Or, "What not to do on a Tuesday night".

The stage sets:

Get home early from work, warm up on the body bag, hit the iron for an hour and half, relax after by popping in Mad Max while I wolf down some steak and potato I bbq'd this weekend. Going over to my buddies shop after to help him with his race car and talk about some changes to my ladder bars.

At this point I'm pretty jacked up from the good pump I got from my workout, and really jacked up from Mad Max. So, despite gas prices I fire up the truck and roll out. Now, I really haven't had my truck back together all that long from my last carnage, and I've pretty much been taking it easy on it. Note to self, in the future, try not to drive after watching Mad Max.

Nearly to my buddies house, I pull up to the light at Foster and 122nd. A ratty late sixties camaro primered blotchy grey pulls up next to me. Ahead of us, the two lanes merge into one as Foster continues on. Sure enough, the camaro starts revving his motor, and I can hear somebody yelling somthing (can't see him at this point cuz he's next to me and too far down, but I pictured a talking mullet). I can see the side of the light turn yellow for 122nd...our light will be green in seconds.

Now at this point, a devil pops onto my left shoulder and starts hollering at me to roast this bowtie into submission...he surely doesn't expect a big 'ol truck to put up a fight. Due to years of maturity and wisdom, an angel pops onto my right shoulder, and whispers that I have no point to make and why cause the massive stress on my drivetrain that a 5k clutch drop will cause.

Sadly, I'm not that wise, or mature; and the angle is an anemic, slightly retarded midget while the devil is 400# fire-breathing steriod jacked neanderthal. The poor angel gets its little retarded neck snapped, the devil says with an evil gleam in its eye "What Would Mad Max Do?" The light turns green, and hundreds of years of evolution goes out the window. I drop the hammer.

I relate this to you guys in a humorous vein because what follows is so painfull:

With a mighty roar my Swampers hook up, I *swear* the nose came up (I'm sure that was just the hysteria though), I get slammed back into the seat and launch. Sorta. Somewhere mid launch there is a mighty explosion in the aft bowels of the beast and I come to a quick stop with that really unhealthy metallic sound that says "driveline". The camaro didn't get far and comes back, there are two guys in it. People behind are honking and traffic starts edging around on the right. I look like a complete idiot. The guys in the camaro are cool, and while one holds traffic the other gives me a hand pushing my truck through the intersection and off the shoulder. We had a hand from two young guys who hopped out of a ricer behind me (!). Traffic moves along and the camaro boys chew the fat while we inspect the damage, comment what a cool truck it is, give me a couple of beers after I assure them I can handle things, and take off. Pretty cool dudes, and amazingly, no cops around.

Damage report: Depsite the one ton drivetrain, my driveshaft is twisted. Twisted! No evidence of a rear u-joint. None. Well, I did find what I think was a needle bearing stuck in a glob of grease. AND, my Dana 70 yoke was nuked. Blew an ear clean off. I limp it to the original destination of my buddies shop in front wheel drive where he thinks its so funny he calls over a couple others of our crowd so they can check it out and laugh at me. Ah, buddies. Drinking ensues, so at least the night wasn't a total wash.

Today. Home after a ride back late last night. Called in sick. Well, I DO feel kinda sick. Called Jesse at High Angle Driveline. Jesse thought I should move up from my wimpy 1-ton stuff (!) and step up to the big dog 1410s instead. Placed my order. Should have it early next week.

Best driveline in the biz: $439
Upgrade to thicker wall: $40 (jesse usually recomends this for rockcrawlers but thought it might not be a bad idea with my hp and tires)
Patented c/v flange: $99
Dana 70 yoke (1410) $79

Total setup: $657.00

Ability to be moronic and light up my tires with impunity in the future: Priceless.

Sorry for the book, but this has been a bad year for me breaking stuff so far and thought I might as well give you guys a laugh at my misfortune

 

HaHa!!! Hey, buy me one while you are at it!

Call that guy for a rematch!

 

Nah,your not an idiot,the idiot is the guy who puts a zillion dollars into his truck,and then never has any fun with it.I did like the way you identified the little devil on your left shoulder though,and here I thought I was the only one who could see him.

 

rough buddy, really rough. I was hoping to see your beast at the playday too.

 

Ahhh that sucks! But hey if its not broken you'll never upgrade right? I would just hate to see you swapping in rockwells and breaking those, then what?

 

Camo 60's

 

I'd have to have Camo money for that. I'll take Lisa too Yea, I'll go to rockies one day but a shop comes first...

Yea, breaking sucks, missing my event this weekend sucks, but at least this will be a quick and easy fix. Nothing like my last downtime.

 

That's the same intersection I broke a rear axle shaft and lost a wheel
Sorry about the carnage, but I had to snicker a little bit.

It reminds me of the day I rolled my truck. I was limping home on Foster Road with a smashed roof, windshield, and hood. Along with oil oozing down the outside of the fenders, and electrical problems, when a ricer pulled up beside me at a light. Well that same little devil popped in with no good angel in sight & I dropped the clutch. Nothing bad happened, but I was embarassed when I was quikly reminded that I couldn't go over 20 mph due to other damage I suffered in the roll.

 

Yea, go ahead and snicker Dan cuz I know you musta been doing the exact same thing when you had your carnage at that intersection

Too funny...only you would try to race right after that roll as boogered up as your truck was. Manage to break those new alloy fronts yet? Good to see ya in here...

 

and hundreds of years of evolution goes out the window


My favorite quote!

 

that sucks man....but i have only one thing to say. Carnage kicks ***

you sure you havent planned this just to updgrade? hehe

-cutts-

 

>The guys in the camaro are cool, and while one holds traffic the other gives
> me a hand pushing my truck

I knew there was a bright point in this, there ARE nice people driving Chevys and ricers

 

not all people should be judged by there cars, some of them are just mechanincs and car nuts like the rest of us...(trucks nuts too)

 

Sounds similar to me desenagrading my rear diff in my own driveway, the day before a planned trip to Hollister Hills. It took out my pinion gear at the same time. Now Having had just purchased an ARB and new gears the week before. Find the weak links and then upgrade.

 

All I can say is it's better to happen there on dry pavement than in mud up to your neck! That's pretty cool that the Camaro came back to help out. Well crap, so much for the bog this weekend, huh? But look on the bright side . . . you've been wanting an excuse to put a high angle in there . . . now you've got one.