The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Should’ve hollered at me - I was looking for brunch at that stage!

I’m storm chasing - last night Cuba, MO , tonight London, OH.

The Queen would have a fit if she had to visit the TA in London.

 

I am guilty of said crimes. Rufus, OR for the night now. Well - probably all tomorrow too. Where was you, and was I doing anything sketchy?

 

I’d just filled up on motion lotion at the TA there and headed west. I had my radio on - you fellas need to holler out!

I’ve got a leaky oil cooler that I need addressed. @sawmill will be the next stop on the way back. He has parts coming in tomorrow, because he’s good like that.

It’s puking about a gallon every 1,000 miles, providing unrivaled corrosion protection to the undercarriage. No history of a rebuild in my 700k with it - so it’s time.

His home 20 is a very relaxing place. I always enjoy our visits.

 

My mechanic was right - the bottom picture shows the o-ring blow out. When I called him he said “Probably hard, brittle and is cracked”

I asked “Top up oil and go on? “

He said “Yeah - if it’s dripping - worst case scenario is it blows a chunk out and you’ll be losing oil faster”

Worst case scenario happened 180 miles out from Evanston, WY - I topped up 3 gallons to get it on the stick, and blew out 5 gallons by the time I got there.

He had the parts there, minus 2 seals that the kit was missing, but had delivered at 10pm. Cooler may have been on there for the 1.4 million miles, as I have no record of it being replaced. I-rings were rock hard.

Pretty simple, 4 bolts to block, 8 bolts to the housing, 5 seals and a gasket . Seemed stupid not to replace the actual cooler unit, since the failure of the cooler would mean oil in the entire cooling system, clogging, flushing etc etc. Parts $500, plus 5 gallons of oil and 1 gallon coolant.

Took a little bit of pulling power to get the coolant tube out of the engine block. He painted it black because he had run out of Detroit green, and said that he once painted a 2 by 4 block of wood with Detroit green, and it started leaking oil. I took him at his word.

Skeeter has a good little hot pressure wash there that steams, and I spent a couple of hours trying to remove 9 gallons of sprayed oil under the truck, but it’ll take me 2 or 3 more attempts to clean it all out.

I always enjoy dropping in. This time was business, but it doesn’t feel like it. He’s got a wonderful bride, good kids, and family, and helps out people as he can, especially those that need it. I met the young shop hand that he hired, on the requirement that he would get his GED, which he is doing next week. Those sort of things make differences in kids lives that they may not realize till a lot later in life.

Thanks @sawmill - I appreciate it.

Any of you passing through SLC east into WY that get in trouble, Sawmill Truck and Equipment Repair.