Big trucks for big places
Howdy rustlovers! Today for the first time ever we take the free model T on the road!
I used to drive around a ’91 Ford Bronco police entercepter. It had the full police package with 4×4, a lift, a high output 351 and an absolutely gigantic brush guard bumper equipped with a 9,000 lb. warn winch.
Although the bronco is 12 years gone, I kept that awesome bumper on the side of my house for all these years hoping to put it onto something one day. Well rustlovers that day is… never going to happen. My good friend Mr. Smith wanted that winch for his 2001 Ford F-250 so he traded me his emaculate front bumper for it but first, it needed some love.
Apparently sitting facedown in the mud for a dozen winters was too much for the electronics on this winch. As seen above the control solenoids incurred an unseemly amount of corrosion and did not function at all. I sent my friend Mr. Oak to the O’reilly to snag me 3 new solenoids (I had one on-hand) while I tinkered on his transfer case and the old rusty chunks of electronics soaked in penetrating oil.
The penetrating oil turned out to be useless as most of the nuts snapped immediately but the new parts came with new hardware so it wasn’t an issue. I cleaned all the connections, installed the new solenoids and the winch ran like a dream!
With that we traded bumpers and I got THIS beauty!
Yay it’s done! And I have a buyer! In Texas!
That’s right y’all! My old friend Ruckus in Texas wanted it so after some negotiating I hit the road!
This was my first trip to the great state of Texas and it was beautiful. The buttes and mesas of west Texas were breathtaking. My assumption was that it would be flat, dry and desolate like in the westerns I watched as a kid. Nope! Green and gorgeous! Of my 24 hours of driving over half rolled onto the odometer with true Texas turf under my 4 wheels! One of those miles was noteworthy:
So many 4’s! The keen observer will note that I am also traveling at a great rate of speed but fear not, I took this picture without looking. In fact I moved the camera around while taking a stream of pictures to make sure I got a good one.
I left my house at 5:30 AM on Thursday (San Diego time) and by 9:30 PM (Texas time) I rolled into Fort Stockton. I spent the night in a motel with breakfast:
All the waffles were missing was a toothpick with a tiny “you are here” flag.
I had fully intended to get an early start for Houston on Friday but the 17 hours on the road had taken a toll. Also the room was dark and cold and had a very comfortable king sized bed. All of these factors conspired diabolically to extend my stay a few hours.
By 9:00 I was back on the road. By late afternoon I was in Houston. Two blocks from my destination I drove over a rise in the road and slammed into a giant pothole. I pulled to a stop and could immediately tell there was a problem. I muted the stereo and could hear the engine running. The only problem was that before the pothole I COULDN’T here it running. The idle seemed normal so I revved the engine slightly and it was very loud but smooth. On a hunch I got out and peeked at the exhaust which was split between the catalytic converter and the muffler. Ok, no big deal.
I drove another block and there was a big dead tree blocking the road. The ONLY ROAD.
I sprang into action, tying the tree to one of the tow hooks and popping it into low range 4 wheel drive. After pulling the shift selector into reverse I eased off of the brake pedal and let the truck simply idle backwards. The mighty excursion began to move the massive log which creaked and popped then split in half.
I manuvered the log off of the road then was on my way once more.
With the vehicle delivered I spent the next day hanging out with old friends, sampling the local craft beers and looking at the MASSIVE Texas trucks:
Until next time rustlovers, remember; everything’s bigger in Texas!
