I wont say too much here, but this time of year I can sometimes cut work and still get paid for it. I work as a LawnNazi (lawnmower mechanic) for a particular nationwide company. When winter comes, we don't have much to do. They send us from Service out to the retail stores to do whatever they need us to do. They do this so we wont find another job and not come back when Spring rolls around. Anyway, at the retail stores, they don't keep tabs on us and we dont have to punch a clock. Due to this, we can take really long lunches and cut out early and such, all the while still getting paid. Yes, it's a little bit under handed, but since the store managers know that we do this, I don't really see anything wrong with it. Besides, if they don't have anything to do, I'm not just going to sit there. We only get about 3 months of this stuff, then we spend the rest of the year working until all hours and not getting to see the family and stuff. So, when I cut work, pay doesnt take a hit. haha. I'm sure it wont last too much longer as Spring is right around the corner.
My Bronc. Everything looks pretty good under it. I know looks can be wrong though. The lift and everything is real solid, I can't see anything wrong there. The steering is all good. I need to add a stabilizer though. The engine tends to lope a little when it's in park, but clears right up once you put it in gear. The engine itself seems pretty solid. Previous owner says it was rebuilt about 20k ago. I think he just said that though, it doesnt look like it's ever been seriously gone through from outward apperances. To be on the safe side though, I'm going to pull a 351M out of a donor I picked up for $100 and start working on it. It runs, but I'm going to do some stuff to it as it is bone stock. The donor is a '81 F-150 with a C-6. I'm going to have that trans redone. The engine work on the 351M, I plan to do myself. I'm not a truck mechanic too much, so it will be my first big project and since the 302 in the Bronco runs good now, I should have plenty of time to get it done. I've given myself a year to have it ready to be put in.
I'm going to write a quick novel here, if you hate long posts, sorry.
I got this truck because I had nothing else that's street legal or running to drive. I had a '96 Cougar. That was my dream car. I hate cars with a passion. I do mean HATE. I've never liked cars. I bought the '91 Coug. from the ****** with the intention to sell it after I repl. all the balljoints and such. A broken balljoint was what was wrong with it. Anyway, I got it going and was driving it to work and back and got to like the way it handled. That was in '03. In late 04 I bought the F250 SuperCab because I needed a truck that could pull extreme loads out on the farm. Then I decided one day that I hated my job and just didnt go anymore. I took a job with the company I'm with now over in Austin Texas. Driving that HUGE 250 around Austin traffic sucked. I would drive 6hrs back to Shreveport, La every weekend and test drive Cougars. The '91 Cougar was down at that point and I couldnt see spending anymore money on $200 car that still needed other things to be really good. I drove well over 100 Cougars/T-birds in 6 weekends and found the '96. It had pretty high milage on it, but was really nice and ran perfect. I bought it and took it back to Austin. Then I got married. Wife was having issues getting a good paying job in Austin. So we moved back to Shreveport since I could transfer and we could live at the farm and not have a rent everymonth since it's family owned.
Since 2000 I've been secretly wanting a 4x4. Being in the South in the middle of hunting land, it's hard to find a good used one that's not ragged completely out. So I just keep looking. Everytime I found one that was right, I either didnt have the money or something would come up. I figured it was just fate working to keep me from getting into something that would end up sucking. So it just never panned out. Then with life moving along, priorities changed.
So, early in '06 I get married and am living back in Shreveport. SuperCab 250 was parked in barn because it needs some work. Work I don't know how to do. Although, I should have just did it. We bought a house further out than the farm so we could have a place of our own and not have live on my dads farm. We got out here and everytime we need a truck for something, I have to get with my dad and arrange to use his. This is a p.i.t.a. since they live about an hour from us. We decided that we were going to fix the SuperCab. Then (seriously) 2 days after discussing this, wife hits a deer in her Camry. So it was in the shop for repair. I put her in the Cougar so she can get to work and school. 4 days later, she calls and wakes me up to tell me that my Cougar is in front of her job on fire. She drove it to work with no problems. Everything acting right. Goes in and 1 hour later, looks out and it's smoking. By the time the fire department got there, it was too late. Everything from the dash forward was burnt to the ground. I did not have full coverage. So we were totally out. She has full coverage on her Camry so insurance got her a rental. I have a company truck it really wasnt a pressing issue for me to have a car. Then I figure out since I'm starting college next week, I cant drive my company truck there. I can get by doing some stuff in it, but not that. So we start looking for something. Anything. Getting the SuperCab fixed was going to cost more money than we had put back. She comes in one day and says: "Did you see that giant bronco up on Hwy 3?" I said I had. I told her I had actually stopped and crawled under to look at stuff. She asks how much they want for it, I tell her 3K. She says, well it's 4wd which you've wanted for a long time and we need some kind of a truck do haul stuff with. Why dont you call them to drive it around. I did. 4 days later, I was driving it home.
So that solves my no vehicle problem. It serves my God I want a 4x4 itch. Wife LOVES it. She even has started scheduling long weekends for us to go camping and romp in the mud with it. Yes, I do have a killer wife. Yesterday, she came in from work and was just standing in the yard looking at it. I go out and ask her whats wrong. She says: "Nothing, I'm just thinking about how kool this thing is".
So, that's how I ended up with the Bronco.
So far, I've been pretty easy on it because I don't want to break anything yet. And I don't have a winch on it. Yet.
Since it's a Ford it's not strange for me to look at stuff on. Being raised in a Ford truck I know a good bit about them, so that helps. I had a GMC truck a few years back and it was trying to read a foreign language when I had to do anything to it. I hated it and ended up giving it to my dad.
So, that's my complete story.
