1993 Ford F150 4WD take-2

There was a local mechanic I'd started going to for inspections and little repairs. He ran a good shop, straight forward and reasonable, but his place looked like a junk yard. I was complaining about the crappy truck that I had to unload, and he told me he had one just like it but it was in decent shape. He was selling it for one of his customers. The price was reasonable, and my guy stood behind it, so I bought it.

It was strange because it really was exactly like the other truck in almost every way, except that it did run okay. It wasn't perfect. I had to get some things fixed up on it. But it was solid. It had some bells and whistles that the other truck didn't have, including some customized modifications. The seat had air-pump adjustable seat and lumbar controls. It was novel. Actually the lumbar support actually proved useful on those long dives back and forth to the dump. It also had a sunroof and a visor installed over the top of the windshield. I thought it was an interesting combination of modifications. The former was designed to let light in, and the latter was designed to keep light out. I would have been happier without either one, but could live with them both.

This truck served me relatively well for a relatively long time. The one thing I could never get sorted was the brakes. I had the local, squeaky-clean independent shop to all through the brakes, and as soon as I got it back another problem cropped up. It was probably the booster, which was the one thing on the whole system that they didn't replace, and I decided I don't want to deal with it. The brakes were funky, but the truck was drivable.

But the more time went on the worse they got. It got to the point that the brakes were either all the way off, or all the way on. You would push your foot down a little, and just when they started to grab, it was like something inside the truck was sucking the pedal down from under your foot, and burying it to the floor. I had to actually tug at it from underneath with my toe to get the pedal to come back up.

The engine ran pretty rough, too. Every time I went to the dump I never knew for sure I'd get all the way there and back. Eventually it was time for me to get something newer and nicer. But I decided to keep this one. It's now my "much truck." I an use this for all the dirty, nasty work maintaining my property, and keep my nice, new truck for on-the-road activities.

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