So, didn't get a super early start, went down to the guy's place after lunch. Loaded the truck with supplies.
There it is.
Brought my dad along for assistance, not sure if he knew what he was getting into...
First order of business was checking the brake fluid level. It was about 3/4 of a pint low, but still looked like brake fluid.
Next up was replacing the parking brake cable, I had purchased one ahead of time. Eventually figured out what all had to be unbolted to get hings apart. Didn't get that far in reading the manuals yet, haha. Still need to bolt on the protective rub plates, ran out of time for doing that.
Luckily it was hot and humid out, so that made working on things fun. Decided to inspect the belts a bit closer, had glanced at them briefly during the test drive but not thouroughly. Well, they weren't in so good of shape, especially the air compressor one. Did not feel comfortable chancing it if I didn't have to, so wanted to get a new belt. It was at this time that we went to transfer the title, so stopped while out doing that to get a belt, luckily the local Napa had one in stock.
It was then that I discovered while reading on the smart phone about this alleged special tool required for changing this belt.
We did not have this tool... So, after dousing it in oil, developed a new strategy. The bolts came out without too much drama, the outer sheave was definitely stuck though. Tried driving a chisel and a screwdriver into the split line of the pulley with a hammer. Carefully though, not trying to split it in half! After setting the chisel and screwdriver in place, a wrap with a crowbar and hammer got it spinning, success! Couldn't fully remove pulley though, fan shroud was in the way, had to work belt around. Alt/fan belts weren't in great shape either, but there's two of those...
Daylight was getting short at this point, and I hadn't even started adjusting the brake shoes yet. Laying on very large "gravel" was also fun. One of my hydraulic bottle jacks was low on oil, could only lift one side of an axle at a time. Started by adjusting the front brakes, they were definitely a bit loose. Brake pedal got firm a bit sooner with these adjustments so I figured that was likely the cause of the excessive braking effort. Wanted to do the rears, but was running out of daylight and didn't have the second jack to do it. Borrowed an air compressor and topped off any low tires.
It was about 8:30 by the time it was almost ready. Threw a quart of old 2 stroke oil into the fuel tank for good luck. Truck fired right off, but soon the compressor belt was unhappy and needed readjustment. All the lights seemed to work, so a night time drive it was going to be, which actually wasn't a bad thing because it was cooling off nicely. During the first couple miles everything seemed to be doing well, brakes were adequate and stopped straight. Tried to take the easiest route back to the interstate, but the GPS screwed me over and insisted on taking the scenic shortcuts... Eventually made it to the interstate, where after a few more miles was very thankful for the ear muffs the previous owner had left in the truck!
Things were going pretty smooth. All dash lights worked except for the temp gauge. Was cruising through a construction zone with an uphill grade, shoulders were closed. Hit the flashlight to look at the temp gauge, around 170. Keeping foot in it and maintaining about 2300 RPM (speedometer doesn't work) I started thinking about how much it would suck to blow out that lower radiator hose in this area of the interstate. JUST at that time, I got a strong whiff of coolant!!
The pucker factor just increased a few notches. Hit the flashlight again, temp still at 170. Don't see any clouds of steam in the one good rear view mirror. There was also a cop on the road up ahead at this point too, figure she's either going to make it die trying at this point, still no shoulder to pull over
Did I mention that the notary had issue with me trying to use my regular insurance policy because this thing has antique plates on it? So they wouldn't sign the pink slip verifying proof of insurance on the temporary registration form, even though my policy is supposed to cover me. At this point there's a rest area coming up in a couple miles, I started easing up on the throttle a bit to try and keep things together. I couldn't smell the antifreeze anymore and the temp was staying consistent though. Made it to the rest area and half expected to see coolant spewing out, but nothing, not a drop! There was some oil dripping from some line or somewhere, but that wasn't too bad either. Must have either been another car or just a bit of coolant burping out?
Needed a drink of water at this point so went into the rest rooms. Forgot my mask but didn't care, and was covered in dirt and grease. Some dude in a nice polo shirt was watching me walk in as if I were a sasquatch. Hopped back in the truck and continued on, had about another 60 miles to go. There was a couple times where all of the lights flickered off for a split second, was slightly concerned about that, but they stayed on for the rest of the trip.
The truck actually drives pretty well and straight on the highway. One thing I did notice towards the end was that the truck definitely seemed a little bit lower on power after the highway cruise, not sure if this was because of everything just getting heat soaked, or possibly a fuel issue? Will have to look into that.
