Broke steering column

[sageadvice]

If you have never had your steering wheel come off in your hands, count your blessings. I was up 20 miles into the back country above Chester to look at a small cabin addition and just before arriving at the prospective job site, my steering wheel came off completely loose in my hands. I made it in to look at the job but on leaving, i put the steering wheel back on best i could, the wheel would lock up and the truck would die causing it to really lock up. Finally, i got turned around and headed back down to town but not without further incidents, none of them serious enough to mention.

Turns out the steering column is completely busted. The plan as of now is to get it repaired with pieces and parts Monday. Seems there is no full column assembly available near here, the easy and much cheaper fix, for a 4-speed tilt wheel in 1984 GM so my wrench says he can fix it with pieces and parts he has but will take twice the time and be near twice the cost.

I need the truck...bad, so i guess i pays the $$$ and get what i get :-(

Joey

 

[rugarm77]

Vehicles can be a big time pain in the azz !!! Even the newer ones just ask Stinky, lol. Glad to hear you did not crash, could have been a-lot worse.

 

[sageadvice]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-10 AT 00:04AM (MST)[p]Rug said; "Vehicles can be a big time pain in the azz !!!"

Yep!! I keep my vehicles in pretty good shape and this year have spent more than usual on maintenance issues. Now this when it's again time to get ready for the hunts...and winter!!

I could go out and buy new but i just can't see going that way. Yeah, i pay to fix this and that and to prevent other things from happening, but no where near what i'd be paying in payments, registrations, and insurances.

As a side note; a good friend and my regular mechanic that works out of his garage, got hit on his Harley a couple days ago right near his house. A Fe-male drunk driver with kids in the car ran a intersection stop sign and broadsided him sending him to the hospital with many broken bones. i heard today that he is getting gang green in one of his legs and they may need to amputate if they haven't already done so. Here and i thought that i've had it bad lately!!

Joey

 

[B_BOP_A_LU_LU]

sage,
You sound just like C.W. McCall when that genuine accessory shifter knob came right off in his hand,lol!

Had a good friend that run a wrecking yard for several years that had lots of parts like you're lookin for,when Metal prices went way up 2-3 years ago they started crushing everything,now he's got MS real bad,a sad deal all the way around,guaranteed he'd of had 20+ of what you're lookin for before the car crushin started!

I love not acting my age,
Damn I love my NASCAR race,
And Hell yes I love my Truck!

 

[justr_86]

I had a steering wheel come off in my hands before, coulda been scary but not too bad for me, I was in 4 low and 1st gear hauling hay in the middle of a 40 acre field.

I'm all for owning an older truck for less payment and insurance like your doing. But I also feel that I need my truck, I need it to work all of the time. As the truck gets older, parts are harder to find and it gets to the point of it always being broken down or having to start rigging stuff to work and your asking for trouble. A newer reliable truck with a payment is better to me that an older truck with no payment but lots of repair bills.

hope your friend is ok.

 

[sageadvice]

"sage,
You sound just like C.W. McCall when that genuine accessory shifter knob came right off in his hand,lol!"

Yeah B-Bop, it felt pretty "western" there for a bit i'll tell you that! There are places down in Chico that i could probably get that steering column but that would be another day or two and the wrenches here are in their busy season too. He offered to get it fixed TODAY so...

Justr said, "I'm all for owning an older truck for less payment"

I too would love to not have to worry about breakdowns. Your rigs must be different than those of my friends here local though. One bud has a 1 year old rig going on his third transmission, another just replace 4 injectors and misc for $4K, and another is threatening to sue Ford, good luck with that, if they don't take his truck back on the lemon law. I do think newer has it's advantages but even though i could go that way on paper, i've had to struggle through too many hard winters and been in debt too long to jump into high payments with what else is already on my plate. One of those "to each his own" deals, i'm thinking, on this issue/debate.

Now i get to start her up and see if i can drive it to the mechanics. That ought to be "fun" Wish me luck!!!!

Joey

 

[justr_86]

New trucks do have problems too, the only positive is availability of parts. But if you got a good older truck then its worth it. Good luck on your drive.

Don't go dien on me!

 

[larrbo]

Sage, that sounds like an E-ticket ride down the hill, especially if you were up at Warner Valley. I hope you have a backup until your truck gets fixed.

 

[kilowatt]

Joey,
Check this out and see if you can get it there.
www.ididit.com
Give them a call and see if they can help you out.

Brian
http://i48.tinypic.com/238eb6.jpg[/IMG]

 

[sageadvice]

Justr, I MADE IT!!!! lol The battery was plumb dead, had to jump start it to get er going but i got it to the mechanic's shop!!

Larrbo, Yes, it was a interesting ride back down from the head of Warner Valley!! I'm in my camper truck until this issue gets fixed. He said it would be done this afternoon...

Kilo Thanks for the link Pard!! The truck is already in the shop though. Might have been a great option had i the time. There's much needed work waiting for that truck and me, i needed it done yesterday!

Joey

 

[Roy]

Joey - you better stop letting AyA borrow your truck so often.


UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)

 

[sageadvice]

Roy, you must have been reading my mind! I was wondering if this thread was starting to sound similar to the BS stuff AyA was claiming to have happened to his rig. My rigs don't smoke though!!

Being i've gone this far, not that anybody is too interested but might as well include the latest updates to this ongoing saga; Ken, a longtime bud who owns the only wrecking yard in the area, called to say that he has a 83 Blazer, 4 sp, tilt, in his yard that he can get his helper to pull and deliver to Willy's, my wrench, for $80 which is about half what i was told was a fair price for a column. He says it has no steering wheel on it and he thinks the blinker don't work.

Ok, so i drive on down to Willy's to see if he can use it to my advantage, naturally he's gone at lunch, but i see my truck's hood open and the steering wheel has already been pulled. So i continue on down to the wrecking yard and pay for the steering column to be delivered to Willy asap. At this point, i don't know if Willy will use this column or continue on and make mine work with the parts that he has. Doesn't really matter to me at this point, i just require a steering wheel that works in a truck i can get from job to job. If nothing else, Willy will have another steering column in stock for somebody else and he'll probably knock off a few bucks on his parts that he used for the extra column from the wrecking yard.

So, i'm wondering if my same old ignition key will start the truck??

Joey

 

[justr_86]

So, i'm wondering if my same old ignition key will start the truck??

I slid my high school truck into a tree. My dad found a cheap door in idaho and a ride to our house. We put the door on (silver door on a maroon truck) and the door key worked for both doors! Pretty cool the way it worked out.

 

[sageadvice]

Justr, I like stories like that...it worked out well for you!! I had a 76 chev fleetside 4x4 that i put 380,000 on the 350 before i put in the new motor. It got to the point of taking no key at all...just turn the empty ignition switch and she started right up.

Looks like everything is gonna be fine. Willy is using the junk yard column, great shape he said, and all the other stuff from mine that was already in the truck. I should be able to pick it up in a couple hrs.

He said i'd be 4 hours at $85 = $340, plus the $80 i gave for the junker = $420. total. Not exactly small change but a cost and quickness of repair that i certainly can live with.

Joey

 

[D13er]

too much belly pressure will wear out this one out too joey.....might see if you can get him to lower the seat....



JB

 

[sageadvice]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-13-10 AT 01:37AM (MST)[p]13r, close but no c-gar! I still got a couple inches of clearance there but at times, i do tend to grab that wheel to help pull me up in the rig. Willy showed me the broke column and it ain't much for stout to my way of thinking. I can see how a guy is better off putting in one of them hand grabber bars to pull on instead of the wheel.

That said, this is the first one that i broke and i've near plumb wore out 5 chevy's-GMC's in my day. I figure that i'm good to go another bunch o' years without further troubles in that particular area. Sides that, the steering wheel is already in there and right handy when i need a little boost up in the seat!

Got the rig back home this evening, good to go, $420.!! i don't believe a guy could get the same job done for the same price on a newer rig...but i don't know that for fact, just saying is all!!

"Lowering the seat" it's an idea that has crossed my mind a time or two. Not only would i have more, ahem "clearance",i could wear my hat while driving, i wouldn't be hitting my head on the roof so much, and could better see out the windshield while i was "huntin"

Joey

 

[never_catch]

420 huh Joey...coincidence...I think not!! lol jk glad to hear you got it fixed already, that was fast dude!!

~Z~

 

[sageadvice]

N_C, "420 huh Joey...coincidence...I think not!!" i'll have you know that i do not weigh 420 pounds...not yet anyway

Yeah, that was pretty a pretty fast repair job. Willy can fix about anything on wheels but he really likes the older rigs and keeps a goodly supply of parts in his cluttered but interesting shop. Sides that, most of the shops up here do their best to get another local business man, such as myself, back on the road asap. I don't make a ton of money but i do try and build karma every single day! What goes around,...

Joey

 

[D13er]

420, 4:20 or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) refers to consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture. The date April 20 is sometimes referred to as "Weed Day" or "Pot Day".[1]

The term was coined from a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California, United States in 1971.[2][3] The teens would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana outside the school.[4]

High Times Creative Director Steven Hager was the first person to track down the Waldos and publish their account of the origins of the term. Hager wrote an article in October 1998 issue High Times "Are You Stoner Smart or Stoner Stupid?" in which he called for 4:20 PM to be the socially accepted hour of the day to become intoxicated on cannabis. "I believe 420 is a ritualization of cannabis use that holds deep meaning for our subculture," wrote Hager. "It also points us in a direction for the responsible use of cannabis."

On April 25, 2010, Hager called for April 20 to be re-named "Jack Herer Day" as a tribute to the founder of the hemp movement. This speech was given at the gravesite during Jack Herer's funeral.

According to an April 2009 article on The Huffington Post, the group called itself the Waldos because its members hung out by a wall after school. Writer Ryan Grim, citing interviews with anonymous Waldos, claims that the group met by the statue at 4:20 p.m. to begin a search for a crop of abandoned cannabis growing near Point Reyes that they had heard about. They never found the stash, Grim writes, but smoked plenty of marijuana while looking for it.[5]

JB

 

[BuckSnort]

JB, your post gave me the munchies..

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