**Breakdowns**

[Silvertwinky]

One summer we were in Indianapolis for our family re-union; and sometime after parting we started having a problem.

We were towing a 1975 International 27’ Overlander; with our ¾ ton van. We were traveling south from Indianapolis on I-65. We started hearing a very un-usual noise in the engine. We pulled over to discover that our belt had come apart in shreds. I had never seen so many pieces of threads from one belt. Part of the belt remained intact, as strange as it may seem. I cleaned off the excess threads of belts and we were able to make it for a few more miles on a belt about half the width it should have been.

We got out our handy Woodall’s book and started looking for a campground. We found one not far away near Columbus, Indiana and proceeded in that direction. With this being a Sunday we knew nothing would be open for repairs so we spent the night. We located a dealership and the next morning (still driving the van) drove back into town to pay them a visit. I must say they were extremely helpful and accommodating. They graciously worked us into their schedule for repairs. As it turned out the tension arm was bad and needed to be replaced. This had allowed the belt to drift from the track while the edges of the pulleys were cutting into it. We went ahead and had some other work done while we were there also. They also told us that when the belt broke it had damaged the A/C and we needed a new compressor. Well they didn’t have one so we decided that we could endure the rest of the trip with out the luxury of air conditioning.

They had us ready to go about noon. We left the dealership and went around the block to a parts store so I could purchase an extra belt. I wasn’t going to have that happen again and not be prepared for it.

Well guess what? When we got back in the van it wouldn’t start! You’ve got to be kidding! Man, what now? With the sun blistering down on us we walked back over to the dealership garage and told them about our dilemma. They had someone go over and look at it while we waited back at the garage. In a few minutes they pulled back in with the van. We found out after that, that the starter was bad and it wouldn’t start unless we wanted to bang on the side of it to get it to work. I think something was sticking inside of it. Well we weren’t going to leave with it in that kind of shape so we politely asked them if they could work us back in again and they did!

We spent the rest of the after noon getting the starter replaced. Finally it was ready about closing time. What a day!

I must say that the dealership went out of their way to help us. They were extremely nice and I wouldn’t have wanted to have been anywhere else for all of that to have happened.

When we got back home a few days later, we had the A/C repaired. The total cost of that bad belt resulted in us spending about $800.00 after all repairs and work was made.

Tell us your story!

[59toaster]

Uhhh you don't want to hear about some of my break downs. They involve driving over car sized boulder and breaking stuff like axles. Usualy fix them where they sit in about an hour. This is what I call relaxation and fun

Worst one I have had was leaving a transmission all over an off ramp. 88 Izusu Trooper I bought new (only vehicle I have ever bought new). 10k on the odometer. Exiting the hwy I want to down shift from 5th to 4th. Some how I got it right into second and dropped the cluch and was rewarded with watching the tach boucing off the peg way past redline. locked tires and a loud bang before I got the clutch shoved back in. It came to a stop down hill with out me using the brakes.

Finnaly got some forwar motion with low range and 3rd gear and crept it a mile home. Of couse this was Friday night at 6pm. Called the 1800 number in the manual any way. Izusu was super great (couse I didn't tell them I hit the wrong gear LOL) I was stuck till Monday and of couse I had work Monday. So we set things up for Tuesday that they would tow the truck to the local dealer. I barrowed a company car Saturday.

Tuesday rolls around and I had to run an errand. Get back 10 minutes later and tow truck driver dragged it up on the flat bed. No point in putting it N it would move anyway LOL. Follow him to the Dealer.

Now I used this truck to make my living (onsite Cell phone installs). So while my boss was real cool about letting me barrow one of the company cars I needed the truck back asap. I explain this to the Service manager. He tells me he will do what he can.
Calls me later that afternoon and say the transmission it totaled (well Duhhhhh). I remind them that this vehcile is how I make my living. He tells me he will do what he can. Calls me Wenedsday around lunch. Tells me they have no Transmissions localy and the closest is in Dallas TX (I'm in Atlanta GA). They were shipping it that afternoon.

So I'm super happy they are keeping me informed of what's going on. Not their fault that there was not a transmission in GA. Dealers usualy don't keep a transmission in their stock. I figure I'm out of my truck till mid week.

Friday at 3pm I get a call to come get it. They had the transmission overnight expressed to Atlanta. Covered it as warranty.

[markdoane]

Toaster, If I were you I'd just call it a total loss and get a new truck.
And if it has an inverter can I have it?

