fun with the truck - what fun have you had?

Since I have been scrapping part-time (march 2018 to present) these are the things that have happened with my truck. Prior to this I rarely used it:

On the way to pickup some metal, the clutch pedal stopped working, on a fairly busy street right after going through an intersection. I had to replace the clutch hydraulic system. My brother in law with a "real" truck (newer F250 diesel) and large trailer towed it to my house for me - I fixed it myself and used a "pre-filled/pre-bled" assembly so I didn't have to worry about bleeding it etc...

On the way to the scrapyard - antifreeze steam came through the vents on the highway. I made it to the yard, cashed in the load, and drove home slowly and stopping frequently. Heater core burst open. Replaced it.

Big nail in the tire - I am sure that's happened to anyone that has taken scrap metal to a scrapyard more than once. I got it to the tire shop before it went flat. Fixed under road hazard warranty.

On the way home with a partial load - I noticed it had a little extra power, and then I notice my temp gauge was higher than normal. Yep, broken serpentine belt and ceased idler pulley. Fortunately I had/have a newer battery and was able to slowly drive to an auto parts store nearby, turning off the engine at every given chance - downhill, stoplight etc... Fixed it in the parking lot.

On the way home from picking up metal, the truck slowly starts to get louder and louder, then eventually it sounded like Nascar truck (too bad it doesn't have that kinda power to match). Muffler just came apart all-together. I had to replace the muffler and decided to replace the unusually small tailpipe - not so sure the tailpipe was the correct size/original. I put on a new muffler and pre-bent tailpipe in my garage.

It really is a good truck but it does have close to 200,000 miles on it now.

Anyone else breakdown while picking up scrap metal? BTW my serpentine belt wasn't cracked and I inspect that and the hoses every oil change - I do my own.

Several of my adventures have been documented here including a gooseneck trailer collapsing on the highway, tires from the trailer passing me on the interstate, and blowing three out of four trailer tires at once. I average one flat a month when hauling regularly and carry an electric impact wrench at all times. For the record it is a long haul to the scrap yard so there is plenty of time for things to go south.

As far as your serpentine belt breaking, it took more charge out of your battery starting the vehicle than if you just let it idle. A vehicle uses very little charge once it is started. In case it happens again, turn off the radio, lights, etc. and you should be fine. While hunting one time I returned to a dead battery in the truck. It was facing down hill so I let it coast and jumped it into gear (manual transmission) and drove over 20 miles into town. It might be a little different with the computerized modern vehicles, but a 75 Chevy 4 x 4 will last a long time on a dead battery.

My 95 chev half ton 360k miles wouldn’t start the other day. AAA towed it home. Replaced the fuel pump, good to go. Pain in the butt, but really just an inconvenience. It’s a trade off , in my opinion. Inconvenience occasionally or a monthly payment.

Not a a sales pitch, my .02........for about a $100 a year you get 3 tows up to 100 miles and road side assistance. Worth every $ to me. Each associate/family member added pays about 70.


Edit: it’s a decent Virginia truck not a rust bucket beat up POS.

Parking lights fuse blew. No dash lights, no tail lights or parking lights. Headlight switch caused the problem, saw sparks turning headlights on and off, replaced the switch and the fuse, back in business.

Several years ago, I did a clean up on a ranch near where I grew up. About 150 miles south of where I live now. I had my white trailer pretty full, and my Ford, "ole whitey" loaded as well. Between here and there is " P Hill" , a 2 mile, 14% grade that has a hairpin turn at the bottom. Right at the bottom of the hill is the tiny town of Frenchglen. By the time I got to the sharp turn at the bottom, my brakes were smoking so bad that I was concerned that they were going to catch on fire, and I couldn't have stopped if my life depended on it. Fortunately no one was in the street, and I was able to gradually get things under control. I was still about 60 miles from home, but with no big hills, and very little traffic in this rural part of the country, I was able to continue on home safely. I did however, replace the brakes on "ole whitey" before I hauled the load to the scrap yard.

I had something like that happen. I should have known something was wrong when I tore up a come-along dragging a 2000 gal. skid mounted tank onto a trailer. I blew through a red light at the bottom of a long hill when the brakes wouldn't stop the truck. I later found out the "empty" tank had 800 gal. of kerosene in it.

I have to say, my little '01 Toy Taco has had virtually no problems at all. I have replaced the alternator a couple times and done three rear brakes and countless front brakes. I do them myself. The Toyota dealer where I bought the truck new does an oil change and tire rotation every 4k miles and an alignment every 15k. As long as I do that maintenance there, I get free tires for the life of the truck. I have gotten 8 sets of tires over the 277K miles.

My next truck will probably be a Taco truck or a Tundra, although doesn't matter what brand, things can break and things do wear out.

I would love to have a Toyota, if they only built a one ton or at least a 3/4 ton.

I had a 94 f250 that would melt battery terminals at the scrap yard. luckily it would only melt them at the junkyard and nowhere else so finding replacements wasn't hard. another time the alternator went out on me as I was passing the yard to go somewhere else. pulled over and changed it out for like $10 I think.