ClusterTruck; because that’s what it is

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

I meant to ask.... What/how did the lung thing happen?

Same here, I'm curious as to how that happens to a guy. From my perspective it would seem there would need to be some sort of traumatic event, like a car accident or something like that. I hope that's all behind you!

[May70]

Spontaneous pneuomothorax does not require any traumatic event. Most of the time its just a partial collapse but they are all deemed a 'collapse'. Some how or another the lung tissue ruptures and air escapes into the chest cavity. Most are due to 'blebs' which are just cysts full of air that rupture from over growth or coughing. The cause of blebs are unknown but are predominant in tall, white males on the thin side. Depending on the amount of pleura separation and the direction it separates, it can be unimaginably painful. Ive had three large chest tubes, one smaller one and a needle decompression through the front chest. My last go around I was passing in and out of consciousness from the pain for over 15 minutes while they were trying to get an emergency chest tube placed.

I can attest from having a few, the last being the direction with the worst pain and it was a complete collapse. I had the vats chemical pleurodesis and the top apex of my lung removed and have not had another collapse coming up on 3 years.

I would not wish that on the worst person on the planet.

If you want to talk offline you can pm me. Risk of recurrent pneumo's increase drastically after each event, in case they didn't key you in on that. I assume youve only had one. My second was about 100 times more painful than the first. I got a pretty good doc, i think the 4th go around, some good meds to prevent the situation. There are a lot of factors that can weigh in on those pneumos. One being pathways to the alveoli constricted, which when you go to cough they cannot release the air quick enough and subsequently rupture from the pressure. There are medications that enlarge those pathways.

[MDPotter]

Glad to hear you're alright and back working on the truck! I was doing rust repair on mine this weekend and wondering if you had been working on it...

[clay68c10]

So, here's the not so fun story:
Woke up on a Wednesday (July 22) and within 15min I knew something was wrong. Short of breath and pain in my chest. I figure some sort of heart attack. I Google (funny, right?) the symptoms as its getting worse and realize the pain is on the R side and not radiating. At that point I wake up my wife and call 911. Fire dept shows up, determines it's not heart but definitely not good. As May70 says, it's painful as hell. Like fall down and crawl around speechless painful. I really thought I might die. Now I go for a 4:30am ambulance ride.
Get to the ER, the pain isn't as crushingly bad, but still not nice. X-ray shows the the R side is 100% flat. Well no wonder it feels so bad, when it's that far gone, there is sideways pressure on your heart.
As they put in a chest tube I almost pass out, then WOW I feel better as soon as they pull a vacuum. Like amazingly better.
First step is to keep the vacuum on for 24hrs then seal the line and test over the next 24hrs for any leaking. Well I end up leaking, dammit.
Next step is CT scan, and find out where the blebs are. (My kids think that's a funny word, I agree)
Blebs are found and it's off to laproscopic surgery. They cut them out, staple the lung holes, and stick the lung to the inside of my chest cavity by roughing the surface up. Yes, it was sore for a while.
Then 24hrs on vacuum and 24hrs off to leak test. This time I pass. Then it's follow up x-rays and those look good.
6 days in the hospital and I'm home on light duty.
The follow up x-ray a week later looks good so I'm cut loose and feeling better.
At this point now, I'm mostly normal with some muscle tightness where the holes were thru my ribs but overall OK. Breathing is 90% and getting better.

As far as a cause, the docs told me the same thing. Random for thin frame white guys. One doc said he used to see this fairly frequently with college kids in Boulder hitting the bong a little too hard
The only thing I can think may have done it for me was a 5min exposure to catalyzed paint on the previous friday. My buddy was painting a steering column for me in his booth and I was in there for a little bit. The booth was on and I had my covid mask on. Barely smelled the fumes, but maybe that got it going?? One other guy I work with had the same thing happen to him with 2-part car paint years ago so... no 2-part painting for me. EVER. If I use anything else (rattle can) I put on a super filtered and powered full mask system or I don't do it.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

So, here's the not so fun story:
Woke up on a Wednesday (July 22) and within 15min I knew something was wrong. Short of breath and pain in my chest. I figure some sort of heart attack. I Google (funny, right?) the symptoms as its getting worse and realize the pain is on the R side and not radiating. At that point I wake up my wife and call 911. Fire dept shows up, determines it's not heart but definitely not good. As May70 says, it's painful as hell. Like fall down and crawl around speechless painful. I really thought I might die. Now I go for a 4:30am ambulance ride.
Get to the ER, the pain isn't as crushingly bad, but still not nice. X-ray shows the the R side is 100% flat. Well no wonder it feels so bad, when it's that far gone, there is sideways pressure on your heart.
As they put in a chest tube I almost pass out, then WOW I feel better as soon as they pull a vacuum. Like amazingly better.
First step is to keep the vacuum on for 24hrs then seal the line and test over the next 24hrs for any leaking. Well I end up leaking, dammit.
Next step is CT scan, and find out where the blebs are. (My kids think that's a funny word, I agree)
Blebs are found and it's off to laproscopic surgery. They cut them out, staple the lung holes, and stick the lung to the inside of my chest cavity by roughing the surface up. Yes, it was sore for a while.
Then 24hrs on vacuum and 24hrs off to leak test. This time I pass. Then it's follow up x-rays and those look good.
6 days in the hospital and I'm home on light duty.
The follow up x-ray a week later looks good so I'm cut loose and feeling better.
At this point now, I'm mostly normal with some muscle tightness where the holes were thru my ribs but overall OK. Breathing is 90% and getting better.

