New Truck?

My lovely wife surprised me. She just happened to mention that maybe we should trade in the car for a pickup truck. I happen to like little cars but she’s looking at trucks with good towing capacity. Our car, a Nissan Versa Note, isn’t really rated to tow anything. We also have an old Ford Escape that I put a hitch on. It’s strong enough to launch our sailboat -locally. I wouldn’t want to take it on the highway and go on a long trip. 

In the past we’ve had vehicles with big diesels that could tow just about anything. Apparently she misses those snorty monsters. 

Personally, I’m fine with my lovely wife using the car like a truck. It’s usually packed with shovels and other gardening tools. She volunteers at a nearby botanical garden. 

With the seats folded down the Escape can haul a lot of stuff. Maybe some stuff I should not have hauled with it. My niece was not impressed with the organic fertilizer smell that lingered for days. I must admit an open bed truck would have been a better choice, but how often do you haul stuff like that? 

Personally, I’m very happy to have vehicles that don’t have any payments, so there’s that. 

-Sixbears

Without a gasoline chainsaw

I’ve been dealing with lung damage for a long time now. Dirty two stroke engines can send me into serious coughing fits. The coughing can be so bad I pass out. That’s not something you want to have happen with a running chainsaw in your hands. 

In spite of that, over the years, I’ve gathered a lot of my own firewood. Fortunately a lot of wood can be gathered within walking distance of the house. I drag whole trees to the house where they are cut up with a corded electric chainsaw. Usually my 120 volt chain saws are ordered special so I can get more powerful ones than they normally sell in stores. 

For a few years I had a F250 pickup truck with a 7.3 diesel that ran on waste veggie oil. I wired up a huge inverted to run my 120 volt saw. The Forest Service sells permits for dead and down wood. There’s National Forest land nearby with a lot of dirt roads. With 100 foot cord it wasn’t too hard to quickly fill up the truck with wood. If the trees were further than my cord was long it wasn’t worth dragging them out anyway. 

I’ve never been one to trust the availability of petroleum products. Maybe it was due to coming of age during the Arab Oil Boycotts. Sometimes it’s good to have an old school backup. Mine is a 3.5 foot German crosscut saw. If you have to go with manual power, don’t scrimp on cheap saw. Make sure you know how to sharpen and maintain it too. 

In addition to the hand saw there’s a new Toro 60 volt battery chainsaw. That saw does a pretty good job. If the grid goes down it can also be charged on my household solar electric. 

One nice thing about gasoline alternatives. They are much quieter. That can be important during interesting times. 

-Sixbears

Slow Day

Not much going on at the homestead. We got a few more inches of snow overnight and it didn’t get warm enough to melt at all. This is the winter that keeps on giving. Seven months of snow so far. Oh well. Rumor has it that spring is coming, but you can’t believe everything you hear.

In other news I discovered someone I never want to do business with. My lovely wife and I saw a nice little truck with a for sale sign on it at a small used car dealership. We were running errands and had limited time so we didn’t stop to talk with a salesperson. That’s just as well.

When I talked to the guy on the phone it was a truly unpleasant experience. His main concern was that I show up today with cash in hand. It was all I could do to get the actual specifics about the truck. The truck was actually pretty close to what I was looking for. However, the salesman was rude, unwilling to negotiate, and kept asking over and over if I had the cash. He wanted to sell right now. That pop up red flags for anyone else?

Good thing I’m in no hurry to buy. I don’t respond very well to high pressure tactics.

There was another vehicle that could have worked to tow the boat. The downside? It was boring as unsalted crackers. I don’t want to be too picky. However, that car looked like something driven by a blue haired lady going down the fast lane of Florida 95 at 45 mph with the left directional on for 50 miles. Even I have to have some standards.

-Sixbears

Truck Hunting

I’ve been giving some thought to buying an old truck. It will have to be an old one as my budget is limited. It gives me something to do while healing up. At least I can search on-line sites for interesting vehicles.

