This & That

I think this thing is just the coolest wrecker ever. I wouldn't think this was an "off the shelf" rig but where would one have gone to get something like this done? There were more than a few coach builders back in the day but even back then, this kind of work would have been somewhat costly I would think. Might be Cuzzin Ricky and I need to take a road trip to Chattanooga and visit the museum down there. If anyone would know about old wreckers, they'd be the ones.

I suggested to my boss that he should consider welding on a few of the broken plastic parts they use. He gave me the look indicating he didn't know if he should take me seriously or not. He did a bit of investigating and decided it was worth giving it a try, so he bought a plastic welder from Harbor Freight. I farted around with it a bit on a scrap part and things welded nicely. I'll need to practice some but it looks like it will do the job - save him a bunch of money and once again makes me look like a hero. Pays to have a skilled craftsman on hand when you go outside your area of expertise.

I finished up making all the parts for the motorcycle carrier but I'm not happy with it. I need to raise it up a couple of inches. I wanted to keep it as low as possible to make loading it as easy and safe as possible but I over did it a bit. I can't imagine it snagging on something but if it did it would be a catastrophe. The extra braces really stiffened things up. In fact, I think you could probably hook a crane to the carrier and pick the whole truck up with it. It's going to be a bit of a hassle to raise it up a couple of inches but I'll sleep better with it lifted up.

I haven't decided what to do about the animal burrow out in the barn. It's dark now when I get home from work and since I don't know what's living in there now, nor do I have electricity in there, I'm a little uneasy about going in there in the dark. Last night the coyotes were howling across the tracks while I was getting some chicken feed adding to the spook factor. It'd be just my luck to go out there in the dark and trip over whatever is living out there, fall and hit my head, and then have whatever it is eat my face while I'm lying there unconscious. I am considering putting on a sidearm while I'm doing my chores in the future.

It looks to be winter now for all practical purposes. There's snow in the forecast and it'll be November in a couple of days. I ordered a pair of insulated bibs to keep in my locker at work. Much of what I normally do is in the unheated part of the building. What I should have done was typed up a letter of resignation rather than an order for warm clothes. Since I'm damn near 70, have to wonder why I keep working. We'll see what the winter brings. Might make up my mind for me.

Wild Kingdom

I caught another raccoon in the ceiling of the shop again. I'm fairly certain I know how they are getting in but was waiting for the frost to hit because I've got raspberries growing along the edge of the building. I figured I would cut the berries back to give me some working room and then I could get up under the overhang of the metal roof and close in the spot where I think they are getting in. It's amazing that big fat coons can get into such small spaces.

I've got a pair of two buckle rubber boots I was going to dig out figuring I could take them to work to keep my feet warm and dry when I need to shovel snow this winter. I'm required to wear steel toed boots, so a pair of two buckles work well. I keep them on a shelf in the stairwell going to the basement and when I went to grab them I saw something fall. I keep a pair of muck boots at the bottom of the stairs, so I stuck my hand inside one of the boots and felt something try to bite or grab my finger. I jerked my hand out, turned the boot over and a bat fell out. Must have decided to hibernate in the stairwell. Seems we get a bat in the house at the rate of about one per year. I've got no idea how they get in but get in they do.

I went out to the big barn after dealing with the bat and found a burrow under the old manure spreader. It's a big hole and the dirt's been thrown a long way from the opening. I'm guessing it's from a woodchuck but with my luck it could be a badger or even a Chupacabra for all I know. I'll have to see what I can do about filling in the hole and getting whatever it is out of the barn.

Later that evening while I was washing up I felt something on the back of my arm like a loose flap of skin or something. I looked in the mirror and found a tick hanging off. I jerked it loose but there was a red spot about the size of a quarter with a dark spot in the middle. It didn't look like the normal wood ticks we have around here, so now I'm on a two week course of antibiotics to prevent me getting Lyme disease.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say - It's always something.

