Job Done

I mentioned earlier that I had done 1/2 the job replacing the trailing arm bushings and painting  and cleaning up the rear brake drums. Well, I found the time and got it all done and let me tell you, it feels pretty darn good.  In fact, I had to pull the axles again after replacing the wheel bearings because like an idiot I reused the old oil seals (which were both all boogered up) and they both leaked quite a bit since the job. So, with a trip to Moab coming up I knew I had to replace the seals.  It went well, I got the axles pulled quickly and only had one brass pinion gear shim fall out which was easy putting back.

 The bitch was finding oil seals.  The whole reason I didn't have new seals was O'Reilly's carried the bearing but not the seal (which makes no sense) I went to Napa and they had to look all over the city and found 1 set and it took me over two hours just to find the part and get it home. I have to say that all auto parts stores are NOT created equal.  AutoZone is OK if you need something a retarded monkey could find. O'Reilly's is better but ... I still get the feeling that half the time it is just a job and they could care less. Napa seems to be focused on getting the parts you need and they job out to all sorts of automotive vendors who need better service and knowledge base then a store that primarily caters to the clueless auto enthusiast looking for a Betty Boop air freshener.  Once installed the oil seals seem to work fine and the brakes work as well as drum brakes work. I did drive to Moab and I had no problems whatsoever in 900 miles of driving.

Boogered Up Electrics

 The wiring in this truck is 46 years old.  46 years.  Wow.  I still can't get my head around it.  Well, to be clear, the thing I can't get my head around is that this truck runs at all.  Every time I look under the back end all I see is the loose end of another cut wire or the patented 'redneck splice' (the bare ends of two wires loosely twisted together and hanging on by a just a single strand). Another of my goals is to get the wiring replaced and updated and to do it right.  Wiring and electrical stuff is a challenge but I know that if I take my time and find good vendors I can make this truck work better than it did brand new.  Full wiring harness replacement from Chevy Duty is around $450.  In addition to this I found a really solid looking splicing technology that encases but joints in plastic for bomber, waterproof splices. I also found reference to a guy in SoCal that has developed a modification for many old vehicles that improves the performance of the ignition/charging system for not much money and after two months of calling (I even wrote a letter) I got Mark from MAD Electrical on the phone and ordered a 'New System' package.  Once I get all the pieces of the system I can start replacing it section by section.  

Trimmings and such.

MOST of the work I have done on the truck has been based on my entirely 'function first' perspective. My gal Erin operates from the other end of the spectrum and does things from an 'aesthetics first' perpective which makes for a nice looking house and some good arguments.  However,  I have added a few things to the truck that have some aesthetic value although in my mind they are there primarily for what they do.

Here you see what I call the 'eyelids' on the windows.  Goofy right? Well, as small as they are they actually do a good job keeping the sun out of your face and in New Mexico this is no small thing.  I don't want to tint the windows because there is something I just don't like about not being able to see who is in a vehicle.

The other aesthetic addition are the arm rests.  This truck came with only one sun visor and only one arm rest which was missing when I bought it.  Just the bunged up holes in the panel where it used to be mounted. In fact the holes aren't in the right place so I don't think the missing arm rest was stock either.  Base models were basic.  These arm rests are actually from the earlier Chevy truck series but they look OK so I put in 2 of them.  As it turns out there are special square holes in the interior panel to which these can attach putting the stress of pulling the door closed on the actual door and not just the access panel you can see here.  I took extra care to see that these stayed in place and didn't pull out or loosen or clang using foam dampeners and big washers and threadlocker.  We shall see if it holds but it feels pretty F-ing solid.

Cheap Pickup Bike Rack

I am a firm believer in spending the money on really good gear WHEN IT IS NECESSARY. That said I am always looking for ways to get that gear for less OR build that gear for WAY less.  I like to build stuff and have through the years built my own kayak and bike racks because Thule and Yakima while a good product have hoodwinked the public into thinking they have to spend LOTS of money on a rack.  This just isn't the case in spite of what they tell you at the store.

