AbsolutePickens (dot) com

So, I have 2 glaring issues with my truck…

1) The carburetor is not working right. The carb is a year old, and was apparently defective or not set up right from the factory. It DUMPS gas into the engine, causing it run WAY rich and consequently use much more fuel that it’s supposed to.

This I can deal with.

2) The rear axle is dying quickly. What this means is, when it goes, I won’t be able to move and there’s the potential of it taking out other (very expensive) parts with it when it does die.

So I looked at the options:
a) replace the existing unit with another of the same — Hell no… it was weak from the factory.
b) repair the existing unit — I just talked to the dude at the 4×4 shop. He says all bad parts will be replaced, seals, bearings, gears, etc… plus labor will add up to $1000 !!!!! HELL NO
c) replace the existing axle with one from a 1-ton truck. This is by far the best option. That axle is known in 4×4 circles as being “nearly indestructable” to quote its many fans. After pricing it all out, it’s still gonna run around $1000, but I’ll be way better off. Besides its unreal strength, it’ll have disc brakes (I currently have drums ), it’ll have low enough gears to turn the 31″ tires I use as opposed to the current axle which won’t allow me to maintain 80mph on the interstate, and that unit comes with a warranty.

This option is best, however it’s a total pain in the ass. I have to buy the axle and ship it from Wisconsin to Atlanta ($500). The trucking company will take it as far as the airport and that’s it. I need 2 strong dudes to then help me move it to the shop. I was quoted $262.00 for the installation labor, $249.00 for the disc brake conversion kit, plus my existing rear wheels won’t fit it, and then I’ll need 2 new tires to fit the new wheels seeing as how they’ll be bigger wheels…

Decisions, decisions, decisions…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 16th, 2005 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.