Kids you gotta love 'em apparently

[30t of coolness]

Where to start, My son (just turned 18) had an old HJ ute 6cyl auto that had a few issues (oil leaks etc). Anyway he was offered ridiculous money for it so sold it. A while later he got another job & needed a car to get there as he was now working out of town (anything up to 80Kms away). I asked how much money he had left & was told "almost none" ! I informed him he was up a well known creek. Anyway having just sold a 2a ex army I had owned & him promising to "pay you straight back" I found a little Ford Courier 4wd at the side of the Highway for sale. I took the son to see if it "ticked the boxes" & was told it was perfect! A deal was struck & he took it for a drive. 15 minutes later I get a call saying it was loosing coolant ,he was told to top it up & bring it home ,Which he did. We found a pipe at the back of the head with a small crack so we bypassed it with rubber hose temporarily. That was Thursday. Saturday afternoon the Courier turns up on a Tilt tray , I was told that "I had to swerve to avoid a Roo" when he ran off the road Hit a stormwater drain lid (about 4Ft square concrete lid) snapping the centrebolt out of the lhr spring twisting the diff housing back & pulling the tail shaft out of the slipjoint digging into the ground & lifting the rear wheel off the ground! So I jacked the vehicle up , replaced the centre bolt & using ratchet straps pulled the Diff back into place. Cleaned the tailshaft splines & refitted , drove it no vibrations all good ! That was Saturday arvo. He drove it to work Sunday & Monday , I got a call at work Tuesday afternoon that started "Dad we have a bit of a problem" Yes " I've rolled the Courier " After a few expletives & making sure he & his passenger were ok , I organised for my wife to go pick them up & my brother to give me a hand to pick the vehicle up after work. My brother Trev & I went to meet up with my sons at a mates place where we had to pick up the trailer when I was informed by son that he "had left the keys at home " More expletives . Sent him to get them while me & trev went out to the vehicle. Found the car on a dirt road with the key in the drivers door! Got in started it & drove it onto the trailer flat lhf tyre & all. Son had told me the cause of the accident was that the tyre had gone flat & has stuck to that story ever since , But was more likely that was not driving to road conditions (though within speed limit) as road was very hard dirt with small pebbles on it making it difficult to even walk up (was on a downward side of hill). Another courier with stuffed engine but good cab was found only 4kms away so was purchased & the cab changed over , with a small amount of modification as was a 2wd Diesel & ours was 4wd petrol. Then before the courier was ready for the road , He was offered an old HQ ute that he organised the money to purchase. So when I got back from training in Sydney on a ( Friday night) in the driveway was another Holden. He showed me "His" purchase & then informed me that "Its out of rego on Tuesday" I could just feel the hair that was left turning greyer. Anyway sorted rego & insurances & now his $600 ute costs another $1400 hooray. Now one of the wifes friends wants the courier but can only pay it off , son has blown up the muffler on the Q & I need some money to get my Disco on the road as at the moment I'm driving my daughters Vitara till she gets her L's in January. So if I hear on the TV that some people are upset because others choose to not have kids, I say 'who cares it's there choice' but I'd still do it again

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Ah kids - lots of fun. Eventually. Apparently... :angel:

[snowbound]