For instance: If you want to put 2 (just two) kayaks on the roof of your whatever the conventional way to do this is to purchase a base rack ($300) and then a individual saddle system for EACH boat ($100 EACH).  OK, now we are up to $500.  That is just frigging stupid.  All we need to do is carry the boats.  The whole point is to paddle the boats in wild, beautiful and exotic places, the rack is incidental for Pete's sake.  $500?  I bought a kayak stacker for $70 (this was at least 10 years ago) and built a rack using wood, aluminum angle, foam, rope, screws and what have you for a TOTAL of $100.  My rack would carry1- 6 boats and was DEAD solid.  I used some form of this type of rack with the SAME kayak stacker for over 10 years without a problem.  I carried boats thousands of miles from Vermont to Georgia and back, I carried a full rack for hundreds of miles.  White water boats, sea kayaks, lumber, whatever.  Don't believe the hype.  Build your own.

So the latest rack is for carrying bicycles in a pickup truck.  You can go the same route for bicycles and buy a Thule or Yakima base rack and individual attachments for each bike but much the same as kayak racks it is going to cost you.  So, years ago I worked at a wonderful little used bike shop in Burlington, Vermont called Planetary Cycles.  There they had boxes of used and old bike stuff collected through the ages and I built a bike from parts that I am still riding today.  I also found all sorts of giblets of future use (GOFU) one of which was a cheap aluminum high flange hub.  I always intended to build it into a wheel but look what I did instead.

The rest of the rack is pretty straightforward stuff: one board of reasonable strength (plywood is probably best) I used 1/2 inch plywood.  Some way to attach the fork to the board. Old hubs if you can find them or the standard fork mounting block which are readily available and NOT expensive ranging from $15 to $25 each.  Most bike racks on vehicles are fixed and this makes some sense for security etc.  However, this one I wanted to be able to use in any truck or SUV so I fixed some closed cell foam to the underside to prevent it from sliding around and it works great. I actually took it for a test drive with 1 bike (more bikes would be more stable) on the interstate at 55 mph, round corners quickly and city potholes: the board did not move and the rear wheel of the bike did not move.    There is no reason that the rack be bolted down assuming you are driving around in a normal manner.  I think I would NOT want the rack fixed if there were an accident or rollover. Total investment: $40  HA!!

Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

The latest punch list for the truck went as follows: replace trailing arm bushings, de-rust and paint trailing arms, disassemble, inspect, clean and reassemble rear brake drums, replace rear wheel bearings.  I had five days two of which I hoped to do some monkey bike riding.  I have used the term 'snowballing' to refer to the phenomenon of a two day job exploding into a four day job.  This is typical of mechanical work but it is de rigueur for an old vehicle like this.  As it turns out I didn't finish the job having to leave the driver's side rear drum and trailing arm for later.  I did, however, get both wheel bearings replaced which took some doing.  I had to go to Harbor Freight and purchase a slide hammer which is a sort of reverse-hammer for pulling things out after they have been pounded in (like wheel bearings).  As tools go slide hammers fall into the 'blunt instrument' category which is to say that there is only a limited amount of finesse involved and what really gets the job done is pure brutish persistence.  In other words: there was a lot of grunting and swearing and general destruction of the bearings being removed.  I got new bearings in at last after two trips to the auto parts store but I had to reuse the old oil seals which were not in great condition.  So far no leaks so we shall see.

More detail than you need section:  To replace the wheel bearings in this old truck the two piece axle shafts must be removed.  To do this the center pin in the rear end must be removed which means that the rear end must be drained.  GOOD GRIEF.  When the center pin is out it is important to NOT spin either wheel as the pinion gears and brass shims will roll out of place.  I learned a lot about the rear end but what a pain in the butt.  I did eventually figure out how to put the pinion gears back in but it took me a while hunched over under the back end of the truck to get it right.  The next time I have to pull an axle I will be much faster.

Eventually I figured out that there was no way I was going to get the list done and get in some mountain bike riding.  I had to remind myself that all this work was intended to be something that I enjoy and working like an idiot toward a deadline would not accomplish this goal SO I just got the wheel bearings on both sides done and the rest would have to wait.  Oh for a garage!!  I dream.

Busted Knuckles

So now I have had the truck for ... 2 months, somehow it seems like longer.  I have puttered about and completed quite a few 'short jobs' such as
replacing mirrors,
installing new locks for both doors, glovebox and ignition that all have the same key,
new tubing for the driver's side defroster vent,
seatbelts,
new retention chains for tailgate,
retention bolt and cables for a child seat,
de-rusted and painted the inside rear view mirror,
new spark plug wires and coil,
attach diamond plate truck box behind the cab

etc.

