Attention: TDR Forum Junkies It all started out bad, the place we had planned to go, Kennedy Meadows, was on fire. In fact the McNally fire burned over 100,000 acres in the Southern Sierras, so we reworked our plan and decided to head up to Mammoth Lakes instead.
This is a drive that we've done 20 times in the old Ford F150 with our Prowler 23' 5'er on the back, and the little 302 worked hard on the grades, but it had towed us over 100k miles in the 8 years that I owned it, and had never left us stranded..... yet.
First step, go get the trailer from the lot, just like always. So as I'm inspecting my still-looks-like-new '96 5'er, my foot goes through the carpet and the floorboard in the back of the rig - all the way down to the insulation... . uh oh, we have problems Houston. So I start ripping things apart, first the carpet comes out, then the couch, then the table, then the cabinets. It ends up to be a very slow water leak that over the years has soaked the insulation under the floor, and destroyed the flooring, the trusses, and every other wood product in the back of the trailer. Luckily, I can do this work, so about 80 hours
later, with new trussing, linoleum, and floorboards, I get my trailer back together, and it looks as good as new.
Next step, my buddy heads over to his lot to pickup the motorcycle trailer, and the left wheel falls off on the way home. No major damage, but parts from the local dealer and quick work in the garage were in order, as well as some rewiring to get the trailer lit properly on his class-A hitch. Heck, this is easy stuff from what I've been through in the last week.
Hurdle #1 - our destination is on fire
Hurdle #2 - rebuild the entire rear of the 5'er
Hurdle #3 - get the trailer operational so our dirt bikes can go
We have not even got on the road yet, and in hindsight, maybe I should have kept it that way !
So the good old Ford gets $500 worth of brakes and engine maintenance the day before we head out. I like to be sure that things are in top shape, especially before towing through the hot Ca deserts in July, and we're all set to go.
We leave Orange County on thursday morning at 6:00, figuring to pull into camp around noon as experience has shown, and as I'm towing up the Cajon pass, the engine temp is running a bit higher than normal in the Ford. So I keep my eye on it, but nothing to be alarmed about as of yet. This is about the time that I simply forget about the little tempurature abnormality, and the truck reminds me as it started detonating and finally just shut down on the side of the 395 in Red Mountain. As I step out, I see why, it was over 100 already, and it was only 9:00. I have lots of water in the 5'er, and after watching the temp needle rise and fall like it was on a switch, I figured a thermostat was the culprit, and knew that we were only about 20 miles from Ridgecrest. So we waited for the block to cool, loaded her up with the water that had boiled away, and limped into Ridgecrest riding the throttle real easy.
Oh good, a Ford dealer right on the main drag, and they have the thermostat, but no time to help us. So the tools come out, and I'm digging into the job on the street, in 107 degree heat in front of the dealer. The tools are so hot that I can't touch them without gloves, and I'm sweating enough to water a local crop as I'm sitting in the engine compartment. With all of the dexterity of an elephant with my gloves on, I dropped one of the bolts that held the t-stat cover, and it was never to be found again. And of course the dealer did not have one to fit - but, what a lucky break - I have the same length and thread pitch bolt in my 'box of tricks' that has saved me soooo many times with dirt bikes. As soon as I got that bolt past hand tight in the block - SNAP Oh Shi#, now I'm ****** off at the whole world (or maybe just a whole lot at myself. ) One of the mechanics in the dealer felt sorry for the poor sap out front who is trying to be on vacation, and lent me a drill and extractor, which worked, and a new grade 5 bolt got me going again.
Meanwhile, the wife and my two kids, 7 and 10, were with the family that we were traveling with, across the street in the A/C in Carl's Jr, of course a bit impatient to get back on the road. So a decision was made for them to take our 7 year old daughter, and get up to Mammoth to get our sites. Heck, we'll be back on the road within a hour - right, we'll see you guys up there.
