Beautiful Day For Building Things

 

Beautiful day yesterday. Surly came down late morning to use my chop saw for a project he's working on. He had a driver for the trip. The oldest grandson is working on getting his driver's license. Seems the new rules require "X" number of hours of seat time chauffeuring a licensed driver around after getting your learner's permit. Now it's time for the parents and grandparents to add another worry to their lists.

After they left, I cut the piece of pipe I needed to stretch the one I'm planning on making the faux axle out of by three inches. I also made the layout for the end plates. On the left side of the photo above there are two little plates I cut out to cap off the ends of the tubing on the rear of the boat trailer project as seen in the photo below.

I cut a couple of feet off the rear end and then cut the pinch bolts off that were holding the two cross-members in place. I'm leaving them in the stock position as far as fore and aft but raising them up to the same height as the middle one that supports the springs. They'll get welded in place today. With all the crossmembers at the same height I can lay a sheet of plywood down with very little extra work. I'm going to take a foot out of the front where the latch for the tilt is and then shorten up the tongue. I might get that done today as well, since it's supposed to be a nice day again and I already have the piece of tubing cut and ground where the latch goes.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. The office is right by the hardware store and across from the auto parts store. I want to get the header boxed up today, since the auto parts store is a UPS drop point. I want to get that sent off before it starts to rust and I have a chance to change my mind about sending it out for the Jet Hot coating. I should be able to get the pipe couplings at the hardware store so I can continue on with the axle project on the jitney as well.

The trailer is certainly not a priority, but I'd like to get the majority of the fabrication work done before it gets cold. I get that done I can pull the axle out from under it, re-bush everything, replace the bearings, etc., and then be ready to go next spring.