The truck was delivered today, and let's just hope that this is the worst it's going to get!!
Let me start off by saying that I bought this truck in Texas with only seeing pictures and what the guy who sold it to me told me.... Boy did he leave out a lot of things!! LOL Let me start off by telling you how my first introduction to "old seventyvvone" went. The delivery truck pulled in and I was pumped!!! from all that I could see, it was VERY solid as stated!!! Then came a little closer inspection.. I confirmed that the truck's body was in fact very solid, but had alot of very bad modifications.. Most notably the fuel tank. They had installed a side saddle gas tank and the filler neck is INSIDE of the drivers rear wheel well in front of the tire. and the straps are connected to the side of the bed!! The driver then tells me that he had to put some gas in it to transfer it from one carrier to another! And the battery is Dead!! After playing around for a half an hour trying to get it to start we finally got it off the truck. then of course it stalls! and wouldn't even click! the battery terminals were junk and wouldn't stay on the battery, so i left the truck in the parking lot where we had met the driver which is about 10 miles from my house. (this plays in later) LOL I went home and picked up my multimeter, a bunch of tools, and stopped at a parts store and bought some new cables and terminals. I replaced the cables and terminals in the freezing cold and put the meter on the battery... 12.4V which should be fine to start the truck. Well this time at least i got a click, click, click out of her! So i removed the battery and took it to the parts store where I know the guys well. We put it on a load test and it immediately dropped to 8V in less than a second! From my experience as a mechanic I know that battery is sulfated inside, So I buy a new one... I go back and put the new battery in her and she fires right up.
COOL! I think, let's take her for a ride!!!! I pull out on the main road and try to shift into second.... (three on the tree) the shifter goes to where second "should" be (with a ton of slop) but when I let out the clutch, it's still in first! So I try to shift it into third and it's still in first... "OH NO" I think, "how am I going to get this thing home?" and turn it around and drive back to the parking lot. I start playing with the shifter and looking where the linkage is coming out of the column and I can see that the shifter is not actuating the arm for 2-3. I figured that i would pull the pin and see if the ball on the end of the shifter is broken.... big mistake on my part!!!!! it wouldn't come out so i leaned in to get a better look while pulling to see if I could see what the deal was and BANG!!!!!!
right in the kisser went that heavy, steel knobbed shifter!!!! I look in the mirror, and half of one of my top front teeth is broken off!!!!!!!!!!!! NO KIDDING!!!! So I abandon the truck and jump into my van and off to the dentist I went. My wife called a towing company and had the truck towed to my house while I was sitting in the dentist chair Which cost $75. and now here I am, typing this story out of "old seventyvvone" and I's first meeting with a temporary crown in my mouth!! Which will eventually cost me $1000!
After this first fiasco It has to get better, doesn't it? 
I took some Pics of the truck up on the trailer, (obviously that was all I was able to get today!) and I will post them probably tomorrow.