After one leaky assembly job, a removal, and a re-assembly with silicon, we're in business, finally. We start the truck and start to head across the flat town and, what, the damn thing is running hot again. The only thing that I could have done wrong is - oh no - did I put the t-stat in backwards in all that mess. Well folks, at this point I almost don't care anymore. I'm half dilerious from the heat, ****** off that Ford would not help a stranded traveler, and disappointed in myself for a few reasons. A call back to the place that worked on my truck back home resulted in me thinking that we had an air bubble in the cooling system that needed to work out, as I did not let her idle with the cap off for very long before getting back on the road. So off we went, hoping for the best... .....
Now I learned a few lessons here, and one of them is that guages don't often lie. Yep, about 30 miles North of Ridgecrest, temp was back up near hot, but then dropped fast - cool, I got rid of the air bubble... Not ! Nope, what really happened was there was no water for the sender to read, so the temp appeared to drop. And then the detonation, and the truck stopped running.
Who do you call with a dead truck, a 5'er on the back, in the middle of the desert 30 miles from any town, when its 105 outside, and you and your wife and son are 10 feet from 70 mph traffic whizzing by? Oh yeah, and I did not renew AAA this year - chalk another one up on the stupid move list. So I promptly called 911, and they sent a tow truck, who arrived 2. 5 hours later ! Meanwhile my wife is crying, partly out of frustration, and for the fact that her 7 year old daughter is 3 hours away, with people she hardly knows, and we have no way to get her. So a $300 tow job later, we were in Lone Pine, at Miller's towing and auto service.
I can't say enough good things about Mr. Jim Miller and his crew. they let me hook up to 30amp service so we had A/C and spend the night in his lot so we did not have to pay the extra $$ in a hotel or RV lot. The next morning his mechanic promptly confirmed that I had installed the T-stat backwards, reinstalled it, ran the truck and all seemed well. So, we are on the road once again, but with a firm warning from Jim Miller himself that the engine just did not sound right, and he thought that some permanent damage had been done due to the heat.
This opinion was confirmed as soon as we started towing the rig up a slight grade, overheating, no power, and funny noises and smells were the signs. I knew my Ford was dead, so I called Millers to ask about the next option. A new engine they replied, and about $3500 and 2 weeks. Two weeks ! heck, I'm supposed to be back at work on Monday, and it's Friday now. So my next question was..... where is the nearest truck dealers ? "That's the best idea I've heard" replied the service manager, who then strongly recommended the Cummings engine for the best towing truck on the market.
Needless to say I took his advise, dropped the 5'er on a side road in Independance, and went to the Dodge dealer in Bishop. They had all of 3 trucks on the lot, and the one I picked was custom ordered, delivered to the dealer, and never purchased by the original buyer. Given my situation, I got a good deal - $3000 off sticker, $500 cash back, and 3. 9% financing. And maybe the best part is, that old Ford ran just good enough to get some trade in value - enough for the down payment at least. So 4 hours later, I have a new truck.
But I still have a problem now, I need the 5'er hitch installed in the new truck, and nobody in Bishop will look at it until Tuesday. So another call back to Millers towing - I think I need another tow job, can you guys get my 5'er off the road so I don't have problems with the local law ? Yep Damon, we'll even do better than that. You go get your daughter from Mammoth, we'll get your 5'er back to our shop, you meet us here with the new truck and spend another night in our lot, and we'll install the hitch for you in the morning. Oh my... . these guys are like my guarding angels in the desert.
They did exactly what they said, and the next day they spent 7 hours fabricating brackets and installing the hitch. The only problem here - they charged me t&m for the job which came to $1100 - Ouch! But, what the hell, I already have buyers remorse, so what's another $1000 added to the new truck - well, I tell you, it is about exactly $40,000 dollars, and I'm pretty sure I could have gone to Hawaii, Europe, and the Bajamas for that price.
But then again, I would have my new CTD !!
The morals of the story:
- trust your guages, they are there for a reason
- buy a real truck the first time
- when it comes to t-stats, spring goes in the block, duh!
- I will always stop and help a fellow RV'er when they are stranded now, because I know what it is like
- never buy a motorhome, if I had a class-X, I would have been in a hotel rather than my little rolling condo while the engine is being repaired
- good people (Millers Towing) are the best thing to have around you when in a bind
Yep, I learned a lot on this trip, hope you all got some laughs out of it ! I know that we did once we finally got to Mammoth and had a beer in hand by the campfire.
