Tinkerbell’s list of woes

Not that we have to justify anything, but Aaron, our wonderful mechanic when we lived in NY, sent us an email saying he liked the new truck, and was surprised that Tinkerbell had lasted as long as she had as our only vehicle. Tom responded and started listing all the things that are wrong with her at this point, and was amazed at how long the list was. So, we’re posting it here just so you can all see how much can be wrong with a vehicle and it’s STILL on the road in Belize!

From Tom to Aaron:
The roads down here are taking their toll on Tinkerbell. The body is literally falling apart:

• left fender is breaking off
• the doors don't shut right all the time
• the electric windows don't always work
• I had to disconnect the electric locks
• I helped a welder remount the drivers side of the cab back up off the frame
• the tailgate falls off if not strapped onto the back
• the exhaust has been reattached 6 times
• one of the gears in the differential had to be replaced
• the automatic transmission is a bit tricky to drive with since you have to work the gas different ways to get it to shift up and down
• the gear shifter indicator on the dash is broken so you have to count clicks to figure out what gear you are in
• the windshield wiper knob is broken
• the inside door panels keep popping off the door frames
• the passenger door has to be shut with the button pushed in to keep it locked
• the screws holding the plastic trim in the cab have broken the plastic mounts
• the seats are whooped
• we can't get the inside rearview mirror to stick to the windshield anymore
• the light for the radio and clock is burned out
• the headlights are starting to shake loose out of their sockets
• she needs her fuel injectors cleaned and fixed up to get better than 10mpg (that would be about $400US)
• the windshield has a couple of rock chips in it
• the backseat is uncomfortable to ride in for more than a quick trip
• the drivers seat doesn't always latch back on the sliders after pulling if forward to get into the back seat
• the front gas tank has some rust holes and some cracks from rubbing on brackets so we can only use the rear tank
• etc.
You get the idea? It is still usable but I don't let Marge take it out for fear of it falling apart while she is driving it. I have gotten so that when I go out to town in Tinkerbell and wear a specific shirt, I am almost guaranteed that I will have to crawl under the truck to do some work on her to keep her going - it has happened about 10 times with that particular shirt now and if it is a rainy day, I refuse to wear that shirt since I don't want to crawl around in the mud! Tinker is still good for hauling loads up our road and we will keep her for farm use for a while, at least, until we have to put some major money into her, which at that point, we will not have any problem selling her as a parts truck since the engine is still running great.

By the way, even though we’d never named our vehicles prior to Tinkerbell, we think we’re going to have to give the new truck a name since we won’t be able to call it “the new truck” forever. We’re leaning towards Bluebell since it’s blue (even though it looks more brown in this picture), the name would be in keeping with the bell theme, and we see the bluebell flowers all over down here. However, we haven’t yet decided if it’s a he or a she…