I'm Liking It So Far

I started welding the motorcycle carrier together yesterday. Since everything was already cut to length and had the weld bevels ground, it didn't take too long. The photo above is the part that goes into the receiver hitch and the end pieces of the frame with the 3/8" nuts welded to the inside.

Detail view of one of the welds on the hitch. I'm TIG welding everything primarily because TIG welding doesn't produce a bunch of sparks making it less likely that I'll burn the shop down. Also, I'm in no particular hurry and I'll have less grinding to do when I'm finished. I put a root pass around all sides of the hitch part. After I get everything else tacked on I'll put the whole thing up on some horses and finish weld it. I'm also planning on welding on some fish plates or gussets over the weld joints.

Looks pretty good hanging off the back of the truck. All my measurements came out like I figured as far as the height and the distance sticking out from the truck. The bike is pretty narrow but with the bags and the wide bars, I need about 18" to the center of the carrier. Measured from the hitch I'm right on 18". The tailgate sets back a couple of inches from the hitch so I should have plenty of clearance for the handlebars. The square tube is rather a loose fit in the receiver so the carrier does rock a lot more than I'd feel comfortable with, so the braces to the underside of the bumper are going to be a must.

I worked on a couple of things for work while I was out in the shop. I think I've got one of the prototype parts I've been working on ready for "production". I don't know how many of these are going to be needed in the future but they'll be fairly easy to make and the same goes for the installation by the technicians in the field.

Been a productive couple of days. A couple more like that and I'll have the bike carrier ready for paint.

Ramping Up

The mailman came early yesterday. He usually hits our house around 2:30 but I got a knock on the door about 9:30 and he dropped off the ramp I ordered for the bike carrier and new flannel sheets the Missus ordered. He had asked about getting some of the scrap corrugated roof sheeting I had out back once before and he asked if I was still willing to get rid of a few pieces. He came by after work and we loaded up a few sheets after cutting them in half so they would fit in his truck.

After he dropped the ramp off I had an exact measurement to make the frame it will bolt to. I got the pieces all cut to length and the corners mitered. I need to drill the hole for the hitch pin and then I can start welding the frame together. I'm going to drill some holes in the end pieces and weld a couple of 3/8" nuts on the inside so I can bolt on pieces to fasten the hold-down straps to. With the nuts welded on I'll be able to fasten the parts on easily without having to have a wrench on the inside of the frame - easy two handed job instead of wanting a third hand as so often happens when trying to bolt a part on. Those parts will also serve as a place to fasten a taillight to and a side marker light. I'll probably buy a light kit from Harbor Freight, so I need to do that to see what it will take to mount the lights and make the wiring where I can easily unbolt the side pieces without messing with the wiring at all - just pull the plug from truck bumper and call it done.

There will also be a couple of pieces that will come off the backside of the ramp frame and fasten to the truck frame. Those might be a bit of overkill but I don't want to take a chance on having the carrier collapse with the bike loaded up after hitting a big bump on the interstate. As Uncle Pete used to say: "It ain't much for looks but it's hell for strong."

Also got a bit of work done on the winch mount, a bit of general tidying up in the shop and got the new flannel sheets washed and installed on the bed. 'Fraid it's that time of the year but I should be set for the arrival of winter with the completion of just a few more things.

Last but not least, happy birthday to my running buddy. I'm blessed to have her and several others that are true friends.

Picking Them Off The List

Spent some time in the shop picking some of the easy ones off the list. Photo above is a pair of soft jaws for the bench vise at work. Nothing fancy, just some scrap aluminum but the vise is new and it's got some sharp teeth on the jaws. These will do the trick for what I need.

Brackets to support the nail cabinet out in the woodshop. The cabinet was something my dad put together from scrap parts from a place he and I worked at many a year ago. The back of the cabinet is made from some type of cheap Masonite paneling - fairly thick, though, but not thick enough to hold the cabinet up after I loaded it up with nails. The brackets are going to be fastened to the wall studs and then bolted through the top of the cabinet to hold it up. The one bracket has a piece welded on that will allow me to screw the bracket into the top of the left side. That should hold things up for a while.

