Hubby went out saturday to change the oil in the truck. He discovered one of the rear springs is broken and it put a nice gash in a year old tire. He went to Dunn Tire and they said he would be okay until after the repairs are completed on Monday. The tire is ruined. Wouldn't you know it i have an apt. with my specialist,MD today. Trying to find a 45 minute ride to this apt i have had for 6 weeks. This is my first apt. with this DR. Anyway,truck tires are expensive for our F250. Good to save a little $ for rainy days.

Sorry to hear about your truck problems, yes tires got really expensive recently (inflation creeping up). I am surprised that your truck's spring broke, I believe your truck is a heavy duty one and those springs last the lifetime of the truck, as I used to be in the Auto repair business and we worked on a lot of those trucks, even older ones used and abused in the construction business and they held up, of course here in the south we hardly get any snow and no salt or chemicals on the roads in winter, when we looked under a vehicle and if there was any rust, I knew it was from up north. If I was living up where you live it would be a good idea to check under your vehicle on regular basis. be safe

__________________
2181 Classic
97 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.2L V8
4x4

Took the Truck into our specialty shop. He looked underneath and found a crack on the other rear spring and the front ones were bending and showing signs of needing replacing. Going to replace all four. Kiss $1400.00 good bye. Probably plus tax and another $200.00 for hopefully just one new tire. Can't buy a new truck for this price. Some of our roads are so bad that it is a wonder any vehicle holds up to all the slamming that goes on. We try to choose the smoothest routes. Probably should look under the truck more often. We send our truck to the bodyshop and then the rustproofer every year. Now we are really good to tow with the new suspension on the trailer and the truck. Yes we have ice and snow,but on the plus side we have plenty of water and electricity. Our roads don't cave in from sink holes.

Sam,

Sounds like you live in a third world country!! I have seen and driven on roads as you described; Sell your home, pack your stuff and move to Texas. You have to look long and hard to even find a dirt road. Most of our county road speed limits is set at 70 MPH and better than most highways in other states. They have been somewhat degraded from use but overall the state and counties do a pretty good job of maintaining our county and state roads and the state highways and county roads are still the best I have ever driven. We welcome out-of-staters that are tired of increasing taxes, poor service, and government infringements, and, we have no state income tax! Unemployment is lower than the national average and companies and folks are moving to Texas in droves. If Texas was a nation unto itself, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world. We have good colleges and football teams too!

Caution, if you do contempalte moving here, don't try to change us to "the way we did it back home'.. We like it the way we are. Friendly, courteous, hardworking, fun loving, with respect for the rights of our neighbors, and... very patriotic!

All this coming from a transplanted Oklahoma Sooner!!

Jerry Curtis
2406 T
Fredericksburg, TX

Jerry,your comments made me laugh. It would be impossible to sell our home. Not many people have jobs. Something like 60% of the city is on welfare or some type of public assistance. The city of Niagara falls is broke because when they do get funds they waste it on projects that are never completed. Our wonderful governor violated the NYS state gaming compact. He allowed other groups to set up slot machines. We are the host city to the Seneca Indiana casino. The indians have been witholding millions that they owe the city. It is in mediation and if all goes well a decision should be rendered in 2013. Some of our interstates roads are well maintained with state and federal dollars. Some of the roads in Niagara Falls have vehicle jarring pot holes. Smooth is not a word i would use. No dirt roads,maybe some where the road is worn away and the bricks are showing. So we soldier on. Texas almost sounds too good to be true. I love to travel and see well kept cities. I would describe where i live and some parts of the city as a "Gheto". We have one day when we can't park on the street from 7am to 1pm. The city gives out parking tickets and doesn't even sweep the street. This summer it was eight weeks of no sweeping. I am more than ready to go live somewhere else. Maybe some day.

Got our truck back at 3:30 today. Drives like new again with all four leaf springs replaced. Now it matches the suspension work we had done on our HiLo.The mechanic changed a rusty brake line. Now we have to use a ladder to get up into the truck. We have running boards. Got lucky at Dunn tire. I forgot we had road hazard on the tire so it gave us a prorated price. The Assistant manager said his spring on his vehicle broke and he didn't catch it right away and he also wrecked a tire. Tomorrow i have a 70 mile drive so i will stop in and have the lug nuts retorqued. My Drs.office was able to reschedule my specialist apt. for next week. My primary would have been very unhappy if i had to wait another 6 weeks or so to get in. Lesson learned with an older vehicle you should put it on a garage lift frequently and check for problems.