Fighting the good fight against cabin (global) warming....
I feel...vicariously vindicated viciously victimizing vociferousity...
cupholders...
Now that we got that outta the way...Happy Monday Y'all...
Speaking of the good fight...Last week I finally got the chance to use 'Ol One-Ton to help someone out...actually it's first service call while I have had it.
Other than using it for my own purposes...I actually went somewhere with my truck and fixed something for someone else...
I felt good...charged even...I had the old, 'sense-of-purpose' feeling while I was engaged in the activity...and actually using my truck for something other than building a house...
It started last year when an older gentleman called me and said that they needed to get their truck running and moved...
It is a 1965 Ford two-ton dump truck that he had used when he had a roofing business...grand old thing...was powered by an FE gas engine and four-speed.
I had seen the truck before...so I did not ask what it was...I just needed to know how long it had been sitting...
'Two to three years'...came the reply...I told him to see if the battery will take a charge first...and then call me...
Secretly...I knew that it was a good chance that the gas had soured in the tank...but...first things first...
Fast forward one year...I get a voicemail that had a lot of stress in it...on a Friday afternoon...that he needed to move the thing by Monday morning...
I sprang into action...the message was already three hours old...I uncoupled my truck from everything attaching it to the jobsite..extension cords, air lines, radio and makeshift antenna, nuts, bolts, screws, washers, a can of welding rod stubs, buckets, scrap metal, tools, etc.,etc....you would not believe what can pile up around your truck when it becomes a stationary work site...
Finally I cranked her up after checking the oil and charging system and headed down the driveway...I took note of how many miles was on the odometer as I chugged down the road...
I called the guy and said I was on the way...
Thirty miles later I am there...and the field...I am not ******** you...the grass was waist high...I groaned to myself and just 'knew' that The Girl was going to have to inspect me for ticks, later...
Tick, chiggers, maybe snakes...(Both kinds...)...Oh, well...here goes...
So...He didn't say much about the grass...and he rolled up with a battery in a loader bucket and was surprised that I was there after only one voicemail...membership has it's privileges...
I opened the hood and took off the air cleaner...Autolite two-barrel...cool, simple...I put gas in it with a can and a hose while he goes to put his battery in under the passenger floorboard...he borrows a socket while I take the fuel line off the mechanical fuel pump...I drain it into a pan...and it comes out stinky and yellow....
Oh, boy...well..gotta deal with it...
The rubber hose has been taken off before...and it was too short to go back on...and the fuel ran out pretty fast...so I cinched it off with some vise grips and looked through my stuff for another hose...
Found one...but it was going to be a struggle to get it up on the barb...I find that the hose clamps are ok...but judging by how fast the gas came out...the tank was close to full...
But...once the initial burst of yellow gas came out...it started running white...so...there was a chance that the gas was going to be ok...
I crawl underneath with all of the high grass and pull the old line off and while I am forcing the hose on the barb I get soaked...I mean really drenched with gasoline...my t-shirt was soaked...(feel the burn)...
I get it back together and it RUNS...runs and then idles...
Good, old truck...
We let it run for awhile and then he says that the real test is if it will shut off and then re-start...it did...no problem...
I pack up...put everything away...and get ready to leave...he asked me about payment...I refused...I figured that it will come back to me, somehow...and I saved the guy from agonizing all weekend about moving the truck...
Sometimes...peace of mind is priceless....
I head back, full of ticks, chiggers, and reeking of gasoline...but I am satisfied...'Ol One-Ton's first service call with me at the helm...
What a team...