When it comes to TRUCKS…what has been the dumbest thing you have ever done??

[2bits]

On my very first truck that I ever built (in the parking lot of my apt complex, I'm sure they hated me) I had a 79 SWB with NO rear bumper. I swapped out the rear end on it using two bumper jacks. Remember I said it didn't even have a rear bumper I remember clearly when it started to tip over because I forgot to disconnect the emergency brake lines and I was sitting down, sliding it out from underneath the truck. Everything worked perfectly, but man that was DUMM...

My second biggest mistake was when I traded it at a used car lot...

[Scott68-93-97]

I cut up an 83 toyota into small peices in my apt complex used the parts I needed and the rest fit in the back of my chevy (entire truck) they probably didn't care much for me either. Also while living there I was welding the exhaust on my now x's (thank the lord) little mazda I heard the jackstand start to make a creeking noise I looked over and the jack was tipping and the car was starting to roll backwards (tire was on top of a pothole in the parking lot) I walked on my shoulders (lying on back) as fast as I could and got out just in time before it fell.

[manimal]

Well I can post something that just happened 20 minutes ago! I was changing out the carb on my 402 from a 750 to a 600,. Had everything hooked up double checked and checked again! So I hop in and start cranking to prime the carb when all of a sudden WWOOOFFF a huge ball of flame comes shootin out----fire everywhere! My nephew yells "LANCE!" I told him to get back inside with my son Gavin (18m old) grabbed to hose (I know its a gas FIRE! but it was all that I had!) Once the fames were out, I saw that I had not put the fuel line back on the carb and it pumped fuel right on to the dizzy! What a F***in MORON! Just got done puttin on the new front/rear chrome sport bumpers,hidden hitch,etc... Well luckily no MAJOR damage was done,have to pull the wire harness out and check the wires and hopefully just rewrap. But the truck still runs great. Just cant believe I did something soo STUPID!
-Lance

[LEEVON]

Parked truck in driveway with e-brake on and my 2 year old in the cab. I told him "DON'T TOUCH THIS LEVER!" Yeah right, he put that puppy in neutral as soon as I walked to the front and to both of our surprise the e-brake didn't do it's job. I dang near ran over myself stopping the truck before it hit a curb. DOH.

[bad6772]

Originally Posted by sleepyboy

I was at the drive in movie with a girlfriend in high school driving her dad's truck. When I leaned over to kiss her, I inadverdently pushed the clutch in and the truck rolled into the speaker pole. It dented the door and ripped the side mirror off; expensive kiss.

is she still your girlfreind or now wife?

[wibilly]

started my build with a cab that was half ass repaired by po instead of buying a rust free western cab but i got two now for my next projects

[prg machine]

Purchased a truck sight unseen!! The guy approached me through another truck forum,introduced an offer I couldn't refuse, I trusted him as being an honest board member and also a fellow tradesman (machinist) . The truck was presentable, BUT a real mechanical mess, Every gearbox, (4x truck) was toast!! axles and all. If I had to guess now looking back on it, I would be willing it got stolen and bashed and recovered. No K-20 could possibly be tore up as a daily driver as bad as this one was.
Anyway,,,,,,,,,, that has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever done related to a Chevy truck!!!

[Bob 68327]

Built a motor and installed it only to realize I left the oil pump drive shaft out!!! Removed the enigine, pan ,and the oil pump to install the shaft, what a dumb a** rookie mistake!!!!

[jeffspower]

Originally Posted by Luvlegs

Home alone, got ready to look at rear brakes - put jack under pumpkin, collected blocks to block the wheels. I was under the carport hooked along the side the house (smooth concrete sloped downhill to my shop). Was just getting staged, only wearing a pair of shorts... went in house, came out, put jack under rear end and started raising jack - both wheels in the air, realized I left out the blocks! The whole rig started rolling backwards towards shop - I was able to jump in and hit the brakes. Ebrake couldn't do anything, it was in gear but rear was in the air so that didn't do anything for me either. I sat there for 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do - there was no way to get out, get to the blocks and get back, lower the jack or anything. My cell phone was 10 feet away. I sat there swithing legs on the brake until they started to ache.... I realized the jack was rolling on the little 1 1/2 inch wheels and staying balanced. I also realised that 20 feet farther back, the driveway had a seam across it. I slowly creaped it the 20 feet until the rear set of jack wheels came to rest in the seam.... I slowly slipped out, ran to the blocks and got 'em behind the front wheels. Then I threw myself around for being careless. The truck was my brand new 2500 Ram TD and there was no way the truck or carport would have faired too well.