[Stefrobrts]

Originally posted by Silvertwinky
We found out after that, that the starter was bad and it wouldn’t start unless we wanted to bang on the side of it to get it to work.

Was it a Ford? If so, been there, done that. I went through so many starters on my 68 mustang I lost count. I remember at one point an old timer told me 'just carry a stick and thump on it, it'll start right up'.

My last big fix on the Bronco was rebuilding the entire steering column to get to a 4 inch long ignition actuator rod buried deep inside. It broke just as my husband parked it in the driveway. We went to move it to another spot and nothing happened when you turned the key.

It took a week of hot afternoons to puzzle it out without instructions because the procedure wasn't in the Chilton manual (never would have made it without the Bronco Forum). Finally got it all together, plugged the battery back in, turned the key...there was a short buzz and a thump and everything went dead. Took another afternoon to trace it back to the starter relay, completely unrelated, it had just coincidentally chosen that time to go belly up. One more $10 part and I was back on the road. Glad that truck's not my primary transportation.

I don't even want to think about getting stranded with the AS along for the ride.

[thenewkid64]

Steph,

There is a silver lining to getting stranded with the trailer in tow. As long as the trailer is in a safe position, you have food, a shower, and a place to nap. If it takes a day or two to fix it think of the camping fees you save Of course you have to look at the side of the road instead of a lake or beautiful vista............

Just because I know how, Click here To read about my grand trip to Willamsburg this spring.

[Stefrobrts]

That one kind of makes you the 'grand poobah' of roadside repairs! I would like to see anyone try to take the title away...anyone?...anyone? Gee, no volunteers...

[flyfshr]

In August of '79 I was living in Omaha putting in underground lawn sprinklers, after having totalled my car and renting a room from my boss. Mind you, I'm a blue-eyed, blond Norwegian and by 10am every Monday morning I'm sun burnt beyond recognition. Life was really starting to suck.

I was offered a job through my old college roommate living in Phoenix by his boss. Sounded great, at least it was indoors. I mentioned this to my older brother and he said I should take it. His friend was moving to Phoenix this coming Saturday and would enjoy someone to travel with, today was Wednesday. I decided to go for it.

He picked me up at a truckstop along the interstate, the only way I knew it was him was by the car's description. "Are you Charlie?" "You must be Brad, get in." I had $80 in my pocket, a suitcase, a portfolio and lots of ambition.

We figured we would get to Phoenix in two and a half days. Somewhere in Kansas around 6pm on Saturday, the fuel pump diaphram cracked. We had two choices: keep driving at about 10 miles per hour or stop until Monday morning in the parking lot of an auto parts store. We decided to keep going. After repairing the $29 water pump further south in Kansas on Monday morning, we were back up to speed. We figured if that was our only blip, we were in good shape. It was just starting.

Somewhere along Hiway 64, way outside of Dalhart, Texas (methane capital of the world) the axle to the homemade trailer we were hauling broke. The wheel went bouncing past the telephone poles, barbed wire fence and into a field of grazing cattle. It was a struggle to get the trailer over to the side of the road. You see, Charlie was an auto mechanic, which was a good thing at the time, but it also meant that this little homemade, enclosed trailer was full of around 1000 pounds of his shop tools along with a full size compressor and other assorted heavy crates. The trailer, come to find out, was made from various parts from Charlie's uncle's farm. The axle, if you remember, was off of some farm implement machinery and the trailer frame was built and welded together to fit this offending axle. It couldn't get any better.

After waiting for what seemed to be an hour for the next vehicle to come along, Charlie hitched a ride into the next town, somewhere beyond the west horizon. I was left with the car and broken down trailer. Of course we could have just unhitched the trailer, left it sit by the side of the road and took the car but Charlie, like myself, was making a new start for himself and he needed each and every tool in that trailer to do it. No way was he going to leave it unattended in the middle of nowhere. After several hours, Charlie and his driver arrived with a bag of cold fast food, a couple of warm sodas and were headed in the other direction in search of a matching axle. This time it was after dark when they returned. Somehow they had managed to find the right axle and we spent several hours unloading the trailer, putting on the newly found axle and reloading the trailer all by a single flashlight. What an adventure!

In northern New Mexico we hit storms like I've never seen. We're too far away from the coast to be a hurricane. Crashing thunder, crackling lightning and horizontal rain. Visibility not far beyond the hood ornament. We pulled over for the night in a rest stop but our nerves were too shattered to sleep.

