Well now. THAT could have been bad!

So there I was, minding my own beezwax. Just driving my '62 C10 to work as I always do. I was on a bridge about 60 feet above the river (Hwy 183, just north of 71, for all you locals). Suddenly some jerk in a Mercedes decides to show me just how far his head is planted in his ass and cuts me off to get into my lane. As a side note, I have manual steering and brakes with a single pot master cylinder (soon to be upgraded), so I don't have the best handling and stopping characteristics to begin with.

Anyway, when the aforementioned butt nugget cut me off, I of course jump on the brakes pretty hard and I hear a very loud *KLUNK*!!! "Hmm", I think to myself. Then I let off the brakes and I hear a softer *klud*. Again, I think to myself, "Hmm", only this time it feels like someone smacked the right front frame horn with a small sledge.

So, I tap the brakes again. *KLUNK!* Then I let off, *klud*. By now, I'm starting to get the idea that something may indeed be amiss. I go on around the curve of this God-awful bridge and then take the first exit to survey the situation. I hit the flashers and then crawl under the right front of the truck. I wiggle this and tug on that, then pound on the other thing with my fist. Nothing. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I notice something kinda goofy. My upper control arm shaft is only held on by one bolt and it's bent, making the shaft itself sit at about a 10 degree angle away from the frame with a 2" gap at the back. Apparently, I had somehow completely sheared off the rear bolt and stretched and bent the front one.

Needless to say, the implications of that sort of structural failure on a bridge 60 feet above the Colorado River suddenly sunk in. My balls broke out in a cold sweat and my liver went ice cold.

Fortunately, I had a cell phone, a bottle of water, some snacks and a book. Plus, I have some really great car club buddies (Thanks, Riley). Riley stopped at two different "auto parts stores", neither of which knew what a car was. At least, after Riley explained to the the goober behind the counter what it was we were needing, the guy was able to figure out that it's not available. So, he came and rescued me with a jack and some tools. We ended up going to Home Depot and buying the correct size grade 8 bolts, nuts and lock washers, along with some red Loc-Tite and got the truck back on the road enough to get home until I can order the control arm shaft kits. I got home about 20 minutes ago and I've already been looking on line for the right parts.

Time to put the old beast up on some jack stands and take careful inventory of the rest of the front suspension. Check your front ends, everyone. Do it now!!! I'd been putting it off until I had the money to just replace the whole mess with a later model front end. This could have been a helluva lot worse than it was, all because I procrastinated.

Thanks for reading this mess. I'm going to go put on some clean pantaloons now.

 

You are very lucky that, some jerk in a Mercedes, came along to cut you off. Who knows what bad wreck you might have caused when your truck finished falling apart. My mamma always said, things always happen for a reason.

 

Fuck them....The other night I was coming back from buying a 59 Chevy wagon and a pile o parts from the guy I have been buying cars from and this happens... I was coming down a hill around a blind corner and dimmed my lights cause a car was coming around the corner. What I didn,t know was a buttfuck asshole was racing the fore mentioned car and was passing him on the inside of the blind corner! I hit the brakes and slid the truck right front wheel into the ditch as the van just missed me God knows how.The Sunfire car stopped,looked at me for a second and booked! Obviously racing a friend he didn,t stick around.All I could think of was the chains and snatch blocks etc coming through the back window of my truck!I don,t know how he missed me......maybe next time.

 

yup, that german driving butt nugget did you a favour.

 

My balls broke out in a cold sweat and my liver went ice cold

That some funny shit right there.... Made me spit beer all over my screen

Glad to here you are safe!!!

 

Thanks for sharing that, think I will check my front end and brakes over on the 57.

 

Great description of what happened. Glad you're ok.

 

The Colorado River flows through Texas?

 

Yup. Right smack through the middle of Austin, of course around here they call it "Town Lake" or (recently renamed) "Lady Bird Lake". Austin's a weird place.

 

By the way, thank for all the good wishes. It could have been pretty ugly!

 

#### Dude you should change your name to GUMP, FORREST GUMP >>>>.