I posed the following question to Don, 2-Ton, about a situation I've gotten myself into. I received good ideas from him, but he suggested I post it here as well for others' input:
Don- I know that you fool with the big bolts and just have a quick question. I bought a '55 LCF and went to retrieve it this weekend way out in the western part of Oklahoma. The seller said that it was missing its left front wheel, so I took a wheel and lug nuts along. The thing he failed to mention is that the truck had been resting in the same spot for about 15 years. In that time with most of the tires being low on air and the surrounding sand that it has been sitting in, all four brakes are locked up. The seller wasn't the most helpful guy in the world and appeared to be allergic to work. In the past when I have sold a truck or rolling chassis, I have made sure it is rolling, tires aired up and ready to load when the customer showed up.
So, finally, here's the question: How do you go about getting this puppy unstuck and rolling?
Since my conversation with Don, I have thought about possibilities of at least getting it loaded on the trailer and working on it when I get it home. Since it has been resting in one spot for several years, it's kinda sitting in a low area. The current caretaker of it did try to pull it out of the hole with his 3/4 ton GMC short bus, but it didn't have enough oomph to pull it up the one foot or so difference in ground height to level and solid ground. One thought is to use a shovel and dig a large area of ground to level the ground, and playing field, to where his bus might at least get it to his dirt driveway for us to winch it on our trailer. Another thought is to use several boards and pipes to get it to roll along them. Once we get it pulled the 30' or so out of his field to the main drive, would our 5000# winch be sufficient enough to drag it with locked brakes onto our trailer, or do we need a bigger winch? I checked with local wrecker and tow facilities to pull it out of the pasture and their rates start at about $300, so that's out of the picture. Any thoughts or guidance is greatly appreciated.