We got in to Phoenix, sticky and sweaty, around 4pm and Charlie dropped me off at my friend's workplace. Keep in mind its mid-August. He introduced me to several of his co-workers and wouldn't you know it, one of the bosses wanted to see my portfolio right then and there. I couldn't have been less presentable or ill-prepared if I tried. Covered with dirt and grease, clothes dirty from laying on the ground repairing the trailer and tired beyond belief, amazingly enough I got the job and was to start the following morning.

I think I aged five years on that trip but haven't ever regretted moving for one moment. Over half my life has been spent here in the desert. Almost a native. Sure its hot here, they say it's a dry heat but then, so is a fire. You get used to it around this time of year and there's at least two more weeks to go, the monsoon will blow through. Then it will finally get into the double digits and we can all go outside and play again.

FF

[norbert]

cant pass that up at all that is class a no. 1 Uff Da....my experience is tame by comparison...me and my bud were frsh out of h.s. and decided on our first road trip to costa mesa...surfs up dude...after being chased out of albuqueque by some drunken beaners at 4 a.m. ( we were scarred shtless) my 63 imp ss left them in a cloud of smoke......well we were in the desert and i have a flat .....after much sweat we changed the tire... including a visit from a state trooper.....slammed the trunk and hopped in ready to blast off..."wheres the keys?...i dunno dont you got em?....well duh... after a while we figured out how to rip out the back seat...and the hole was large enough and my buddy small enough to push him through to retrieve the keys..well we made it to costa mesa just in time for the clutch linkage to break....seems it just couldnt handle the truck clutch.....and after passing out on the beach and getting 2nd sunburns we had a very quiet 2 weeks only going out at night.......
norby
and after that we kept seeing suzy in the white t-bird...and now you know the rest of the story.....

[norbert]

hows the truit fishing in phoenix.....

[wingfoot321]

Someone else's vehicle---

In 1983, my son's scout troop went to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM. Troops go as part of a Council Contingent so we had a bus load of adult scouters and boy scouts that had to be transported from Denver, Co. to Philmont, NM. There must have been 35-40 people on the bus.

We left Denver and started south through Colorado Springs and into a beautiful but, arid, sparsely populated area. All was well until our bus broke down along the two lane state highway. It was probably 1:00pm by then.

No motor equalled no a/c. It was the first week in July. Clear & sunny. Only shade was in the bus. Only breeze was outside. We could take our choice.

The state highway patrol eventually came along and he got a message to the bus company who sent a mechanic down from Denver to fix the bus. Only problem, he couldn't fix the bus.
They would send another bus to pick us up.

By now it is 4-5:00pm. We have been standing along the road for 3-4 hours, the trooper has already brought us a cooler of soft drinks and ice, and boy scouts that age are bottomless pits as far as food is concerned. This situation is fast deteriorating.

Western hospitality to the rescue! The trooper left for a while and returned with a school bus from the local school system, driver and all. We were transported to a small town (wide spot in the road). The local restaurant fed everyone hamburgers, fries, and drinks ( all they could eat) for $2.00 per boy. The owner had to lose money on that deal. The restaurant was so small we were fed in shifts.

We were then transported back to our stranded bus to await the replacement bus. The sun was starting to set by the time the bus arrived. Time to move the packs and gear.

Our arrival at Philmont was about 10:30pm that night. Missed the official reception, dinner in the hall, campfire, etc. Where do I bunk tonight? Morning comes early and we starting hiking tomorrow pm.

I will never forget the outstanding western hospitality that was shown to us that afternoon. A potentially very bad experience is one of the most memorable events in my life. Thanks to the officer, bus driver, and restaurant owner in a small town in southern Colorado.

[norbert]

some how and dont ask me how....your post wound up in the isp junk mail... i read it... would you please translate.....

norby

[norbert]