As far as a cause, the docs told me the same thing. Random for thin frame white guys. One doc said he used to see this fairly frequently with college kids in Boulder hitting the bong a little too hard
The only thing I can think may have done it for me was a 5min exposure to catalyzed paint on the previous friday. My buddy was painting a steering column for me in his booth and I was in there for a little bit. The booth was on and I had my covid mask on. Barely smelled the fumes, but maybe that got it going?? One other guy I work with had the same thing happen to him with 2-part car paint years ago so... no 2-part painting for me. EVER. If I use anything else (rattle can) I put on a super filtered and powered full mask system or I don't do it.

Wow. Hard to think something that's so easy to overlook (in a gear-heads world) could be a contributor.

[clay68c10]

Definitely! And I really don't know 100% for sure that was the cause. The docs also said maybe.
Guess I just need to be more careful in general.

But, on a more truck related note...
I mounted up a wheel/tire just to see how it will look!
The ride height will be a bit higher than this jack height, but I'm liking the look. 17x8 with a 265/60

[cornerstone]

Well that sucked! So glad to hear your over it and that it didn't get the best of you. Back in the saddle already!

I went the 20" route with my wheels, but I think I like the look of those 17"s even better. More sidewall just looks right on these classics.

[SkidmoreGarage]

A health emergency is not a great experience. Happy to hear you are back on your feet.

A couple years ago I had a work colleague collapse at his desk from a collapsed lung, everyone thought it was a heart attack. He was a super fit runner in his mid thirties. Funny enough a skinny, tall white guy. It can happen to anyone and without warning. It’s good practice to take care of your lungs, you only get one set and they work like little filters.

[clay68c10]

Thanks all, I appreciate it.

Yes, I do like a bit of sidewall. I think of it as the Hot Wheels look.

[Stickman]

Those wheels look great,real classic look. What size are those tires?

[clay68c10]

Thanks, the tires are 265/60-17 and the wheels are 17x8

[Tx Firefighter]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. It took me a couple of posts to put it together that I had met you years ago. You came to my fire station and gave me a bunch of leftover parts from your 68 LWB when you were moving out of Texas. It's so good to hear that you and your family are well (aside from the pneumo).

[clay68c10]

Hey Kevin, it's been a while. Thanks for watching. That photosukit thing really was a mess.

I do have some minor updates, just need to get some pix uploaded. I've been busy with other gear head activities on the Jeep pending a Moab family trip in the spring.

[cj847]

Love the wheel tire combo. Have you turned it lock to lock? Any issues? Do you think there is enough room to run a tire .5" larger dia (ie 275/60/17)?

Also what is the backspace and/or offset?

Thanks in advance.

[clay68c10]

No, the wheel/tire is just sitting in there. No suspension at all right now, it’s all painted and sitting on a shelf for later use. I wish I was that far along.
The wheels are 4” backspace.

[clay68c10]

Long time, no update... Jeep gears/lockers/on board air/CB/wheels/track bars/etc are done

But I have been busy on some little truck things.

Started out sitting the air box in place. It's bigger than it seems at first.
Got the factory mount plate in there. Nothing fancy but it's stable.

[clay68c10]

It looks a little high, but I set the hood on and it clears by a finger width. I'll call that ok.

I will be closing up the side air intake and opening up the bottom. Then I'll open a spot low on the core support and use some plastic sheet to block the engine side to keep the hot air out.

[clay68c10]

So now it's battery tray time.
I grabbed the aux tray out of an 08ish pickup and just set it in there. Looks like a decent location.

[clay68c10]

I wanted to use one of the original battery brackets, the radiator side one. It was easy to repurpose by flipping it upside down and welding a 90 to it.
I looked at doing the same for the other one, but it wasn't what I was looking for. The "new" tray had a nice tab in the right spot (after some hammering) for the inner well.

[clay68c10]

De-crusted and rattle canned. Then mocked up. I think I like how it's turning out.

It will need a 3rd support at the front corner. More on that later.

Also a mock-up of the fuse/relay box and 12v bus bar

[clay68c10]

I got a PM question about the fitment of the Hooker engine stands with the CTS-V pan.
These aren’t great pics, but they do show some of the fitment. It fits really well.

[clay68c10]

I also have a firewall shot and some showing the Speed Engineering long tubes. #1 tube will need to be clearanced, but not by much. A half-moon notch in the frame stand arm should do it. The passenger side is wide open.

[doowopper]

subb'd. roger

[clay68c10]

Finally sitting down to update.
The battery mount is done. I made an arm to support the rear corner. Nothing fancy but it will work well.
The welded nut part came off the 07+ tray, the hole in the core support was already there, and all the mounting fasteners are the same 10mm head bolts. All the tray mounts have room for movement/alignment. Trying to keep it simple and serviceable.

[SCOTI]

I've been doing similar work on a g-body w/the battery tray repurposing theme. Funny how parts change over the years but somehow can still work well if things are thought through.

Will you be running the a/c compressor in the OE LS location?