stockton CA cruiser swap meet OCT 11th

[450 DUDE]

Save some cool stuff , I will be late

ken

[mrlocksmith]

John:

I'll be there as close to 8:00 as i can.


Mark

[Fast Eddy]

Originally Posted by surfpig

Or an EGR header...

I didn't like how long it took to warm up, and it was leaky. My thermonuclear setup runs great.

[surfpig]

Originally Posted by Fast Eddy

I didn't like how long it took to warm up, and it was leaky. My thermonuclear setup runs great.

Well, it sure warms up!

[Radd Cruisers]

Hey Im stuck running my buddies motor cycle shop today, really quiet and Im bored so some one post up some pics of the swap meet Live.......

[surfpig]

There was some good stuff...

[surfpig]

.....

[D'Animal]

What an adventure!


The neighbors I helped move to South Haven Michigan last year were at my house friday night when I go home. They had the fire pit going and coolers were full. Some of thier local friends were there as well. Noting like coming home on a friday night and finding a party going on at your house. LOL!

I unloaded my tow rig and began reloading it with Swap Meet stuff. I put a new battery in the Yamaha and the kids and the adults took turns driving it around. I loaded up the FJ40.5 since it was going to FC Fabrication for some work. Everything was loaded and chain down, spare tires for the Tow Rig and trailer loaded, etc. I had dinner around midnight and then went to bed.

I got up at 5:00am and hit the road. I had something bugging me that I was forgetting something, something Big. I just kept driving. I made it to Chowchilla and remembered what I forgot. I forgot to pick up DeHondaGod and mudship some parts for other mudders. FAWK! I turned around on Roberts Road and headed back to Fresno.

DehondaGod called me when I was about 3 miles from his house and wanted my ETA. I arrived and the parts were loaded. I checked out a few of thier builds and left some stuff for another mudder at Dehondagod's house. I would be driving the trip solo since DehondaGod was going to spend the day with family. Oh, how wise of a decision that would be.

I'm late as heck but making good time. I was driving through Merced and noticed smoke coming from my trailer tire. Flat tire, no big deal. I had a spare. I pull off the side of the road and noticed the dust cover, nut, washer and bearings were gone on my front traielr axle. The only thing holding the hub assembly on was the weight of the load.

I went to my truck and grab the jack. No jack. I rememeber setting it out the night before and asking the wife to put it in the tow rig. She put it in her tow rig, not mine. She was loading her tow rig and horse trailer for a big ride she was going on on Saturday. This would come back to haunt my.

I backed rear trailer tire up on a 2x2, 4x4 and railroad tie combo to get it high enough to pull the front wheel off. I chained the axle up off the ground so it would not drag the ground. Mr. CHP showed up and BS'ed for a bit. He was laughing at how under control I had things.

I called the RV Supercenter since I was broke down in front of their place and asked if they carried axle parts. They did not but they refered me to a local business that did. I drove my rig through Merced and my trailer on three wheel from the north east corner of merced to the south west corner of merced. I drove to Merced Trailer Sales and Service. They must of had 50 new trailers on thier lot. nice showroom and a ton of parts. They were out of the 5 lug hubs. They sent me to Kellogs down the road.

I pulled into Kellogs and a guy was smoking in the parking lot. He came over to check out my rigs. I told him he could look all he wanted but I was there for some axle parts. When he saw the axle strapped up, he laughed. He walked inside and started grabbing parts off the shelf. He was the manager. I bought all the bearings, hub, seal, nut, washer, bottle jack, wheel bearing grease, cotter pins, etc. Everything I needed. I asked him if I could do the repair in the parking lot since I was on a journey. He said no problem, but they closed in 15 minutes. He wrote on my reciept that it was OK to do the repair in the parkinglot incase a LEO came by. Sweet.

I walk outside with my new stash of parts and see a guy climbing all over my rigs. He was taking pictures, etc. He was just another customer who came in the buy something for his air compressor. I got some of my tools out and he said. "screw this, bring you rig over to my place about 2 miles from here. I have all the tools we need to get this done." Sweet.

I followed him (Kevin) to the otherside of Merced and parked on the sidewalk of his corner lot. He opened up a 12' section of his fence that he turned into a gate and pulled out air chisels, grinders and he showed me his Snap On toolbox that was bigger than mine and loaded with stuff. Sweet.

I ground both frozen inner races off the shaft, cleaned everything up began the reassembly. The threads were buggered up so I spent some time with a thread file. I was able to clean everything up so the back bearing slid on as it should. I assembled the hub and thought I was done. The outer bearing was a little snug. With a tap of the hammer to seat it, it broke into 4 pieces.

