What did YOU do today?

[sgtsandman]

The 2019 and trailer are packed for camping. I'm just waiting on the coolers to get filled with food so that they can be loaded. Then we can head out to camp, picking up ice on the way.

I picked up a roll up camping table and folding kitchen stand to test out for LBL since the tent camping sites do not have tables or fire rings. They fit in the trailer and there might be just enough room for UCO Flatpack Grill but that will have to wait for my next pay check. I'll probably test that out at Carlisle.

 

[sgtsandman]

So far I'm liking this Slumberjack Roadhouse Tarp. You do need a roof rack to make it work properly for on vehicle use. Setup is pretty simple and fairly quick. I've tried both the two pole and single pole setup and both work well. I still need to try the stand alone configuration.

Cellular data is being a jerk. So, pictures will have to come later. But the tarp is working pretty well on the 2019. I'll have to try it on the 2011 at Truck Nationals and see how it works with it. The 2011 is a little narrower but the height is similar.

The Mountain Summit roll up table was a good gamble. It packs down pretty small, is easy to setup, and is stable. The only complaint is the table top is too slick. Things slide every easily on it. I'm going to experiment with some rubber drawer liner mesh and see how that works.

The GCI outdoor kitchen stand is also another win. It isn't as compact as the table but still folds down fairly compact. Both would be a good candidate for truck bed camping and the tarp is looking to be one as well.

 

[Rick W]

A little not really an emergency emergency home maintenance. I have Dish for my TV service, and I love them. AT&T or Comcast might have better electronic service, but their customer service so hateful the one time a year you have to talk to them that I’d rather have Dish which I may lose in a thunderstorm, but the people are great to work with.

Well, we had thunder showers all last week, but on Thursday, it just about went dead even after the showers. So I sat there with the remote and I reprogrammed this and I reset that and I rebooted it with little luck. Then on a whim when I was walking Lincoln, I just happened to look up.

Where’s Waldo?

So I got my little electric chainsaw and the extension ladder, and I wacked off about all of that tree/bush that you can see in the picture. 90% of that picture is on the side of the second floor. Miraculous. I now have all my TV again. Hardest part was moving the extension ladder and setting it up with my worn out legs.

The other thing, that actually was a borderline emergency, was that my upstairs AC was kind of wimpy. I don’t have a picture, but it was basically the same problem. I don’t think I cleaned the interior screens in a year, but the biggest problem was when I took the covers off the outside unit, the coils were just about plugged with leaves and grass clippings.

I took the fan off the top, and used the $70 Harbor Freight pressure washer to blow out the coils from the inside. Shortly after I got the pressure washer, which has unusual 14 mm fittings on the pressure hose, I got the 14/15 adapters and another 50 feet of pressure hose from eBay. I usually leave it outside behind my deck, and it will reach 99% of whatever I want to spray without moving it.

I also checked my pressure on both units, and both units were off just a hair, so I put a can of propane/butane in both of them. Now they’ll freeze your whatever off, and they’re running 1/3 of the amount of time.

Then I went upstairs to see if the recliner was working properly. I’m still working on that.

 

[racsan]

Cleaned off the back deck , pressure washed it & coated with mahogany australian timber oil. Not sure how good this stuff is, hopefully better than thompsons water seal, that stuff aint what it used to be.

 

[racsan]

put all this back tomorrow

 

[Bgunner]

I love that color your deck turned out to be. Great job!

 

[ericbphoto]

Cleaned off the back deck , pressure washed it & coated with mahogany australian timber oil. Not sure how good this stuff is, hopefully better than thompsons water seal, that stuff aint what it used to be.

View attachment 113844View attachment 113845View attachment 113846View attachment 113847

Nice job!

 

[Roert42]

After eating my jalapeño and bell pepper omlet this morning for breakfast, I touched my eye. Then I cried a little, but just from the one eye.

 

[Rick W]

Back when my legs were more pathetic than they are now, I made a quick handrail for the inside of my outside steps. I had a dowel/closet rod about 1-1/2 or 1-1/4”. I used the right size holesaw to cut a 2 x 2 in half so each piece had the right curve for the rod. Then I used some 6 inch torque drive super heavy duty screws through the rod and the support into the side of the porch. I got those screws from the trunk of a car in the pull apart a few years ago.

I must’ve just missed the edge of the 2 x 4 behind the vinyl siding on the lower one, and when I braced my fat butt on it firmly, it got wobbly. So today I moved that screw over about 3/4 of an inch to catch the center of the stud.