I have also installed new shocks which I probably should have waited to do because if I drop the truck I have to replace the new shocks BUT the ride was so completely terrible that I had to do something, now the ride is well ... trucklike but comfy and firm, before it was sloppy, loose and downright dangerous.  So.  The rear shocks are air adjustable and come with pneumatic line that I ran right to the rear bumper so changing pressure is as easy as attaching a bike pump to the Shrader valve right on the bumper.

The big job was replacement of the wooden bed floor which my nephew from NJ and I started while he was visiting in December.  He got a case of the lonely's and left early (first girlfriend texting him constantly and he texting back made conversation a little distracted).  That job took maybe four to five full days.  If I had to do it again I could do it faster but the first time was the typical 'can of worms' that snowballed the completion time.  Painting in December when the temperature was in the 40-50's was a challenge and we had to cure it inside the house which was stinky but worked (Erin was not here).  I made some mistakes and the finish is functional but still attractive: yellow pine stained with Penofin deck stain x 2 coats with Rust-oleum forest green steel strips.  Lots of Loc-Tite and time spent lying on a cold concrete slab with a ratchet and I finally got it done.  Turns out that the bed was designed to be bolted to the truck frame with TEN grade 8 bolts.  When we got the bed apart there were FOUR loose bolts of unknown quality holding the bed to the frame, no wonder the rear was like spaghetti: between the blown shocks and the lack of any torsional resistance from the bed the back end was loosey goosey.  After I got the finished bed bolted to the frame with larger than necessary grade 8 hardware the ride was much improved BEFORE I replaced the shocks.

I have another week in March when Erin and Gracie are going to be away and I am trying to line up an appropriate project.  The thing is that while I have the time to do some of the other 'medium jobs' I am balking at the cost.  A disc brake conversion kit that includes drop spindles, rotors, various hardware, new dual chamber master cylinder and lines, drop shocks and springs, etc. for both front and rear is $1500!! OMFG.  This all has to happen but ... I think that I am going to wait as the suspension and brakes work just fine now.  I know next to nothing about bodywork and I don't like working with paints, solvents and fillers as they make me sick but there is lots of this that needs to happen.  I think the next 'medium job' will be to pull the seat and de-rust the interior of the cab, paint the floor, rewire the gas tank sender while I am under the step-sills and then install Hush-Mat everywhere I can reach and then new jute mat under a new floor mat.  The cab sounds like what it is: a metal box.  The dash is steel, the doors are undamped and sound like a big can when you shut them, lots of room for improvement and it won't cost me 2/3 what I paid for the truck to do it.  I know this is all riveting stuff.

Last bit; I have admit that I LOVE working on this old truck.  So far I haven't really done anything that involved but I don't have a garage either so ... I was kinda sucking wind this winter: really feeling low and bored and without purpose (Gracie is great and I am enjoying her gobs but you know what I mean ...) So tinkering with the truck is oddly very satisfying for me and between getting back into Olympic weightlifting in the gym and the truck I am feeling pretty good.  So the reward here is really a sense of bootstrapping myself out of a funk and the satisfaction that I did not make a mistake and buy a project that I have no interest in working on.  When I drove the truck back from Washington State I drove very deliberately at 45-55 mph for 1600 miles.  There is no radio, there is no clock, there is no keyed remote in fact the doors didn't lock, there are no gauges except for fuel and speedo and idiot lights, there is no cruise control, the seats do not adjust, there is no air conditioning, there is no windshield washer fluid: just wipers, there are sum total SIX knobs on the dash: headlights, wipers, choke, cigarette lighter, heater fan lever, defrost ducting lever, that is it.  My long winded point is that driving this thing is a very deliberate experience and in the words of my good friend Geoff "almost mindful."  The thing I really appreciate about driving this truck is that it isn't easy.  It is not hard either but it is not a turn key, velvet smooth, light shifting, vehicle.  The clutch isn't a hard push but it's not like shifting a Honda Accord with a standard either.  When the transmission is fully warmed up shifting from 3rd to 4th requires a even hand and sometimes double clutching.  When this truck was released in 1963 it was the most advanced design yet for Chevy.  It had independent front suspension, trailing arm rear suspension, coil springs instead of leaf springs, the fleetside longbed was only 4 years old as an option, the bed on this truck is HUGE.  BUT~! Compared to todays pickup trucks this truck is a dinosaur.  Like I said 'It isn't easy" It makes you pay attention, think about what you are doing, I feel involved when I am driving this truck.  I have to think ahead and plan my strategy (especially in Albuquerque traffic).  I cannot afford to daydream, drift into that state of distracted, on the phone while eating gummi bears and listening to music consciousness that half the world seems to attain while driving.  I know this doesn't make sense to many (including my sweety Erin) but modern, everyday cars are too easy, we take them for granted, we take the responsibility of driving them for granted, we treat driving like a right not a privilege. We are warm and safe inside a hermetically sealed bubble of temperature and humidity controlled splendor smiling and shiny behind our crush zone and air bags atop a heated seat that adjusts in six directions and saves our personal setting.  Don't get me wrong, the art of conveyance has reached an almost ludicrously refined state here in the USA.  I am here to tell you that somehow I have missed the point.  I HATE new cars.

