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Posted by Dan E. [173.9.49.14] on Monday, January 23, 2012 at 13:02:12 :
Last week we had a few days of rough wind that knocked down a two large swamp maples, with the tops of the trees coming extremely close to the resting spot of my 1941 WC half-ton. Figuring I had gotten extremely lucky, I wanted to move the truck closer to the house and away from the dead trees that are doomed to find their way into the woodstove.
Now my old Dodge is no where near shiny, and the old 6 volt wouldn't crank the 30 weight oil in the 12 degree morning, so I drove my 1998 Chevy 4WD down to give it a jump. After some hesitation, the Dodge sat idling happily while I took the Chevy back up to the road and out of the way. The path back to the house and main road, has something of a quick upward hill that is not plowed and had about 5 inches of crunchy snow and 3 inches of fluffy stuff on top of that. I wasn't too worried since the ride down the slope was uneventful, and I was confident the aggressive tires on the Chevy would do the trick. I was more fearful that the Dodge wouldn't make it up as it has street radials on the front and re-treads on the rear. I figured if the Dodge had any troubles I could simply pull the winch cable out and attach it to the Chevy as a hitch point, then winch it out and move on with the day.
Well, as you can imagine, it didn't work out like that. The Chevy took three tries to get it up that d@#$ hill, and even then I had to hit the hill at about twenty just to make it to the roadway. I was slightly un-impressed, but hey, it happens. I parked the Chevy out of the way and started the walk down the hill to get the Dodge, mumbling to myself how glazed over the trail was now that it had been packed smooth like a lake early in the quiet moments of the morning. I figured the winch would see some action today for sure.
At the Dodge, I jumped in and kicked off the choke that was set at slightly less than half and the engine smoothed out to a nice quiet idle. Clutch in, 4WD engaged, and put in lowest gear to break the wheels free of their frozen perches from the once wet brown fall leaves. I let out the clutch and the Dodge rolled forward. I swear that truck knew what I was doing, like the brush with potential damage from a dead tree somehow created an eagerness to move from the summertime resting spot next to the old McCormick dozer.
On the way up the trail, I was reminded how fun the Dodge is to drive, but then the hill appeared bringing me crashing back to the reality of the moment. I figured, "what the hell, lets see what she can do" and drove up to the hill at just above a crawl, happy idle would be a better description. We started what I figured would be my first and last try to get up the hill before getting the chain out and pulling the cable winch.
I have to tell you, I was so impressed with the old girl! Going up the hill, the transmission and transfer case changed tune from a happy walk through the woods to a purposeful, "lets get it" done song. I started to hold my breath where the Chevy had failed and slipped, not that it mattered much. The Dodge just kept on going up the hill with small individual wheel slips until one of the others helped the Dodge up and along.
I left the Chevy where it sat and took the Dodge home, parking it where the Chevy usually sits, went inside to get warm and had lunch. Now, I want another one, with a heater.
This Saturday, I need to move the dozer.....
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