Trucks, even old trucks, are popular, but I’ve got a few advantages. One big thing in my favor is that I’d prefer a manual transmission. Over the years I’ve had to replace three automatic transmissions. Compare that to the one time I replaced a clutch. Not only was it a lot cheaper, I did the job in my dad’s driveway. A lot of people don’t know how to drive standard, so that reduces the pool of interested buyers.

Another thing in my favor is that two wheel drive is preferred over four wheel drive. Most people here in the snow country want a 4X4. While four wheel drive is nice is the snow, the trade offs aren’t worth it. Two wheel drive is easier to maintain and gives better fuel mileage. My plan is spend the better part of next winter down south and avoid the snow. Not only that, I’m retired. If the snow is too deep I can stay home.

A lot of younger people are looking for lifted trucks. Unless a truck has been lifted at the factory, I don’t want it. Custom lift jobs usually cause a lot of problems. Too much stress is put on parts not designed for it. For example, universal joints end up working at angles that wear them out quicker. I’m looking for a plain Jane truck.

Of course, these are just guidelines. If a low mileage automatic transmission 4X4 comes my way for the right price I could still go that way. While the odds of that are long, it’s not impossible. Never close the door on something just because it’s unlikely.

-Sixbears

Do I miss the van?

Quite a few people have asked me if I miss the van. Yes I do. My ambulance van to camper conversion was pretty sweet. After seven years of ownership I had it pretty much dialed in to where I wanted it. The ability to run on waste vegetable oil was a big plus.

On the other hand, its time had passed. The days of being able to find free or inexpensive waste vegetable oil have come to an end. When running free veggie fuel the van was economical to drive. When burning diesel at 12 mpg -not so much.

It wasn’t one thing that convinced me to let it go. The van was at an age where it would need some pricey repairs. A 2001 vehicle isn’t going to run forever. This month it would have been due for rear brakes. Registration, inspection and insurance would have also come due this month. It’s nice not to have that stress in my budget, especially after my hospital stay.

The sting is lessened somewhat by having all the camping gear and alternative energy to tent in comfort. Our new L. L. Bean tent is well made and has already paid for itself. Before selling the van all the solar electric stuff and the 12 volt refrigeration were removed. It’s really nice to have independent power when tenting.

Friends and family members are doing camper builds and complete refurbishing of classic trailers. Right now it’s been enough to be able to watch and help out a bit. I’ve seen a lot of different camping rigs over the years and have some ideas on what works.

Will I get another van? I’m really not sure right now. To be honest, I’d get a lot more use of a truck these days. Even an old solid SUV would be good. The van was fun, but it’s time to move on and have some new adventures.

-Sixbears

Travel vehicles

My lovely wife and I have traveled with a number of different vehicles over the years. At the time we decided to live out of a tent and do car camping, we really did not have the right car for it. When our daughter went to school she had a little Dodge Neon. Once she graduated and started to make money she decided to upgrade to a new car. My lovely wife and I ended up with the Neon.

I'm not fussy with what I drive. My “image” does not depend on my transportation. The car had roof racks to carry a canoe so it was all good. Our first season I'd added a small receiver hitch to carry a cargo buddy. I figured we needed all the extra cargo room we could get. That winter the car was loaded down pretty heavily -canoe on the roof, big cargo box hanging off the back.

The next season we eliminated the cargo buddy completely. We'd pared down our stuff some. Other gear we packed in dry bags and stuffed inside the canoe on the roof. The little car rode much better.

What I was really wishing for was a classic VW camper van. Maybe it's the old hippie in me but I really liked the romance of those old mini-vans. My lovely wife and I looked at a number of them. One of the things that slowly started to change my mind was that a lot of the vans we looked at had blown engines. Then I found one in great shape.

The woman who owned it was stuck on a price and I was stuck on a lower price. I had cash in hand. Her husband really wanted that cash, but the van was in her name. No way was she going to budge. I left as the marital disharmony was reaching a fever pitch. That's the closest I came to buying one. Considering how underpowered and unreliable they are I probably dodged a bullet.

Right after that I got into running diesels on Veggie. We had an old Mercedes Benz 240D converted to run on WVO. With a small utility trailer on the back for veggie oil our range was 3000 miles. Loaded up with a canoe on top and all our camping gear, it accelerated like a fat man jogging. Eventually it would get to highway speeds. Still died on the hills, but we loved that old car and put 400,000 miles on it.