 I owned two Honda Elements and I have no pithy criticism, they are exceedingly well designed, well manufactured cars with excellent resale value. I bought them knowing what I wanted and I got it and then some. I hated them. I have no logical reason.  But will some one spend months looking for just the right used Honda Element 46 years from now?  I think not.

98844 to 87106

Novermber 7th, 2009 I flew to Spokane WA, where Vivane Harper of Oroville WA picked me up at the airport.  Viviane was sweet as pie, short with very old knees making it difficult for her to walk easily.  Viviane is the the truck's previous owner's ex wife and she was in Spokane visiting grandkids and going on a blind date.  We had a great time on our 3 hour ride back to Oroville during which Viviane entertained me with theories of Earth's eroding magnetosphere and the impending stop of earth's rotation as a result.  She also had some very interesting things say about rocks from outer space and lots of other stuff that made more sense to me than magnetospheres and space rocks. On our way back to Oroville we drove past the Grand Coulee Dam and through a forest fire on both sides of the road.  I am assuming that is was a controlled burn but one never knows.  Very smokey and odd.

Left is a picture of me sitting in the truck for the first time which Viviane very sweetly took after dropping me off. You can almost tell from my expression that I am gleeful 'Ha ha ha! Finally.' Oroville WA is where I finally met the truck.  I tried to get it shipped via car carrier but it was so far off the beaten path that noone wanted to take the job.  Two truckers did and then canceled once they figured out where it was.  It was pretty frustrating seeing I bought it in September and did not get to see it until November 7th.  So here I am sitting in it for the first time hoping it starts: it did.  Very interesting driving it for the first time.  This is just what I expected and NOT your Subaru Legacy with a standard.  It grunts and wheezes, snorts and whistles, farts and groans but it is a pretty simple machine and in spite of all the noise it is very satisying to drive.  The seat is not stock and was reputedly installed so seatbelts could retrofitted to the cab.  When I asked Bob if it had seatbelts he said it did.  Well he wasn't lying but they were under the seat and in the bed in respective heaps.  Later my sister and I tried to mount them and discovered why they had not been installed; fairly major modification of the cab would be required to mount the shoulder belt.  I threw them away and ordered lap belts.  Someday the seat will go too.


Oroville is US terminus of the Okanagan River Valley.  Any further north and you are in Canada.  Nice little town but I think it is much like many 'edge' towns in the US.  Key West, El Paso, all of Alaska etc., places that are as far as you can go and still be in the US.  They seem to collect a certain type of 'almost expatriot' who generally wants to be left alone and resents government, rules, taxes and the like.

So, I stayed the night with Bob: the previous owner and discovered that less is more when it comes to quality time with Bob.  What a disagreeable man.  Smokes too much, drinks too much and complains vociferously.  After 12 hours most of which was spent asleep in his basement I had had enough.  I was ready to head south to warmer weather and friendlier faces.

So let it be known that I took some pictures on this trip but I did not stop and take pictures every time I 'should' have.  I gaped at some amazing views and just kept right on driving.  It is also easy to understand why I took so many pictures that include the truck.  I just got it after waiting two month, so sue me.  So, to make up for the ... gaps in my pictures I have used a great resource and website called Panoramio.  I found pictures of almost every place that I had been to support my pictures on this horrid little chronicle.  Bear in mind that I drove from WA to NM in November so any picture that looks out of season probably IS and good on you for catching it. Also all of these pictures can be scrutinized by clicking on the photo and then zooming additionally if you really want to see details.