good morning canny bj man......your post disappeared off the board again....i slept on it and figured it out...my appologies, as my pre-alzheimer brain was in a weakened state from a weekend of caravanning(hows that?) and oktoberfest....bear with me as i am doing this from memory....you may have to refer back to the previous posts.....first is humor..mine runs the gamut from very tongue in cheek to black(im not referring to my dark skinned bretheren) to silly, very sophomoric.....a picture is worth a thousand words, i wish i had one now.....ok..i asked flyfshr how the truit fishing was..not FRUIT, but you were close..now this gets complex...Flyfshr lives in phoenix-not originally from...the west has many pristine rivers and streams holding trout not carp...there are 2 types of fishermen, flyfisherman and bait fishermen... fly fishing is very technical very high church...a fly fisherman would never use a worm...i am a slob bait fisherman..another comparisom..like high german and plat deutsch../a berliner anda bavarian...ok..phoenix is in the desert, and a river runs through it.... about 1 day a year if they are lucky...truite is french for trout, i bastardized the spelling....i was also playing with words...my canadian brothers say trout like fruit..like the they leave the house, sounds like moose, and go oot and a boot....(out and about)...north u.s. ers and canadians are called snowbirds by my countrymen in the south...because they winter in phoenix and hopefully flyfshr picked up on the "truit",but it seemed like the thread died...Monsoon in phoenix, june and july is the monsoon season, so called because it rains all the time...only problem is it evaporates before it hits the ground and kicks the humditity up to35%, which at 100 degrees F. is hard to take..they are used to 100 at 5%.....you can always tell the snowbirds in phoenix in the winter, because we run around in t-shirts...at 60 degrees the locals are wearing down ski jackets.......o.k......now for "suzy in the t bird"...some years ago francis ford coppola did a film about a summer night in a calif. town with pre-viet nam teenagers "cruisin" the main drag.etc....cameo appearance by wolfman jack...a very young cast of now ancient hollywood actors..suzanne sommers is in the t bird,,and mouthes something to richard dreifuss who doesnt know how to read lips, and speeds off...he spends the rest of the night trying to catch her..ok..capisch?(spelling?)..norby.

[norbert]

my appologies...i am new to the internet....between your abreviations...and the fact that i never studied english as a second language in school ...makes it hard to read your posts....

norby

[flyfshr]

norby - I think your English is just fine and thanks for clarifying that up about the "truit". I was kinda confused so I let it die. A river does runs through it but only rarely. My first summer here (1980) that river that just trickles 364 days of the year took out two bridges. This year unfortunatly we're having a Nonsoon.

That movie with all of those early stars is American Graffitti and I recommend it to anyone. Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Ron Howard, Suzanne Somers, Richard Dreyfus, Wolfman Jack, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Philips and the truck driver dude from Smokey and the Bandit that's also a country western singer (can't remember his name). That movie sure launched a few careers including George Lucas.

FF

[norbert]

flyfshr,
thanks for jogging my brain cell....it was lucas and not coppola
noby

[canny_banjo_man]

Norby & Flyfshr...
Firstly Norby....I are so SORRY my friend...for mixing the pudding without a spoon...LOL, You spell like a SCOT, or I read it like one...in a oot 'n a boot way...I have a few kin in Scotland myself,... Ah the TROOT ( spelt TRUIT )...I love a KIPPER on a rainy morning myself, so there we have it...
Yep got you on the fishing too, I used to do a lot of bait, way back in my younger youth... ( '60s )...SIGH !!!!...
Now, this here WOLFMAN JACK...is he the same one as I met at " OLD TOWN " Kissimmee in 2000...he was the town's DJ.., big fellow with a beard...?...
The movie was ( is ) great...and speaking language, your lingo is called ENGLISH...yet how come we can not understand each other...mainly I think that I speak dribblish most of the time, but even I get kinda misunderstood/lost VACANT, when I visit your beautiful land, yet YOU speak ENGLISH...lol
Norby... Sorry...but I have a DYSLEXIC FINGER...and it can't spell either...and my wee grey brain cell is almost exhausted, Did you know that ENGLISH is the hardest language to learn to speak, I've been trying it for almost 50 years now...and still get NO where...
Where the post went to is anyones guess...probably under a stone somewhere in Omaha...or eaten by a TRUIT in a Mounties sporran....or...or...Your turn ...Anyhow, nice to read you, take care now...Chris.....

[norbert]

canny bj man,
wolfman jack died in1995, but if you go to www.google.com
and type in his name, you can read all about him.

norby

[Edie]

and the truck driver dude from Smokey and the Bandit that's also a country western singer (can't remember his name)

That would be Jerry Reed.

[canny_banjo_man]

Hi Norby...
Now then, I asked my D/Ds, and they tell me it was our FIRST trip, in '94 to FL, so maybe it was him, I can't say, but it was a WOLFMAN JACK...
I will look at the site that you have kindly took the trouble to help me out here, THANK'S 4 that...Chris.....

[norbert]

canny bj man, strange things are going on....my post to you turned up under equalizer thread....(?) sent you a pm also..
norby.