last weekends adventure, brought home a "new" truck-LONG & LOTS OF PICS!!

[Blue_71]

last weekend (5-10-08) jewelz. and I loaded up the K20 with a trailer and headed north to get a 72 highlander from jamie72. here's the pics and description of the events:

so we start up i-65 about 7 am cst. by the way, that road is a ton rougher than i remember from last time!!

somewhere around elizabethtown, ky we see this guy hauling a car up the interstate. anyone know what this is?



weeee downhill (this is a huge hill after E-town towards louisville)



yes my windsheild is cracked and i like it!!!!!

here i am!



still going down..



aaaand moving along... moves pretty good for a 37 year old 3/4 ton huh?



ok skip forward 2 hours, one fueling, and one "uhhh are we going the right way??" anyone who has been to jamie's will know what i mean

first order of the day was to load up a cab thats going on my wrecker. so we unhook the trailer, and unload all the stuff out of the bed of my truck, which included:

floor jack
3 5 lug wheels/tires
6 chains
3 booming dogs
cooler
fold up cherry picker (now your going what the heck right? we were going on sunday to get an engine from Huck, i wanted to be prepared)

so Jamie, Huck, Jewelz and I load the bare cab shell. we then get to talking about gas mileage, so we take a short break to look at the throttle body set up i put on my truck. (thats right, EFI baby )

next on the to-do list is remove the front rallys off the highlander and put on 2 of the 5 lug wheels i brought. afterwards, we go to move the highlander in to the road to be loaded.. the truck started and immediatly died. Jamie is getting worried somethings not right, as he has plans that afternoon. we pour some fresh gas in, get it started, and it just will not stay running. after finally getting it to idle, we try to move it. no go... 3 tries, every time it dies when trying to move.

jamie says what the heck is wrong with this thing!!! after some badgering from Huck, he says:



so do you wanna try it smarty pants??
soo huck then proceeds to try



nothing.... oh wait, wonder if the tranny is full??

1 qt later, it moves!!! yaaay!

then we hook up the trailer, and move it into the road in front of the truck. jamie and I then unload the gargantuan ramps, made for our 20 ft farm gooseneck

[Blue_71]

next we decide who the driver is going to be for the loading attempt.. it was decided jewelz should do it, in case the doors wont open over the rails on the trailer.





next thing to do is take the alternator brackets off the highlander to put on my K20.. i had homemade brackets on the k20, and one peice of the bottem bracket broke on the way up. so huck and i take the brackets off the blue truck




then jamie and huck take off the brackets from the k20 while i begin strapping down the truck. just a few minutes later they holler for me..
i get to the front of the truck and see this



after a slight panic, a stack of belts a foot thick, and about 5 tries, the 4 of us manage to come up with a rigged up set up, and a belt that works. jamie then leaves for his planned afternoon. Huck, jewelz and i had to take a small break... Nemo recieved an important phone call from jamie's wife



Huck and I finish tieing down the truck, and load all my junk in the back of the highlander



then jewelz and i head off to clifty falls!



fast forward to sunday, we get up and its POURING rain.. so no pics for sunday, but we headed down to Huck's house to get an engine. after a couple hours driving country roads with 20-30 mph winds, we got to Huck's town. 2 roads from his house, the truck starts knocking and squeeling every time we come to a stop.. not good, but were close so oh well. we make it to Huck's where we sit and talked trucks and BSd for hours. finally in a rain break we went to check on the truck... the belt started out to thick and had worn down into the pulleys... shoo! we tighten the belt and run back inside when it starts raining. finally in another break we loaded the engine, and a couple hours later headed home. thankfully we had no more problems the rest of the way!

if your still here after all that, i hope you enjoyed my book!

[67_C-30]

AWESOME trip and adventure!

[Sammy]

You left me in suspence. I thought you were totally s@#$D when the bolt was broken off in the head. I need to ask how did you rig it to work? And I want to let you know that sounds like an adventure I would have been on. Seems to be my kind of luck. Plus one of the best posts I've read interesting true to life adventure. Congrats.

