Re: The Well 69: ImmortalSix
anyways, got any cool roadtrip/vacation stories?
Boy do I!
The Odyssey:
So in June of 2005, I had just bought a 1993 Toyota T100 pickup truck --- standard cab, long bed, 2WD, V6, 5-speed manual. No A/C. No carpet, no upholstery (there was a Walmart seatcover over top of the foam.) As basic as they get. Serial number shows that it was the 657th T100 ever made. These early T100s were actually completely manufactured in Japan and
shipped, turnkey to the U.S., and there were only 1300 made in 1993. Just fun facts.
Anyways, I was proud of my new truck, as any guy would be. My girlfriend (now wife) and I were planning a trip to St. Louis, MO, from Blacksburg, VA, and instead of taking her '98 Explorer I said, "Hey, let's take my new truck!" The trip took place in mid to late June.
So we're in my new truck, in about West Virginia, when we realize, hey, this no A/C thing is becoming an issue. Like, a big issue. It was hot, man --- hot as I ever remember being. Anyways, we got the windows and the sliding rear window open, venting best we can.
Now, I'd like to mention that the truck had 4.10 gears. Real low gears, good for a work truck, pullin' and gruntin' around a job site. Not great for highway cruisin'. Well, the door panel on this truck says the truck need 215/75R15 tires. I guess they forgot to account for te 4.10 gears, because 1) the speedometer was way off, like 20%, and B) to go highway speeds, this thing was tachin' out 4000 and something!
It's also important to note, that with low gears and no cruise control, we're talking about basically flooring it for 14 hours. My right leg was stuck out like this for about 6 hours after I got off the road :laugh2:
So here we are in Illinois, turnin' 4500 RPM, speedometer reading 90, getting passed by every car on the road like we're standing still :laughing:
That was when I figured out the tire size was too small for the gearing.
Now let's take a timeout --- and this will become relevant, the reason I bought this T100 was because my fabled Jeep had, 2months after an engine swap, grenaded it's transmission. Sometimes life throws you 2 in a row :laughing: I still had my Jeep, it was parked at a visitor spot in the back lot of my apartment complex. It still had plates on it, so it was legal, it was just slipping so bad it couldn't pull itself down the road. Keep in mind this truck was my main hobby, my "baby", my main weekend pasttime. A good friend, if you will.
So we are pulling into St. Louis, drenched in sweat on the hottest day of the year, turning big RPMs in the T100 and ready to meet up with her friends and family and have a drink!
Well, I've been on Interstate 64 for about 600 miles, and I drop down to 4th gear to get off the Interstate, literally 5 miles from our destination, and GRRRRRRXXXXXXFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!!!!! 4th gear isn't there. I grab 3 after some braking and a big throttle blip; 3 is there. I go to grab 2 as we pull up to the stop light; GRRRRRRXXXXXXFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!!!!!
So 2 and 4 are gone. 1, 3, and 5 are good. I can deal with this, no sweat. Well, it turns out, I was 19 miles inside my warranty --- meaning if I drove the car another 19 miles it was out of warranty, and this bugled transmission was completely my problem.
So, like anyone would do, I called 411, found a transmission shop, and took it straight there, hoping they could swap a new tranny in there over the next few days, and we could drive home on Monday as expected (long weekend). After all, it's a Toyota pickup truck, there are a million of these things on the road. The T100 I had had an R150 transmission --- the same transmission that was in all 2WD V6 Toyota pickups from 1988 to 1994. Fairly common piece.
Well the next day, we wake up to my phone ringing...
I am thinking "Great! It's the transmission shop and they've got a tranny for me."
"This is the Blacksburg Police, are you ImmortalSix?"
---- "Why, yes, yes I am --- to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Do you own a 1996 Jeep Cherokee?"
--- "I do."
"We're going to need you to come over here, someone's busted the windows out and stolen everything inside and wrecked the interior"
--- "Awwwwwwwww mannnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!"
So apparently my Cherokee, which was my main ride until just before the road trip, got busted into. It had all my school stuff (mapping equipment, field orienteering equipment and instruments), all my books, about 256 CDs, a CD player, a 2x12" subwoofer box, an MTX audio amp, you know, bro-truck stuff. Oh, and about $1100 worth of tools --- pretty much everything you'd need to do an, ahem,
engine swap.
All gone.
So now I got one truck in VA that's been busted up and looted, that didn't run anyways, and one truck in MO with the transmission out of it and no completion date in sight.
Part II in next post
