Where not to Park your Ram

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GTyankee

GTyankee

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That Tow Truck operator knew what he was doing & he brought the Beach Volunteers into the decisions.

I think he was talking the Ram owner, or a friend of his , at the end, in the Beach Access alley.
That guy waited to tell the Tow Truck Driver, that another vehicle was on the way, if the Tow Truck driver had put the J Hooks on, they would have had to pay him.
 

Jeepwalker

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Up here in the north...guys commonly drive their pickups out on the ice. That works fine when it's thick enough. But when spring roll around there are always a few that bust through and they have to use chainsaws to cut a channel back to shore...to drag the truck out. Usually they're toast by then.

Some guys get lucky and only the front or rear half break through and can be recovered w/o much damage. Water and a lot of things....don't mix well :waytogo:
 
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GTyankee

GTyankee

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In Connecticut, August 1955, there was a Bad Hurricane lots of flooding, Hurricane Connie
My Uncle & a Buddy bought some flood cars,
He would buy them from the Vehicle's Owner, after removing the spark plugs & using a battery to get rid of the flood water inside the engine.
they would use a chain & tow them back to the Farm, or my Uncles Buddies property
Back then, many of the cars were 6 volt.


I would help my Uncle, clean out the cars, i was 12 years old, i was told to keep an eye out for Rats
I never saw anything alive, but my other Uncle's dog Pudgy was always at my side, he was a good Rat dog :)
I do not remember if disease was mentioned, my Grandmother had lots of Epson's Salt

I had another Uncle, that had a Auto Wrecking yard.
I would ride with my My Uncle to the wrecking yard to get parts, like the front & rear seats
The flood cars Battery was taken to the wrecking yard, to dump out, flush a couple of times & fresh Electrolyte would be poured in, then it would get put on a charger.
If it was damaged, there were plenty of batteries in vehicles that were there

These days, people are not taught about water getting in the Combustion Chamber.
They just try to start the flooded engine, BIG mistake !!
 

Jeepwalker

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If it was fresh water ....even sea-water if you got on it right away, drained all the fluids, removed the entire interior and rinsed it all out real well.... rockers, frame and everything. Rinsed out the diff's, maybe even dunk some of the modules in fresh water to clean out the salt. Let everything dry out thoroughly for days. put in new fluids ...I think it would probably be ok. If a guy got a tk cheap enough, it might be worth a try.
 

04fxdwgi

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This post tickles me. Did off road recovery for 5 police departments on the Mass South Shore for almost 10 years, which included miles and miles of beaches. That was a very common sight, especially along the clam flats along Duxbury beach. One memorable one was a brand new (26 miles on it) F250 diesel. Got there owner started screaming at me that it was stolen because I took so long to get there. Told him to calm down and broke out the search light. LOL, and saw 1" of radio antenna popping out of water.

Told him to wait till low tide to get it, as it aint going anywhere. He was worried about theft, but I told him it is already a total loss. Man was he pi$$ed.
 

04fxdwgi

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If it was fresh water ....even sea-water if you got on it right away, drained all the fluids, removed the entire interior and rinsed it all out real well.... rockers, frame and everything. Rinsed out the diff's, maybe even dunk some of the modules in fresh water to clean out the salt. Let everything dry out thoroughly for days. put in new fluids ...I think it would probably be ok. If a guy got a tk cheap enough, it might be worth a try.
Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Iron worms would eat it completely and the green meanies will start on every electrical component and connection almost immediately. in 4-6 weeks it would be ready for the crusher.

No matter how well you thing you clean it, the interior will stink when the sun comes out when humidity rises.
Unless target vehicle is stripped down to a bare shell and then dipped, all soft items and all electrical replaced, it will be junk.
Plus if it was totaled, your title will be stamped "salt water immersed" and vehicle will be worth zilch.

Been there, done that a hundred times in the recovery shop.
 

Tominator223

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So in the 90’s I was in deep water in 91 Cougar.(over the seats). Had to leave it overnight . Was close to the curb so it looked parked. It was midnight I went back at 6:30am & the freaking city towed it. It was legally parked where it was. So I’m pissed. I finally found it about noon. Paid to get it back. Had a toolbox in the trunk. Pulled the plugs , blew water all over the tow places building & drove away. Got it home . Gutted the inside cleaned & dried carpet & seats. Pulled the dash sprayed W-d on everything ,checked a lot of the factory plugs . Most of which were dry to my surprise . It had less than 100k miles. I let it dry after the cleaning for over a week. Put it back together & drove it for over 300k miles. This was just outside of Houston. I sold it to an uncle who the drove from H-town back to Columbus Oh. He was not a car guy so he drove it till the water pump went & cooked it. Then he junked it. That car Never smelled like mold. It actually smelled like a new car when I was finished cleaning it. I flushed everything in that car sprayed all connections & never had any issues. It was freshwater not salt. That cougar was like the energizer bunny it just kept going & going. Never had any transmission issues either (aod). It still had the og transmission when my uncle cooked it & sent it to the yard. I believe it depends on the circumstance of the situation. I was in my 20’s then so no FC insurance , I didn’t even try to claim on what ins. I had. I did have to change the radio after the deepwater incident . It sucks thats for sure. However after that I knew more of what to look for when buying another vehicle as far as flooding went.
 

EdGs

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Yeah, fresh water, you have a chance. Shorter time since water helps, too.

Sounds like you did good with that one.
 

Fatbob Frank

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I had an uncle back in the 80s who took his brand new F250 out onto the frozen Mississippi to ice fish.
Of course he broke through and sent his 2 week old truck to the bottom of the channel...
Quite the fiasco getting it recovered but he did and drove it for a couple years, but if memory serves he had lots of issues after that...
 

Marshall

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I have often wondered why it’s usually Fords that seem to take the deep dive, I know of one that went fishing thru the ice in the river
Maybe Fords are just tired of being Fords?
I just wait for summer and use a boat

Radios can be saved, but they have to be cleaned up and 100% dry before they are ever powered up
The problem with these modern ones, they have some power on all the time
 

RamDiver

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During the winter in the '90s, a good buddy tried to convince me to drive my nearly new Nissan Kingcab limited 4x4 across the ice, (it was pre-enjoyed at the point of purchase).

He had a family cabin on an island at a big lake in Quebec. I was almost sold when he said the municipal government plowed it with 5-ton dump trucks.

Then, I called my insurance guy and he said if I had any problems whatsoever, getting stuck or a total loss from a submarining event, I would have zero insurance support.

I told my buddy I'd go with him in his full-sized Bronco but never in my truck.

Hey, another Ford. Whazzup with that? :cool:

.
 

Marshall

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Maybe the Ford guys just don't give a damn, They seem to be lots on the ranches and usally in 3 month they are beat to hell playing tag with the bulls and jumping ditches and rocks.
maybe a Ram hiding in the garage?

My brother shot :hunter:his Ford in hunting season, he is in a Duramax now, one step up I guess. he is out of the cows now.
 
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