Is a force keeping me from getting my Jimmy?

[mountainexplorer]

*Force has been beaten!*Is a force keeping me from getting my Jimmy?

Here are the series of events that have occured in the process of one simple task: Retrieve my '74 GMC Jimmy from 100 miles away.

1) Get "Utah Crew Cab" licensed to go and tow Jimmy home. Fill up on fuel. Notice overheating problem and death wobble.

2) Change plans, and take Blue '84 K5 and tow bar to tow Jimmy home instead last Thursday.

3) Get pulled over right after hooking up to Jimmy. Abort mission and drive the 100 miles back home with nothing (200 miles total wasted).

4) Arrange deal with friend to pick up Jimmy with his trailer on his trip through the area last Friday.

5) Friend's trip gets real late. He decides not to stop and pick it up.

6) Retrieve my car trailer from property up north during weekend. Tow home with Blue '84 K5. Engine in Blue '84 K5 blows up on the way home.

7) Spend all day Monday putting '78 K5 back together so I have something to drive. Spend Tuesday fixing "Utah Crew Cab"... front balancer and seal, and fan and thermostat and gasket. Vibration in motor still not cured.

8) Tuesday night: Starter bolt breaks off "Utah Crew Cab".

9) Today: Go to fix starter problem to be able to get Jimmy tomorrow. Find source of vibration: Someone put a 454 flywheel on a 350 motor. (not me)

10) Abort mission- Must first yank tranny and T-case and replace flywheel and cracked bellhousing. Also must replace starter and drill and extract broken starter bolt in block.

11) Plan to try to get Jimmy on Friday instead.

To be continued...

 

[tRustyK5]

Sounds to me like you need another truck like you need a third testicle...


Rene

 

[mountainexplorer]

It's really bad with me. I have soo many rigs and only one or two run that I can drive.

My Suburban has a broken 465/205 adapter, which I could fix in just a couple hours, but I just want to wait and do the NV4500 swap in it all at once.

I sold the motor out of my "Little" crew cab.

Brutus still needs a motor (I need to take a day and do that swap).

But for now, I'm going to get the Utah Crew Cab fixed. And I got my '78 K5 going too. So thats my only transportation right now here in town.

 

[tRustyK5]

Feel free to take this with a grain of salt...

It's really bad with me. I have soo many rigs and only one or two run that I can drive.

You only have one or two that run because you have so many rigs.

If you only had one or two rigs, you'd have the time and money needed to keep them both running and well maintained. You have hit the point of critical mass...like the proverbial "Cat lady". Eventually she has 38 cats and can't afford to feed any of them or herself anymore.

Just my two cents...

Rene

 

[blackblazer717]

sounds to me like we have some issues on our hands right now dont we.
i wish i had that many rigs. i need a set of axles... 3/4 tons

 

[ZooMad75]

You only have one or two that run because you have so many rigs. If you only had one or two rigs, you'd have the time and money needed to keep them both running and well maintained. You have hit the point of critical mass...like the proverbial "Cat lady". Eventually she has 38 cats and can't afford to feed any of them or herself anymore.

Just my two cents...

Rene

I don't mean to laugh but that is absolutly funny! No offence to Allen of course, but Russ's statement makes total sense. Reminds me of the Animal cops episode where they removed over 100 cats from some old dudes house. Got so bad the guy had to sleep in his garage. If Allen's fleet keeps growing it might overtake the house and the only place to sleep is the in the camper!

I look at it this way. Chit happens. You can't begin to control it, the best you can do is roll with it. Getting upset wastes energy that could be spent on a solution to the current problem. Besides, from what I've seen of Allen's posts, he enjoys wrenching on his stuff.

I will say this though, having to work on something so you can drive the next day is much more stressfull than wrenching for fun when you got a backup to drive to work the next day.

 

[clarkjw24]

I hate to dismantle any "running" vehicle but you may want to consider stripping them for the parts and only keep one of each make. I've got 3 K5s and I can't decide which one to work on first. I know I could use one of those D60s you've got. How about a road trip to SC?

 

[tRustyK5]

I certainly didn't mean any offense either, it was just an observation. Most 'Fleets' are maintained by numerous people with a real-world budget that most normal people can't match (never mind the time involved.)

Far be it for me to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do, but in the same situation I'd certainly look at what was worth keeping and what would be better off as a parts donor...as well as selling a few off for a bit of working capital.

Rene

 

[mountainexplorer]

I can agree with that totally. Logically, that makes sense and I know that. But my addiction is rigs. The actual permanent fleet consists of only like 20 rigs.

Then there's the "temporary fleet". These are the rigs I buy and re-sell. The temp fleet right now includes the black '78 K5, the red '84 K20, Brutus ('77 Crew Cab), '70 K5, the Green Machine ('75 K20)... already traded off actually, and the '74 Jimmy... and these are always changing.

I went over my capable limit of maintenance a long time ago. Everyone tell me... get rid of all your crap and get one good nice rig. But those rigs in the fleet have in a way become my "kids" of a sort. Nearly half of them I have had down to the frame and body, putting them back together the way I like them... big blocks, Dana 60's, 14-bolts, SM465's and NP205s.

I know once I get married and have kids, alot will change... but for now, it seems to be my life, and for the most part, I love doing it. I also love the "challenge" of putting together everything I have with the best and strongest stuff for hardly any money. By wheeling and dealing, I make some money on the side, get parts for free for the fleet, and learn new stuff all the time.

No offense taken. I completely agree that my situation is illogical. But having too many trucks and 4x4s and 4-wheeling is my one thing that doesn't make sense.

