I am annoyed. I suppose it started last week but that is a long story which has partly been posted.
Yesterday I accomplished almost nothing despite working till almost 9 p.m. I am supposed to be making feed for my neighbor. That is not going so well.
I planned on taking my daughter and perhaps my father to the Northwest Agricultural show Wednesday as school is out at 1:30 on Wednesdays. Of course it turns out that my brother has an eye doctor appointment and my dad has a Dr. appointment at 1:30 and since we are reactive and not proactive the Ag Show is off. I can't go today, I can't take the kid out of school and the show ends early on Thursday.
365 days of the year and the one day I want to do something... Of course the Ag Show has been the last three days in January for 45 years. This is the first year in over a decade we don't have a booth.
In other news...
I'm sure there are some good money managers who look at the Lazy Farmer. Perhaps someone could tell me if this is the definition of throwing good money after bad?
I've found two engines for my International truck. The truck is in ok shape and has a good 24ft bed and a harsh hoist. The 479 cu inch gas engine blew up last spring. Second engine I've put in the truck in the two years I've owned it.
I found a 549 cu in that has not run in five years and the guy want's $1,200 for it removed. I found this truck with a 449 cu inch, a five and four, tandems, air brakes, pto, no hoist, and the truck is in really nice shape. I have the evil twin to the 449 cu inch truck with a bed and hoist and a 5 and 3, but it is very rusty and several stringers on the steel bed need to be rewelded. Both 449 cu inch trucks have a 206" wheelbase and I can't put the 24 foot bed on them. Evil twin 449 smokes a bit and has a bad radiator leak.
Options:
1. buy the 549 and install in 24ft international
2. buy the 449 international and install the 449 in 24ft International
3. buy the 449 and put the evil twin's bed and hoist on it and scrap the rest and rebuild evil twin 449 for later installation in 24ft international.
4. DO NOTHING
5. Borrow money and buy a good truck
The crisis is that at this point we don't actually have a truck. The only one that is safe to drive on the road is a 1967 Ford 650 with a 16ft bed.
I think we will do nothing... I don't want more crap...
Posts
If you have to chose: IMHO
ReplyDeleteThe $1,300 truck looks pretty nice. The used engine you are considering is probably as bad as the one you already have replaced a couple of times and costs as much as the flatbed. Buy the $1,300.00 flatbed truck if it is as nice as it looks and pull a trailer if you need more load capacity.
Muddy, of course the $1,300 truck only has like a 16ft bed. It was a former dump truck.
ReplyDeletefrom the sounds of it as of now i'd agree with muddy unless a bigger bed is a real necessity at the moment. you could always make the engine rebuild a long term project if you wanted a truck with a larger bed later on. this way you'd have a couple of trucks at some time and if necessary recoup your short term losses.
ReplyDeleteThat craigslist IH looks like a lot of truck for a little money. I've never heard of the 449 or 479 IH engines but the 549 is pretty legendary for power and endurance (and thirst for gas). I have no doubt my little 304 V8 will out-live me (given good maintenance).Kind of wish I had dropped in a 392 at the time instead of re-building the 304.
ReplyDeleteA dump truck? Would that lower you in status with the spandex crowd? Don't tell anyone my 1210 has a dump bed. Ralph: I'm looking for a 392 to replace the 345 that replaced the cracked (hard freeze winter) 392 in mine. I get poorer mpg now. From 14 to 10mpg.
ReplyDeleteHave you learned nothing from reading all those issues of Farm Show? Where's option 6: Buy a school bus?
ReplyDelete6a: pull school bus engine and trans and install in present 24' truck. Sell rest for scrap. *
6b: cut school bus body off just behind driver's seat and chop frame and weld bus frame to cut-off truck frame. ***
6c: cut bus body off a little farther back so that on your day to take kids to school you can do it up in style with your 10 seater grain truck. *****
(stars indicate potential Farm Show feature article worthiness on a scale of 0-5!)
Didn't I see a school bus parked behind the blackberries covering what might have been a combine at one time behind your shop? Or was that your #3 parts dept. storage building?
ReplyDeleteDrag the bus out of the blackberries, install your perpetual motion engine, a digital real time guide to local winery events and restaurant revues, bicycle rack and reserve space to display it at next year's Ag Show. Trade it for a rebuilt engine for the 24' International.
ReplyDelete