This was not supposed to happen.
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This was not supposed to happen.
I bought a truck. I'm still not sure why.
This was about 2-1/2 years ago, now. I'd never owned a truck. A friend of a friend in the neighborhood had purchased a new Dodge truck, and was lamenting his 1993 Ford F-150, which he had no time for.
"It ain't pretty," he said...but it'll run forever. Know anybody that wants a work truck?"
"Yeah, maybe, depending on what you want for it," I answered. "Me."
I really don't know why I said it. I'd thought about buying a work truck on occasion, and I was a Ford fan for quite awhile. An hour and a few beers later, I agreed to buy it for $700, sight unseen. My wife decided I was completely crazy, and I kinda agreed with her. The nest week, he drove it to my friend's place. He reluctantly handed over the title, I threw my bike in the back of it, handed over the $700 bucks, and drove it home.
It had 100,000 miles on it, with the 4.9 six, dual tanks, 2 wheel drive, and a 4-speed with overdrive on the floor. It was ugly. It leaned a little bit to the passenger side. It had dents on the driver's fender, and the rear wheel wells were a little rusty. But oh, that motor. It purred, and it was torquey as hell. I replaced the filters, wires, plugs, and tuned it up.
I drove the snot out of it that spring, and it never let me down. To this day, it has never left me anywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it got almost 20 mpg on the highway. I took it camping in the Pine Barrens, sleeping in the bed, under a cap, on an air mattress. I turned down an offer to buy it for almost twice what I paid for it.
Last year, I mostly used it for hauling gravel and mulch for a landscaping project. It took a full yard of gravel, and the landscaping guys were impressed. "That bitch just sat right down and took it, didn't it? We didn't think there was any way she'd handle that load."
She hauled over a dozen truckfuls of gravel up the mountain, and didn't complain once. That fall, the exhaust fell off without warning. I pulled over, kicked it free behind the cat, threw it in the back of the bed, and kept going.
I parked it for last winter, as Pocono winters are not kind to 2wd pickups. In the spring, the two passenger side tires were flat, so now it *really* leaned to the passenger side. The wife and I had cars that worked, so it got pushed off to the side. Then the inspection ran out. Then we took it off the insurance policy. Then the registration ran out. It sat. I forgot about it.
A month ago, the harmonic balancer on my Saturn detonated. (Yeah, I was as surprised as you.) As the tow truck dropped off the Saturn, he asked what I had in the Ford truck. "Straight six with a five speed" I answered. "Man, that's a good truck," he said. It'll never let you down."
I stared at the truck for a good ten minutes. I hadn't even started it since February. I got in it and tried the key. It started immediately and purred.
Three weeks ago, my neighbor and I put a new exhaust on it for less than $100. While he was under the truck, he noticed something. "You've had a broken leaf spring mount on this thing for a long time," he said. The next day, I went and bought mounts and shackles. I bought brake pads, as I hadn't done them since I bought the truck. I found myself buying primer and rust inhibitor. I remembered the truck eating up long stretches of highway, cruising at 70 mph at under 2,000 rpm, purring along without a care in the world. I wanted it back.
Last week, we put the rear mounts and shackles on...burned the old ones off with a welder. We did the brakes...and I saw it. The coil spring had pushed through the spring bracket/tower/whatever. It had been that way for a while....I undoubtedly had hauled tons and tons of gravel up a mountain with the front and rear bracket mounts broken on the passenger side. The resulting lean had worn the driver side tires at an odd camber...so I also need new tires.
I told my wife I'm buying the tires and mount next week. She didn't really say much, as its going to cost me less than $1,000 total to get it back in great shape. Plus, she saw long ago what I didn't see until recently.
I love my truck. This was not supposed to happen.
This was about 2-1/2 years ago, now. I'd never owned a truck. A friend of a friend in the neighborhood had purchased a new Dodge truck, and was lamenting his 1993 Ford F-150, which he had no time for.
"It ain't pretty," he said...but it'll run forever. Know anybody that wants a work truck?"
"Yeah, maybe, depending on what you want for it," I answered. "Me."
I really don't know why I said it. I'd thought about buying a work truck on occasion, and I was a Ford fan for quite awhile. An hour and a few beers later, I agreed to buy it for $700, sight unseen. My wife decided I was completely crazy, and I kinda agreed with her. The nest week, he drove it to my friend's place. He reluctantly handed over the title, I threw my bike in the back of it, handed over the $700 bucks, and drove it home.
It had 100,000 miles on it, with the 4.9 six, dual tanks, 2 wheel drive, and a 4-speed with overdrive on the floor. It was ugly. It leaned a little bit to the passenger side. It had dents on the driver's fender, and the rear wheel wells were a little rusty. But oh, that motor. It purred, and it was torquey as hell. I replaced the filters, wires, plugs, and tuned it up.
I drove the snot out of it that spring, and it never let me down. To this day, it has never left me anywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it got almost 20 mpg on the highway. I took it camping in the Pine Barrens, sleeping in the bed, under a cap, on an air mattress. I turned down an offer to buy it for almost twice what I paid for it.
Last year, I mostly used it for hauling gravel and mulch for a landscaping project. It took a full yard of gravel, and the landscaping guys were impressed. "That bitch just sat right down and took it, didn't it? We didn't think there was any way she'd handle that load."
She hauled over a dozen truckfuls of gravel up the mountain, and didn't complain once. That fall, the exhaust fell off without warning. I pulled over, kicked it free behind the cat, threw it in the back of the bed, and kept going.
I parked it for last winter, as Pocono winters are not kind to 2wd pickups. In the spring, the two passenger side tires were flat, so now it *really* leaned to the passenger side. The wife and I had cars that worked, so it got pushed off to the side. Then the inspection ran out. Then we took it off the insurance policy. Then the registration ran out. It sat. I forgot about it.
A month ago, the harmonic balancer on my Saturn detonated. (Yeah, I was as surprised as you.) As the tow truck dropped off the Saturn, he asked what I had in the Ford truck. "Straight six with a five speed" I answered. "Man, that's a good truck," he said. It'll never let you down."
I stared at the truck for a good ten minutes. I hadn't even started it since February. I got in it and tried the key. It started immediately and purred.
Three weeks ago, my neighbor and I put a new exhaust on it for less than $100. While he was under the truck, he noticed something. "You've had a broken leaf spring mount on this thing for a long time," he said. The next day, I went and bought mounts and shackles. I bought brake pads, as I hadn't done them since I bought the truck. I found myself buying primer and rust inhibitor. I remembered the truck eating up long stretches of highway, cruising at 70 mph at under 2,000 rpm, purring along without a care in the world. I wanted it back.
Last week, we put the rear mounts and shackles on...burned the old ones off with a welder. We did the brakes...and I saw it. The coil spring had pushed through the spring bracket/tower/whatever. It had been that way for a while....I undoubtedly had hauled tons and tons of gravel up a mountain with the front and rear bracket mounts broken on the passenger side. The resulting lean had worn the driver side tires at an odd camber...so I also need new tires.
I told my wife I'm buying the tires and mount next week. She didn't really say much, as its going to cost me less than $1,000 total to get it back in great shape. Plus, she saw long ago what I didn't see until recently.
I love my truck. This was not supposed to happen.
Last edited by The Goat; Sep 20, 2011 at 12:15 AM. Reason: Spelling
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