the trip home with donor truck
The back story:
A few weeks ago my mom called to tell me that there was a truck similar to mine for sale near where she works. She got the owners info for me and I called about it. The owner told me that it was a 1981 Chevy K10 long bed 4x4 and that it had a small block V8 but he did not know if it was a 305 or 350, it also had almost brand new rims and 33" mud tires, and he was wanting $1k. I told him I would think about it and get back to him. A week later my mom called me back and said that the tires had been stolen off of it, and that the owners dad ( who works with my mom) said that they were thinking about just selling it for scrap. I called the owner and talked to him again, he said to make an offer, so I decided to take check it out when we went to my mom's for Labor day. The owners wife met us at the truck, which had a mismatched collection of tires so that they could move it. I looked the truck over and noticed that the dipstick for the transmission was in the cab behind the seat, and that it was broken, the seat was worn out, there was no covering for the floor, the head liner was sagging, and that the truck has originally been a diesel. I started the truck, which ran good, had a slight tick that went away after a few minutes. The owners wife told us that they were hoping for $500 at this point. i told her that I would have to look at our money and see what we could do and I would get back in touch with them. After talking to alasais about it I decided to call the owner and set up a time to do a test drive. When I done the test drive I found out that the transmission would not shift into 3rd gear, and that the brakes were very spongy. I offered him $300 and he said that he could go below $500. I told him I would see if I could come up with that much, and let him know in a day or so. I called a scrap yard to find out how much scrap metal is bringing now ($7.50 per 100 lbs) as I have 2 scrap blocks (about 600lbs each), 3 heads (at almost 60 lbs each) I will also have a bumper, 2 gas tanks and assorted old car parts ( all at unknown weights), called a junk yard to see how much I could get off the body ($200) and I am expecting a refund from advance auto on the head that trashed the last engine ( depending on if they give me the core deposit it will either be a little over $200 or just shy of $300). so all that added together will cover the cost of the truck, so we decided to go buy it. I called the owner told him we wanted it, and would he let it go for $450, he would not budge from $500, so I agreed to buy it for $500.
The Trip Home:
We left for Alabama on Friday morning and got to Mentone Where the truck was at around 1:30 est. When we got there I took these pictures:
I have not decided if I am going to take the bug deflector, but I am going to see if the grill will fit on Fred (the truck with the trashed engine)
I am taking the back bumper and drop hitch for Fred.
I may pull the roll bars off and sell them on their own as they are for a short bed truck.
Notice the big tires on the front and small tires on the back? So did I. I will get to that in a little bit.
Here is the engine
I am also gonna pull the gas tanks as they are 22 gallon tanks and fred currently has 15 gallon tanks.
nothing really of interest in here.
I had brought the transmission dip stick from Fred with me because the guy I bought the truck from said that he kept the dipstick in the cab because it kept coming out because it was broken. While we were waiting on him to show up I also checked the oil ( needs and oil change), break fluid ( it was almost empty), coolant (full), power steering fluid ( full as well), and transmission fluid ( not even enough in it to get the dipstick wet). After handing over the money, and getting a bill of sale I went to the nearest gas station ( about a mile away) and put about a 1/5 tank of gas in, bought 4 quarts of transmission fluid, and a pint of break fluid. Filled the break resivoir, and put in 2 quarts of transmission fluid and drove down the mountain to where we met my mom for lunch. I checked the transmission fluid level again and I was still not even on the dip stick, so I put in 2 more quarts of fluid. Drove on to my mom's house after lunch ( after stopping at the shop where I worked a few years ago, I was supposed to be able to get in to swap the tires around, but the shop was closed up and I could not get in, and while there I checked the transmission fluid again, and was still low, so I put in another quart and a half to ge to the full mark). I started working on getting the tires swapped around. Getting the truck jacked up in the first place was a chore. All I had was a very small 4 ton bottle jack, and 2 jack stands ( and the jack was just barley long enough to get the tries clear of the ground). Once it was jacked up on one side (front and back) I took off the back tire and rolled it to the front, took the front tire off, rolled it to the back and put it on and tightened down the lug nuts, and went back to the front to put that tire on and the opening in the center of the rim was to small to go over the hub lock, so I had to take the big tire back off move it back to the front and put the small tire back on the back ( which it does not really fit the back either, but it was close enough to work. After doing all of that I went back to the house We used to live in and got the first engine from Fred into the bed of the donor truck ( I am glad that I have a 3 ton chain hoist), and picked up some other assorted scrap metal, and then got a few things from in the house that we needed to pick up.
This morning We left my mom's house, stopped for gas ( I filled one tank up) and hit the road. It is about 180 miles from my mom's house to our house, and 3rd gear does not work. Going down the mountain, and then across lookout top speed was about 45 mph. When we hit the interstate I was actually able to push it to about 60 mph. Had to make a pit stop in decature to pick up our IKEA doors from a friends house, also had to put in another 1/2 tank of gas. Had to make another gas stop in Social Circle ( put in about 3.5 more gallons of gas). By the time we got off the interstate at our exit the transmission was very hot, but the engine had not missed a lick the entire trip.
I am glad that I decided to keep Fred and use this truck as a donor truck before selling off what is left of it.
