Good morning. Similar weather to txdon, warm and muggy. Heading to work to rest from the weekend.
Turned out my truck wasn't too badly damaged. It's my beater truck so I told the repair shop to give me an estimate for bare bone repair to get it going without painting or body work. One shop told me $3,900. Another shop quoted $3,500. I didn't think it was that bad so I towed it home and attempted the repair instead. This weekend was a busy day for me between the tractor and the truck.
Truck: Replaced radiator with after market parts - $125. Bought front head light assemblies (not arrived yet) - $170. Surprised to find out that the condenser that was in front of the radiator survived the crash and is still working. It was severely mangled so I placed it between card board and two pieces of of plywood and lightly vacuum pressed it flat. Pulled a vacuum on it last night and it seems to be holding. I'll charge it with R134a tonight. I lost a lot of transmission fluid from the built in oil cooler in the radiator so I drained the transmission and replaced the oil. I did the same thing with the power steering fluid because I lost the fluid from the busted hose. The hood is kinda straightened out using wood blocks and clamps. I had to hammer out the radiator and the grill support. That's body work the old fashion way I tell ya. You don't replace things unless they can't be hammered out. So between parts, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, antifreeze, and refrigerant I'm up to $390. I'm going to get my beater truck going again for 1/10 of what the shops told me. I call that a win
Tractor: Still waiting for all the parts to come to replace all the hydraulics. So far I've spent roughly $700 for stainless steel tubing & fittings, hoses, fittings, and new lift cylinders. Thank goodness for Surplus Center and ebay.
Washer: Bought a new washer. Delivery is this week.
I'm trying hard but money is still flying out of my pocket!
PS: Y'all should have seen my redneck vacuum press. I used a contractor trash bag, AC vacuum hose, and duct tape! It worked like a charm. My truck AC condenser was straighten out in no time.