With my wobbly legs, this was the top priority.

I also shot a tiny bit of brake cleaner into the cap of one of my sharpies that was starting to go dry. It’s good for another year now.

 

[scotts90ranger]

went camping last week Monday through Sunday, took the camper on the F350 with the boat in tow... had moorage for the boat, went to launch it on Monday and it wouldn't run right, started out pretty bad and didn't want to run (351W that's been rebuilt before by a rebuilder that put stickers on the valve covers), with the edlbrock carb it's always done that after sitting for a while but usually gets out of it after a bit.. not this time, kept intake backfiring, found water in the carb bowls and the water separator filter so drained that out, still did it, had a friend grab a "tune up kit" with point and condenser, that didn't help... I was ignoring a friend saying it sounded like his boat that had at one point bent a couple pushrods but the next morning I took tools down to pull the valve covers and found cylinder 2 had loose rockers... initially thought there might be two sticky lifters so poured in a quart of ATF but nope, bent push rods... the exhaust valve is solid, we were able to hammer it down but it wouldn't go back up, we were able to get it up most of the way with vise grips on the stem but not enough to get the spring off and pull the stem seal to get some oil on it to loosen it up... (yeah, we were grasping). I even went as far as calling the nearest bigger NAPA to see if they had a cylinder head but no... My friends are great so we were able to salvage most of the week... Maybe this weekend I'll get ambitious and pull the engine to get started...

Oh, and to go with that the steering servo on my little RC boat quit and the servo started acting up on my little TRX4M crawler...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Scared a little kid.

Got everybody tucked in and I was tired and decided not to work on the truck. So I fired it up and moved it from under the tree by the garage (Cottonwood that drops sap) to over by the other vehicles.

Came back in the house and heard crying from upstairs. "I heard thunder!"

Its been called a lot of things, never that.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Drilled out 3ea 2 inch holes in a bent up piece of 6061-T6 aluminum, 1/8" thick. I like to flip the guide drill around so the hole saw stays put better during cutting (after the guide hole is established. The gauges should look great, but the wife is using the Yellow Sub because the 2013 F150's AC has a big leak somewhere. Time for the soapy bubbles, won't even hold a vacuum. Leak stop don't work no more. Hope it's not the evap coil God forbid.

Fond memories of my 1970 R/T Charger (burnt orange) had a 440 running on 6 cylinders before restoration, kids were sleeping when the guy who towed it was backing it up the driveway decided to prove to me that "it will fire up", so he did. 2 y/o daughter told me later, daddy- "I heard a volcano in the driveway". Then they grow up and that's that!.

Cottonwood trees sound nice in the wind on a hot day.

 

[superj]

not yesterday, but sunday i put the new steps on the wrangler for the wife. she wanted steps to help get in, for her birthday present. she picked some nice ones that have a little rise in between the doors, so she could wash the top easier.

i doubt that step will ever get used since she never washed a previous vehicle in her life but who knows?

they look like this

 

[Jazzer]

^Those look sharp.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I wanted to run up to the farm to get some cattle panels for my wife's garden tonight. As I was getting the truck ready for the trailer and finding my fencing pliers my wife comments one sheep isn't acting right. Dad's old adage "a sick sheep is a dead sheep" echos in the back of my mind as we left.

Run up there with the trailer. Had to unhook the trailer by the road because there is no place to turn around a trailer with the crops in. Panels were grown in so we had to pull them out with the truck. Set a steel fence post in the back of the truck and magically ruptured a brand new can of spray on bedliner which sprays some kind of white foam with great enthusiasm (first thought was tirefoam) 17' long panels so we set them in the back and she road back there while I backed it back out. Got them loaded on the trailer, strapped them down and got home without incident.

Sheep didn't make it. Great. Go get a loose tractor to put a platform on the back to move things around. Got in the middle of the driveway and it runs out of gas. Run to town to get gas. Go to put the platform on and it is a fight because the tractor I took it off of has smaller tires and thus isn't as tall as the tractor I am trying to put it on.

Go to dig the hole, am reminded I broke my shovel awhile ago. Fight along with the spade but it is about like a spoon. Ran to town at 10pm to borrow dads just to get this saga over with. Had to run to the garage to get a ax for tree roots.

Finished at 11:30, came in the house dripping wet because it is really muggy and dead calm outside. Oh yeah, happy birthday eve...