Well, yesterday I spent the whole day thinking about those American service personnel who came back feet first. While doing that I finally hooked up electricity and air to the new manual knee mill I put in the back of the shop a few months ago. Several times I could have used it, but didn't have the time to run wire and hook it up.
Then a gooseneck ball plate I didn't expect to arrived around mid day. I suppose I should look at the box to see what carrier was delivery on Memorial day. I dropped the ball pl;ate into the hitch rails in the bed of my dad's truck. It wasn't to bad. 12 minor adjustments with 3 lb inertial adjustment tool and I was able to press it into the slots.
Then I drove to Blythe California to pick up a relatively light weight gooseneck trailer. There is no GVWR plate on it, but it has 5 lug axles. The heaviest 5 lug axles I am aware of are 4000lb so with tongue weight the most it could be rated for at about 9500 lbs.
The transaction went rather seamlessly. It turns out the guy selling the trailer lives right across from a friend and fishing buddy who vouched for me. He was willing to take my check on the weekend rather than my having to wait until today for me to pick up some cash from the bank.
I noted a few little things I wasn't crazy about, but its a good priced rig with enough capacity for what I need to do in the short term. I would have liked something heavier, but this will do for now and was within the price range I could afford right now. I can always sell it later to upgrade to a heavier rig. There were two broken running lights. One at the rear of the vehicle. Fortunately the bulb was burned out so getting pulle dover for white light to the rear of the vehicle was not an issue. One at the side near the front was also busted. I pulled the bulb so it would not show a white light to the side.
It was still daylight when I left Kalifornicastan, and in Arizona you do not typically get pulled over for running lights out. (You will get stopped for white light to the rear.)
I was a little disappointed in my dad's truck. His 98 2500 Dodge/Cummins definitely does not perform like his old 93 2500 Dodge/Cummins did. A girl who had her daddy's car without permission ran a red light and totaled the 93 a few years ago. Anyway, I kind of felt like it was tuned for a heavy utility body or something. It took forever to come up to speed pulling that empty trailer. I find it hard to believe my dad used it to pulled his 15000lb fifth wheel trailer. I was thankful for the California reduced speed for vehicles pulling trailers while I got use to it. At first I thought I was going to have to drive all the way back at 55-60 mph.
After playing with it a bit, I found myself passing semi's running 75 climbing the long grade on I-10 in Arizona east of the Colorado River Basin. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. It continued to take a while to get up to speed, but it did and ran at speed the whole way home. Right now its parked in my driveway.
I finished up the day with a rum and coke at home while I quietly thanked all those who served and in particular all those who gave everything.
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I would have much preferred to take my Chevy/Duramax/Allison 2500, but my dad's truck already had rails for a removable fifth wheel or gooseneck ball plate hitch, electric brake controller, and in bed 7 pin trailer connector. I will be ordering a set of rails and a brake controller for my truck today or tomorrow.