The Road Ranger. 1997 SEMI

[Rick W]

My plan is two or three little dabs of silicone behind the white lights so they won’t shake out.

 

[racsan]

Who would steal a light?

 

[Curious Hound]

Who would steal a light?

Who wouldn't?


Oh.
Wait.
I wasn't supposed to say that.

 

[Rick W]

Who would steal a light?

I don’t think you were raised near where I was raised in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge. If the light was already gone, the wires would be stolen before the morning.

Down here in the Hotlanta suburbs, my neighbors still laugh at me because I lock the car in the garage and set the alarm, then I close the garage and set the garage alarm, and then I lock my doors of the house, and I set the alarm in the house.

And that’s when I’m home!

I leave my kitchen TV on 24/7 because you can see it from the beginning of the driveway. It may be my best security device. You’ll never stop the thieves from robbing someone, the trick is to get them to rob your neighbor’s house instead of yours.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I don’t think you were raised near where I was raised in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge. If the light was already gone, the wires would be stolen before the morning.

Down here in the Hotlanta suburbs, my neighbors still laugh at me because I lock the car in the garage and set the alarm, then I close the garage and set the garage alarm, and then I lock my doors of the house, and I set the alarm in the house.

And that’s when I’m home!

I leave my kitchen TV on 24/7 because you can see it from the beginning of the driveway. It may be my best security device. You’ll never stop the thieves from robbing someone, the trick is to get them to rob your neighbor’s house instead of yours.

I used the big German Shepherd and smoking cigars on the front porch with a .45 for deterrence. Take your chances, but it might hurt…lol

Also, there’s no such thing as an unpickable lock. Locks and alarms only keep honest people honest. But making things difficult works for most thieves.

 

[Rick W]

I used the big German Shepherd and smoking cigars on the front porch with a .45 for deterrence. Take your chances, but it might hurt…lol

Also, there’s no such thing as an unpickable lock. Locks and alarms only keep honest people honest. But making things difficult works for most thieves.

The country folks who worked for me when I first moved to Atlanta would constantly ask me how in the world I could live in Atlanta because it was so congested. My answer was always “after New York, it was nice to move to a small country town.“

The other thing I laughed about is that where I lived in New Jersey was one of the places where it was absolutely impossible to get a gun, but you really needed one. And then I moved to Georgia, where everybody has at least one gun, but you don’t need it, or at least you didn’t need it back then.

 

[Rick W]

I just took Lincoln for his last walk, and found these at my front door. Again, amazed at how quick they came.

 

[2011Supercab]

the trick is to get them to rob your neighbor’s house instead of yours.

 

[sgtsandman]

The country folks who worked for me when I first moved to Atlanta would constantly ask me how in the world I could live in Atlanta because it was so congested. My answer was always “after New York, it was nice to move to a small country town.“

The other thing I laughed about is that where I lived in New Jersey was one of the places where it was absolutely impossible to get a gun, but you really needed one. And then I moved to Georgia, where everybody has at least one gun, but you don’t need it, or at least you didn’t need it back then.

Just one person’s opinion. You don’t generally need firearms in places that have free access to them because most everyone knows you have free access to them and there is a good chance the place they would like to break into might have one. Places like anti-gun states are the opposite.

An armed society is a polite society.

 

[Rick W]

When I came back from the 40th, I just pulled straight down the end of the driveway and blocked two cars in. Of course I was going to drop the trailer and turn it around the next day. What’s that, two weeks ago now?

To drop it and turn it around, I had to find the wheels that I cut off the jack stands, and then make sleeves so I could use them to swivel the trailer around. I’m going to make some flat feet too, for when I park the beast. Well, I’ve been looking for them for five days, and finally found where I hid them so they wouldn’t get lost.

And with all of the pipe and tubing I have in the shed of miracles, anything to slip outside was way too big. Then I found an ancient piece of what I think is part of a chain-link fence that actually slid inside the tubing for the wheels and the jacks. So I cut about a 12 inch piece for each side, took the rough edges off everything, and drilled it and put a 5/16 bolt through it. Actually, it was a piece of threaded rod, and I made my own lock nuts in the 6 inch vice. Suits the heck out of me. When I have the flat feet made, I will drill through the jack tube and hang a pin on each side to hold everything in place, while the trailer is sitting.

When I got them mounted and jacked up just a little bit to take the pressure off the tongue, after dark, I crawled underneath and took the safety chains off, undid the coupling, and undid the light plug.

It was time to feed Lincoln, so enough fun for today. Tomorrow I have to clean up some things in the way on the other side of the driveway so I can jockey this thing around so I can redo a couple things.

I also got another good score of aluminum and such on craigslist, I’ll post that tomorrow.

