So close, yet so far. Our ramp truck fell apart a little after 2:00 a.m. within 100 miles from home.
After bringing the wounded truck to a stop, this is the sight that greeted us underneath. Yes, that's half a driveshaft.
After getting the ramp truck towed, we had to finish the trip behind the wheel of our cargo. Tankfully, it had gas in the tank and fluids were topped off before it was handed to us.
We crossed the Florida border at about 2:00 a.m. As we rolled within 100 miles of home, we reminded each other that with our AAA Plus membership, we get 100 miles of free towing. We were home free. Little did we know we had just jinxed ourselves.
With Georgia in our rear view mirror, and less than 100 miles to go, we decided to lean on the old truck just a little bit more. We were getting tired and wanted to get home. Our 65 mph cruise speed, turned into 70 and then just for a minute, 75 mph.
That was all it took. Within five miles of the border, all hell broke loose. We heard a terrific crash and a horrible series of banging noises. It sounded like someone had pitched a shovel into a threshing machine.
No! This was not happening. We had driven some 1200 miles with just a few minor teething pains. Was our dream of a ramp truck going to end just south of the Georgia border?
It felt as though the entire front end had just collapsed and the engine had blown. Those sounds may have been familiar to us from past road trips.
After a lifetime of driving—shall we say—substandard vehicles, co–driver Rennie knew exactly what had happened. The drive shaft had come apart.
We were in the middle of nowhere so we let it coast, hoping we would miraculously come up on an exit and glide to safety. That was not to be. We were still some five miles from an exit when the poor old ramp truck clanked and clunked to a stop with the badly broken driveshaft still flapping.
We didn’t want to look, but we had to. It was bad. The rear shaft was missing entirely. The carrier bearing was still present, but the front shaft was broken in half. Even the yoke in the back of the transmission had shattered. But the damage didn’t stop there. The furious flapping shaft had also damaged the exhaust and punctured the fuel tank.
It was completely unfixable. No amount of MacGyvering was going to sneak us through this nightmare. It was time to give up. Beside ourselves, we called AAA for a ride home.
After being put on hold for a few minutes minutes, insult was added to injury. We were told that our AAA membership would not cover this type of a tow.
We called a local towing company and were told that if we waited a couple of hours, we could be towed home for $650.
With few options, we were desperate to get ourselves and our ramp truck to safety. We gave the towing company a credit card number and began to unload the Spitfire. While the truck was towed home, we would finish the trip behind the wheel of our cargo.
Of course, the Spitfire we had bought was just as untested as our ramp truck. Thankfully, we made it home safely and were in bed at 5:30 a.m. We thank the folks at Automotive Restorations for making sure that the fluids were full and that there was some gas in the tank before handing the Spitfire over to us.
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So you start the trip with a truck, add a Spitfire, then have the British car loan the truck some electrical parts. The truck fails, and you have to hope the Spit runs, so that you can finish the journey home.
Epic.
And that's what you get when take parts that have been infected with Lucas and put them on something else. No doubt that cause the mechanical failure of the driveshaft. 
I assume that you swapped the headlights back over?
Why did AAA not pick up the tow?
When you said you planned for AAA tow, I wonder if they might reject it because the design purpose of the truck along with the logo on the door make the vehicle look "commercial" and not cover by your "residential" policy.
If not that, the mention of F-350 now makes this a "medium duty truck" not a run of the mill car/truck your policy may be intended to cover.
Also, this was possibly not just the tow of one vehicle but the tow of a second vehicle as well (Spitfire) which may have been reason enough to reject.
Just one more thing 
I assume that you swapped the headlights back over?
Nice Tuna Nice
Great read!!!! Thanks for sharing.
Yes, the headlights were swapped back over. And I'm not totally sure why AAA turned them away. I assumed it was because it was a tow vehicle itself. I'll ask Tim when he pops back into the office.
Very nice. It will be funny. In a few weeks...
Everyone will take something different out of this story. I'm guessing the fuel tank didn't have much fuel in it and didn't drop gasoline all over the place. That could have added a much worse twist to this story. And yeah, trucks like that don't coast very far, even downhill.
Holy crap, I just realized - the crew on "How I Met Your Mother" is right. Note to self, remember this.
If it makes you feel better, I lost two of my three driveshaft bolts at the last rallycross and only discovered it when I left the venue only to get a massive vibration at 20mph. Had to jury-rig it and limp 60 miles through the 80mph mountain highways (going ~40mph with trucks trying to run over me) to a friend's houses where he had a couple of the bolts I needed...
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