Later we ran a Ford F250 on veggie. That was a pretty good camping rig. Once we got into sailing it was a great tow vehicle. Unfortunately it was susceptible to rust. I changed both fenders and did a lot of patch work. Then we started to have drive train problems so we let that go.

That's when we won an ambulance at auction and turned it into the veggie van. It it's a good camping rig, fun to drive, and pulls the sailboat well. That's out current set up. It's pretty comfortable with a full sized bed, 12 volt cooler, microwave, and solar electric power.

Once in a while we find ourselves going back to more minimalistic camping. My lovely wife has a Nissan Versa Note. The little hatchback has roof racks for camping gear or a canoe. In a way it's a lot like back when we camped with the Neon all those years ago. We are still fond of tent camping. My lovely wife thinks tents are romantic and who am I to argue with that?

-Sixbears

Car Shopping

My lovely wife's car died and we'll have to replace it soon after we get home. I don't want the veggie van to be our daily driver anymore. The plan is to use it more like an RV and tow vehicle for our boats. That way we can get a few more years out of it.

I had been thinking of getting another diesel, maybe even another old Mercedes to convert to veggie. Sadly, I think my veggie burning days are coming to an end. Good quality WVO is getting hard to get. So that puts me in the general car market. I haven't bought a real car in years. My most recent vehicle purchase was a decommissioned ambulance.

A small pickup truck would be nice, but they don't really make small pickups anymore. The newer pickups out there don't excite me. Whatever happened to little ½ ton manual shift pickups that could get 35 mpg?

Oh yeah, my lovely wife is perfectly happy driving a stick, so that opens up things a bit.

I'm wondering if we should just settle for a little econo banger car, but we really hate to settle.

Should we get an older used vehicle and avoid payments? Perhaps we should suck it up and buy a new or newer car with some sort of warranty?

Any ideas out there? Something with decent mileage and a bit of character?

. . . an no Mr Flying Tortoise, we don't want a mule team.

-Sixbears

Made the trip

When a long trip starts with a minor accident before even leaving my home state, it doesn't bode well.

We did have a few minor problems, but nothing we couldn't deal with.

There was a bad smell and a loud hissing noise as we pulled off the highway for lunch. At first I thought it was my radiator. There was no coolant on the ground, so it could not be that. After pulling off the air filter I discovered a split air conditioner hose. My guess is that it was weakened in the crash and just let go when we tried to use it. While inconvenient, we can live without air conditioning.

During the last 8 miles to my dad's, my diesel fuel filter plugged up. We couldn't go faster than about 45 mph. Fortunately, it was a 50 mph road, so it wasn't too bad. We made it safely to our destination.

Tomorrow, I'll be busy fixing swapping out the filter and checking out the AC to see what it'll take to repair it.

We used to do this trip of 1700 miles in under 30 hours. That's moving right along and only taking the occasional cat nap. Then we started towing a boat with the truck. The trip took a good two days as we traveled a lot slower pulling the boat. Sometimes we'd even take a hotel room to get a night's sleep.

The van has a comfortable bed in the back. The trip takes at least three days now. It's easy to crawl in the back and get some good solid sleep. While the trip takes longer, at least we don't arrive looking like zombies. Instead of immediately falling into bed, we took showers and then went out to dinner with my dad.

-Sixbears

Truck tribulations

Long time readers of my blog may remember the springtime problems with our old 93 F250 pickup truck. It took a little redneck repair to get it to limp home to NH from FL. Only used it once since to make a load to the dump. Since then it’s sat in the driveway.

Today I decided to move it. A buddy of mine wants it for parts. The engine purrs like a tiger. (7.3 turbo diesels do not purr like kittens) The rest of the truck has advanced body cancer and is falling apart.

The truck hasn’t run all summer, so the batteries were too low to turn the big diesel over. A couple hours on the charger and it fired right up. I locked the hubs and shifted into 4 wheel drive. A roar and a lurch later and the truck climbed up the dirt driveway and onto the pavement.

