Well here is the story. I'm still at Jon's now. Mike and Jon helped me get
the fuel pump in. We pulled the bed off and raised it with Jon's lift. The
engine runs good - - does not idle well but it runs. However there is something
wrong with the transmission. The truck has no power at all. It stalls out and
could barely crawl up Jons driveway and up on the road. I got only a couple
miles before I realized I was not going to make it home with the truck. I went
to turn around and found myself stuck across the two lane highway when I was
trying to back up. The truck had no power and couldnt reverse - I nearly got
t-boned. I had to rev up the engine and dump it in reverse and barely got
back. I have a plane ticket reserved for tomarrow. I couldn't get a rental
car.. THose that had them avalible would have ended up costing me almost as
much as the flight home. I'm going to have to leave Christine here and recover
it at a later date. For those who do not know - - here is the
story of what happened. I was set to leave my house Tuesday night and
drive to chicago. I was very behind schedual with the engine install and
rebuild so I ended up leaving Wed morning. I had much difficulty getting here.
In Janseville WI, just north of the Il border... the throttlebody linkage gave
out. I had to buy a new set of return springs and fix that. Back on the road
- I made it to the Marengo toll booth - - about an hour north of Chciago - when
the battery died. The alternator was not charging. I got out on the side of
the road and fixed the problem. The harness was not contacting the alt well
enough. I got a jump start from a tow truck and was back on the road. Not
long after - maybe 30 mins... the truck just died in traffic. I pulled over to
the left and in the middle of I-90 - I changed the ignition coil. That seemed
to work as the truck fired right up. I got 50 feet down the road and had just
pulled back into the left lane of traffic - when it died again. It turned out
to be a bad engine ground. I got out under the hood again and fixed that.
After that I had no trouble with the truck. I stopped a few miles east of
Cleveland OH and got a motel room for the night. Thurs afternoon I arrived at
the barn around 12 pm. The rest of the day was spent intalling tow hooks. it
turns out that all the new tow hooks ended up getting used. At 3 am - when we
were all done... with a little verbal sparring... mike and I went down to the
pit for a fast night run. I wanted to try out my new KC long range offroad
lights. We get down to the pit - which is full of water - more than it ever
had been. I manage to cut across its outer edge and churn out eventually. I
tell barry (who had joined us a few moments before) and Mike that I didnt want
to push my luck - and wanted to head back to the barn and go to bed. What was
to happen next would break all DML records for vehicular componan carnage.
There are two ponds along the road that goes aside the air strip. One is large
and easy to see. The 2nd is smaller and at the top of a hill. From the bottom
of the hill even in total daylight - the water is not visible at all. Being
not completly familar with the grounds around Jon's property - I headed
straight for a clearing that lead to the concrete slab at the top of the hill
by the barn, unknowing that a body of water stood directly between me and the
clearing. I plundged directly into the water. Long story short... Jon, Mike,
Barry, and Adam assisted in the recovery. Ed eventually came out to see what
all the comotion was, after Jon backed his Ram into Adam's Jeep Cherokee. Mike
dove in the water and attatched the straps to my newly installed rear tow
hooks. ALl day friday and saturday AM was spent trying to get Christine
running again. Barry motivated me to do it - - he helped bring my spirits back
up. ANd with help from everyone here - I was able to get her running again
long enough to get in some wheeling. THe fuel pump gave out lastngiht
apperntly - we replaced it today - but the truck still is not able to make it.
I owe everyone a very big thank you. I will be forever grateful to these guys
for everything they did for me. Especially Mike, Barry, Jon and Adam. This DML
BBQ probably saw the most heartache and disaster than any other priot DML
event. However it also brought everyone together and showed how much everyone
cares about one another. Lets hope next year is a better year for us all.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:46:39 EST