Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Solve One, Deal with the Next

Solve One, Deal with the Next

Last night we drove by Carl’s Muffler shop. Carl is retired and like many that settle here after a career in a metropolitan center, he hung out a service repair shingle. There are many quasi professional automotive facilities scattered about run by old retired professionals. TJ’s transmission shop is another example but there are many, some with a shingle hung out and others you have to discover through word of mouth.

Anyway the S-10 was parked out front and I told Linda it looked like it was ready. Her reply was that surely he would have called if it was…maybe he had to order something special. This morning I called and confirmed it was ready. It amazes me that someone would write your phone number on a work order and then not call when its finished. Oh well this is Wisconsin.

When I got over there he was working on another customers pick-up truck. The guy struck up a conversation as Carl concentrated on his job with a single minded purpose. I held up the check and he came out from under the lift, took it and said “Thanks.” I went out to the S-10 and tried to start it and while it sputtered, it simply would not catch on. As I kept hoping it would crank the battery kept running lower until it quit altogether. “Shucks, I muttered to myself.

Carl came out to the door and pointed to a batter charger and extension cord and went back to work welding.

I couldn’t get the hood to open and went inside and borrowed a pair of pliers. Isn’t that an interesting name for the tool…“A Pair of Pliers?” As a kid, when I first heard the tool named, I expected to see two tools instead of one. The reason I suppose is because there are two arms and serrated grasping surfaces that are linked by a brad. You squeeze on the handles and the tips grasp the object, thus a pair of jaws that ply together…or something like that…where was I?

One of the reasons the hood would not open is because the pull latch under the dash has the handle broken off and was lying inside the counsel. To open it you have to grab the end of the broken linkage rod with pliers or a vice grip or channel locks. However, this is only half the trick. Just pulling on the latch will not pop the hood. For the hood to pop someone has to be simultaneously applying pressure to the front of the hood. Just pulling the handle is not enough even to the point of ripping the handle off. Interestingly, The same situation exists with my Dodge. A former owner must have ripped it off in the same frenzy of frustration. It fits the adage..."if a little torque is not enough apply more." Another Wisconsin thing.

The friendly customer had a prosthesis from the knee down and came outside to talk on a cell phone call. The mosquitoes where swarming and a thunder storm was approaching. I backed my utility . trailer up and aligned the ramps with the rear wheels. Then I put a chain around the rear axle and with a Come-Along began winching the truck up onto the trailer. The one legged guy gave me a hand pushing and Carl, finished now, came out and helped. The front axle hung up on the ramps and Carl jacked the front with a floor jack until it popped loose. As the mosquitoes threatened to carry us off the thunder storm broke. It was a relief because the blood suckers disappeared and the rain was cool and refreshing. I finally got the S-10 up onto the trailer.

Nothing ever seems to happen easily. Linda has a theory about this. She believes that in life you can have many little crisis or a couple of huge ones…that it is better to be plagued by little ones. I thanked Carl and the helping customer and drove home. The weight of the S-10 was to the back of the trailer and it didn’t pull well swaying more than it should as the rain came down in buckets. Inside the cab of my tow truck, Chloe and Honey were patiently waiting. The mosquitoes had gatherer inside the cab and were biting the dogs. I spent the next fifteen minutes, squashing them as the rain came in sheets, and the trailer swayed. Talk about being a hazard on the road.

After lunch I went outside and backed the trailer up to the shop. With my air nozzle I tried to purge the fuel line using the compressed air trick I learned last week. Then I remembered someone telling me that if the battery gets low on an S-10 the fuel pump will not be capable of delivering fuel to the carburetor. I took my good 12 volt battery off my test engine and swapped it with the tired one from the S-10. She started up and the engine began to catch and run…albeit not with much gusto.

Unchaining it from the trailer I drove it off and out onto the farm road. About a mile down the road it began to run like a truck should and by the time we got home it was running much better…still some issues but much better. It will be fun driving that old Studebaker on this S-10 frame and I can hardly wait to remove the cab and begin the conversion