As It Should Be....

Green Plates. As it should be....

One more step towards legality. Fifty-three percent of the way to passing inspection.

(Side Note: Death Wobble resolved with the balancing of the front tires. It appears that one of the previous owners - most likely the most recent - removed the wheel weights from the wheels when he painted the wheels. The balanced front wheels prevent the front end from wobbling all the way up to 55mph. They might be steady at higher speeds, but I can't get the thing any faster.  Not sure if the axle gearing is limiting top speed or if the engine is just tapped out at 3,000 RPM,  but when you say, "Warp Speed, Mr. Sulu", this old freighter hits the wall at 55. Takes it sweet-ass time to get there, too. I did a unofficial acceleration test the other day: I revved it up and dumped the clutch, short-shifted first gear and wound second all the way out, and when the engine was screaming at redline, I held the gas down and pitched it into third. Right about then, I heard an older gentleman's voice over my left shoulder say, "Good Morning" as he pedaled past me on his bicycle. This thing ain't the Thrust SSC - no land speed records are going to broken here...)



Progress Report

Current Level of Progress: 47% of items to pass state inspection complete.

(45.7% if you count having to replace the bungee cord with a real battery hold down which, curiously, is not an area of inspection in this state)

Sabotage!

Remember the last post, where I told you not to mix family time with repair time? I warned that you would not get good results if you tried. This was most certainly the case today.

As I was rolling around under the front axle trying to resolve the Death Wobble, Toddler was in the bed of the truck - being Toddler. Just as soon as I would fit a wrench to a bolt and start to pull, a little voice from the bed would shout "Daddy! Look! Do you see the stick now?" as he jammed the CB antenna down through a hole in the floor. Not the best game to play as you're trying to calmly think about the problem you're fixing.

As we were packing up to head inside for dinner, this is what I found as I came around the back of the truck:

Toddler took some bungee cords and ran them from the trailer hitch to around a metal shelving unit. That shelf holds a few odds and ends and my toolbox. I don't know for sure, but I think Toddler was attempting to have me pull the truck out of the garage so that he could see a fully-loaded four-drawer toolbox smash to the floor.(Or maybe he's seen the truck drive and knows that the wheezy old engine couldn't pull its way out of a paper bag....)

Anyway, I think Toddler is out to sabotage the truck project. I'm worried that he's going to start "tripping" over the wheel chocks as he kicks them out of place. Maybe he will "helpfully" bring me the trouble light by handing the hot bare-bulb end to me. He's been asking to help grease the truck ever since he spotted the grease gun on the shelf. I can only imagine what handing him a grease gun would result in....

I hope I survive this project!

Intertwined

It's been somewhere near a decade, but I used to know that owning an old Jeep wasn't just about driving that Jeep. It was trying to balance the business of daily life with the repair needs of your vehicle. There were things you had to do, like work. There were things that you needed to do, like put the wheel back onto the axle so that you could get to work. Then, there were things that got put off until later. 'Deferred Maintenance' - like the oil leaks or dripping gear lube - things that weren't critical, but still worked their way into life.

This new (if you can call 1972 new) Jeep is the same. There are the urgent things that need to be done, like replacing the leaking fuel line. (Things that can cause big KABOOMS get done first!) There are other things that need to be done, like pass the state's vehicle safety inspection, so that you can get to work. Then, there are things that will wait until later, like paint (but, really: who paints an entire truck white but runs out of paint right at the end, leaving a gray door? Are you kidding?)

It's all intertwined. The must-dos, the need-to-dos, and the dream list all compete for time along with family, work, and chores. What you do in one area affects the others. (Note: do not try to combine family time with truck repair time. A four-year-old does not 'help' with any part of repair. You will not have quality family time or quality repair time. Just. Don't. Try. It.)

Jeep ownership is even twining itself into matters of the house and yard. With the fuel leak, the various parking spots of the truck are evident. See the photo below.

Those aren't spots caused by the neighbor's dogs peeing on the grass (or Toddler. He doesn't pee in the grass. Mommy encourages him to pee on the flower garden. She says it's to keep the deer away. I think she's training him to be a redneck.) There are dead-grass craters like this every where the truck has been parked. I'm trying to figure out if I should dig up the dead grass and reseed or just dig a hole and plant some perennials (maybe peonies, geraniums, or daisies) - there'd be random flowers all over the side yard!

So there you have it -  Jeeps come in and get caught right up in the big spider web of life. Maybe all of this intertwining could go a little way toward explaining why my fingernails now have grease under them all the time or why there is a 9/16" hex-shaped bruise on my forehead.....

Rattle and Hum

Rattle and Hum - not U2's sixth album, but a part of the symphony of sound that plays when the J-Truck rolls down the road. Tap, tap starts the gas pedal. Whirr of the starter brings in the blatty roar of the leaky exhaust as the gears section slowly pitches up into a wonderful crescendo.

The music of an old truck is certainly fine, but the driving of an old truck is sometimes um....adventurous. I knew that there was a lot of work to be done on the old girl, but a few things are surprises.

- Fuel line. After driving sixty miles and refilling the tank with almost seven gallons of gas, a slight problem with fuel mileage seemed evident. Even a tired old six cylinder should be able to pull off almost fifteen miles per gallon - not nine. Sitting at the family dinner table with the sunset gleaming off the beautiful truck in the driveway, the problem became clear. Every four seconds, there was a drop of gasoline falling off the broken fuel line onto the ground.  Put that one to the top of the repair list!

-Death Wobble. At approximately 45mph, the right front tire starts a violent shaking that makes one think that the truck will fall apart right that instant if you don't slow down immediately. Not feeling like a balance problem - will be tearing down and inspecting the front axle this weekend.

-Random shit falling right off the truck. Nothing shakes the calm, confident feeling of slowly (remember the death wobble) piloting a classic rig down the road like having bits and pieces of that truck fall off. On the trip to work this morning, the plastic lens that covers the instrument panel just 'click' - fell right over. Hmmm...okay, we'll just set that aside on the seat here for a few minutes. Half a mile down the road, the instrument panel itself falls straight down behind the dash, leaving only the "50" of the speedo visible. Dang it - I need that thing. No other way to tell if I'm accelerating into the Death Wobble Zone! Imagine how it must look to other road users to see the driver of a 40-year-old truck weaving back and forth across the road as he grapples with something behind the dash while reaching through the spokes of a giant, boat-sized steering wheel. Yup - I'm just glad that the cops were off somewhere else.

More surprises to come, I'm sure. The adventure continues!

Truck

Psst! Over here! That other blog is full of NorthernToddler stuff - no room for pictures of things like trucks. This truck has been on-site for a week, and I've finally taken a photo or two of it. (Too busy with fixing it and other responsibilities to take pictures.)

This old truck (three years older than me!) is going to serve its new role well - as soon as the repairs are complete. There is a long list of things that need to be done before it can pass inspection, and another list of things to be done to make it do its work better. First on the list? Get green license plates for it. Second? Fix that unholy roar from the leaky exhaust - it's insane!