I borrowed Kevins truck and took the bearing to Kragens. The guy behind the counter could not look it up since they did not have a 16" H&H Trailer 7,500lb in thier search menu. I left there before I choke slammed him. I went back to Kevins house and explained my situation. I could not find Kevin. I asked his wife where Kevin was. She began to chew my arse. I guess he does not let her drive his truck but he let me, a total stranger, drive it. He went and borrowed three of his neighbors floor jacks and was walking down the street with the last one as I spotted him.

He took the bearing and went on a parts search. MrLocksmith called to see where I was and if I was still coming to the swap meet. I told him my situation. He offered to pick up any parts I needed and drive them 65 miles too me and help wit the repair. Big thanks to Mr. Locksmith. I thought I was on the home stretch so I declined any assistance.

I jacked up the trailer and repacked the wheel bearings on all the wheels since I had the tools and the time. Kevin came pack with the old/new broken bearing and the new bearing. With micometer we found that the new bearings were .050 too small. That is why the other one broke when I tapped it. I took a wheel assembly back off one of the other axle and used that bearing for a size and number. Kevin was off to the parts store again.

I called FC187 and told him my situation and that I was running late. He was ready to borrow "G's" trailer and hook it to his suburban and come down and rescue me. I told him I would call him back in an hour and let him know my situation.

Fast Eddy called and asked where the heck I was. I told him. He had some parts for me but I will get them at SnT.

Kevin came back with the correct bearing. I assembled both axles and was putting the weels on. The wheel would not fit. I bought the small 4 1/8" 5 bolt pattern and not the 4 1/2" bolt pattern hub. My wife called and asked how things were going. I told here I was in Merced but did not give her any details. She would either laugh or worry.

Well my luck was so crappy, I though what are the odds if I had a flat tire and my spare did not fit. Well, remember when my wife grabbed a few things when she helped me load my rig? She grabbed the wrong spare tire for here horse trailer. She had mine and I had hers. Her spare for the new hub perfectly. I put it on and cleaned up all the tools and thanked Kevin for all of his assistance. He would not take any money. He was jsut glad to help. He would like to come to the Rubicon the next time I go though. He sold his jeep last year and misses 4- wheeling.

I called FC187 and let him know I was on my way. Of course he knew this since he could not hear me on my cell phone.

I arrived at FC Fabrication around 5:30. GreenFox helped unload the rig, FC187 and I unloaded the mudship stuff and reloaded more muship stuff for the trip south. FC187 cooked up some dinner and I ate while going over my projects and his projects.

I got home at 11:00pm last night.


I would rather have been at the swap meet than living the journey I just wrote about.

[hudyhue]

bro why did you not call tommy,jerry, and i were at tommys.....we would have cruzed up to help ya out

[D'Animal]

Thanks for the offer. I knew I could have called a few of you guys (mudders) and you would have came and helped out. It was just frustrating to the point of laughter trying to find the correct bearing.

Originally Posted by hudyhue

bro why did you not call tommy,jerry, and i were at tommys.....we would have cruzed up to help ya out

I will wait until I am really in a pickle before I start asking favors. The service bed on my tow rig, the way I have it loaded with tools, etc, has bailed me out three times now.

[Rat70Fj]

Quite the adventure, Dan. Sorry you missed it, I was really hoping to score one of those sexist Stihl calenders for the shop.

Kent

[orangefj45]

i got updates thruout the day for others at the swap meet, hence i did'nt call you until late in the afternoon. i figured you had plenty of shit going on without answering more phone calls.

glad it all worked out in the end. if that was anybody else in thge same situation, i'm sure it would not have gone 'as well". you're the man!

i'll call you in a couple of days.

[Mace]

lol

Gawd damn Dan..

[Fast Eddy]

Whoa. Mel Gibson has some competition for his title of "Road Warrior".

[D'Animal]

My wife informed me that this kinda stuff would never happen if I just sat in front of the TV, watched sports and drank beer.

Originally Posted by Mace

lol

Gawd damn Dan..

[FJ40 TOOLMAN]

If you stayed home and watched TV and drank beer you would never have had so much fun.Glad every thing turned out ok.Hope to see you at Pismo with better luck.

[DWitcher]

What a trip. Good thing you found this Kevin guy.

[splitshot]

Wow...

That guy you cut off on the freeway last week...

Did he look like this..