Damon
This is a drive that we've done 20 times in the old Ford F150 with our Prowler 23' 5'er on the back, and the little 302 worked hard on the grades, but it had towed us over 100k miles in the 8 years that I owned it, and had never left us stranded..... yet.
First step, go get the trailer from the lot, just like always. So as I'm inspecting my still-looks-like-new '96 5'er, my foot goes through the carpet and the floorboard in the back of the rig - all the way down to the insulation... . uh oh, we have problems Houston. So I start ripping things apart, first the carpet comes out, then the couch, then the table, then the cabinets. It ends up to be a very slow water leak that over the years has soaked the insulation under the floor, and destroyed the flooring, the trusses, and every other wood product in the back of the trailer. Luckily, I can do this work, so about 80 hours
later, with new trussing, linoleum, and floorboards, I get my trailer back together, and it looks as good as new. Next step, my buddy heads over to his lot to pickup the motorcycle trailer, and the left wheel falls off on the way home. No major damage, but parts from the local dealer and quick work in the garage were in order, as well as some rewiring to get the trailer lit properly on his class-A hitch. Heck, this is easy stuff from what I've been through in the last week.
Hurdle #1 - our destination is on fire
Hurdle #2 - rebuild the entire rear of the 5'er
Hurdle #3 - get the trailer operational so our dirt bikes can go
We have not even got on the road yet, and in hindsight, maybe I should have kept it that way !
So the good old Ford gets $500 worth of brakes and engine maintenance the day before we head out. I like to be sure that things are in top shape, especially before towing through the hot Ca deserts in July, and we're all set to go.
We leave Orange County on thursday morning at 6:00, figuring to pull into camp around noon as experience has shown, and as I'm towing up the Cajon pass, the engine temp is running a bit higher than normal in the Ford. So I keep my eye on it, but nothing to be alarmed about as of yet. This is about the time that I simply forget about the little tempurature abnormality, and the truck reminds me as it started detonating and finally just shut down on the side of the 395 in Red Mountain. As I step out, I see why, it was over 100 already, and it was only 9:00. I have lots of water in the 5'er, and after watching the temp needle rise and fall like it was on a switch, I figured a thermostat was the culprit, and knew that we were only about 20 miles from Ridgecrest. So we waited for the block to cool, loaded her up with the water that had boiled away, and limped into Ridgecrest riding the throttle real easy.
Oh good, a Ford dealer right on the main drag, and they have the thermostat, but no time to help us. So the tools come out, and I'm digging into the job on the street, in 107 degree heat in front of the dealer. The tools are so hot that I can't touch them without gloves, and I'm sweating enough to water a local crop as I'm sitting in the engine compartment. With all of the dexterity of an elephant with my gloves on, I dropped one of the bolts that held the t-stat cover, and it was never to be found again. And of course the dealer did not have one to fit - but, what a lucky break - I have the same length and thread pitch bolt in my 'box of tricks' that has saved me soooo many times with dirt bikes. As soon as I got that bolt past hand tight in the block - SNAP Oh Shi#, now I'm ****** off at the whole world (or maybe just a whole lot at myself. ) One of the mechanics in the dealer felt sorry for the poor sap out front who is trying to be on vacation, and lent me a drill and extractor, which worked, and a new grade 5 bolt got me going again.
Meanwhile, the wife and my two kids, 7 and 10, were with the family that we were traveling with, across the street in the A/C in Carl's Jr, of course a bit impatient to get back on the road. So a decision was made for them to take our 7 year old daughter, and get up to Mammoth to get our sites. Heck, we'll be back on the road within a hour - right, we'll see you guys up there.
After one leaky assembly job, a removal, and a re-assembly with silicon, we're in business, finally. We start the truck and start to head across the flat town and, what, the damn thing is running hot again. The only thing that I could have done wrong is - oh no - did I put the t-stat in backwards in all that mess. Well folks, at this point I almost don't care anymore. I'm half dilerious from the heat, ****** off that Ford would not help a stranded traveler, and disappointed in myself for a few reasons. A call back to the place that worked on my truck back home resulted in me thinking that we had an air bubble in the cooling system that needed to work out, as I did not let her idle with the cap off for very long before getting back on the road. So off we went, hoping for the best... .....
