The "SAD DAY" has finally come....She's Gone... ;(

[ChiefRocka]

Today I said goodbye to my baby....not my wife or kids...but my the truck !!

"The Chief" to most of you..."Rock-a-Billy" to my kids, wife and everyone else around me.

Let me tell this WAS EXTREMELY hard for me to do....I must have a real attachment to vehicles...Thought I would not do it again, but I did it for my family....

It leaves with a kinda cool story.

Turns out this kid (18-22 tops) has been lurking around on our site here for a while...and watched my "Low-Budget" build from the start. He said he loved the truck, and watching the build.

So when it turned up on Craigslist, he couldn't believe his eyes !!

He came down the other day to check it out...and instantly fell in love, like a first kiss/love in highschool.

He asks if he could drive it...I said sure. Then he says "Can you back it out for me?" I was like Oh..no first bad sign !

It was a tite space, so I did, and pulled it to the curb. I explained to him about the close-ratio Muncie and super-tite throw on the shifter (1st and 3rd are super close).

So...he takes off (in 3rd) riding the clutch for days...so much so, you could see white smoke coming from under the truck !!

(Second bad sign, BTW)

About 5 minutes later, he calls my phone and says "Hey man, I don't think the clutch pedal is working anymore ??"

I was like "WTF did you do to my truck ?!?!" (No I didn't really, but I went to the rescue).

So I got in, and threw it in first and hit the starter....Cool we still have the clutch !!

The linkage had came off....WHAT A SIGN THAT WAS !!! Turns out, the spring that holds the clutch rod tite up against the throw-out rod broke some time the night before and was laying on the shop floor !!!

Now, if this doesn't mean the truck was saying "PLEASE, PLEASE DONT SELL ME!!!"...I dont know what does !!!
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Here's the spring:
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So I was like..."So much for the sale, huh ?" (YES !!!)

But he was so 'juiced' he said I be back tomorrow with 50 $100 bills !!!

So today, I repaired the linkage...and got it going.


Jacked it up....
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...and yes used a stand. BTW, check out the crossmember..still hold'n up...even after that "Wreckless Burn-Out" !!!
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I had to straighten the rod, and make a new end. The rod was smack'n the ground, and the end was gone. (sorry, crappy pic..I was nervous)
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Man...did I LOOOVEE those wide whites !!!!!
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Here's the kid throwing in the paper-work (Almost forgot...I lost the pink..FINAL SIGN!!!)
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