Pressureangle Posted June 8 Posted June 8 (edited) Just a thread starter. This '57 is gone now, sat in a garage in Ohio for 30 years until the lady made us take it away to get the other 2 cars, a '57 Chevy tilt-front gasser and a '70 Plymouth 'Cuda 440 dual-fendertag in Purple. Took about 2 hours to get it running; put brakes on it and sold as is as a daily driver to a very happy fella. Edited June 8 by Pressureangle 5
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 The sad story starts here. $3500 from the Oklahoma City fire department, 47k miles and a blown head gasket. Every early '90s 5.7 came from the factory with blown head gaskets. Best truck evar. Built a 400 with Dart heads, pulled like a bull. Winchy thing keeps the Ohio deer out of the radiator, and median dividers out of the passenger compartment. Thanks, bald-tire Lexus ghetto dwellers. 1 3
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 ...so I bought this one, a '95 heavy 2500 with no motor. I was just going to stuff the 400 in it, but discovered there's far too much work to convert from the missing diesel. So I bought the engine that came out of it from the guy I bought the truck from, rebuilt the engine and now it's the family workhorse. 8600# GVW, 4.10:1 gears, Full float rear axle. Bought new by the Florida Forest Service, so got minimal options (basically just A/C) and well looked after, other than the also factory-installed blown head gasket in the 6.5 diesel. Current daily driver alongside the... oh wait, downthread 1
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 In the sad times I sat staring at the empty engine bay of the '95 diesel, needed something to drive so found this purdy nice '94 2500. 6.5 turbodiesel, 3.74:1 gears, 7200# GVW. Drove it near 20,000 miles fairly happily. Had some weird drivability issues, finally failed in El Paso- took the best part of 2 weeks to find a pin pushed back in a harness connector, buried on the firewall that went from a marginal/intermittent ground to no circuit. Fixed it and Yeehaw! Man ran so good, so smooth. I was getting 17.4mpg @ 72mph when the crankshaft broke near San Antonio. I checked the harmonic balancer before the trip, and have a Fluidamper under the bench...got a little lazy and took that last trip. Turns out whomever fooled with it in the past didn't get the balancer tight and the bolt backed out- the 6.5 serpentine pulley covers the bolt so you can't see it. Famous for breaking cranks with bad balancers. Current Status; busted crank, middle of priority pile. Had a heck of a time finding the same bumper as on the wrecked one, but found it used/new in CA. Shipping included was still only 2/3 new price. No longer manufactured. 1
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 So, now I got a wrecked '94, and engineless '95, and a broken '94 in San Antonio. What to do? I get a call from my maniacal friend in Maine, "Hey we're going to Alaska and you're coming with! Leaving July 4th!" uh... BMW GS is in El Paso, me, dog, and busted truck are in Kerrville, TX. Shop owner can't work on it because NAPA doesn't sell a crank and he is contractually prohibited...*@*!. But he says, "My Father-in-law and Nephew ride to Alaska every summer. Don't miss the trip, the truck is safe here as long as it needs". Shoutout to Kerrville Auto Repair. So me and dog rent car back to El Paso, fire up to meet in Yellowstone. They get hit with 4 days of rain, so I ride East to meet in the Black Hills. Back to Yellowstone, Glacier, and North! to Alas... alas. Weather turned very sour and time was short so back to Maine. I pulled off at Michigan to visit parents and back to figure out what to do when...what's that next to the garage but the '04 GMC Yukon XL 2500 I bought for my Mom a decade earlier. She quit driving a couple years after, it got used by family until..different sad story about poor economic choices and new vehicles...sad thing sat with 2 inches of water in the floorboard because they didn't tighten the battery and the sunroof forgot where it was and wouldn't close. I charged the battery and drove it home with nothing more than cleaning the algae off, gas and air to the tires. 8.1 liter tow pig with minimal rust and 80,000 miles. Out with the trailer to Kerrville, back home with cranky. Frame is bent on the red one, still moves but nobody will fix it. Found a good used rolling frame in Michigan, that'll come home eventually as the last priority. Then gotta cull the herd. 1
docc Posted June 8 Posted June 8 Makes buying a local V11 Sport with no gearbox seem like a cakewalk! 2
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 4 minutes ago, docc said: Makes buying a local V11 Sport with no gearbox seem like a cakewalk! Precisely. 2
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 Aaand since this is currently taking up space in my yard while my son figures out where to keep it, - 2
gstallons Posted June 8 Posted June 8 It is awful dark , just what all do you have there rolling off that transport ?
Pressureangle Posted June 8 Author Posted June 8 33 minutes ago, gstallons said: It is awful dark , just what all do you have there rolling off that transport ? That started as a '57 GMC 6500, Texaco fuel tanker. Someone in California thought it would be a nice pickup, shortened the frame, found a bed (how rare is a age-appropriate long bed stepside?) installed a 5.9 Cummins, '90 vintage. Gear Vendors overdrive, late model heavy duty 4x4 running gear- heavy like 550 stuff, haven't researched but D60 front axle so probably GM. Kid saw it on eBay and got a boner for it. He bought an Airstream he's gonna haul out to Utah for a summer...one of these summers lol 2 1
footgoose Posted June 8 Posted June 8 2 hours ago, Pressureangle said: Aaand since this is currently taking up space in my yard while my son figures out where to keep it, - I lust this truck 2
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