Rack for a couple of the common tools I use at the workbench in the woodshop. This is made from the same piece of aluminum scrap that the soft jaws were made from. I just got the wooden mallet from Garrett Wade along with a saw for trimming large tree branches. I'll probably put the wooden mallet in with my metal shaping tools and hang the deadblow hammer on the rack instead. Garrett Wade has the mallets in three different sizes. I'm thinking about getting at least one more and rounding the end to use with my shot bag.

Got a start on the winch mount for work and the motorcycle carrier for my truck. I also put in 4 miles with the backpack to get myself in shape for the 10 mile ruck. It was a beautiful afternoon yesterday to be out walking around. Really nice weekend all the way around as far as that goes. Got some exercise, made some progress on the projects, did breakfast with the cousins. Good couple of days.

Hiking

They just don't write 'em like this anymore. Of course, that might be a good thing, but I like the old blues and soul stuff. In fact, how about giving me some of that old soul clapping.

I did a "zombie" run/walk yesterday morning. The local schools were out on break and someone decided it would be a good idea to host a run. No tee shirts or prizes and entry was a new toy.  I'm thinking about doing a 10 mile ruck in a few weeks, so I put on my bug-out pack and walked the course - twice in fact. I figured it was going to be a 5K but it was only 1-1/2 miles. I added a bit to it on the second lap, so I got in a good three miles plus. The course had some trails through a wooded area and had a few small hills. I thought the course just ran around the perimeter of the school grounds. It's close enough for me to walk or ride my bike to, so I think I'll be hitting that to train for the 10 mile hike. I've been looking for something to get me motivated to work out again - this should do it.

I need to see if I can find my old poncho in case it rains the day of the ruck. I had one that fit over my backpack years back but I haven't seen it since the last time I went hiking. I'd really like to do some hiking and camping again. It's hard for me to find anyone to go with, however. It's tough to find anyone that's into that sort of thing that has the time but especially tough to find someone my own age who's even ambulatory. My running buddy would be up for it but I'm not so sure the Missus would want me camping with a lovely young lady about 30 years my junior. One of the guys I did The Cowboy Trail with last year might be interested, however. He's retired and is in great shape. Maybe head down state to the Knobstone Trail. I did part of that with a couple of guys from work years ago. Actually, we could ride our motorcycles to Tippecanoe River State Park. They've got some nice hiking trails and the park isn't too crowded this time of year and later. I tent camped there once when it got down to about 4 degrees - had the whole park to myself, believe it or not.

I've got a list of things to get accomplished over the next few days. Picked off a few of them yesterday and I hope to make a little more progress today. Steady by jerks as my old buddy Joey used to say.

Bits & Pieces

Prototype parts for work. There are two different pieces - I zip-tied the little piece to the larger one to keep from losing it. The big piece was made utilizing TIG welding. However, there was some concern about relying on an employee with TIG welding skills to make this thing in the future. After making the prototype I made a pattern that could fabricate the same part out of a flat sheet, no welding required.

Pieces for the Himalayan saddlebags. The bags are held on with pieces of flat bar with a stud threaded in them. They pivot out of the way when taking the bags off but one of them was a snug fit with the tubing frame making it a pain in the ass to take on and off. I ground a taper on the offending item but that took the plating off, meaning it will rust since they are steel. I decided to make some aluminum replacements at the beginning of the year but never got around to finishing up the job until a couple of days ago. I milled a taper on all the pieces and took a skin cut off the thickness to match up with whatever metric size the original pieces were. All that's left is to swap out the studs and I'll be set.

I was going to start on making some parts for the motorcycle carrier but couldn't find my sketch. I had a sketch for a couple of brackets to hang a cabinet in the woodshop and couldn't find that either. I started over on the cabinet job since it's a simple one. I found some material, so that'll get done in the next day or so. If I can't find the sketch for the bike carrier, I'll make a new one and get started on that project in the next few days also. I'm kind of excited about making this. It'll be a bit of a challenge but more importantly, I should be able to load the bike up and transport it safely by myself.