The Flatbed Chronicles...

From Jim: The sanctuary needed a vehicle to haul hay-a lot of hay- 325 tons a year of hay. This chore fell to a 1986 F-350 flatbed truck. This magnificent machine is a "dually", has a 460 big block V-8, a Borg-Warner T18 trans, vacuum boosted brakes, about a billion miles on it. It has a few peculiarities. Actually, it has a lot of em. At some point in it's life, it was given a heater-ectomy, so I'll need to salvage the whole heater unit out of the 80 F-250 farm truck, which never leaves the ranch-not licensed or road worthy. The flatbed's starter motor gets too much heat from the header pipes and won't crank the engine over unless it's cooled with an old flyspray bottle full of water. I could replace the starter, but that would be giving in. The only thing that rattles is everything. It's probably not possible to put your hand on this beauty without touching a dent or scratch. There's a full length crack in the windshield, but it's pretty easy to see around. The seat has new "used saddleblanket" seat covers. The bed got new lumber. We're using the old wood in the stove to keep the chill off the house. Lyle welded some cut-off blocks onto the overload springs, so this baby will not carry a full block of hay-60 bales. At 130 to 140 pounds per bale, it's the perfect load for a one ton! Because the rearend is geared lower than Banjo the calf's belly, 50 miles per hour is all you're gonna get. I'm not real popular on the freeway. The joy of a truck like this is that it didn't use up a lot of money that can go to the care of the critters. Our artist friend, Sue, wants to paint the names of all the animals that have come to the sanctuary on the old girl. I like that. Maybe a picture or three as well. Sue writes children's books and illustrates them. I suspect there's a literary future for the flatbed. Thinking about a contest to name this fine piece of machinery. We'll have to see about that. You might want to ponder appropriate appellations. Well, there you have it, reflections on a flatbed.