Don Don's Garage

I attended the 2013 ATHS Kirkland Ranch Truck Show in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

Unfortunately just as a spectator, I wasn't confident the wrecker could make it.

Here's two of my favorites:

Cobra in the far bay

Checking out the handiwork.

The transfer case for the most part survived but it was rebuilt with new bushing and seals, and 312k miles of road grime removed.

The driveshaft couldn't be saved, this is my spiffy new one.  The shiny pipes are the recent Magnaflows.

The transmission got a new-to-me used 'K' case cover and completely rebuilt, we were able to keep the original shift-kit in it though. You can't see it in the photo but it got a new HD Diesel torque converter as well.

The truck is driving awesome, shifts smoothly. All the slop in the column shifter is gone, it's actually aligned with what gear position it is in now.  It goes back to the shop after a couple hundred miles so they can re-check everything.  Lets see if I can get another 300k out of it.

With the K5 Blazer down for a few days I used the Wrecker to go get some breakfast, passed the Norm's Towing guy on the way in.

On 580 going home, huge BLAM, bang bang bang bang....  AAA and Save-Tow to the rescue.

The Ujoint had a catastrophic failure, used the transfer case as a lever and broke a rear transmission mount with it's flailing, the transmission case cracked and broke as well as bent the driveline butt good.

This is NOT how you would like to see your transmission.

1984 K5 Blazer 6.2L Diesel

Impeccably maintained by the original owner for 28 years. He special ordered this truck very well optioned in 1984. He's documented almost every fuel stop, oil changes and unscheduled maintenance. Which I'm continuing to do. It recently passed 310k miles and still gets 20mpg.

With all of my resources going into the wrecker the BlueBird was being neglected, I finally decided it was time to let it go.

It left tonight with it's new owner and regretfully it sounded especially good as it drove away.

I hope the new owner and his family enjoy it as much as I did. Farewell ol' friend.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnoman/collections/72157625220700802/

Biggest turnout of Firebirds I've seen in the SF Bay area, by my count we had 23.

 

After a long consultation, saving up for resources, and checking with several local tire shops I settled on Les Schwab. http://www.lesschwab.com/  in Livermore. My tireman was Jim McKee and he knew his stuff. He identified 3 of my original six wheels as widow-makers and he pointed out the features that he was looking for. I knew I already had 3 different styles of rims amongst the set and had it on good authority that at least two were widow-makers.

 

I really wanted to upgrade to single piece wheels with modern tubeless radials so what I settled on were the 22 5.x6.75 Accuride #28157 wheels that came stock in grey.  I had Les Schwab powder coat them in black.  The tires are 255/70R-22.5/16 Gladiator QR55-ST Highway and they are a perfect match for the old 7.5x20 tube-typed tires that used to be on the truck.  The are a tiny bit wider but almost the same outside diameter. There's no rubbing at full steering lock, I couldn't have asked for a better match. Thanks go out to Stu McMillan from the stovebolt.com forums for the original recommendation.

 

After getting the tires done it was time to go get some lunch on the way there I had to cut through the safeway parking lot and I noticed I had a stalker.

 

 

This guy was halarious.  He was soo excited he was fit to be tied. 

 

He pulled up next to me as I parked at Burger King and he said he threw his wife out of the car at Safeway and chased me down.  He had just watched one of the Cars movies that morning with his kids and he was just tickled with the truck.

 

So I popped the hood, and we talked for a good 30 minutes, he gave me his camera to take pictures of him with the truck, and I took a  snapshot from my phone as well.  It was a fun experience.