I think I found a little more humor in your story.

If it was brand new, why did you need to check the brakes? Maybe it's a Dodge thing.

While in the cab,couldn't you have put it in 4x4, so the FRONT wheels would have held it from rolling

[jeffspower]

I guess I should add one of my own stories. When I bought the '68 in '83 when I was 15, I found that in 4x4 it would bang BAD going down the road. It was so severe, I worried that something was going to lock up & send my face into the steering wheel. I didn't know much yet, so I took it to the local 4x4 "experts". They said it was in the transfer case, so they rebuilt it. No change. Next was that the front driveshaft splines were skipping. So they did a new slip & stub. No change. Next, they said they pulled the diff covers to check ratios & found that they were different. So I swapped in a used rear end myself that was the ratio they told me it needed. That made it worse. Turns out their guy couldn't read or was lousy at math- I pulled the front cover to find out they were WRONG! Ratios were not different before the swap! At this point, I was out of money. So a couple of years later, I put in new correct gears in the front. That made it bang less severe like it used to. So I pulled the rear driveshaft & drove it around as a FWD. It would bang, then buzz and quit pulling untill I pushed in the clutch & then it would go again. So I did something dumb- got it to do the bang/ buzz/ lose motion thing, and got out while it was running in gear to see what was going on. Luckily it didn't take off, but I found out what was wrong. The front driveshaft was spinning and the buzz was coming from the right side hub- the OE Spicer lockout wasn't holding!

I don't know what's crazier, that the truck didn't take off, that I had spent as much as I had paid for the truck for "experts" to fix it and all it needed was a lockout, or that I went to work for them 1 week out of high school. It's definately what started my gearhead lifestyle

[Luvlegs]

Originally Posted by jeffspower

I think I found a little more humor in your story.

If it was brand new, why did you need to check the brakes? Maybe it's a Dodge thing.

While in the cab,couldn't you have put it in 4x4, so the FRONT wheels would have held it from rolling

I just remembered, I was actually rotating the tires... couldn't think of that when I was typing it up... (more crs syndrome)
I didn't have the keys in the truck with me so I couldn't shift it out of park (to neutral) to engage the 4x4 - then again, I didn't try it so I'm not sure if that would of worked or not.... hmmmm.... nope, not going to try to find out either! hahahahahah I guess I could just sitting on all 4s.....

[Burbinite]

Bought a "rust free" (rear floor rusted from inside under mat) AZ 1972 GMC Sub. on E-bay that I was promised would make it "no problem" (fuel system nightmare) across the country. Flew to Phoenix to pick it up two days after my son was born... made it to Flagstaff, broke down, had to rent a car to drive back (flagstaff to Little Rock in 12hrs) and have the Sub. shipped the rest of the way....

wait it gets better...

I get back to work and my boss says "My granddad has a 72 sub he'll give you!"

It would have been great to know THAT before I spent a bunch of money and tried to drive a 35 year old vehicle across the country.

I try to think of the time and money as .... tuition

[Billla]

I put a new cam (Crane "Fireball", if anyone remembers that one ) in the '69 I had in high school. At the same time, I had this set of mint, factory original LT-1 aluminum valve covers. I thought they'd look really cool so I bolted 'em up. Truck started fine and I got through the break-in...but I had oil leaks on the intake manifold. I figured I just had valve cover gaskets leaking, so I did everything in the book to "fix" it without really looking for the problem.

I finally decided to just get my head in there and look when the engine was running, becuase the leaks were getting worse and worse...and saw that the rockers had carved away the aluminum in the valve covers and there were little spider cracks leaking oil by every rocker. One set of valve covers toast, one oil filter full of aluminum.