Where to start, My son (just turned 18) had an old HJ ute 6cyl auto that had a few issues (oil leaks etc). Anyway he was offered ridiculous money for it so sold it. A while later he got another job & needed a car to get there as he was now working out of town (anything up to 80Kms away). I asked how much money he had left & was told "almost none" ! I informed him he was up a well known creek. Anyway having just sold a 2a ex army I had owned & him promising to "pay you straight back" I found a little Ford Courier 4wd at the side of the Highway for sale. I took the son to see if it "ticked the boxes" & was told it was perfect! A deal was struck & he took it for a drive. 15 minutes later I get a call saying it was loosing coolant ,he was told to top it up & bring it home ,Which he did. We found a pipe at the back of the head with a small crack so we bypassed it with rubber hose temporarily. That was Thursday. Saturday afternoon the Courier turns up on a Tilt tray , I was told that "I had to swerve to avoid a Roo" when he ran off the road Hit a stormwater drain lid (about 4Ft square concrete lid) snapping the centrebolt out of the lhr spring twisting the diff housing back & pulling the tail shaft out of the slipjoint digging into the ground & lifting the rear wheel off the ground! So I jacked the vehicle up , replaced the centre bolt & using ratchet straps pulled the Diff back into place. Cleaned the tailshaft splines & refitted , drove it no vibrations all good ! That was Saturday arvo. He drove it to work Sunday & Monday , I got a call at work Tuesday afternoon that started "Dad we have a bit of a problem" Yes " I've rolled the Courier " After a few expletives & making sure he & his passenger were ok , I organised for my wife to go pick them up & my brother to give me a hand to pick the vehicle up after work. My brother Trev & I went to meet up with my sons at a mates place where we had to pick up the trailer when I was informed by son that he "had left the keys at home " More expletives . Sent him to get them while me & trev went out to the vehicle. Found the car on a dirt road with the key in the drivers door! Got in started it & drove it onto the trailer flat lhf tyre & all. Son had told me the cause of the accident was that the tyre had gone flat & has stuck to that story ever since , But was more likely that was not driving to road conditions (though within speed limit) as road was very hard dirt with small pebbles on it making it difficult to even walk up (was on a downward side of hill). Another courier with stuffed engine but good cab was found only 4kms away so was purchased & the cab changed over , with a small amount of modification as was a 2wd Diesel & ours was 4wd petrol. Then before the courier was ready for the road , He was offered an old HQ ute that he organised the money to purchase. So when I got back from training in Sydney on a ( Friday night) in the driveway was another Holden. He showed me "His" purchase & then informed me that "Its out of rego on Tuesday" I could just feel the hair that was left turning greyer. Anyway sorted rego & insurances & now his $600 ute costs another $1400 hooray. Now one of the wifes friends wants the courier but can only pay it off , son has blown up the muffler on the Q & I need some money to get my Disco on the road as at the moment I'm driving my daughters Vitara till she gets her L's in January. So if I hear on the TV that some people are upset because others choose to not have kids, I say 'who cares it's there choice' but I'd still do it again

So your son has killed your bank account, and killed a truck, but thankfully not himself. Count your blessings mate. It's all part of life and you will laugh about it soon! :p

[JBM770]

Ive got all of this to look forward to. My oldest (girl) is 15, then I have two boys 11 and 9.

James

[EastFreo]

I am the same. Especially as I recently introduced my 7yr old to the wonders of driving a Land Rover in first gear low range all by himself. Same as Dad did for me when he fed hay out the back.

We live in the city (Perth) but are very lucky we can go back to my parents in the county and give our kids at least a taste of what I grew up with.

[shining]

Please see my recent thread...
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-chat/210880-cooked-d1.html

Not much changes really

[superquag]

I am the same. Especially as I recently introduced my 7yr old to the wonders of driving a Land Rover in first gear low range all by himself. Same as Dad did for me when he fed hay out the back.

We live in the city (Perth) but are very lucky we can go back to my parents in the county and give our kids at least a taste of what I grew up with.


I can remember getting up before the sun loading hay bales and bagged oats on the ute... driving out to feed the sheep.- By myself.

At 12 years of age.

[30t of coolness]

Thanks guys , I Know how lucky the boy was & that the all steel headboard on the tray definitely saved them from injury as only the front of the cab squashed down. I'm just waiting for his brain cells to kick in , hopefully in the next 5 or so years. Sorry to hear about the Disco shining any progress or did you find another one ? I taught the son to drive in the 2a rag top & he credits that with making it easy to drive any modern vehicle & the roll over should teach him a lesson I couldn't.

[boa]

Maybe I bit more discipline is needed in our young today. Teach them early but do not give them to much of a slack reign? It is a fine balance.