Steve Urkel Build (1 Viewer)

[Ocho77]

Well, this is a build thread/story of my wife’s 62 (she’s not on here). This truck was originally for sale on here, and then was taken off the market. Eventually, I found it on eBay about a year later. My wife had seen the truck when it was first posted on Mud and liked it. So, when I found it perusing eBay one day, I put in a bid. Eventually, I was outbid and I didn’t think anything about it. A few days after the auction closed, I logged in to check and see the final price...low and behold, when I logged in, there was a “Congratulations, you won this item” message. My first thought was excitement. Then, that rapidly turned to ‘Oh s***’, because I never actually told my wife I placed a bid.

So, I let her know and we began a game plan on how we were going to get it. This was mid-March, and COVID had just started ramping up. This was the beginning of an entire s***-show.

We decided to make a family trip out of it, all fly down south from Michigan, and drive the truck back. So, I booked 4 tickets and the following week myself, my wife, and our 2 girls (4 and 11) flew south through DTW. We flew out on March 16, and COVID was really picking up. Detroit airport was similar to a barren wasteland (which made it easy to get to our next gate change)!

 

[Ocho77]

* I will caveat this thread, that the truck had changed hands since being listed on Mud, so the individual I purchased from was not the original seller on Mud*

The seller met us at the airport with the truck so we could leave from there. He only spent about 5 minutes with me and then said he had to go. So, I briefly checked the truck over and he left. We loaded up and headed out.

We started at the airport in Birmingham, AL and headed north. We only stopped at rest areas and for food/gas, as I was hoping to make it as far as possible that day, as states were starting to shut down, and at the time, we had no idea what that was going to look like.

 

[Ocho77]

As we rolled into the south side of Nashville, traffic slowed down...and as we were going around a bend on I-65, I heard a fairly loud noise and the truck would barely run, and the exhaust became quite loud So, I weaved across 3 lanes of traffic and exited. I was able to keep it running long enough to get to a parking lot where I could check it out. The flap in the AFM kept slamming shut, and the truck would barely run, and the exhaust was extremely loud at this point. So, we drove to the downtown Holiday Inn and I parked it illegally in a parking lot down the street, because I wasn’t about to put the valet driver through whatever the truck may do.

I started having conversations with some people on Mud to try and diagnose. So, I took Uber to the closest parts store for supplies/parts and tried a few fixes...in a parking lot...in the pouring rain. The fixes did not work. So, we stay another night and I have it towed to a ‘cruiser friendly’ shop in hopes they can help. s***-show number 2. All that happened there was they ended up trying another AFM, charged me a ridiculous amount for it, and it didn’t fix the problem. So I left it in their parking lot. We ended up renting a car in Nashville and abandoning the truck. Had I been alone, I would have attempted the drive, but did not want to do that with my family. I’m adventurous, and my family is as well, but I had no desire to potentially all sleep in the truck, broken down somewhere along the interstate, in the middle of the night.

The good news; due to the arising pandemic, rental cars were dirt cheap. $64 to rent a quad cab silverado, one-way, from Nashville to Northern, MI.

At this point, I had no idea what I was going to do. Luckily, my buddy Patrick @dogfishlake, was headed to Nashville the following week to pick up a 60 he had purchased. We decided that we would both head down in his truck/trailer and trailer one truck back and drive whichever would make it.
We took off from his place about 11pm one night and drove straight through to Nashville, only sleeping about 2 hours at a rest area. We headed to pick my truck up first. It started, so we went with it and used the 1 hour drive as a test run. It did alright on that trip, so we decided to load up his new 60 on the trailer and I would drive my 62.

The truck ran ‘okay’ as long as I wasn’t in overdrive going up a steep hill. Once I hit a hill, it would fall flat on it’s face and the AFM would start flapping. So, much of the drive home was at 3k rpm’s.

It made the run home to Northern Michigan successfully. It ended up being a 25 hour churn and burn, from the time we left Patrick’s until the time we pulled back in his driveway. We took part in the traditional beverage upon arrival, and I left for home.

It gets worse.

The following day, we are looking at the truck, and notice some blue under the gray paint. We discover that the entire roof has been replaced, which was not disclosed in the auction. There was also bondo on one of the rear quarters that was also not disclosed. Not a terrible thing overall, but for the price paid for the truck, I’m now into it for more than it’s worth.

It gets even worse.

My wife takes her truck on her first drive around our lake, which is about 4 miles. As we are turning back onto our road, the truck starts running extremely rough, with no power. It barely makes it up our long driveway, and I climb out to inspect. I hear what appears to be a rod knocking, so I have her shut it down. At this point I’m not super happy, so I don’t even look at it anymore.

The next morning I go outside and decide to start it up and listen. Nothing. Engine won’t crank.

It’s seized. Now I’m into this truck for WAY more than it’s worth.

