PART 2: Tow Vehicle UPDATE!!!!!!

#Planning Looking for vehicle - Read the end :) :)

The next step into achieving my new “American Dream” is to start my search for a tow vehicle and a toy hauler camper. I am finding out just how hard this process can be, I have set a certain criteria for what I'm looking for in a tow vehicle, must be a 3/4 ton (2500) or 1 ton (3500), extended cab, 4 wheel drive, V8 or V10 Gas engine, non dually and most importantly I am looking for a manual transmission. So far these are extremely hard to find, I've looked through Craigslist, Facebook Market Place, tons of online truck for sale web pages and have found that automatics rule the truck world right now. I'm not looking for a new vehicle as they are ridiculously priced, but a nice used low mileage truck that's not trashed or completely rusted out. I'm finding that a lot of the dodge diesels and 1 ton duallies sport 4 and 5 speeds, but I'm not interested in these models at this time, although I may have to rethink my current criteria model in the near future.

I'm not sure what year they made the automatic transmission "standard", but growing up most new vehicles came with a standard transmission as "standard" and the automatic transmission was special order. We now have a complete generation that cannot drive a standard transmission and that is sad because for me it was one of the coming of age steps to learn to drive a standard transmission vehicle which was one of the steps in my progression into independence.

One of the problems I'm having in finding a toy hauler is that a lot of the pictures and information is incomplete. There may be a couple pictures, with a bit of information on the condition, mileage, accessories but that's about it. I have also found that a lot of this information is, shall we say, somewhat lacking in truth. I traveled 6 hours one way to Johnson City, Tn to look at a 2001 Chevy 2500HD truck. The seller stated that the truck was in great condition and had good tires, air conditioner worked, etc., etc. To get to Johnson City Tn. I did have a great time driving the “Tail of the Dragon” in Deals Gap.

The famous spot for all bikers to go and challenge themselves on the hundreds of curves. Unfortunately I was in my current truck, but it was still fun, with 318 curves in 11 miles with no intersecting highways, it makes for a fun and sometimes scary ride.

When I arrived in Johnson City, Tn. I had to wait 30 minutes for the seller to show up, first clue that this truck may not be all that was stated. The seller finally arrived and I started looking over the truck, first thing I noticed is that the drivers side front bumper was pushed in about 2 inches. I could not see this in the ad photo and the seller failed to mention that in any of the emails. As I walked around the truck I looked at the tires, all of them needed to be changed out for new ones, good tires per the ad.

Started the truck up and heard this weird rattling noise, couldn't pinpoint it, until the seller turned off the air conditioner, the noise stopped, the clutch on the compressor was bad. Even with all this, I took it for a test drive, this truck is supposed to have 300 horse power, it felt like a 6 cylinder. I punched the gas and was expecting to get pushed back into the drivers seat, nope, no power.

The one question that I failed to ask the seller before my 6 hour drive was, “How long have you owned this truck?” Well I asked him after the test drive and he told me “1 month”. At that point, I told him thanks for his time but I wasn't interested. He immediately dropped the price, I said no thanks, Got in my truck and headed back home... 15 minutes later, I got a phone call and the price was dropped again, and at this point I knew there was something major wrong with this truck, he was just trying to unload it onto anyone else. Lesson learned, be sure to ask for a lot more pictures and ask a lot more questions, especially f you have a long drive to look at one.

So the search goes one, found another one only 2 hours away, but communications with the owner is like pulling teeth. Its taken 2 ½ weeks to get hardly any information and last email I asked to set up an appointment to see it and test drive it, that was 3 days ago....

I will continue looking.

Today (on my birthday no less, August 5th) I finally found a truck I can live with. It's a 2001 Dodge Ram Sport, Extended Cab, V10 sporting the 47rh transmission (4 speed auto) and just 2 wheel drive. As most of you know I was looking for a manual drive and 4 wheel drive, but this model dodge has 450lbs of torque that runs through a tough transmission. It's a Dodge and needs a few things done to it like upper and lower ball joints, (typical) a leaky power steering pump hose, one valve cover has popped out the gasket and the air conditioning system has a slow leak. The frame, body and all are in excellent shape, interior is in really good shape, and even sounds pretty good. Of course I will put new brakes, universal joints and a few other things to get it in tip top condition....

are you ready to see it? scroll down....