Hi,
July 2nd I went in for surgery - after multiple complications I got out August 9th. I was only originally scheduled for 3 days max in the hospital. Couple days after my surgery I got a phone call in the hospital saying part of my property burned down - most likely from people playing with illegal fireworks. I have no fire insurance because that insurance company dropped everyone's coverage in California more than a year ago. And no company could be found to pick up new fire insurance policies in this part of California.
A few days before I went to the hospital I finally removed the firetruck bed from my Loadstar 1700. So it was pushed out of the way and did not get any fire damage. I so looked forward to finally be wrenching on that thing after I got out of the hospital. I've been collecting all the NOS parts for the restoration and conversion of the truck to 4wd for many, many years. Everything from NOS locking hubs to NOS 4x4 suspensions parts and springs, complete drive axle power steering conversion to 3 different styles of gas tanks, and a propane conversion. Only 15k miles on that truck and no rust at all, inside or out.
Finally bought a house 5 years ago, no garage but I put everything in a couple semi-truck van box trailers. I had money set aside for a shop, and had several estimates in hand for contractors to begin building this summer. But that money now has to go toward house repairs. And I will need another extensive surgery if I am to be able to physically get up off the ground unassisted. So what do I do - pay someone to wrench on the underside of my truck for me, (I can still do anything sitting, standing or walking) or do I just sell off everything and forget about IH all together? Many parts I have are NOS parts, and are obsolete and can never be obtained again, at least not with the IH logo.
The only non-IH part I was going to put in my Loadstar restoration is a very rare 4-speed transfer case built by Dana-Spicer 45 years ago. With very low to overdrive ratios and only 10k miles of use, I thought it would be a perfect complement to my intended off-road Loadstar camper creation. And yes, I got original manuals, an original rebuild kit for it, all the different gear ratio sets for it offered at the time, and the manual conversion kit so the front axle can be engaged and disengaged either by air or a manual lever. With everything I have, I was hoping to finally make serious progress this year on the truck.
But now, what do I do - pay someone to wrench on the bottom of the truck while I supervise and just wrench on the top, or just wait until next year for my follow-up surgery. Then more months of recovery, then start wrenching on my truck the following year, without a shop. Or just sell everything and get out of the hobby completely, and disappear like the IH guru Michael Mayben did 15 years ago? Perhaps someone knows how to set up an effective crowd-funding web site for me?
I'm looking for any type of suggestions, guidance or help of any type at all, including prayers. I have no fire insurance at all and right now I’m limited on the type of wrenching I can do on my truck.
Thank you, everyone.
I was iin the hospital so the only picture of the actual fire I have is from the front page of the local newspaper.
I tried to post other pictures here but I got the message they were too big for the server to handle. So this is it.
July 2nd I went in for surgery - after multiple complications I got out August 9th. I was only originally scheduled for 3 days max in the hospital. Couple days after my surgery I got a phone call in the hospital saying part of my property burned down - most likely from people playing with illegal fireworks. I have no fire insurance because that insurance company dropped everyone's coverage in California more than a year ago. And no company could be found to pick up new fire insurance policies in this part of California.
A few days before I went to the hospital I finally removed the firetruck bed from my Loadstar 1700. So it was pushed out of the way and did not get any fire damage. I so looked forward to finally be wrenching on that thing after I got out of the hospital. I've been collecting all the NOS parts for the restoration and conversion of the truck to 4wd for many, many years. Everything from NOS locking hubs to NOS 4x4 suspensions parts and springs, complete drive axle power steering conversion to 3 different styles of gas tanks, and a propane conversion. Only 15k miles on that truck and no rust at all, inside or out.
Finally bought a house 5 years ago, no garage but I put everything in a couple semi-truck van box trailers. I had money set aside for a shop, and had several estimates in hand for contractors to begin building this summer. But that money now has to go toward house repairs. And I will need another extensive surgery if I am to be able to physically get up off the ground unassisted. So what do I do - pay someone to wrench on the underside of my truck for me, (I can still do anything sitting, standing or walking) or do I just sell off everything and forget about IH all together? Many parts I have are NOS parts, and are obsolete and can never be obtained again, at least not with the IH logo.
The only non-IH part I was going to put in my Loadstar restoration is a very rare 4-speed transfer case built by Dana-Spicer 45 years ago. With very low to overdrive ratios and only 10k miles of use, I thought it would be a perfect complement to my intended off-road Loadstar camper creation. And yes, I got original manuals, an original rebuild kit for it, all the different gear ratio sets for it offered at the time, and the manual conversion kit so the front axle can be engaged and disengaged either by air or a manual lever. With everything I have, I was hoping to finally make serious progress this year on the truck.
But now, what do I do - pay someone to wrench on the bottom of the truck while I supervise and just wrench on the top, or just wait until next year for my follow-up surgery. Then more months of recovery, then start wrenching on my truck the following year, without a shop. Or just sell everything and get out of the hobby completely, and disappear like the IH guru Michael Mayben did 15 years ago? Perhaps someone knows how to set up an effective crowd-funding web site for me?
I'm looking for any type of suggestions, guidance or help of any type at all, including prayers. I have no fire insurance at all and right now I’m limited on the type of wrenching I can do on my truck.
Thank you, everyone.
I was iin the hospital so the only picture of the actual fire I have is from the front page of the local newspaper.
I tried to post other pictures here but I got the message they were too big for the server to handle. So this is it.