That’s where it came to horrible stop. There was a long screech of metal things coming apart and the truck was stuck sideways, blocking the road.

Here’s what happened. The non-drive rear wheel on the truck had frozen into place. Even with one wheel not turning, the other drive wheel and the front drive wheel were able to pull it to the pavement. The frozen wheel just dug a trench in the soft dirt. Once it hit the pavement, the stuck wheel had something solid to grab onto. It was too much for the universal join that drove the front axle. That failed noisily and messily.

I had to get the truck out of the road, but it would not move under its own power. The one remaining drive wheel would only spin and smoke. I called my local tow truck guy, but he was out on a call and unavailable for hours.

In an almost desperate move, I hooked a tow strap to my ambulance/motorhome conversion and tried to pull the truck out of the road with that. To my happy surprise, it dragged the truck to the side of the road, stuck wheel and all. The tow strap looked and sounded like a guitar string, but it held.

Now all I have to do is to jack up the truck and see if that wheel can be freed. If it can, the truck could be driven the short distance to my friend’s house. If not, I can always call the tow truck guy.

At least it’s out of the way and I’ve got room for Thursday’s firewood delivery.

-Sixbears

Pile of healing

In my family, we used to say that given enough junk, my dad could repair or build anything. When he sold his house and moved to a trailer in Florida, all that junk had to stay behind.

It wasn’t really junk by then, but raw materials. He had organized piles of scrap metals, plastics, wood, hardware, wire, motors, electronics, fabrics, just about anything imaginable.

Most of this stuff was snapped up by people from the same school of thought. They tend to drive old trucks with big tool boxes in the back. You never know when something might need to be taken apart and hauled away.

My buddy Jeff calls his scrap collection his “pile of healing.” With the junk from the pile he can make most things better. His wife wasn’t too keen on that pile until he showed her how much money it saved them. We built a nice solar panel rack from junk out of the pile. In fact, we saved literally thousands of dollars on his solar electric installation by digging through the pile.

The trailer hitch on my van is the happy marriage of scrap from two different fix it guys. It takes skills and tools to make it happen, but sure pays off in the long run.

While not in my dad’s league, I’m a bit of junk collector myself. Today it hit me how far down that road I’ve traveled. My lovely wife and I were talking about our woodstove in the basement. It takes too long for the heat to make its way upstairs. What it really needs is a hood with some ductwork to channel the hot air directly upstairs.

Well . . . I’ve got this hood from a glass blowing furnace that would almost fit. All I have to do is modify it with some metal from the jacket of a scrapped hot water tank. There’s some left over hot air duct that could direct the hot air to a repurposed cold air return register. Of course the whole thing will be fastened together by salvaged screws and rivets.

By the way, the last time I visited my dad in Florida, he had just added a second shed for his stuff. Over time he’s slowly acquired a somewhat scaled down scrap collection. There is no stopping an old tinkerer. There’s always something that needs to be repaired or built.

-Sixbears

Moving right along

For those new to my blog, I’ve been converting an ambulance into a mini motor home.

I hit a major snafu with a title problem. That was resolved while I was on vacation this winter. Now that I’m home the project continues. Today I went to town hall and was able to actually register the vehicle and get some plates for it.

Right after that it was down to my insurance agent to buy insurance. Then home to put the plates on, charge up the battery, and take it for a road test. It runs well. The big 7.3 turbodiesel powerstroke engine purred right along.

My mechanic has to look at it. There’s excessive tire wear on one of the front tires and needs to be replaced. Then we have to figure out why the tire wore badly. It could something as simple a bad alignment or maybe a bad ball joint. The state of NH allows ten days from the time of registration until it gets an inspection sticker. The garage can do that at the same time as the tire fix.

One of my friends has been gathering materials for a trailer hitch all winter. He’s ready to install a custom hitch. Last fall he crawled under the vehicle and took measurements.

It needs a few creature comforts installed: a table that folds out into a bed, stove, and 12volt fridge.

Even more important than creature comforts is converting the diesel to run on waste vegetable oil. This will be my fourth WVO vehicle. I’ve assisted on several other conversions. Every conversion is custom and a bit different. There’s a shakedown period where any kinks are worked out of the system.

