Average Joe
New member
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- Location
- Colorado Springs, CO
Hello to all! I'm a long time lurker on the site and just need to vent to some folks who'll understand. . .
So I left Colorado Springs on 17JAN to pick up an S-280 shelter and M1022 dolley set at Barstow and Fontana, CA respectively. I was trying out my new overdrive which I installed last summer (which has performed well). Two days in the head gasket blew outside of Seligman, AZ. I ordered parts and got a room at the local motel, a minor inconvenience. On D+4 the parts arrived, and I caught the flu. On D+7 my fever broke and I was able to finish the head gasket job. On D+8 I departed for points west. Two miles out of town the head gasket blew again. Suspecting a cracked cylinder head, I limped the truck 75 miles to Kingman, Arizona where the closest machine shop was. Then I rented a U-Haul, bought a pintle hitch at Tractor Supply, and headed west again. I was successful in picking up the dolley set from Fonatana on the last day of January, D+15. I attempted to pick up the S-280 shelter and put it on the dolley set after the weekend (D+1
. However, one requires a special adapter to fit an S-280 on an M1022 dolley, so I was unable to do so. Also I fell off the top of the dolley.
On the way back from Barstow, the U-haul got stuck in a sand wash while I was turning around at the edge of an overpass near Needles. Then the hitch bolts sheared off. One hefty towing bill later, I was back on the road and arrived in Kingman on D+19. The Deuce was ready on D+21, so I headed back to Barstow for the S-280, leaving the dolley in Kingman. I was able to get the shelter on D+22 (7FEB). On the way back, one of the jam nuts on top of the rocker arm in the re-installed cylinder heads backed off, and the rocker came off the lifter. The lifter proceeded to punch a hole in the top of the valve cover which promptly drained the engine of oil. On the side of the road in the Mojave desert, while watched by curious coyotes, I managed to fish out the jam nut, beat the valve cover back into shape, seal it with RTV, and wire the now cracked rocker back into some sort of shape. Baby and I then crawled back to Kingman under our own power, drenched in 15-40 and carbon monoxide. On D+25 I drove a borrowed car to Tuscon for a new rocker arm set and valve cover. Returning that night, I installed them on D+26, washed the truck, and started out of town. Apparently oil starvation has done for the turbo, which gave up the ghost 40 miles outside of Kingman on RT 66 after puking the crankcase contents out of the exhaust stack. At this point I ran out of cell phone service money, prescriptions, and sat down on the side of the road to cry.
The Deuce is on her way back to Kingman behind a commercial tow truck now ($$$) (D+27) and since my boy's 6 y.o. birthday is Saturday, I am considering lighting a torch and hitchhiking back to Colorado! There seem to be no parts closer than Tuscon, and although I've considered just pulling the turbo, plugging the oil line, and trying to limp home, something is telling me not to push my luck.
Anyone know a good witch doctor?
Average Joe
So I left Colorado Springs on 17JAN to pick up an S-280 shelter and M1022 dolley set at Barstow and Fontana, CA respectively. I was trying out my new overdrive which I installed last summer (which has performed well). Two days in the head gasket blew outside of Seligman, AZ. I ordered parts and got a room at the local motel, a minor inconvenience. On D+4 the parts arrived, and I caught the flu. On D+7 my fever broke and I was able to finish the head gasket job. On D+8 I departed for points west. Two miles out of town the head gasket blew again. Suspecting a cracked cylinder head, I limped the truck 75 miles to Kingman, Arizona where the closest machine shop was. Then I rented a U-Haul, bought a pintle hitch at Tractor Supply, and headed west again. I was successful in picking up the dolley set from Fonatana on the last day of January, D+15. I attempted to pick up the S-280 shelter and put it on the dolley set after the weekend (D+1
. However, one requires a special adapter to fit an S-280 on an M1022 dolley, so I was unable to do so. Also I fell off the top of the dolley. On the way back from Barstow, the U-haul got stuck in a sand wash while I was turning around at the edge of an overpass near Needles. Then the hitch bolts sheared off. One hefty towing bill later, I was back on the road and arrived in Kingman on D+19. The Deuce was ready on D+21, so I headed back to Barstow for the S-280, leaving the dolley in Kingman. I was able to get the shelter on D+22 (7FEB). On the way back, one of the jam nuts on top of the rocker arm in the re-installed cylinder heads backed off, and the rocker came off the lifter. The lifter proceeded to punch a hole in the top of the valve cover which promptly drained the engine of oil. On the side of the road in the Mojave desert, while watched by curious coyotes, I managed to fish out the jam nut, beat the valve cover back into shape, seal it with RTV, and wire the now cracked rocker back into some sort of shape. Baby and I then crawled back to Kingman under our own power, drenched in 15-40 and carbon monoxide. On D+25 I drove a borrowed car to Tuscon for a new rocker arm set and valve cover. Returning that night, I installed them on D+26, washed the truck, and started out of town. Apparently oil starvation has done for the turbo, which gave up the ghost 40 miles outside of Kingman on RT 66 after puking the crankcase contents out of the exhaust stack. At this point I ran out of cell phone service money, prescriptions, and sat down on the side of the road to cry.
The Deuce is on her way back to Kingman behind a commercial tow truck now ($$$) (D+27) and since my boy's 6 y.o. birthday is Saturday, I am considering lighting a torch and hitchhiking back to Colorado! There seem to be no parts closer than Tuscon, and although I've considered just pulling the turbo, plugging the oil line, and trying to limp home, something is telling me not to push my luck.
Anyone know a good witch doctor?
Average Joe