Plenty of other dumb things...this one just comes to mind

[falvarez12001]

I heated the leaf springs and dropped the rear so low that one day I was on the Freeway and slammed on the gas, my diff busted a hole in me bed and pretty much tore appart my wood floor. Had to replace the leaf springs, had to replace the shocks and still haven;t replaced the floor.

[Billla]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Parked truck in driveway with e-brake on and my 2 year old in the cab. I told him "DON'T TOUCH THIS LEVER!" Yeah right, he put that puppy in neutral as soon as I walked to the front and to both of our surprise the e-brake didn't do it's job. I dang near ran over myself stopping the truck before it hit a curb. DOH.

I had to laugh at this one. When I took on my stepkids one of the first things I did is took them up in my plane. We walked around during the preflight and I showled them how everything worked, then we got in. My bird is ex-military, so it's pretty stark inside. I gave them the standard pitch (I fly a lot of kids in the Young Eagles program) that concludes with "this is not a video game - all of these controls do something and can cause trouble if you touch them at the wrong time. Ask me before you touch anything".

I turned around to check on the kid in the back seat and turn around to find him tugging on the landing gear lever...which in my bird will pull up the gear even if it's sitting on the ground. LUCKILY there's an interlock that prevents it from moving that he didn't know about. I asked him why in the world he'd touch anything after I told him not to...and he said "It was the biggest lever".

He's 15 now and still won't do anything I tell him to. I should have known

[OLDIRON69]

In High School traded my '71 LWB, w/power disc, tilt,ps and working factory a/c, Mean 350/TH350 for a '76 Trans Am that had more bondo and fiberglass under the paint than a boat! Week later the motor blew up in it. Tore it down to find it had liquid glass poured in it to repair the blown head gaskets.

[sleepyboy]

Originally Posted by bad6772

is she still your girlfreind or now wife?

Dumped her like a bad habit

[Dick Dale]

I had my 1969 GMC Long Step front end up on ramps (where it spent most of its life) to put on headers. I had it running, with my foot on the clutch, trying to look under it (genius). Foot slipped, it came off the ramps, I fell out and ran over my leg. The truck stopped abruptly into the garage door hitting my Dads GTO. Can anyone guess what happened next?

[Luvlegs]

Originally Posted by Dick Dale

Can anyone guess what happened next?

I'd of been playing up the "broken leg" angle for about a week until he cooled down!

[heavy71chevy]

traded a 1969 gto ram air III for a ragged s10 with a crap 305 swap and 200 dollars..i still hold my head in shame..goat was carasil red with a parchment white vinyl roof and interior..i miss it greatly

[rick0312]

removed the mechanical oil pressure unit from the block and started the engine......oil everywhere!

[special-K]

Buying my first one and letting them run my life from that point on.

Really...I intalled a tilt column in a real sweet original paint truck.It sat parked across my shop doors on a slab.I started it to back it clear of the door to roll my Harley out leaving it run in park with the e-brake set and truck still idling up on choke/warm-up.I just strattled the bike when I hear the idle moving away.I bolt out to find the truck rolling away.There`s a drop-off from the slab and it helped her pick up some momentum.I`m running next to it rolling across the meadow hoping to hop in.I ran out of meadow and had to back off while I watched her drop into the creek which had a 4' bank on both sides.That stopped it with the wheel dangling & spinning,I hopped in and put it in neutral.Got my 4wd,hooked up,and got it tight.I put the truck in drive and pulled it up until the tires were spinning on the crest of the bank,put it in neutral again,pulled it onto level ground,unhooked,and put it back in it`s spot.This ordeal resulted in a dented tail light area and worse...the bed pushed up into the cab and buckled the passenger cab corner at the paint divider.No one wanted to fix it without replacing the back panel which wasn`t available.It would have cost as much as buying a rustfree western cab and what ever cab I cut the back panel from would have had rusted corners and all.I couldn`t see junking a cab that still had solid rockers with original paint and a shiney floor.The passenger door still shut with a "click".So,I lived with it till the day I parted it down 13 years later(with solid original woodfloor with factory paint intact.Actually,a guy did it for me to get the cab.He was to swap the 402/TH400,p/s,and p/b into a base shortbed I had.He took it down and got his new cab on his short frame and did no more before heading out of state.I ended up with his frame and that cab.I sold it to my machinist and he did a motor for a body man to restore the cab,parked it in the top of a bank barn before installing a built 396 he had for it.Good thing,too,(about the motor)cuz the barn burned down and the frame ended up draped like a horseshoe over a beam and the cab laying somewhere else.Insurance gave him nothing for that or all the motors,heads,and axles he had stashed below.It wasn`t ag stuff.
About my shortbed that this truck became a donor for.The guy did remove the hood and the air cleaner from the rebuilt 250 w/new 72-only monojet($300+)before rolling it out under the edge of the roof when gallons of rain could dump in the motor for about a month before I knew it,after it froze up(winter).Thanks John,I owe ya!

