When I had parked on the pad, I immediately started removing the front tire, so James would have access to the shock and mount. I was surprised at how hot the aluminum Wilwood hub was when I touched it, after only about a 10 mile drive. It bothered me so much that after we ate, I went out and broke it down, checked and repacked the bearings, and reassembled it before replacing the tire. Dale finally walked back out into the yard, and started helping Dad at the front of the Dakota, so when I dropped the Valiant back off the jack, I went to see what was going on.
Dale was wiring up the electric fan.
"That wasn't working?" I looked at them incredulously.
"No, we mounted the fan, but hadn't wired it yet"
"Well...what did you guys do last night at Robert Cowden's shop?"
"Good grief man! We re-wired the whole back of the truck, plumbed the tranny cooler lines, hooked up the shifter, mounted the seat, and the seat belts, hooked up the water and oil gauges..."
"None of that was done when you went through tech?"
"Uh...well..." he looked at Dad and they both starting laughing.
"Why did you re-wire the back of the truck? We had cobbled the stock harness back together..."
Now it was his turn to cut me off, "You KNEW I wasn't going to leave it like that! I wanted to tie in the fuel pump wiring and I also wired in a flat plug, so he can pull a trailer".
"Priorities, I suppose. So what did you do when you brought it back here?"
That's when Pops and James modified and re-hung the pedals, then we had to hook up the linkages and bleed the brakes."
"It just never ends", I sighed.
"Nope, not with this truck it doesn't, he still has a box with over eight hundred dollars of new Autometer gauges in it, and they aren't even going to make the trip!"