As with every Saturday morning that I am not out of town at a Studebaker meet, I met my regular Saturday morning breakfast bunch for our weekly get together. Our rules are pretty simple... If it is dry and above 40 degrees, we all ride the motorcycles to breakfast, spend about an hour eating and BS'ing and the go riding until the group breaks due to other commitments.... sometimes it is an hour of riding and sometimes it turns into a 10-12 hour day of riding and enjoying ourselves.
Well, this morning I was watching the temps and in the early post-dawn hours, the temp dropped from 41 to 39 degrees. In a way, I was relieved as riding the Rune, with no wind screen, at 41 degrees is not as enjoyable as it is at 50 or higher. So, I jumped in the old plow truck and headed off for our meeting place, looking forward to the company.
As I was on the way, I looked up at the top left corner of the windshield of the truck, I noticed that the oil change sticker stated that the truck was due for an oil change in January............... of
2004! OOPS!!!! I figured today was as good a day to do the maintenance on the truck as any so I started in on it when I got home.Changing the oil went well and it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be... mileage was only about 600 miles past due but the date is what was really past due.
Anyway, I figured that as long as it was up on jack stands, I'd pull the wheels and check the brakes and, sure enough, it needed front pads. There had been some pulsing in the rear so the back went up on stands as well and I pulled the drums to turn them on my new (to me) brake lathe. The linings on the back were glazed so I decided to put shoes on the back as long as I was in there. THEN, checking the front suspension, I noticed a small amount of play in the ball joints so those were added to the list as well. Of course, that means the removal of both front axles and, as long as I am going that far, I may as well put new shocks on it.... Damn, does it EVER end?????????
Sitting here and looking back, I almost wish it had been 41 degrees instead of 39 this morning when I got ready to leave and I'd never seen that F*&%#^G oil change sticker!!!!!