At the end of the last episode, my truck had safely made
it to Kansas: but a broken weld on the IFS (Mustang2
spring mount) had put a damper on the celebrations.
This week, the movers delivered the rest of my household, and
a few hard days of work later I had the new garage cleaned
out enough to go retrieve the truck from it's temporary home
some 15 miles away.
One of the guys helping unload the moving van was a "car
nut" and after talking for a while about our projects, he
noted that he had a flat-bed trailer and offered to
help me go get the truck. So, Sunday evening, we headed
off to go retrieve the beast.
With a bunch of folks (neighbors and such) helping to push,
we got the truck up on his trailer. Rear end fit fine, the
front (which has a little bit wider track) was a tight
squeeze, and in fact one front tire was riding up on the 3"
tall trailer rail a bit. Of course, he also forgot tie
downs; and we had to use an assortment borrowed from the
aforementioned neighbors.
I should have stopped here... but after unpacking for 5 days
straight, spending 45 minutes nudging the truck up onto the
trailer, etc; fatigue got the better of my judgment. I
appreciated the effort the guys with the trailer had made;
they seemed confident, promised to drive slow and carefully,
and so off we headed. (me following behind)
A couple of miles later a small piece of 4X4 which we had been
using as a wheel stop while loading, "popped" out from under
the truck.
I'm really not sure what happened first. It took a few seconds
for me to compute the implications: block 'popped' out.
Block must have been jammed under a tire. Jammed tire means
we must have been pulling against block with a tie down. No block,
means tie down must not be tight anymore. Loose tie down means...
Like I said, I'm not sure which happened first- I was completing
that thought process just as I watched my truck start to roll off
the back of the trailer in front of me.
Thankfully, the roll off was initiated from accelleration at an
intersection. The rear tires fell off. The front wheel (riding
up on the side) rolled off the side of the trailer. For a short
distance the truck got towed piggy-back like they sometimes
transport semi's.
After we got stopped, we (plus a few passerby's) lifted the front
end back onto the trailer. We called a pro, with a big flatbed
tow-truck) to help come undo the mess, and to complete the
aborted journey.
Only damage done was a ding on the rocker lips (under the doors)
where the body contacted the back edge of the trailer. I've
straightened and painted them once before; I suppose I can
do it again.
Once again, not good- but it could have been much much worse.
I can only imagine what would have happened had it dropped at
speed.
Lot's of work to do now, but it's finally home, safe
and (almost) sound. Like the subject says, the rear suspension
seems to have survived the 3ft drop none the worse for wear.
Ryan
http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/tru
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|