It’s great that this project is moving again. Since my pickup truck, and boat hauler, is falling apart, the ambulance conversion project has moved up in priority.



-Sixbears

Sailing the asphalt seas

My lovely wife and I had a good day on the road. We made it from W. Virgina to Salem MA in 12 hours. I’m pretty beat, but it was a good drive.

We’ll visit a couple days before making the last little jaunt up to our place in northern NH.

-Sixbears

Truck repaired

The truck is repaired. We are on schedule to leave my dad’s on Thursday. We only plan on going as far as St. Augustine. Friends are meeting us there for a few days. It’ll be nice to see old friends from New Hampshire.

It’s time to slowly make our way north. There are things that need our attention back home.

It’s been a great few months. My lovely wife and I are tan and healthy. Sailing’s been great. Spent some quality time with my dad and friends. Still, time moves on and so do we.

In a couple more weeks this bear will be back in the woods.

-Sixbears

Breakdowns

The sailing post will be coming. Right now I’m trying to catch up after an eventful evening. Thursday, we had the boat loaded up by 6 p.m. and we were heading out towards the highway. The steering on the truck felt a little funny so I pulled over. There was nothing obviously wrong so I eased down the road a bit more.

Once on the highway, it seemed fine -for about 20 miles. Then the wheels started pulling all over the place. That’s when I moved it over to the side and shut it down. A tow truck stopped to see if we were in need of assistance. Indeed we were in need.

Eventually, between my BoatUS membership and AAA, I was able to cover most of the 157 mile tow back to my dad’s place. Right now the truck is in the garage. The mechanic has found problems in the steering linkage.

As you can imagine, it was long long evening after a few days on the water. I’m pretty beat. At least we had the resources to make everything come together. It wasn’t like anyone was bleeding, or anyone was shooting at us. We’ve got to keep these things in perspective.

Then there’s the two dozen roses. . . .

Roses?

When we pulled off the road, there was another guy also broken down just ahead of me. He asked to borrow my cell phone as the battery died on his. No problem. In thanks, he presented my lovely wife and I with two dozen roses. Apparently, he was driving a flower delivery van.

Life has some bizarre little twists sometimes.


-Sixbears

Road trip plan B

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about the ambulance/camper conversion. The simple fact is there isn’t all that much to report. The “minor” paperwork hold up still hasn’t been straightened out. The latest excuse is that the one person who can process it has been out sick for over a month.

If the documents came in today, I’d still be unable to get the vehicle ready in time. Well, I might be able to swing it but there would be no time for a proper road test. Trouble shooting on the side of the highway isn’t my idea of a good time.

Converting a diesel to run on waste vegetable oil always has a few glitches to work out. There could be problems with air or coolant leaks, plugged fuel filters -usually nothing major. It’s just part of the final fit and finish. This is all custom work after all.

Working on the camper through Christmas, my wedding anniversary, and New Years might get me into trouble. I do want my wife to talk to me on the drive south.

I’ll be taking the old Ford F250 veggie/diesel south one more time. All it needs is a new registration and state inspection before hitting the road. When the ambulance/camper project ran into delays, I went ahead and had some work done on the old pickup: new glow plugs, exhaust repair, tires, and a wheel alignment. It’s not pretty, but the 7.3 turbo diesel has plenty of power to pull the boat. Better yet, I’ll be carrying enough waste veggie to go 2500 miles or so. That’s worth a few bucks.

In the end, it’s not what you drive, but where you are going.

-Sixbears

California wants to tell you when to change your oil

California thinks we change our oil too often. I only mention it because it seems these sorts of ideas get field tested in California before spreading to the rest of the country.

Basically, California thinks people change their oil too often. Many people change their oil at 3000 miles, while most manufacturers claim their vehicles can go much longer between changes. California thinks it’s a waste of oil to change it often.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but I don’t think it’s any business of the government’s. I change my oil at 3000 miles or so. That’s something I don’t do lightly with my truck as it takes 12 quarts. The thing is, my vehicles work hard under harsh conditions -subzero winters in New Hampshire and blistering Florida sun. Big loads are hauled up steep mountains and trailers pulled along at highway speeds.