"Everyone has one thing that they do that doesn't have to make sense; This is mine".
(That statement I made got quoted by the local paper when I got interviewed at a mud bog last fall)

 

[diesel4me]

I'm in the same boat too--or is it a submarine??

I have 4 vehicles,but since I've been out of the working world to care for a sick mother,I had to pull my van off the road in dec 2003,and my 74 K20 that blew reverse in the tranny is still sitting with the plates still active and attached,and insured!!-
-I have to get my butt in gear and get the plates transferred to the van or cancelled,probably cancelled because I'm almost broke,and dont need the burden of having 3 vehicles I cant even afford to put gas in,not to mention they all need new batteries,etc..I think I'm going to have to sell my 79 C10
"Bonanza"because after it blew the six cylinder motor I had to spend nearly 400 bucks to buy and swap in a 305 from an 86 van-and I dont use it enough,I prefer a 4x4 more than a 2wd,but it does ride better,its a nice "summer truck"...But I cant afford all of them unfortunately,even if I was working,it still wouldnt make sense to have 3 vehicles sitting at home..cant drive them while your at work.. .

-I hate to sell it,its very solid and mostly rust free for being a new england truck,and its the best driver I have at the moment,and I'll probably only get 1500 bucks if I'm lucky, at this time of year no one wants a 2wd "antique" truck,I could try selling it for more at a swap meet in the coming months,but I'll be living in a tent by then..

Since we just got another 14 inch snowfall monday,that has scuttled my plans to cut up the 74 K20 and scrap it for the cash(hate to scrap good parts,but my future here is not rosy,my mom is sick and might die anyday now,and I dont know what her plans for me are in her will--lets just say I'm not ecpecting much,if anything,and might have to move out if the house ends up sold.. )I really should be working full time but my back has been killing me after all the snow shovelling,and my mom needs me at home somewhat,I hate leaving her alone due to senility,I'm fearful she will forget leaving a pot on the stove and burn the house down--its hard to find a place to work that will allow you to take time off a lot to care for a sick parent,and I'm not even sure I could work a full 40 hour week anymore,my health is pretty poor too,thanks to no money to fix my teeth and get new eyeglasses,and my back has always been a burden,having scoliosis of the spine sucks....

So Alan,live it up while you can--do it while your young,because after you hit 40 you wont be able to do all that heavy lifting and constant work on the trucks like you want too--I used to be able to pull out a motor from one truck and pop it in another in 1 day without too much problem--now it would take me a week,and another week at least to recover!--You have a good setup judging by your photos,I would have loved to spent my youth chopping up and rebuilding trucks like you do!-and it must be heaven to have lots of acerage to do it all on,with no nosy neighbors bitching at you about the noise and mess truck restorations always involve..

-I did it to some degree here,but my parents never liked a lot of "junks" and parts on their property,and we are in a residential area,so I could only do a little of what I really wanted too--and after working all day at a "real" job,your ambition to spend hours working at night on old trucks starts to fade quickly...Everyone tells me the same thing,junk all the old rotboxes and get 1 decent truck--but they dont have the addiction to GM trucks,they dont understand--I will most likely always have more than 1 vehicle-(finances permitting!)-after all,I have to have something to drive to the boneyards to get more parts!

-Rene is right about the "cat lady" syndrome--I've done it with trucks,and my mom has done it with stray cats--we now have a "flock" of a dozen strays here every day looking for food--its going to be a real tough job to get rid of them after my mom goes--even the animal control officers wont help you when it comes to cats,they only will help with dogs....at least a scrap guy will pick up my trucks for free if I croaked...

 

[Z3PR]

Here are the series of events that have occured in the process of one simple task: Retrieve my '74 GMC Jimmy from 100 miles away.

1) Get "Utah Crew Cab" licensed to go and tow Jimmy home. Fill up on fuel. Notice overheating problem and death wobble.

2) Change plans, and take Blue '84 K5 and tow bar to tow Jimmy home instead last Thursday.

3) Get pulled over right after hooking up to Jimmy. Abort mission and drive the 100 miles back home with nothing (200 miles total wasted).

4) Arrange deal with friend to pick up Jimmy with his trailer on his trip through the area last Friday.

5) Friend's trip gets real late. He decides not to stop and pick it up.

6) Retrieve my car trailer from property up north during weekend. Tow home with Blue '84 K5. Engine in Blue '84 K5 blows up on the way home.

7) Spend all day Monday putting '78 K5 back together so I have something to drive. Spend Tuesday fixing "Utah Crew Cab"... front balancer and seal, and fan and thermostat and gasket. Vibration in motor still not cured.

8) Tuesday night: Starter bolt breaks off "Utah Crew Cab".

9) Today: Go to fix starter problem to be able to get Jimmy tomorrow. Find source of vibration: Someone put a 454 flywheel on a 350 motor. (not me)

10) Abort mission- Must first yank tranny and T-case and replace flywheel and cracked bellhousing. Also must replace starter and drill and extract broken starter bolt in block.

11) Plan to try to get Jimmy on Friday instead.

To be continued...

With luck like that, it might be cheaper too rent a truck and trailer, LOL.

 

[mountainexplorer]

Well, Thursday I tore the Utah Crew Cab apart, replacing the flywheel, bellhousing, clutch disc, clutch fork, starter (and extracting a broke starter bolt).

Got it all ready, finally rolled my '84 K5 off the trailer, zip tied tail light lenses onto the trailer and took off on Friday.

Didn't break down, didn't get pulled over, and actually finally got the Jimmy back to my house for the 3rd time I've owned it in 5 years. Crew Cab is still leaking oil from somewhere though. Won't show me just sitting there running, but you sure can tell oil and PS fluid are leaking out after running down the freeway at 70.