I have a friend that has been "helping" me on the weekends with my pair of 78' shortbeds for the last few months. He finally decided that a dent was the right option for him and began his search a few weeks ago. Through some searching and favor asking, he worked a deal on an extended cab in Taylorsville N.C that belonged to an aquaintence of mine. The truck was "a daily driver and ran great when parked" two years ago. It needed gas, a battery and two tires inflated and it was said that it "should run like a raped ape". Well, I advised that he take my trailer and go get it.

My friend, Scott decided that this weekend would be the one that he picked up his new prize, and asked our buddy Terry to help him go pick it up. Terry is a Dodge man, and not even the cool Cummins powered trucks, he likes Magnum V-8's. they set out Friday evening to make the trip from Lake Butler Florida to Taylorsville, which is about a 9 hour trip with the trailer. Saturday morning they got up and went to get the truck. After fooling with it for about thirty minutes, they managed to DRIVE the beast onto the trailer. They left at about 1:30 heading home and managed to make it just south of Charlotte before the Dodge decided that it needed to blow off some steam and began to run hot. After a few minutes on the side of the road, the thermostat was pulled and they were on their way. The truck made it all of 5 miles down the road and was in the red again. After it was cooled off at a truck stop, it was diagnosed that the water pump had crapped out and the search for a new one began on the phone. The nearest parts house didn't have one in stock, and the truck couldn't make the thirty mile drive to get to the place that did. Scott suggested that they drive the old Ford to get the part. This time the old girl fired up after a double pump of the gas peddle. They got the truck off the trailer and pulled up to the gas pump. By the time they finished gassing up, the truck was idling smooth. A quick check of the watch told my friends that it would be dark pretty soon and installation of the new water pump could result in them having to stay a second night in a hotel. Scott suggested they hook the trailer to the Ford, and tow the Dodge home, if they did break down with the old truck, then they would still be in the same situation. They hit the parks house, got the water pump for the Dodge and a headlight for the Ford and hit the interstate. In Brunswick Georgia, they had to change a tire on the old Ford, luckily the spare from the 98' Dodge fit the bolt pattern and was close enough in size to get em' home. When I heard this story today, I had to laugh. Terry is the kind of guy that gets huffy when he hears a Dodge joke, but is quick to throw out a "Found On Road Dead" whenever the chance arises.

Scott is now the proud owner of a 78' extended cab shortbed two wheel drive with a transplanted 460 and C6. The truck sat for a while and has an absolute ton of issues, but for $800 it made it almost 500 miles with a Dodge in tow with no mechanical issues and brought my trailer back to me today.

 

Now that is one neat story. Thanks for telling us.

 

Built ford tough!
If my dad hadn't pulled the carb off the 460 in my truck 10 years ago when it was his, allowing a rats food stash to fall down the intake, I bet it would have fired right up!

Sure is a good story!

 

Congrats to your friend on his new Supercab.

I've got a friend I've GOT to tell this story to. I might have to do it over the phone...

 

Awesome story. Agreed that it puts all the "Found On Road Dead" jokes to bed.

 

2 pictures would of made this a really epic story....its really awesome anyway and I am LMAO, but a pic of the Ford on the trailer then the Dodge would of made it epic greatness.

Tell you Dodge buddy the whole Ford universe is laughing at him.

 

Thats an Awesome story!! I second 77&79f250's idea!!

 

That's a great story, thanks for posting. Keep us updated on the new truck.

 

I spoke with him today and told him that I posted the story. He got a big kick out of it. Apparently there is more wrong with the Dodge then what was originally thought, after changing the water pump and flushing the coolant system, the truck is still running hot and is now blowing white smoke out the tail pipe. Diagnosis, cracked head or blown head gasket. I guess the trip was just too much for the Mopar.

 

Yup, when I heard the words "Dodge, Magnum and overheating" together my first thought was he's gonna be pulling heads. F-ing junk.

 

Well, at least there lots of parts available at the junk yards!

 

Only good ones are body panels though

 

That's a big problem with modern engines. Overheat one time and they are junk. At best it's gonna need new heads and gaskets. But more often then not it's a complete engine. Especially if the owner tries to continue to drive it. You usually end up with a cracked block in the end. Gotta love these old beasts.

 

my 351w in my 94 CCLB 4x4 f350 overheated to the point were it shut off and both heads warped a long with blowing both head gaskets and burning a hole in the #8 piston. drove it for a month and a half after that and it fired up every time, cracked the valve seat on a few cylinders and it still idled kinda smooth til the end. you dont beat the old pushrods. oh and it got 2mpg and 5 miles per quart of oil.

 

Perfect. Great story.