Moral of the story?Can`t say.Well,maybe a good deal isn`t always such a good deal.

The dumb part?I new I needed to adjust and retighten the linkage at the column because I had to jimmy it up into park.I must have not pushed hard enough on the e-brake.I wasn`t driving the truck and I wanted it to run awhile.I guess I was to eager to get on that Harley and my truck suffered.

[1bad chevy]

here's one me and some friends was building a mud truck for the wood's an old 77 chevy well we changed the motor and in the process of starting one of us added a little to much gas to the carb to prime her the timing was off mind you this was 20 years ago when we were teenager's and knew it all we thought then all of the sudden she back fired and we had flames there is about 5 of us there so a friend named fred run to the house to call the fire dept as it had some big flames coming from it then we hear him hollering to us and what was he asking WHAT'S THE NUMBER FOR 911 we laughed so hard we forgot about the truck for a minute and no we didn't save it but do we have fun with fred now

[ChevLoRay]

My truck had been shutting down for some unknown reason. I had been checking carb and ignition components without any luck. This went on for a couple of months, or so.

Fast forward to New Years Day. I live in the South. Blackeyed Peas, hog jowl and cornbread are mandatory on New Years Day. Didn't have any hog jowl. So, I had to make a trip to Wallyworld.

Just as I let off of the gas to stop at the light at the entrance to the famous local institution, my truck died. I tried to start it, with no luck. The light turned green. A woman and her mother were behind me in a Pathfinder. She starts honking the horn to get me to go. I guess she needed peas and hog jowl, too. Of course, it still wouldn't start. Light turned red, again. As soon as it turned green, she starts honking. I got out, went to her window and said, "If you will come start my truck, I'll blow your horn for you."

She got this huffy, puffy look on her face and said, "Wh-Wh-Why don't you buy a NEW damn truck!!" Her mother sat quiet.

I couldn't buy a new truck....it would be wrong to get rid of anything that gave me that much fun on New Years Day, now wouldn't it? A new HEI from Accel fixed that, anyway.

[bad6772]

these are great stories, i only have one, when i baught my 72 from the PO he had put a auto zone dress kit on the engine . and i think he baught everything out of there store for shinny stuff. or for that (high tech look) anyway . i had just left his house with title in hand and went to a buddies house with my ex girlfriend. to show the truck off and we was all going to dinner, i shut her off and ran in to get him and go take a ride. so me and him headed out a country road, just tearing the tires off the old truck, anyways we got back and he said let s look under the hood. as we opened the hood there was this orange glow , the PO had put a glass fule filter on it and it busted and was pouring gas on the now hot manifolds.....lol me and him bumped into each other at least 5 times trying to get a (NOT HOOKED UP) water hose, we was freaking out , not because of the truck fire but because at the time he delivered propane gas and his work truck was about 5 feet away with 100,000 gallons of propane in it....so finally i remembered that the 72 had a small fire extinguisher in it, so i grabbed it and finnaly got it out , had to replace the whole front harness and other minor things......the funny thing is .is that while we was looking for something to put it out with, that on my buddy propane truck, there was a fire extinguisher that was bigger than an average size man.. but in the mist of panic we both forgot about it ... for about 3 years after that . he got me metal fuel filters and a fire extinguisher for every christmas....