My truck doesn't cause me to be depressed, but it is a love/hate relationship.
Rebuilt the whole front end of my truck. Upper, lower ball joints, tie rod inners & outers, idler, pitman, steering box plus all new urethane bushings. Felt good. Plan a road trip. Serviced the tranny & installed new universals.
While me & buddy are doing this, he says "How many miles on that rear end?" I said "Leave it alone!" Get all that work done & as I'm pulling out of the shop, I said to buddy, joking, "Watch this, just my luck that & rear end will implode in a week!" He says "Don't say **** like that." It was actually 10 days before it did!
So...that rear end rebuild turns into a complete rear suspension re-design. Completely re-do the frame notch, notch the box cross member, re-locate the shocks & a new fuel pump while the box was off. Wanted to do a disc brake conversion, but by this time I'm spending, spending, spending on this truck, so that was put on hold for a month or so.
Go back to work, make enough cash to do the brakes. Two days before it was to go into the shop for the brakes, & my dog splits a toe nail really badly while running on the rocks down by the river. That bandage on his foot is worth my rear disc brakes.
Three days later, intake gaskets go south, on a 225,000 mile motor. Ain't worth fixing. Decision is made to do an LS swap.
Aaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!
But I don't let this get me down. If I did I be a babbling idiot! I consider all this to be learning experiences. But I'm tellin' ya, there are moments that I really consider selling this thing & buying a new, stock, unmolested truck. Then I give my head a shake. Can't do it. Too much blood, sweat, tears, cash, time, pizza, beer, late nights, & financial sacrifices, invested in this truck, just to sell it someone that doesn't realize what it takes to get the truck to the point where it is now. And each stage that it goes through makes me appreciate it, the driving experience, & the positive comments, all that much more. Every time it breaks, (well, everytime 'I' break it!) it ends up getting better, & one more step closer to the goals that I have for it. Actually working on my truck keeps me from getting depressed. Sitting in front of the TV, thinking about how much it's cost to get the truck where it is, now, is the worst thing to do. Getting out in the shop, & working on the next improvement, no matter how small or large, is my best therapy.