A few weeks ago my mom called to tell me that there was a truck similar to mine for sale near where she works. She got the owners info for me and I called about it. The owner told me that it was a 1981 Chevy K10 long bed 4x4 and that it had a small block V8 but he did not know if it was a 305 or 350, it also had almost brand new rims and 33" mud tires, and he was wanting $1k. I told him I would think about it and get back to him. A week later my mom called me back and said that the tires had been stolen off of it, and that the owners dad ( who works with my mom) said that they were thinking about just selling it for scrap. I called the owner and talked to him again, he said to make an offer, so I decided to take check it out when we went to my mom's for Labor day. The owners wife met us at the truck, which had a mismatched collection of tires so that they could move it. I looked the truck over and noticed that the dipstick for the transmission was in the cab behind the seat, and that it was broken, the seat was worn out, there was no covering for the floor, the head liner was sagging, and that the truck has originally been a diesel. I started the truck, which ran good, had a slight tick that went away after a few minutes. The owners wife told us that they were hoping for $500 at this point. i told her that I would have to look at our money and see what we could do and I would get back in touch with them. After talking to alasais about it I decided to call the owner and set up a time to do a test drive. When I done the test drive I found out that the transmission would not shift into 3rd gear, and that the brakes were very spongy. I offered him $300 and he said that he could go below $500. I told him I would see if I could come up with that much, and let him know in a day or so. I called a scrap yard to find out how much scrap metal is bringing now ($7.50 per 100 lbs) as I have 2 scrap blocks (about 600lbs each), 3 heads (at almost 60 lbs each) I will also have a bumper, 2 gas tanks and assorted old car parts ( all at unknown weights), called a junk yard to see how much I could get off the body ($200) and I am expecting a refund from advance auto on the head that trashed the last engine ( depending on if they give me the core deposit it will either be a little over $200 or just shy of $300). so all that added together will cover the cost of the truck, so we decided to go buy it. I called the owner told him we wanted it, and would he let it go for $450, he would not budge from $500, so I agreed to buy it for $500.
The Trip Home:
We left for Alabama on Friday morning and got to Mentone Where the truck was at around 1:30 est. When we got there I took these pictures:
I have not decided if I am going to take the bug deflector, but I am going to see if the grill will fit on Fred (the truck with the trashed engine)
I am taking the back bumper and drop hitch for Fred.
I may pull the roll bars off and sell them on their own as they are for a short bed truck.
Notice the big tires on the front and small tires on the back? So did I. I will get to that in a little bit.
Here is the engine
I am also gonna pull the gas tanks as they are 22 gallon tanks and fred currently has 15 gallon tanks.
nothing really of interest in here.
I had brought the transmission dip stick from Fred with me because the guy I bought the truck from said that he kept the dipstick in the cab because it kept coming out because it was broken. While we were waiting on him to show up I also checked the oil ( needs and oil change), break fluid ( it was almost empty), coolant (full), power steering fluid ( full as well), and transmission fluid ( not even enough in it to get the dipstick wet). After handing over the money, and getting a bill of sale I went to the nearest gas station ( about a mile away) and put about a 1/5 tank of gas in, bought 4 quarts of transmission fluid, and a pint of break fluid. Filled the break resivoir, and put in 2 quarts of transmission fluid and drove down the mountain to where we met my mom for lunch. I checked the transmission fluid level again and I was still not even on the dip stick, so I put in 2 more quarts of fluid. Drove on to my mom's house after lunch ( after stopping at the shop where I worked a few years ago, I was supposed to be able to get in to swap the tires around, but the shop was closed up and I could not get in, and while there I checked the transmission fluid again, and was still low, so I put in another quart and a half to ge to the full mark). I started working on getting the tires swapped around. Getting the truck jacked up in the first place was a chore. All I had was a very small 4 ton bottle jack, and 2 jack stands ( and the jack was just barley long enough to get the tries clear of the ground). Once it was jacked up on one side (front and back) I took off the back tire and rolled it to the front, took the front tire off, rolled it to the back and put it on and tightened down the lug nuts, and went back to the front to put that tire on and the opening in the center of the rim was to small to go over the hub lock, so I had to take the big tire back off move it back to the front and put the small tire back on the back ( which it does not really fit the back either, but it was close enough to work. After doing all of that I went back to the house We used to live in and got the first engine from Fred into the bed of the donor truck ( I am glad that I have a 3 ton chain hoist), and picked up some other assorted scrap metal, and then got a few things from in the house that we needed to pick up.
This morning We left my mom's house, stopped for gas ( I filled one tank up) and hit the road. It is about 180 miles from my mom's house to our house, and 3rd gear does not work. Going down the mountain, and then across lookout top speed was about 45 mph. When we hit the interstate I was actually able to push it to about 60 mph. Had to make a pit stop in decature to pick up our IKEA doors from a friends house, also had to put in another 1/2 tank of gas. Had to make another gas stop in Social Circle ( put in about 3.5 more gallons of gas). By the time we got off the interstate at our exit the transmission was very hot, but the engine had not missed a lick the entire trip.
I am glad that I decided to keep Fred and use this truck as a donor truck before selling off what is left of it.