Tag: truck

Catching Up…A Little More

I hurriedly tied up the last post, as I had started it in February after getting Black Betty (the truck), then promptly forgot about it until I logged in to create a catch-up post 😒. Anyway, our nephew’s friend came to change the struts on Black Betty (bam-a-lam) and was concerned about what he saw when he jacked her up. He told Adam it was a good thing Adam didn’t take the truck down to the fire department to replace the struts — which I had suggested since we don’t have a paved driveway — because the spring could “go” at any minute. He didn’t even want to back the truck up in the driveway.

Well, that just gave me another problem to solve, so I was off to the races to find a solution, which entailed Google and Reddit. I posted the picture (above) Adam took of the broken strut in a mechanic sub on Reddit, and the replies were terrifying. Everyone was very kind and patient, which is incredibly surprising for Reddit, but a lot of “grenade,” “bomb,” “dangerous,” and “kill you” were being thrown around, which had me shaking in my boots. They all said getting the spring out was scary work because it’s under so much tension. There is a spring compression tool, but many of the Redditors said it’s scary to use it and could be dangerous.

The helpful, yet discouraging information deflated my excitement balloon I’d had about having a truck. I looked up the cost of getting struts changed professionally and it was estimated to be between $1,500 and $3,000 for parts and labor. More than I paid for Betty. We have the new struts, and I read mechanics will work with supplied parts and only charge for labor, but labor would still be significant, especially with the condition the broken strut is in because getting it out is the problem. Adam has replaced normal struts before. The complicated labor is in addition to having Betty towed to a shop. I just…It just sucks. Not a lot has gone right since Mom died.

Next, I’ll tell you all about the water leaks and how we are using 13,000 gallons of water a month (our average use is around 1,300/month)!

Catching Up…A Little

It’s been a minute, and the WordPress PC app looks a lot different! I guess a lot of things have been going on, at least compared to my boring life. I finally got a vehicle after not having one for years. We had Mom’s car, which was in great condition, but when we had the oil changed, the guy put the wrong cap on (I thought he forgot to put a cap back on at all) and since Adam didn’t know it, he drove it like that and the engine broke.

The mechanic shop replaced the engine (and fired the mechanic), but that engine lasted only a couple of months, which seems criminal, but I didn’t have the money to explore my options with them. The engine was from a car the same year and near the same mileage as Mom’s, but Mom kept her car serviced, and I don’t know if the owner of the car they got the engine from did. I hated letting Mom’s car go, but it was going to be over $6,700 for a new engine through Honda. I could have looked for an engine at a local junkyard, but we don’t have the tools to swap engines, and it’s not a cheap thing to have done, especially on a 2008 Civic. I sold it to someone who had an engine and needed a car (and, yes, I cried when he came and got it).

I chose to buy a 2000 Toyota Tundra, and I’m excited about it. I’ve not had a truck and always wanted one. The entire body has been “Rhino”-lined, which I didn’t even know was a thing! Because of that, no rust, and the body looks…textured…and in surprisingly good shape, save a couple of places. When I get the lining stuff touched up and the truck washed, I will share more photos. We haven’t ridden in it because one of the struts needs replaced and Adam’s going to go ahead and do both of them. Of course, we’ve been having a drought here for months, and right after we got the truck, it’s been raining daily, and we don’t have a garage or paved driveway. So it goes.

I used a placed called VIN Seeker to check on details about the truck and it’s been reconstructed. I don’t know what that means. Rebuilt, maybe? It looks like that makes insurance higher than it should be. The seller drove it here, which was cool of him, so it does run and sounds fine. Now, we’ve discovered that I bought a time-bomb on wheels 😒.