Saga of the Truck - Part Deux-2

Cyndee being the search genius she is I take notice when she says she thinks she has something.  Despite being disappointed dozens and dozens of times when following up on a lead we thought we had, I was willing to try one more time.  While I was getting excited about the prospect of getting an HDT I was more distraught about the cost.  I was having a hard time finding a way to fund the HDT purchase without resorting to a cat food diet.  Giving an MDT one more try was welcomed.

At first blush the prospect looked pretty good.  The information included in the posting showed that it met the basic specifications we had to have.  Many trucks we looked at had gotten this far, but when we called about it, only to be told they didn't really have the truck or that the truck they had was not exactly equipped as the ad showed.

It was seven in the evening on a Friday our time and I expected to have to call Saturday or maybe even have to wait until Monday.  But Cyndee said; "Call, it's in California.  Only four o'clock there".  When this saga started I would have said forget it, the logistics of getting the truck would be too cumbersome.  But now I didn't even bat an eye, if it turned out to be real I didn't care where it was.

I made the call and was directed to the fleet manager at El Cajon Ford in El Cajon, CA, a suburb on the east side of San Diego.  After all my previous calls I was dubious about this one, but the longer we talked the better I felt about it.  I went through my list of 'must-haves' and he replied "got it" to each and every one.  Then he went on to list more options that I didn't care about, like rain sensing wipers, but since they didn't detract from the purpose of what I was going for I didn't let them stop me from moving forward.

So here I am after more than a year of endless searching and disappointment I am having a twenty minute conversation with somebody I have never met almost 3,000 miles away and I hear myself saying; "I'll take it".  Upon which he replied; "It's yours".

Okay now it is time to get down to serious business.  I asked what I had to do to secure the truck, give him a card number, mail him a certified check for deposit, something else?  He just said; "Nope, I am a simple farm boy, you gave me your word that you want it and I'm giving you my word that it is yours.  Just come and get it".  Wow, did that really just happen?

So there it is, all this commotion over half a truck.
But this is exactly what I have been looking for, except the color. 

Compared to my 2006, the interior of this cab looks like a spaceship.
This thing is bristling with electronics.

Cyndee and I started planning the trip to pick it up immediately.  Do we drive out in one car and come back in two?  Do we fly out together and sight-see our way back? Or something else?

Because of cost, other commitments and time we decided that I would go solo by plane and drive long days to get back.  Our son graciously offered to get me to the airport by the required 5:00 am check-in time.  Cyndee would not have to drive that 3-hour round trip with her recently broken arm.

Things are moving fast now.  Locate the truck on a Friday, fly from Atlanta to San Diego on Tuesday to pick it up.

Saga of the Truck, Part Deux

 In November of 2021 I wrote a diatribe lamenting the life that our 2006 truck had dealt us.  It wasn't all bad mind you, there were plenty of good times but those memories have faded against frustrating breakdowns and bank-draining repairs that became intolerable.  For the amount we spent on the 6.0L diesel engine in repairs we could have bought Cyndee's 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport two times over.  But it is not like all of that expense came out of our pocket at once.  The grand total was spread out over 16 years.  So when we looked at it on a per-year basis it just made us wince.  When we looked at it as a cumulative total we gasped.

Something had to be done.  One way or another we were going to have to replace our truck.  The only problem, as I outlined in the November post, is there were pandemic induced shortages of everything and it was proving maddingly difficult to get the truck we needed.  After nearly a year of trying to get into the order window for a new truck (built to the specifications needed for our purposes) with absolutely no luck we went to scouring the internet for a used truck or one that a dealer had been lucky enough to order but the person it was meant for didn't or couldn't take delivery of it.  Looking at thousands of postings and making dozens of phone calls yielded nothing.  Either they didn't actually have the truck advertised, it didn't meet the specifications I needed or they "just sold it".

In our current situation we are virtually stranded.  The pandemic is abating and volunteer positions we would like to do are opening up but we do not have transportation that we can trust to get us there.  Big Gulp is running and if pressed we could hitch up and go but we don't think we would get very far before breaking down.  Having that hanging over your head is not a fun way to travel.  Something has to be done.

After months of searching with no luck for a replacement Ford F-550 we finally decided to move from an MDT (medium duty truck) to an HDT (heavy duty truck).  It is always what I had wanted anyway but it had been beyond what I was willing to spend.  Now it was within the realm of possible.  We began looking for a Volvo tractor with less than 400,000 miles on it and no older than 2018.  Easy, right?  Right.

Actually it was easy.  With just those two factors, miles and model year, there were lots of choices.  The catch is that you have to go from this:

To this:

This step is called "singling", they remove one set of duals,
modify the frame and build back with just one axle.

Then it is ready to be converted to this, an RV Hauler:

Simple.  NOT!

Our search turned up plenty of trucks but as you might imagine that while the mechanics were good the condition of the cab and sleeper were many times nothing short of gross!  Most of the interiors would have had to be gutted and built back from scratch.  That would have been totally possible except that the shortage had hit the HDT's too and the prices of trucks with even 800,000 miles on them were ridiculously high and rising almost daily.  And the cost of materials to build the tow body were rising rapidly too.  Ughh, I won't be able to afford fuel after building this truck.

But you gotta do what you gotta do.  I worked with a truck conversion company in south-central Kansas and got all the conversion work spec'd and was in the process of procuring a truck to get to them when Cyndee called to me from across the room and said; "Don't sign anything yet.  I think I just found an F-550 you should call about."