Heavy fifth wheel

[jbrowne]

I went to the auto auction a couple of years ago. Now some of you DIY guys will appreciate this tale. The auction was one of those IAAI auction in Spokane. I noticed a fifth wheel that had been hit hard in the left front. Some poor soul went under the goose kneck and sheared off everything right down to the frame and about three feet up. Propane tanks, water management panel, both left wheels, springs,shocks and a lot of fiber glass were missing. It really looked bad. But I figured that being retired and a lot of time on my hands, I'd bid on her. It was a King of the Road 34', three sliders and options up the gumstump. Well I told my Bride about it and she put a $i5,000. 00 limit on the bidding. I took it for $13,500. 00 bidding against the origional seller Blue Creek RV's on Airway Heights. It had never been lived in. Infact the OSHA stickers were still on the mirrors. Well it took me a couple of days to round up the tires and a couple of ten to jacks. I gor it back on all fours, but she had a terriable port list. I got it home and up on blocks and ran out the sliders. Man what a beauty. It origionally sold for $44,000. 00. Well to make a long story short, Blue Creek Quoted $15,000. 00 To repair it. So I did it myself. Three months later and looking like it did when new, I had a little over $3,000. 00 in the parts. We had a F250 at the time and with a little begging and grovveling I talked Her into letting me get a RAM2500. Used ofcourse. 1996. It now has 230 HP, Duallied and all the whistles and bells.

Happy in Hayden Lake, Idaho

Jim n Jo

 

[Fireman]

Nice story! I'm glad it worked out so well. It is a wonderful feeling to accomplish something like that.



Fireman

 

[otis]

Now that's a rewarding story; good to see it all worked out for ya. All you have to do now is point it south.

 

[jbrowne]

Reply to Otis and Fireman

Youall got that right.

I just finished converting my 96 Dodge from automatic to five speed and I really like it. What promped the conversion was, last fall Jo and I were on the way to Ada, OK and only got a couple hundred miles down the raod and the automatic went south on us. Lost the line that goes from the transmission to the oil cooler. Pumpes out most of the fluid and she got really hot. It didn't completelly distroy the transmission, however. It burned out second gear as I was coming down a long steep grade. (Whitebird Pass) on I95 south of Grangeville. Now I know that automatics get hot going down hill too. Anyway it was dark and I had to wait till things cooled off to get the part off. Then I hitched a ride back to the next town and got enough parts to jury rig it together. We camped at the bottom of the grade that night and in the morning I was faced with pulling back up that 6 mile climb goin' home. I have a 2WD low mod so I dropped it in low range and went right back up the hill with no problem. We mad it home and that was the last of that automatic. It would have cost me a good $4000. 00 to get the pulling automatic that I need for this 16000 lb trailor. We will be heading south again as soon as Huckleberry season is over. Late October.

Jom n Jo