Now I learned a few lessons here, and one of them is that guages don't often lie. Yep, about 30 miles North of Ridgecrest, temp was back up near hot, but then dropped fast - cool, I got rid of the air bubble... Not ! Nope, what really happened was there was no water for the sender to read, so the temp appeared to drop. And then the detonation, and the truck stopped running.
Who do you call with a dead truck, a 5'er on the back, in the middle of the desert 30 miles from any town, when its 105 outside, and you and your wife and son are 10 feet from 70 mph traffic whizzing by? Oh yeah, and I did not renew AAA this year - chalk another one up on the stupid move list. So I promptly called 911, and they sent a tow truck, who arrived 2. 5 hours later ! Meanwhile my wife is crying, partly out of frustration, and for the fact that her 7 year old daughter is 3 hours away, with people she hardly knows, and we have no way to get her. So a $300 tow job later, we were in Lone Pine, at Miller's towing and auto service.
I can't say enough good things about Mr. Jim Miller and his crew. they let me hook up to 30amp service so we had A/C and spend the night in his lot so we did not have to pay the extra $$ in a hotel or RV lot. The next morning his mechanic promptly confirmed that I had installed the T-stat backwards, reinstalled it, ran the truck and all seemed well. So, we are on the road once again, but with a firm warning from Jim Miller himself that the engine just did not sound right, and he thought that some permanent damage had been done due to the heat.
This opinion was confirmed as soon as we started towing the rig up a slight grade, overheating, no power, and funny noises and smells were the signs. I knew my Ford was dead, so I called Millers to ask about the next option. A new engine they replied, and about $3500 and 2 weeks. Two weeks ! heck, I'm supposed to be back at work on Monday, and it's Friday now. So my next question was..... where is the nearest truck dealers ? "That's the best idea I've heard" replied the service manager, who then strongly recommended the Cummings engine for the best towing truck on the market.
Needless to say I took his advise, dropped the 5'er on a side road in Independance, and went to the Dodge dealer in Bishop. They had all of 3 trucks on the lot, and the one I picked was custom ordered, delivered to the dealer, and never purchased by the original buyer. Given my situation, I got a good deal - $3000 off sticker, $500 cash back, and 3. 9% financing. And maybe the best part is, that old Ford ran just good enough to get some trade in value - enough for the down payment at least. So 4 hours later, I have a new truck.
But I still have a problem now, I need the 5'er hitch installed in the new truck, and nobody in Bishop will look at it until Tuesday. So another call back to Millers towing - I think I need another tow job, can you guys get my 5'er off the road so I don't have problems with the local law ? Yep Damon, we'll even do better than that. You go get your daughter from Mammoth, we'll get your 5'er back to our shop, you meet us here with the new truck and spend another night in our lot, and we'll install the hitch for you in the morning. Oh my... . these guys are like my guarding angels in the desert.
They did exactly what they said, and the next day they spent 7 hours fabricating brackets and installing the hitch. The only problem here - they charged me t&m for the job which came to $1100 - Ouch! But, what the hell, I already have buyers remorse, so what's another $1000 added to the new truck - well, I tell you, it is about exactly $40,000 dollars, and I'm pretty sure I could have gone to Hawaii, Europe, and the Bajamas for that price.
But then again, I would have my new CTD !!
The morals of the story:
- trust your guages, they are there for a reason
- buy a real truck the first time
- when it comes to t-stats, spring goes in the block, duh!
- I will always stop and help a fellow RV'er when they are stranded now, because I know what it is like
- never buy a motorhome, if I had a class-X, I would have been in a hotel rather than my little rolling condo while the engine is being repaired
- good people (Millers Towing) are the best thing to have around you when in a bind
Yep, I learned a lot on this trip, hope you all got some laughs out of it ! I know that we did once we finally got to Mammoth and had a beer in hand by the campfire.
Damon
. 
and the speeding ticket on the way home towing up the biggest grade in So. Cal. - but hey, that's something to brag about not complain about, Right !?
