I bought a High Rider...

[Shran]

I've always assumed that God's caliber of choice is .45 ACP.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The future is in Wifi. Wait, that's already a thing - right?

I get 1 bar from the house wifi in my garage which is just enough to do exactly nothing.

It is just enough to keep me from automatically going on data but it just sits there and spins trying to do something.

 

[Shran]

I get 1 bar from the house wifi in my garage which is just enough to do exactly nothing.

It is just enough to keep me from automatically going on data but it just sits there and spins trying to do something.

My house wifi doesn't work outside my house, and I get one bar of 4G on my phone if I stand next to the shop door or a window. Middle of the shop is a dead zone.

So therein lies the problem: I needed something better. So about a year ago I installed an outdoor wifi access point that was supposed to be super bad ass and would work up to a mile. As it turns out, it only penetrates a few feet further into the shop than a 4G connection does... so now I can stream but only around the south wall.

One cat 5 run will be for a wifi router, a second will be for a wired device if ever need it, and the other two are for POE security cameras. I could use run #2 for a third camera inside the shop too - useful for burglars maybe but I'm not sure I want my shenanigans on camera all the time.

 

[Fast Eddie]

My house wifi doesn't work outside my house, and I get one bar of 4G on my phone if I stand next to the shop door or a window. Middle of the shop is a dead zone.

So therein lies the problem: I needed something better. So about a year ago I installed an outdoor wifi access point that was supposed to be super bad ass and would work up to a mile. As it turns out, it only penetrates a few feet further into the shop than a 4G connection does... so now I can stream but only around the south wall.

One cat 5 run will be for a wifi router, a second will be for a wired device if ever need it, and the other two are for POE security cameras. I could use run #2 for a third camera inside the shop too - useful for burglars maybe but I'm not sure I want my shenanigans on camera all the time.

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

 

[dvdswan]

Any type of signal going through some type of media (wire, air, glass) will need some sort amplification after a certain distance.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Any type of signal going through some type of media (wire, air, glass) will need some sort amplification after a certain distance.

try telling that to the wife!

 

[Shran]

A lot closer to being back on the truck project... finished up the last major part of the gas install last weekend. I ran 20' of pipe under my porch and tapped into my side of the meter, added a couple shutoffs, etc. Also ran my Cat5 cables into the house and got them tied into the patch panel and set up a wifi router in the shop. That's probably my favorite part so far, now I don't have to stand near a door or window to get coverage.

Just need to run a thermostat wire, install the heater vent stack, hook up a power cord and connect the gas to the heater now and I'll be done.

 

[Shran]

Heater is in and functional, boy does it work good. Now that I'm done with that project, back on to bigger and better things.

I bought back one of my old pickup box trailers, scrapped the box, and dropped my stepside box onto the trailer frame. Started sanding it and doing some body work. I haven't worked with fiberglass before so I'm getting a real crash course here... lots of little factory defects that need to be addressed. I am using some Bondo Glass filler to fix these. It appears that RDI (the bed builder) missed a few spots where the fiberglass mat didn't get pushed down into the mold all the way and so the outer layer of resin was thin and cracked, and now I've got these holes to deal with in a few spots. There are a lot of little bubbles and stuff all over too...will be tedious.

I'm trying to do as much sanding outside as possible, makes a huge mess in the shop. I also picked up a little 3" Cornwell DA sander that I think will be really handy for all the hard to reach spots on this thing.

 

[BlackBII]

Fiberglass work is fun!

Sweet trailer.

 

[Shran]

Fiberglass work is fun!

Sweet trailer.

Yeah it'll be a lot sweeter when the box is back where it belongs and I can scrap the frame! Works pretty good for moving the box around the shop though, that was my intent. I had it sitting on a janky ass wood cart that I made out of pallets... was afraid of it falling apart and ruining the box so thus my current plan of attack.

 

[Shran]

Had great weather over Thanksgiving weekend so I took advantage and did a bunch of sanding outside. I did most of this with the new 3" DA. I think it's the ticket for fiberglass, the 6" is kinda hard to control around all these curves and stuff and it's easy to dig into one area while you're lightly sanding another. I probably have a full day total into this and I still have under the bed rails to strip... plus a few other spots... I may try to rig up a soda blaster. Or hand sand and not worry about getting all of it.

Also got a chance to play with resin and fiberglass mat. I've got a few minor cracks to repair/rebuild, there is definitely a learning curve!

 

[BlackBII]

Looks good! I've used bondo glass quite a bit and it's great, aside from all the pin holes I always get with it.

 

[Shran]

Yep! I got a small can of short strand Bondo Glass and really like it so far. There were a bunch of spots where the tailgate chains rubbed, small holes, etc that I built back up using that stuff. Very easy to sand and form too.

I'm finally feeling like I have the upper hand on this project. Staring at the box in the corner of my shop all summer was such a drag. I was dreading what I'd find under all the awful paint and it's not that bad, as it turns out.

 

[Shran]

I also got some old pics of this truck before I got it from my buddy - this was right after he bought it in Georgia. So pre wreck, before his paint job. I think this was paint job #2.

It had kind of a cool light blue pin stripe down the side. Hard to see in the pics.

 

[Shran]

I did end up using a soda blaster on a bunch of paint that I was struggling with. Harbor Freight sells a little spot blaster gun and it works pretty well with baking soda. It makes a hell of a mess, I used up 10 four pound boxes but it was a real time saver.

Next on my list before I did anything else was the tail lights and mounting brackets. The original brackets were pretty basic and because of how they mount to the bed, they wiggle and the driver's side cracked the fiberglass. In addition, the nut plate thing they used was terrible - a piece of aluminum with nuts taped to it. This will obviously not do so I had to improve on it.

First I built some new nut plates. These will not allow the nuts to spin when bolts are being tightened... they slip up inside the channel behind where the bracket is.

Then this is what I came up with for the light brackets. Two pieces of 2" angle and a flat piece to mount the tail light on. It will utilize the original holes plus one more on the buttom so that it can't wiggle.

Now that I've got these mocked up, I can go back to sanding.