Finally headed south!  97 South to Riverside where I stopped at Home Depot and bought some 'old truck road trip' essentials: tools, lubricants, gas can, etc. The kind of stuff that you hope you don't need but you know what they say about chance favoring the prepared. At first I was driving alongside the Okanago River which like all other rivers in this area empties into the Columbia River.  To the right is Orondo WA. and I was graced with good weather and good health and kept driving south.

To the left is Brewster WA which as you can plainly see is a beautiful place.  In fact the whole area is incredible.  Along the way I got to see why most big chain supermarket apples  are from Washington State. Orchards are everywhere.


We have orchards in Vermont and New York and New Hampshire but not this many.  The landscape is much starker, bigger and magnificent than Back East. The scale is orders larger.  Nothing beats the east for GREEN but the brush used to paint this country was HUGE.

Have you ever had to work inside a small room, a room that feels close? Remember the feeling of leaving that room and walking outside into a bright, clear day with a high blue sky? That expansive, open, empty feeling.  An overhead camera focused on the hat on your head zooming back and back and back until you disappear into the combination of colors and hues that comprise this huge land.  There just aren't that many people per square mile in this part of the country and most of them like it that way. It is a good feeling being out in the middle of the great, wide, open.

When you have just adjusted to the scale of things.  When the Okanaga River Valley is beginning to feel homey you come to the Columbia River Valley and you have to start all over.  There is no fording this river.  The Columbia is absolutely HUGE.  There is nothing in the East like this, nothing.  Wow.

Perhaps you begin to see why I didn't stop to take pictures. It felt like a hopeless attempt at capturing what it was like.  Like eating Taco Bell and thinking that now, at last, you have had good Mexican food.  Think again.  What I remember most about the Columbia is this deeply quiet essence of power.

After a few hours of driving through this sort of ridiculous grandeur, this majesty on steroids I started to get a little complacent about it.  No more exclamations or slowing down, no more wonder and awe. 'Yeah, nice river, I need a Coke!'  My normally well stocked box of 'Ooohs and Aaaahs' was down to the occasional 'hrrrmph'.  I had a lactic acid burn in my exclamator muscle.  Enough, already.

To the left is the Martha Inn.  Strange name for an Inn?  Perhaps but not so strange if it is located in George WA. Too funny.  Free wooden choppers at the restaurant.   (not funny, sorry)

All the while I am learning to drive this old thing and keeping my fingers crossed that chance WILL actually favor the prepared today.  The truck starts every time, shifts fine, stops fine, the only thing that I really had to watch was the suspension and that is just plain old worn out.  Nothing wrong with it that wouldn't hold until NM.  Somewhere along the way the rear right hub cap has spun off into never never land but the it is just a cover and these wheels are looking a bit rough anyway.  Not the first or second thing on my list but they will eventually be replaced.

Southern Washington state flattens out and I talk to my friend Richard in Portland Oregon trying to arrange a rendezvous.  We make a plan and then he texts me that he totally forgot he has jury duty.  Hmm. Sure.  I keep going and by days end it is dark and I am bushed and I look for a good place to pull off and sleep a few hours.  I find a good place in the future site of a housing development that is just dirt road.  Windy, cold and starry I curl up in the voluminous bed and get some sleep.

Oregon beckons and I am very near I84 southeast to Boise.  Almost immediately the road climbs off the Oregon plain and up into the mountains.  Speed limit on the interstate was 35mph due to the tight radius curves.  'Snow chains required in storms' states the sign.  I cross my fingers and keep the boiler stoked.  What a crazy road! It winds down into a tight, winding canyon with dirt exits to both defunct and operating mines.  The only way in or out is on the road.  You would need climbing gear to ascend the steep walls.

I drive and the country opens up and flattens out and feels emptier than Washington did. Logging trucks and old, abandoned farmhouses dot the countryside. I stop for breakfast in North Powder, Oregon and have biscuits and gravy.  A more substantial gut bomb I have never eaten. White flour biscuits under a veritable sea of more white sausage gravy that was more white than sausage.  I couldn't finish and thought I would never need to eat again.  I think I heard a seat spring let go when I hauled my ass back into the truck seat.