Oh, and I put three dabs of silicone on the back of the reverse lights and popped them back in on the truck.

 

[Rick W]

Uh oh, flat tire….

I didn’t realize until I cleaned these things up to put them back under the trailer for when I want to move it around, that the one wheel had been replaced with something from like a baby carriage or something. Didn’t work too well.

I found another wheel in the shed of miracles that I could put on there, and I got the trailer moved where I wanted it, but then that one kind of crushed over too. So I guess I’m heading for harbor freight tomorrow.

I redid the wiring on the trailer that I screwed up rushing installing and/or screwed up on the trip. That front section lifts up to access the coupler and such, and the way I did the wire, after I had all the trouble with the wire, the thing wouldn’t lift up enough without pulling on the wires. So I had to redo the driver side, which is where it all came together, and then also do the passenger side. It’s pretty much all done, except cleaning it up and waterproofing it and tying it down

I still have the problem with the left sequencing turn signal, and one strobe right next to it. I’ve got a new one in the shed of miracles, that’s one of the next steps. Then I start chopping the tongue up.

 

[RobbieD]

I still have the problem with the left sequencing turn signal, and one strobe right next to it.

With two lights going wonky, the first thing I'd check is the ground for them.

 

[Rick W]

With two lights going wonky, the first thing I'd check is the ground for them.

Hey man, not enough hours in the day. I don’t know what’s up with the strobe, but the sequencing lights, when I put them in, I pinched the wire and fried the module. Only two of the three would blink, and they blink very dim. Since I did it all half assed trying to get up to the 40th, I wired the left and right corner markers (high low brightness) to the turn signal instead of the brake light on high, so I wouldn’t get in trouble with the boys in blue

But good advice, I appreciate it. Tired old bones just didn’t have enough energy to get to it, and sweet pea wanted me over there to fix something or other….

 

[Rick W]

Uh oh, flat tire….

View attachment 97239

I didn’t realize until I cleaned these things up to put them back under the trailer for when I want to move it around, that the one wheel had been replaced with something from like a baby carriage or something. Didn’t work too well.

I found another wheel in the shed of miracles that I could put on there, and I got the trailer moved where I wanted it, but then that one kind of crushed over too. So I guess I’m heading for harbor freight tomorrow.

I redid the wiring on the trailer that I screwed up rushing installing and/or screwed up on the trip. That front section lifts up to access the coupler and such, and the way I did the wire, after I had all the trouble with the wire, the thing wouldn’t lift up enough without pulling on the wires. So I had to redo the driver side, which is where it all came together, and then also do the passenger side. It’s pretty much all done, except cleaning it up and waterproofing it and tying it down

I still have the problem with the left sequencing turn signal, and one strobe right next to it. I’ve got a new one in the shed of miracles, that’s one of the next steps. Then I start chopping the tongue up.

Afterthought, but the strobes are not grounded to the chassis. The sequence turn signals are grounded on the input, and then the module puts out the one two three. I pinched one of those wires which fried the module.

On the strobes, my controller has a ground and a positive going in, and then alternates between two circuits. There are a lot of flash patterns, but not only is the positive designated, the negative is also designated.

You probably know all this, I didn’t explain enough what was going on, but I post it here for those who are getting started with all this LED stuff.

Hope it helps…

 

[Rick W]

So, this was the temp spare from the shed of miracles. It worked just long enough to move the trailer the 20 feet to where I wanted to work on it:

Lincoln and I went to Harbor freight in the Missing Linc, and we got a couple hard rubber faced plastic wheels rated at 1,100 pounds each. Of course they were 8 inch, and the forks were for 6 inch wheels, and not exactly the same side to side, so I had to make a couple extensions, so the 8 inch wheels would fit. So this is supposed to be the permanent cure:

My best guess is that trailer weighs about 1,000 pounds, mostly in the rear with the axles. If so, that would be about 250 pounds at the most for each for these swivel wheels (I can actually pick up the front of the trailer to pivot it over a few inches to the left or right, and I’m no Superman).

When I got it all put together, it looked like the new wheels were at their limit. I wanted the rubber wheels to roll easier across my brick. It’ll work for now, but I think I’m going to upgrade to some steel wheels later.

I also redid a little bit of the wiring I redid yesterday. I don’t know if it’s the best wired trailer out there, but it’s the most wired trailer out there. Now the front step easily lifts up and down without any danger of pinching or pulling wires. I still have to clean them up and seal them, but I’ll do that after I modify the tongue.

I’ve been fooling around with the tape measure, and it looks like I want to move the “pin” back about 14 inches. I want the front of the lower deck to clear the corners on the semi by a couple of inches, and also be able to turn a full 90° without interference. I’m trying to figure out some way to mock it up with a 2x4 and plywood so I only do it once (we’ll, once more).