Since I’m covering for Rich this week and it’s been a while since I’ve done an update on the official CC company truck, here it is, still hard at work. A week or so ago I hauled another yard of gravel for a little project that will end up in the truck finally getting covered parking after all these decades. Maybe it’s too late to even bother? It’s been sitting outside all these decades and that hasn’t killed it yet. Nor has my endless abuse of it.
This may not look like much, but a yard of 3/4 minus gravel weighs 2,800 lbs when it’s dry, but more like 3,400 lbs (1540 kg) when it’s wet, as this certainly was from the massive rains just before this bit of sunshine. My ’66 F100’s official load rating is 1,200 lbs, but then I’ve been overloading it forever.
I do make sure the gravel is loaded towards the front of the bed; I’ve hauled loads that size towards the rear, and it feels like a plane at take-off, with such a nose-high attitude. This shot from 2016 with a pallet of moist sod suggests what that’s like.
Ok; the worst thing I used to do with it was haul rental full-size Bobcat skid loaders on a big double axle trailer, probably some 7,000 lbs or more. That’s with a 1/2 ton truck, a 129 (net) hp 240 six, and a 3-speed manual with no granny gear. And most importantly, the same little drum brakes they put on Ford passenger cars back then. That was a bit insane. Braking was next to useless, but the biggest risk was having to start at an uphill stop sign. Impossible. I had to pick my route carefully.
Thanks to my Promaster van, I no longer do that. Well, I couldn’t anyway, as the rental yards will not let you do that anymore with a wimpy old 1/2 ton truck. The good old days… The van has plenty of trailer hauling capacity, and it handles them quite effortlessly.
I used the van to haul this rental mini-skid steer loader, which was perfect for the small job at hand. Since I own the two lots directly behind my house (they are rentals), when I built a new fence between them some 20 years ago, I pushed the fence 8′ into the rear lot to make our veggie garden bigger. But we no longer need that, and I want the fence back where it belonged as well as more parking space back there, where the truck resides.
I used 6×6 pole barn timbers for the fence posts, set in 2′ of concrete. Step 1 was to pull them out; I wondered if this machine was up to that. I had my doubts. I wrapped a chain around them and hooked it to the bucket, and started raising it. Nothing, at first; the machine started tilting forward instead of the pole coming up. I kept jiggling the bucket and very slowly I started to see some of the soil around the base of the pole rise a bit and eventually they came out. Like extracting a wisdom tooth.
Then I dug up the six or more inches of soil and moved it forward, so it will be behind the new fence (that’s a temporary fence behind it). After the new fence goes up, that soil will be spread there (manually) to fill in the sloping garden area behind a short retaining wall, attached to the 6×6 fence posts.
Then I had 5 yards of gravel delivered and I spread it out with the mini skid-steer. The new fence will be just behind where the truck is parked there now, and it will support a simple steel-roof cover. Better late than never.
The truck always starts right up and the new brakes it got last summer are still a pleasant surprise every time I drive it. It’s a bit shocking how I let the old ones get so bad, to the point the front ones weren’t working at all anymore. I did keep my speed down, FWIW. Still…
Ooh, I get both the heebies and the jeebies reading this.
My ’66 Falcon had (probably) the same drums, they were in very good nick – and they were simply APPALLING. I literally have bad dreams to this day where, no matter how hard I stand on that pedal, it will not ever stop. And there’s no gravel load in my version.
That actually happened to me at least once: being young and dumb and hoony, whizzing down a long, curvy hill with what I thought was great elan, on and off those brakes, charging through corners such that Fangio himself couldn’t have bettered it, I recall going very grey-faced when I hit the lights at the bottom and practically stood up on those brakes – and just rolled on through. Yikes! (Actually, I yelled out something altogether more base, while sweeping uselessly with my hand at cars entering the intersection, but I digress). I briefly, if profanely, took up religion again.
Actually, I think I may take up religion again for tonight after reading this, lest those nightmares appear to torment me.
Reminds me of the drum brakes on my 75 Pinto. I always had to plan my stops well in advance.
Congratulations on getting the truck under cover! I still dream of that. Our current house used to have a garage, but the previous owner razed it because he said it was structurally unsound (which was probably true). He left the foundation, which now serves as a parking pad, but it is cracked and in need of replacement. We intend to get a new foundation built this year, but an actual garage is probably too costly, so we’ll hold off on that. Maybe our next house…
The weight of gravel is astounding. We have a gravel driveway, and when we moved in, it was more dirt than gravel. I had new gravel delivered, and according to my calculations, I needed something like 23 tons of it. Gulp. I double-and triple-checked that since I’d never bought 23 tons of anything… fortunately my calculations were correct.
Overloading a truck can damage the suspension, sometimes even break things after some time. The more serious problem, as you’ve detailed before, is the poor braking performance. That is unsafe. It’s one thing to go over the edge of a cliff yourself. It’s another to blow through a stop sign and kill or injure innocent motorists. I know that we’ll all say, I survived. I’ve done many unwise things myself. Luckily I’m more careful now.
A good call on the carport for your truck. Putting a roof over the head of a long ownership vehicle is one of the best things that you can do for it.
There’s not much to break in the suspension. The rear end is riding on the rubber bump stops. The twin-beam front suspension on these is extremely simple and rugged. It’s the same suspension as used on the 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks, except the springs are different.
The place where I get this gravel is an 8 minute drive via surface streets where I don’t exceed 30-35 mph. The brakes can handle that quite well. I don’t take it on curvy mountain roads with cliffs when hauling loads like this, or anytime, actually. But thanks for your concerns.
“. Like extracting a wisdom tooth.”
Ow ~ bad memories there Paul .
I well understand the careful and slow driving thing, I was taught this by older farmers as a child, no one had more than a battered and rusty 1/2 ton pee cups and we overloaded them on a regular basis .
Slow and steady and avoid descending grades was the matter of the day .
How’s that replacement tranny holding up ? .
-Nate
I love that Oregon climate! Getting that thing covered up will extend its life until the 23rd century. 🙂
You bring back ancient memories of helping friends buy and spread gravel. We used their father’s small utility trailer hooked to a Scout II. Their dad warned us to make two trips to the gravel supplier, due to weight.
I would be afraid that shelter for the truck at this point might hasten deterioration by making it start thinking of itself as old. 🙂
It’s great to hear your voice today, Paul, and to get an update from your world. I’m not as handy as you, your posts always boost my resolve to finish my own projects.
I’m happy the truck is getting its well-deserved cover, helping you “keep it nice for the next guy” !
Does the truck spring back from bowing in the middle when you unload it, or is that its permanent stance now?
Yes, when I bought it back in 1987, it had an odd upward bow in the middle. That’s why I’ve been overloading it all these years, to get it back to being straight. I think I’m about there now. It’s looking pretty straight to me, so maybe I should stop doing that?