View Single Post
Old 05-18-2007, 09:38 PM   #6
Mickey_D
Dirteh Kitteh
 
Mickey_D's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Mormon country
Posts: 2,484
Re: May 2007 - Truck of the Month

And then there's mine. 1980 K15 Custom Deluxe 4X4. 336,000 miles on the original engine. Tranny's been rebuilt, but that's it. The driver's side tank is rusted out, so you can only use the passenger's side 14 gallon one.

Notice the different tires front and back? Well the rear ones are bald as hell.
The heater switch gave out so I put a rocker in and hard wired it so all I've got is off or full blast.
You have to slam the doors so hard you just about dislocate your shoulder. Otherwise you end up doing what I generally do - mule kick it shut. Hence the barely noticeable footprints right below the door lock.
I would say the truck is at least 400 pounds lighter than factory due to the rust. I never use the ashtray, just flick them on the floor and they'll end up out the rust holes. This also means that during -40 degree winter ddriving the heater is cooking your right foot while your left is getting frostbite!!
The front turn signals in the bumper don't work because they've both rusted the contact plates for the bulbs out.
The mechanical fuel pump gave up the ghost, so I put an electrical one back by the tank. Wired it into the heater blower power.
Never dug into the carb to find out why it's so hard to start. Generally involves turning the key on, letting the fuel pump fill the carb back up, pumping the accelerator pump 5 times, hit the starter until it coughs, pump it 5 more times, hit the starter again. Let it idle (if it does) for at least 5 minutes or it'll just stall the minute you put it in gear.
The automatic hubs gave out on it several years ago, so I put Warn manual hubs on it.
I've never tried the parking brake.
There's two leafs missing from the left rear spring pack. One broke before I got it, the other most likely happened one of the wood hauling trips.
The original muffler fell off driving to work one day, I just left it to skitter off to the side of the road and stuffed an old cherry bomb on in its place. It exits about 4 inches in front of the pumpkin.
The dash lights only work (sometimes) at full brightness. If you move the dimmer at all, they go out.
The high beam switch sometimes turns the lights off completely when you hit high beams. Rather interesting when you stomp on the switch right after some numpty goes past you with HID's and the lights go out right when you need the brights the most!!
The speedometer bounces all over the place and even when it stays still it doesn't read the right speed (about 10% fast).
Both brake lights take their turns stopping working. Only way I can tell is the turn signals stop. Have to stop and get out, smack the lens (carefully so as not to break any more off it) until the light starts working again.
The license plate light got kicked out by my son hopping in the back one day. Thankfully no LEO's noticed that fact yet.

Now for the good points:
It starts every time I ask it to.
It goes wherever I point it.
It hauls whatever I throw in it.
It survived a side swipe by a Jeep Liberty without even a noticeably dent.
It's great for knocking over trees that blow over the wrong way when you're cutting them down.
It'll idle for 36 hours without even blinking keeping the battery charged so I can use my inverter when the power goes out to keep the furnace running.
Unlock the hubs, jack the back end up and put a pair of old steel wheels on, loop canvas straps around them and throw it into 4Lo and it'll power a sawmill no problem. And when you're done, it'll haul the lumber away as well. No matter how much you cut.

It's NEVER stranded me. And some of the crap I've put it through, it should have told me to **** off years ago and left my sorry butt out in the middle of nowhere!! Even after blowing through a 6 foot snow drift to clear the driveway!!

Anyways, on to the pics.


That's how you test your suspension.


You thought I was kidding about the cherry bomb, didn't you?


Here you can see the result of bashing through a snowdrift that's part ice...


This is what happens when you get a desperately cold redneck that has a can of expanding foam insulation available...


You though I was also kidding about the rocker switch, huh? It's right there beside the main light switch.


And that's what I was talking about with the leaf springs.


And notice the extra wide gap between the bed and cab on this side? That's what happens when you empty the bed of a full load of firewood by dropping the tailgate off its chains, backing the truck up real quick and slamming on the brakes....
__________________
Darrin

1955 Willys CJ-5 all original and the oldest CJ-5 on the road.
2001 Dodge Neon (wife's car)
1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Edition SOLD
1981 K15 Custom Deluxe 4X4, rusty but trusty wood hauler. SOLD
1993 S-10 4X4 Tahoe SOLD

Sign up with the Contact List

RIP ESLL
Mickey_D is offline