Road Trip Retrieval

I shopped around a long time for my most recent truck before finding it. Lots of time went by as I kept an eye on Craigslist, Offerup, and FB Marketplace. I spent plenty of time perusing ads (wasting time).

I had reached a position with the old 84 Chevy that I was just no longer interested in the truck. Well, unless I was driving it--that was always fine. I wanted to upgrade my truck in several areas but it was not the base I wanted to build on. I felt I'd be just giving my money to the next owner. I wanted to start with the right truck.

When I found what I considered to be what I was looking for, it was on Facebook Marketplace (I only have a FB account for their marketplace.) I wasn't thrilled because it was so far away, but that's just the way FB anything works... you tell them what you want to see and they give you what they want you to see anyway. Thanks to retirement, I didn't have to do much planning to go down to look at the truck. I chose a day and away we went. (Looking back, we should have gotten a much earlier start.) By the time we got to the guy's place near Grants Pass, Oregon, it was after 5pm.

Here are a few pictures from the ad. (I thought I had saved them all, but I lost several.)

The truck looked a little better in person than it did on the ad, which was a good start. It seemed to run fairly good, and everything I looked over was looking okay as well. We took it for a drive, and when he stepped on it, both the engine stumbled and the transmission slipped briefly at the same time. He only acknowledged the the engine, citing the engine as 'not being warmed up'.

I wasn't too worried about that. I was mainly worried about whether or not it was going to get me home!

Like a fool, I really didn't check too many things before taking off for home like I should have. Maybe it was the weed we smoked to ease nerves or whatever. Luckily, nothing went wrong, but several things could have (more on that later). It was very evident right away that the tires were too short in stature when I got on the freeway. The rpm's were a bit higher than I was used to. I remember asking the guy what the rear end ratio was. "Low," he said. When I got on the freeway it was almost as if there was no high gear and it was stuck in 2nd! You can see by the picture here how much shorter these tires were. The tall one on the right is the correct, stock size, and even fairly worn down was a lot taller than what was on the truck.

I didn't check the water level before we left, and it was dangerously low when we finally got home (yes, we got home without incident) at about 10 or 11pm. When we left the guy's house I gassed up before getting on the freeway. It has two gas tanks, but the right tank hadn't been used in a while, and I didn't feel like causing a major fuel line blockage if I suddenly opened up a dam of shit of some kind. I filled the tank, and by the time we crossed the Columbia into Washington again I was on fumes. Obviously, I was driving too fast, trying to keep up with traffic with normal gearing. For the final leg of the trip I kept the speed around 55 or so and had almost a half a tank left when we pulled into the driveway! Huge difference. Another thing that happened: Not long after we first got on the freeway with it the brake warning light came on. I didn't think much of it--I just figured it was the parking brake lever switch. The headlights were a little on the dim side, but they were working and the alternator was charging, so that part was fine. Lots of noises, rattles, squeaks, and unknowns. I had 2 dash lights, and none of the gauges were working except the temperature, and I didn't much trust that either. Luckily, it never rained on the way home, because although the wipers did work, I had no idea if the rubber on them would be up to the task.

I went out to check out the next day to see what I had bought (laughs nervously). The brake proportioning valve had apparently saved my ass. The left rear brake drum had a puddle of brake fluid under it and saturating everything, and the rear brake reservoir was bone dry. Without the two-part master cylinder that all vehicles currently use I would have been without brakes. Note to self: Never assume it's just the parking brake switch. I also noticed the radiator was dangerously low--like below half. Yow! I could have wasted the newly-rebuilt engine out of stupidity!

I have a rule: I never do anything major to a vehicle I buy until it's in my name, so that was the first order of business. I hurried right down and got the title transferred and got my new plates.

Ownership. Let the adventure begin.