I change the oil myself. What do I do with the old oil? It’s used for fuel. The truck has a totally separate fuel system for running with waste vegetable oil. I add a few quarts to that tank until the crankcase oil is used up. The filter system that removes bits of French fries and onion rings works just as well with bits of metal in the old motor oil.

I freely admit my vehicle system is unique. Of course, government likes to make rules that everyone has to follow. Right now it’s only a suggestion, but when government takes an interest in something, laws follow.

On the flip side, I rarely changed the oil on my old Mercedes. I put in a secondary oil filtration system that filtered the oil a lot cleaner than the standard filter. Once a month I’d change that filter and only added a quart of oil. That engine had 500,000 miles on it when the rest of the car wore out. The engine will have a new home running a generator.

It’s a small thing, this government interference in oil changes. However, it is a symptom of government slowly taking over every aspect of a person’s life.

-Sixbears

The future of transportation

I’m a big fan of moving things by water. If you aren’t in a great hurry, it’s about the cheapest way there is to transport cargo. Plenty of freight moves by water and it’ll get only more important in the future.

Air travel is one major fuel cost spike away from being a tiny niche market for the rich. Trucking is also susceptible to the price of fuel. Deterioration of roads and bridges is already hurting the industry. Rail is pretty efficient, but don’t expect major expansions of the system. What we have now is pretty much what we’ll have in the future -if we can keep even that. Everyone is tight for money.

Water transportation has its problems too. Many working harbors have been bought up for fancy waterfront condos. Can’t have those stinky working class boats cluttering up the view. Harbor facilities are susceptible to big storms. Harbors silt up. There are only so many good deep harbors in the world.

There are low tech, old fashioned boats that could take up the slack. If their main system of propulsion is by sail, all the better. Check out this reconstruction of a scow. The Crystal River Boat Builders are building a copy of this old Civil War era 36 foot boat. It sails, has a flat bottom, good cargo capacity, and shallow draft. I can see cousins of this boat plying their trade up and down the coasts and rivers.

Of course, you could put an efficient little diesel engine in it, or maybe even solar panels and electric propulsion. Boats like this could supply towns and cities that lack good harbors and do it cheaply. It could be run up on a beach, unloaded, then floated off again with no harm done. Shallow draft boats could haul cargo far up rivers too shallow for conventional boats.

The key to future transportation just might draw heavily from our past.

-Sixbears

At first we backpacked

When my wife and I met, I was an avid backpacker. She soon joined me on a lot of my hiking trips. Even after having kids, we still went hiking. Before long the kids were hiking with us.

Later, we did more canoe camping. We’ve always been water people and a canoe allowed us to take more comfort items. I even built a 20 foot cedar strip expedition type canoe. We had some great times.

Eventually the kids grew up and moved out. At the time, I was involved heavily with an on-line magazine. It occurred to me that as long as I could occasionally get to an Internet connection, I could do my work. My wife quit her job and we hit the road. Our car at the time was a tiny Dodge Neon. We put a canoe on the room, a tent in the back, and loaded up the dog. We spent up to 6 months a year living out of that tiny car.

Then I picked up an old Mercedes 240 D and converted that car to run on waste vegetable oil. It was roomier than the Neon and cheaper to run. I put a trailer hitch on it and towed a small utility trailer. Once again, the canoe went on the roof and the aging dog in the back.

We moved from that arrangement to a big Ford F250 extended cab diesel. It could carry a ton of stuff -and a canoe on top. Like the old Benz, this too was converted to run on waste veggie oil. After my wife had surgery on both shoulders, we thought it best to not do as much canoing. Instead, we got into sailing. Of course, the big truck worked out well as a tow vehicle for the boat.

Now I just picked up an old ambulance to convert into a mini camper. It’ll make a pretty good tow vehicle for the sailboat. This vehicle will also be converted to run on waste vegetable oil. We’ll be able to travel at a more relaxed pace. To avoid paying for hotel rooms, I’d often drive for 24 or more hours straight. I’d leave NH and drive non-stop for up to 1600 miles. With the new vehicle, I’ll just pull into a safe place to stop, crawl in the back and get a good night’s sleep.

