Truck Update: Three Weeks

I’ve been without my truck for three weeks.

Three. Weeks.

They’ve been long weeks.

Some folks might take this in stride. It’s an inconvenience and an expense (a huge one) but nothing more. Not me!

Vast swaths of the population consider a vehicle nothing more than a way to get from point A to point B. These are the sort that think self driving cars are keen and exhort me to vote for light rail subsidies.

I’m not of that tribe. I need my wheels! A vehicle is not merely transportation… it is freedom.

I might have faired better if it was motorcycle weather but it’s not. So… I’ve gone slowly mad. Everything feels like this:

I’ve been bumming rides off Mrs. Curmudgeon. She’s been very nice about it. She even accepts my apologies when I stuff 200 pounds of chicken feed in the back seat.

But homestead chores are backing up. You don’t know how much you use your truck until it’s… not.

I’ve had three weeks of not.

I considered buying a new truck. I didn’t want a new truck. I wanted my truck.

Everyone has an opinion of a better truck brand I should own. They form into teams; Ford, Chevy, Dodge… or teams from other leagues… Jeep, Toyota, etc… But to be honest no team is perfect. If you want huge and you’re in America, you’re stuck with one of the big three. I know y’all have a story about your pappy’s truck that went eleven million miles in 1970 without so much as a flat tire… but for every one fondly remembered, there’s another one sitting in a junkyard. I guess what I’m saying is that they all suck in special and different ways.

My Dodge, for example, decided to expose me to “Death Wobble”. In no universe should “Death Wobble” be a known flaw! I wrote about it here:

We live in a world where they’ll recall seven million Hondas because the passenger drink holder once failed and scared a Chihuahua in Pasadena. They’ll recall a generation of mini-vans because the heater fan switch has the wrong font. But I had a catastrophic failure of steering due to a know issue and that’s “a common occurence”.

WTF?!?!

How can “death wobble’ not be a big deal?  “Here, drink this soda. It has a known flaw called ‘exploding anus‘. It happens sometimes. Drink up.”

Anyway, I fixed death wobble (by hurling money at it) and got seven years of good service. It was expensive and annoying when it happened but seven years of good service isn’t bad.

Then, BOOM, transmission blown! Weirdly, I’d been rather impressed with the six speed auto. The tow setting shift points were just right for dragging an iceberg and (combined with the exhaust retarders) it was pretty good at crawling down anything short of a cliff. I was happy with the transmission right until it was flinging innards onto the pavement. I didn’t see it coming. Who knew?

You place your bets and you takes your chances. I decided to hurl more money at it and hope I get many years of service. It was cheaper than buying a new (or comparable used) but not cheap!

It’ll be done soon. Actually, it’s already done, I just haven’t paid for it yet. All I’ve got to do is spend all my money (big thanks to the folks who tossed a tip my way, you’re awesome!).

Soon. I’ll be a man with a truck again. I’ll be back where I feel best; at the wheel and enjoying the open road.

About AdaptiveCurmudgeon

Adaptive Curmudgeon is handsome, brave, and wise.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

7 Responses to Truck Update: Three Weeks

  1. Matthew says:

    Your Death Wobble = Ball Joints

    Just fix the front end FCS & quit yer bitchin’

    • AdaptiveCurmudgeon says:

      😉

      It was seven years ago so I should relax and… nah I’m always going to bitch about it. Though I’ve gotten something like 125,000 miles since then. That’s nearly a whole 1970’s car worth of miles between the front end and the tranny. The truck ain’t half bad even though I whine.

  2. Mark Matis says:

    Check your tip jar.

  3. Tree Mike says:

    Look! A Dodge was here! That’s fricken funny. I have room to talk, I drive a 79 F-100 Found On Road Dead.
    My neighbor has a 98 and 07 2500 Cummin’s 4wd. His reality, “I live my life one trans at a time.”, and Death Wobble.
    Reality really is mostly universal, you’re good at making light of it.

  4. Sailorcurt says:

    I love that “New Truck vs Old Truck” image. Whenever someone asks me why I don’t get rid of my beat up old truck and get something new, I tell them “because I need a Truck, not a fashion statement”.

    And we’re going to need it even more…just bought a parcel of land in an undisclosed remote location for camping/zombie apocalypse refuge/retirement home site; gonna be a lot of trucking stuff in and out of there over the next few years.

  5. Terrapod says:

    And the AC does not have a spare VW Diesel pre 2006 wagon stashed in the barn as a backup, why? When truck A dies, you call the insurance bro and have him transfer it to vehicle B for the duration, or bite the bullet and have minimum on it anyway.

Leave a Reply