[toomanytoyz]

Good Story, I know what You Mean about the Road to Jamie's Place, What an Adventure........

Congrat's on the Truck, Look's like a Good Project..........

Rick

[Shyguy]

The car you saw looks like an old Lincoln, eary 50's I think.

Thank you for sharing the adventure.

Danny

[Charlesdur]

lol.... good story there.. I was hanging on and read every line!

[clay68c10]

Sounds like a good adventure.
The towed car may be a Packard??

[Chevyman680063]

Great story, could you read me another one?

[Palf70Step]

[Longhorn Man]

sounds like fun man!

[Spray-Bomb]

Woo Hoo !!!

[PanelDeland]

55-56 Mercury Montclair.My folks drove one until it would not stop rusting(My dad pop-riveted sheet metal throughout the rear floorboards).The wagon models had pear shaped taillights.
Sounds like a fun road trip.Now it's time to drill and E-Z out the bolt for the next RT.

[tcb-1]

LOVE the write up on your trip. Great story!

the car is a '55 Merc Monterrey 2dr ht. Those are real beauties when restored.

[72BlckButy]

Looks like a great road trip! Nice write up and pics!

[jamie72]

nice write up josh really good to see you again.so you ever get the bolt out or you still got bubble gun holdin that alt. on?? lol
stop in next time your up this way and see me..

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Sounds like you guys had fun.

[72 Super]

sounds like a great trip overall. What is your plans for the Highlander and the cab??

Ray

[special-K]

I wike dat stowie.I feew sweepy...

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by special-K

I wike dat stowie.I feew sweepy...

+1

[68 Stepside]

Josh, looks like the K20 is outta gas. Wish I could say I just took mine on a road trip, but I sold it instead....LOL! Cool story man.

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by 68 Stepside

Josh, looks like the K20 is outta gas. Wish I could say I just took mine on a road trip, but I sold it instead....LOL! Cool story man.

FOR SHAME!

[justcuz]

Yep its a Merc alright. A popular option in the old days was to bolt those tailights onto a 55/56 Ford.

[Blue_71]

i had that bolt out monday afternoon i drilled straoght through it with a 1/8" bit, then used a 3/16 left handed bit on it. it came right out. ive got the brackets from the highlander cleaned and painted and back on my truck already, but when i took the old alternator off and spun it, i could hear the bearing in it catching so i ordered a new 140 amp alternator... its scheduled to be on my doorstep monday at lunch. i also have already put a set of brackets back on the highlander, and let it run in the yard about 30 minutes. that thing runs sweet now!!

as for plans for the highlander, that requires a little explaining. my grandpa is the reason i am a mechanic, and he tought me near everything i know about carburated vehicles. back in the late 70s-early 80s he had a 69 long step, 250I6/3 speed 1/2 ton truck. he just had replaced the grill and fender with brand new GM peices and had it painted, when his son borrowed it and got out driving drunk in it, and proceded to flip it end over end, smashing the cab down to the seat, his son survived without a scratch but the truck was totalled. SO anyways back to the highlander. the bed and topper off this highlander are going on my 71 c10. the doors are going on my k20, as i have a set of 72 panels for it and prefer 72 doors (i like the lil screw below the vent ) the fenders, grill, and hood are getting put in my stash o parts. i am then going to put my k20 doors and OK fenders on the highlander, and get a new set of fenders for the k20. it will then get a 69-70 front end. i have a complete long step bed in the barn itching to be used, so it will go on the highlander, and be given to my grandpa, hopefully later this year.

the cab is going on my falling apart 68 wrecker ill post some pics of the rust on it when im back home tomarow

[caminokid]

I know what you are talking about with I-65. It never seemed to be perfect...always rougher in the spring. I have been up and down I-65 all my life it seems. I was born and raised in northern Indiana. Used to make alot of trips to Florida. So between Gary Indiana and Nashville...been there done that! LOL. Your trip sound like what my luck usually ends up being like. Good write up on a adventure that would end up like one of mine!