Work Trade? Help with Truck/camper work?

rystjohn

Advanced Member
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
92
Location
Home is where we park it
Hey all!

Don't know if this is the right place to post. Seems appropriate enough, but maybe it should be in the buy/sell/trade or something? If so I'll gladly repost.

Anyhow, here's the deal: my name is Yeager, and I'm traveling the country with my girlfriend and our dog. We call ourselves the Traveling Trio and we have a website and all kinda of social media presence if you care to see who we are and why we're doing what we're doing: Traveling-trio.com

We set out 7 months ago to chase our dream of living full time on the road and supporting ourselves through our passions (and also work that We at least halfway enjoy) while being as self-sufficient as possible.

As of a week or two ago, we FINALLY made it to the West coast! We're now in California working on a farm for a while to make some money, but soon we'll venture up and/or down the coast. I know a lot of WTW folks are in/around California and I was hoping to meet some.

The biggest thing we need help with right now is some mechanical work on the truck. The past month has been incredibly hard on us financially and emotionally. Darlene, our beloved 1997 Dodge Ram 2500 with a CTD has been acting up. We had to pour $1,400 into her right after earning that much working the sugar beet harvest in Minnesota. Our steering gear, hydraboost and power steering pump all crapped out on us at the same time. Normally I'd attempt the work myself but we were in a tiny town with cold weather bearing down on us - we were forced to use a machine shop, but they treated us incredibly well.

Not a day later, as we booked it West to Oregon, the steering gear locked up on us while driving. Talk about terrifying! Long story short the original mechanics talked to a local repair shop in Missoula and we got everything sorted out and replaced with new parts yet again, and only $50 deeper in the hole.

As we made the final hour stretch into Eugene, the transmission began to act up. It felt like it was about to shift, but then not. It wasn't a slip, more of a disengagement before shifting. The engine would surge, then go back down.

Now our tranny is still doing it, and I have servos, sensors, governors, gaskets and fluids to work on the tranny. While I'm in there if also like to adjust my bands, but I need a square socket to adjust the bolts. Rather a 5/16" square socket, ¼" square socket and a ¼ to ⅜ adapter.

The truck had also begun to drip more oil than normal and I'd love if any Cummins pro could help me diagnose that.

To sum this up, I could really use a hand working on my truck. I need somewhere to work on it and someone who knows more than I do about these engines, and maybe someone who is into fabrication. There are many things if like to do on the truck, but we're on a budget obviously. In return for someone's help we'd love to offer help around your property/house whatever. Fix up old stuff, clean, manual labor, or any other work-trade. I'm a photographer and writer, and my girlfriend is an incredible illustrator & painter who dabbles in jewelry as well. If you think you'd be open to helping us out, please shoot me an email at rystjohn@gmail.com or message me here.

Thank you so much!
 
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