Pictures or it didnt happen....




Tow rig to become donor has me do brake work a day after I picked it up. I purchased it from a video and won an auction. Before I flew to Minnesota, the place it was stored clewed me that the brakes were pulsating badly...They were soooo rusty. I had my San Diego brake supplier send Rotors,Calipers etc to FedEx there in Roseville so all those parts were there waiting for me. This brake Work was done in 100 degree weather with 90% humidity in the Roseville MN Child care parking lot End result was a trip home suffering from walking Pneumonia and further brake work needed just prior to the Eisenhower Tunnel in the Rockies...fun times. From this parking lot I drove to pick up a craigslist trailer purchase and went west to Idaho to pick up the C600. from the farm it was on. Our country has such beauty. July 2016

Donor E550 broken down in Big Spring Nebraska needing a radiator. It was going to be days before the boys at the CoOp shop there was going to find time to do my radiator. They ordered one, and allowed me to use a lot across the street to do my own work. Again in 100 degree with 80 percent humidity conditions and now sick with the walking Pneumonia I look at the selfy video I took of me documenting this repair and I couldnt get three words out without hacking up a storm. The C600 was stripped of everything useful to keep those parts for my tool truck. And to end up a restomod.

E550 with box removed. Box is being used by my middle son in his door and window biz here in San Diego.

E550 cab in the process of removal so the engine could be repositioned and the 1955 C600 cab set on the E550 chassis

E550 chassis with its cab removed sitting in front of it on the concrete and its soon to have C600 cab sitting at its Left rear tire.


I had rear brake failure just before Exit 220 (Bakerville "No Services" ) I-70 In the Rocky Mountains. . A pair of vise grips pinching off the rear brakes allowed me to risk the 1/8th mile to this area that was once a lodge before it burned years ago where I spent 2 days fixing the problem. Notice the C600 is wet It was raining also. It was July and rain is likely around 3pm in the Rockies.
This last picture is obviously out of order but I dont know how to edit it into its proper sequence...sorry

 

Hey Gary, what a great story! Glad you made it back home. You're a brave man attempting to drive an unknown truck, and a loaded trailer half way across the country! I was wondering, what did you use for tools? Did you fly out with some, or just buy what you needed locally from the closest hardware, auto parts store, or in the case of the radiator replacement did the shop lend you the tools?

PS, I love those little goldfish snacks. But if I had to go through all that work, not sure if I would when all is said and done. LOL

 

see next post...

 

Mr Hooler, I ordered about $10k in various hand tools and cordless stuff, from my tool biz supplier who has warehouses all across the county. They had a warehouse there near Roseville Mn where the E550 was auctioned from so the tools were shipped right there.

That place the tow rig to be donor was auctioned from happened to be a repair place for trucks. The owner of the Goldfish Rig was friends with the shop owner and asked him to handle all the sale stuff. The shop manager was good to me and also bad to me. He was good in that he took my tool shipment and locked them in the box of the truck so those tools were waiting for me when I picked up the newly purchased tow pig soon to end up donor. He was also good for me in that he said he did an inspection for me that included the micrometer readings of each of the four rotors on the truck. That way I had all the parts pre determined. He was bad to me in that he lead me to believe he had removed the wheels to get the micrometer readings. He fabricated those readings. His shop never removed the wheels.

When I got to the parking lot of that day care center to do those brakes, the wheels were found to be seized onto the hubs. Mr repair shop tech must have done a eye ball micrometer reading. I had paid to repair the trailer hitch light wires and to do a full brake inspection. In my book a brake inspection means pulling wheels off and providing micrometer readings of how thick the rotors were. I specifically ASKED for the spec on each rotor and was emailed the specs on each one as I requested. I picked up the truck on Friday. I managed to drive this truck 20 miles from the shop to a family friend that just so happened to live near the child care place that I would do the Saturday brake work. I went by Fedex and got my brake parts and went to that parking lot early Saturday morning to handle the brake work. The shop was closed for the weekend or I would have had my way with them. after finding immovable wheels.

I worked like a dog with an 8 lb sledge for way too long trying to get those wheels off before just saying to heck with it. I had a brain storm to finger tighten the lug nuts and drive the truck in the parking lot to force the wheels loose. Unfortunately by the time I thought of this I was worn out and had sweated up a storm from the 100 degree 80 percent humidity conditions I was working in..Im sure I had heat stroke to some degree that lead to the pnuemonia I dealt with the rest of the trip home. Having lived all but the first 5 years of my life in San Diego, I had no experience with this type of weather and never even factored it in in all my plans to get all this handled. I also had no real experience working on rusty stuff. Spoiled San Diego boy here....

, The tool thing and all the brake parts waiting for me there was slick/ez...those tools ended up going straight to my tool business inventory when I returned home The tools I sold that I had clearly used were done so with a story. My customers sometimes say "that's been used, how much of a discount?" Jokingly, I retort "when you ask your boss for a raise dont you bring up that you have all this experience and should be paid more? That tool has experience Its also tried and true, I should be inflating the price..." I wipe the smudges off & we all chuckle...