Farm Trucks

As you can see in the pictures, we have no shortage of trucks around the Farmville Reality Project. Problem is, only one of them actually runs (the white one with the camper on it, for those keeping score). Technically, the 1972 Ford will run, but outside of going to get the mail, I personally wouldn't take it very far right now. When you get right down to it, the perfect farm truck has only one requirement, it starts and runs without stranding you out in the middle of no where. We are going to make it a priority to get these to that status, but it will take some work.

The 1977 Chevy is the most recent "stray" my son has brought home. It has decent tread on the tires and the lift hasn't put it in the completely ridicules place of tipping over when going around a corner at twenty five miles per hour. It's close though. Thirty five and ten bales of hay on the back, this thing's going to be laying on its side. The reason you see jacks and tools all around it is it is in need of major repair. The second or third day he had it, the transmission gave out and he had to drive it back here in reverse. We live off of a state highway and he said most of the people he inconvenienced while driving back in were good sports. Traffic out there is used to going along at fifty five or more, so being stuck behind him going five MPH facing backwards had to have caused more than a few to consider taking up road rage. He told me he just kept smiling and waving at the people passing him. At least he could see them coming without using the mirrors. Yesterday was deemed the day to take the transmission out of this truck. With it being a furlough Friday, I made good use of the time and got quite a bit done as far as taking care of the many things planted in the project. While I did this, my son and one of his friends worked on disconnecting the many things necessary to pull the transmission out. By the time it got dark, they were at a place where it looked like it might be able to come out. A few more friends had shown up to either help out or just witness this crazy event. I decided to crawl under and give them a hand, mostly to make sure no one got crushed to death by a falling transmission with the transfer case still attached. Crazy event is probably being too kind of a description here, for the record. We had a legitimate transmission jack under the transmission, but it was missing two of the upright support pieces. There was a good old fashioned floor jack under the back of the transfer case and for good measure, we used a ratcheting nylon strap to hold the whole assembly to the support plate on the transmission jack. With some careful maneuvering and some cussing, we drug this whole assembly out from underneath the truck a little after nine thirty that night. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired and beat up a bit by that point. The really scary thing is that in a few days, when it comes back from the shop, we have to put it back in. That should be another interesting adventure.

The 1972 Ford is the official ranch truck right now. Mostly because it sits in the perfect position so you can sit in the driver's side seat and look out at most everything planted. Even without moving an inch, it is sitting in the perfect place to do this. It will run though if you use jumper cables on the battery and pour some gas in the carburetor to prime it. Beside those small nuances, it also needs a new vacuum booster and rear brakes. The engine is fine, the son and I put a remanufactered long block in it a couple of years ago. With just a few more things taken care of, this one might end up seeing some serious duty in the near future. My grandfather bought this pickup brand new back in 1972 and after various family members drove it, I ended up with it. It had close to two hundred thousand miles on it by that time. I kept it to use as a project for Kevin Jr. and I to work on and he even used it as his senior project in high school. One of these days when all the other chores are caught up, the plan is to get working on this one and get it road ready. We'll see when this actually happens. I hope it does sometime before I retire in 2020 or else it will then become an official retirement project. It doesn't matter when it gets finished though. How cool is it to have your grandfather's pickup to drive around, or in Kevin Jr's case, his great-grandfather's? That is priceless.