#1 an Australian
#2 Santa Clause
#3 a redneck

As your copilots and recovery crew :burp: :burp: :burp:

You dealt better with that than I would have ....
Sucks when you have to deal with a guy that is a bull crapping sugar coater
So I'm making assumptions here:

1) Alan
2) Gary
3) ? Guess I could be the redneck

Steve is a brave man to take off chasing that deal but then I guess he felt it was a deal he couldn't turn down - $350 Slick. Evidently, it was...
LM14
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by LM14 »

orangeRcode wrote:
slick4x4 wrote:Much funner to pull Slicks home when you have
#1 an Australian
#2 Santa Clause
So I'm making assumptions here:

1) Alan
2) Gary
3) ? Guess I could be the redneck

Steve is a brave man to take off chasing that deal but then I guess he felt it was a deal he couldn't turn down - $350 Slick. Evidently, it was...
Well, we were after Pat's truck, so the 4th at Slick Stock would have been......

Remember, there's a fine line between brave and stupid. Sometimes we don't know which side of the line we're on until it's over or we're sitting in the emergency room!

SPark
1932 Ford 5 window coupe. 302/C4
1962 8V-390/C6 Unibody Short Bed Soon to be Big Window - The Lincoln that never was
2013 F150 Super Crew Eco Boost 4x4
2015 Ford Edge for the little lady, because she said so!
2007 Mustang GT, 4.6-3V/5 Speed. Only 8680 miles on the clock.

More toys, I need more toys!!!
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by SLICKCOLLECTOR »

BTDT. you definitely have the disease. In the past when leaving town something told me you are an idiot and i ignored that and drove on. when i got there i found that my premonition was right and i was an idiot. BUT i didn't do that in inclement weather. I hope next time i go with my instincts but probably NOT. I'm glad you got home safe.


jim


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1966 F100 SW 428CJ C6
1965 F100 SW 428 TL sold
1966 F100 SW CVC 428CJ C6
1965 F100 SW CVC 428CJ C6
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1965 F100 SW CVC 460PI C6
1965 F100 SW CVC 428CJ C6
1972 F100 RANGER XLT SW 428 C6 SOLD
1967 F100 SW CVC 521 C6
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LM14
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Re: Oops, I think I just bought another truck....NOT! Update

Post by LM14 »

SLICKCOLLECTOR wrote:BTDT. you definitely have the disease. In the past when leaving town something told me you are an idiot and i ignored that and drove on. when i got there i found that my premonition was right and i was an idiot. BUT i didn't do that in inclement weather. I hope next time i go with my instincts but probably NOT. I'm glad you got home safe.


jim


.
Thanks, Jim.
I've been working on getting the engine running I got the 8V intake from you several years ago.

Image

SPark
1932 Ford 5 window coupe. 302/C4
1962 8V-390/C6 Unibody Short Bed Soon to be Big Window - The Lincoln that never was
2013 F150 Super Crew Eco Boost 4x4
2015 Ford Edge for the little lady, because she said so!
2007 Mustang GT, 4.6-3V/5 Speed. Only 8680 miles on the clock.

More toys, I need more toys!!!
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