 

[Ocho77]

For the amount we had in the truck at this point, with plane tickets, hotels and gas, I could have purchased a really nice example from Mud. So, I toy with the idea of parking it in my woods and taking a torch to it. That was my plan.

Through a series of fortunate events, I find another Mud member who happens to have a freshly rebuilt 3FE. We strike a barter deal and in May, he makes the trip to Michigan with the engine. He arrives around noon on a Tuesday afternoon in early May. My bud, Patrick, comes up to meet us at my place. That day/evening, we drank a lot of bourbon and got the engine 95% installed.

They took off early the next morning and I spent the next weeks getting everything back together and tidied up.

Finally, the day came, where I was able to start the truck with the fresh engine. She purrs like the cutest kitten you've ever seen...

With the truck now running, the paint is still a disaster. It had been touched up in various spots and contained about 9 different shades of gray, and some black. It looked hideous. Now, I had never painted a truck before, but I wasn't about to spend more money on this truck. Thankfully, the cruiser world is full of good people...as we all know. I had a new engine, and my buddy @dogfishlake said he would help me paint the truck. Yippee!!

 

[Ocho77]

We decided to do a quick paint job in my yard/driveway. Patrick gave me the paint vendor to use and told me everything to order. He came up on a Sunday and we did the body work in one day. The body is pretty straight, so it didn't take a lot of work to get it looking good. Rust was not an issue and most panels were straight.

After Patrick left after body work day, my wife and I spent that evening getting most of the truck taped off. Then, Patrick came back for paint day. We primed and painted it that day. It was ridiculously hot, so we had to move the truck after priming it to get it back in the shade.

 

[Seth S]

Good so far.

who was the scumbag ebay seller? You’ve not even finished and I already want to dredge the guy.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

 

[Beat Navy]

I am in on this thread. If only because it cheers me up that I’m not the only one upside down on a 30-year old rig.

 

[klinetime574]

Good story. I’ll be following the repairs to come. Where was the roof cut?

 

[Ocho77]

The painting went pretty smooth. We did 3 coats of base and 4 coats of clear. It turned out extremely well for a 2 day job in the driveway.

Celebratory beverage together! This was not long after the last coat of clear was applied.

 

[Ocho77]

So, why 'Urkel'? My wife decided to call her truck Urkel because the truck reminds her of him.

Her quote: "It's like Urkel. Nobody really likes him in the beginning. He's annoying. But, over time, he starts to grow on you and you end up actually liking him".

So, 'Urkel' has been put together for a couple weeks now and my wife loves it.

 

[Ocho77]

Good story. I’ll be following the repairs to come. Where was the roof cut?

The roof was cut at the bottom of the pillars. They did an okay job, but I was upset this was not disclosed.

 

[cruiserpants]

Wow what a journey!
The finished rig looks amazing!
It’s been said ‘It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it’.
Your response is a lesson for us all; you are a genuine class act.

 

[Richfj60]

I think the morale of the story is never buy a rig from Alabama. No offense to my southern friends but I had a similar experience. Paid a lot of money for an LS conversion, build video, reputable builder, great pictures, yada yada. We fly to Atlanta and plan to drive home to Washington State, I inspect the vehicle..."huh, that's not shown in the pictures....it'll be ok...." " Should I punt and fly back home, or do we go for it...of course we go for it!" Drive the truck across the country, brakes go out in Yellowstone, front end totally shot, transfer case not hooked up. Body panels not aligned great. BMW seat electrics not hooked up, so can't change the location. AC dumping water in the cab when it isn't frozen up (mind you its July..) SO, what do I do? Drive it home, tear the M'Fer apart and pour more money into it. Boys and their toys. Told my wife it would be my daily driver

 

[Tennessee80]

So, why 'Urkel'? My wife decided to call her truck Urkel because the truck reminds her of him.

Her quote: "It's like Urkel. Nobody really likes him in the beginning. He's annoying. But, over time, he starts to grow on you and you end up actually liking him".

So, 'Urkel' has been put together for a couple weeks now and my wife loves it.

View attachment 2388043

Great job, man! WE mudders all know that every silver lining has a "touch of gray" or rust in most of our cases, LOL

 

[Hojack]

That’s some story. Sounded like a hectic trip getting it home not to mention needing a new engine, if 2020 wasn’t bad enough... At least you have us here on MuD and some good friends to help out. By the way,

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, We All have similar stories. Weil done ! Its lemonade from lemons. Mike

 

[Bama4door]

You guys did a great job on the 2 day paint turnaround, it looks awesome

 

[Ocho77]

Wow what a journey!
The finished rig looks amazing!
It’s been said ‘It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it’.
Your response is a lesson for us all; you are a genuine class act.

Thank you. I have some good people in my life. It really did turn out well, thanks to a great community of friends...old and new. I did make some new friends along the way, which is always awesome!

 

[Seth S]

I think the morale of the story is never buy a rig from Alabama Sight unseen.