Recently my lovely wife was reflecting on how complicated we’ve gotten since our backpacker days. Of course, we aren’t in our 20s anymore. My wife can’t hoist a backpack like she used to. I could, but the trips would have to be either longer in time or shorter in distance. That’s fine once in a while, but I do like to have adventures with my wife. The sailboat allows that to happen. It’s a small enough boat that either one of us can handle it alone, but it’s big enough to be able to comfortably lie down and get some rest.

The common thread in our lives is the desire to go on journeys. We like to get away from it all and see things. Some places become favorites and we keep going back, but we are always searching out new places to go to. When a person travels, they aways learn something. Staying in one place and doing the same routine would be deadly to me. Even though I like where I live and what I do, I still feel the need to travel.

I’ve gone from a 35 pound backpack to tons of vehicles and gear. Where will I be 5 or 10 years down the road? Who knows? Maybe we’ll simplify to living in a yurt half the year and on a small sailboat the other half.

-Sixbears

Truck Tricks

Truck Tricks

It’s always something. I got my truck back from the garage over the weekend. The mechanic did a fine job fixing the brakes. Monday, it worked well to tow the sailboat to Lake Umbagog. Leaving the lake, the truck started a bit sluggishly. The next day it wouldn’t start at all.

After charging up the batteries, the truck fired right up. However, the alternator wasn’t generating any power. I certainly wasn’t going to take the truck back to the garage. An alternator isn’t that hard to change, and doesn’t require special tools. The local junk yard had a replacement for $45. I could afford the price of junk yard part, but not a dealership part, especially after paying for brake work.

Some people really get into working on cars. I’ve never been one of them. All I want from my vehicles is for them to work. They don’t have to impress people, confer status or look nice. Recently a lot of vehicles around here suffered hail damage. My truck might have too, but it’s too hard to tell with all the old nicks and dings. Let’s just say I don’t waste any money on car wax.

Today was a pretty decent day to be a shady tree mechanic. Beats the last time a friend and I changed the alternator. Temperatures were not too far about zero. Tools kept falling from frozen fingers into the snow. Even working alone, this job went much faster.

It is a real satisfying feeling to do a repair job, fire up the engine, and have everything work the first time.

Now all I have to do is figure out where to tow the sailboat to next.

-Sixbears

More truck troubles

I’m an easy does it driver. Normally I don’t drive all that fast and I come to gradual stops. That is, until a moose bolted out in front of my truck. Then I matted the brake pedal and tried to put my foot through the firewall. I missed the moose, but my brake pedal felt squishy after that, not a good sign.

I suspected two things. One, that my panic stop might had blown a brake line. (It had.) My second suspicion was that something else had to be wrong with the brakes. (There was.)

Now I’m looking at replacing a master cylinder and a vacuum pump. As if that wasn’t enough, while the truck was on the lift, the mechanic noted I’m going to need a new front axle soon. After the Independence Day holiday, I’ll go down to the garage and see what kind of an estimate they were able to work up for me.

On the plus side, I’ve a friend who may have a gently used axle and who’s willing to help me change it. As for the brake parts -I don’t like to mess around with used parts. It’s a safety issue.
The truck is old enough that I was debating if it was worth fixing one more time. My wife acquired a second hand Caviler from my daughter. The idea was that since it’s a gas burner, we’d only use it for short trips where it didn’t make sense to use the veggie powered diesel. On short trips, the truck doesn’t warm up enough to switch from diesel to veggie.

Now that we are using the car for every trip, I’m stuck buying gasoline, and I don’t like it. I’m used to buying 10 gallons of diesel for every 3000 miles of travel. The diesel runs just long enough to switch over to the free waste vegetable oil I normally burn. Buying gasoline on a regular basis just feels wrong.

Worse yet, until I get my truck back, I can’t haul my sailboat. Already I’ve had to postpone a major boat trip.

Now if I could only convince my wife to live on a sailboat, we wouldn’t need the truck or the car.

-Sixbears