What did YOU do today?

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Ended up spending most of the afternoon cleaning and organizing in the shop. Wasn’t what I had planned on doing, but it needed done anyway. There’s still stuff in my shop that doesn’t belong there but has landed there because I don’t have any other place handy to put it yet and I’m getting tired of it because my shop isn’t big enough as it is. Some stuff is going to get moved over to my property because it just needs to be out of my way for now. I have a plan for giving some things a permanent home, I just don’t have the time or money at the moment to make the permanent home for the stuff.

The only thing that’s really in my way but I don’t have any place to put it except in my way is almost half a sheet of steel for my bumper build. I don’t think I’ll need to cut anything else out of it for the bumper, but I will probably need to cut some stuff out of it for my frame repair so I guess it just has to live in the way until I can get that done. Whatever is left I can probably stash over at my property if I move some stuff around over there.

 

[Rick W]

Ended up spending most of the afternoon cleaning and organizing in the shop. Wasn’t what I had planned on doing, but it needed done anyway. There’s still stuff in my shop that doesn’t belong there but has landed there because I don’t have any other place handy to put it yet and I’m getting tired of it because my shop isn’t big enough as it is. Some stuff is going to get moved over to my property because it just needs to be out of my way for now. I have a plan for giving some things a permanent home, I just don’t have the time or money at the moment to make the permanent home for the stuff.

The only thing that’s really in my way but I don’t have any place to put it except in my way is almost half a sheet of steel for my bumper build. I don’t think I’ll need to cut anything else out of it for the bumper, but I will probably need to cut some stuff out of it for my frame repair so I guess it just has to live in the way until I can get that done. Whatever is left I can probably stash over at my property if I move some stuff around over there.

Sheds of miracles don’t just grow on trees. It takes years of diligent hoarding…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Sheds of miracles don’t just grow on trees. It takes years of diligent hoarding…

Oh, I’ve done years of collecting useful stuff, I’m just completely out of places to stockpile the useful stuff. I’m borderline ruthless at trying to keep at least a little room for me to get into my shop and work on something on the bench or I wouldn’t be able to get in my shop at all by now. Doesn’t mean I’m not still collecting stuff, just means I need more space.

Was really hoping to get to cleaning out my one shed this year. May still happen but it might be a springtime thing. I’m pretty sure if I empty it out, finish building out the shelving, and organize it so I can actually find what I have, I should be able to free up a bunch of space in there and be able to find things.

I also haven’t given up the idea of dropping a 20’ or 40’ shipping container on my property…

 

[sgtsandman]

Getting the clutch fan off on the 2019 wasn't so bad once I put a cheater bar on the big cresent wrench. Since I didn't have a proper cheater bar, I used a section of the handle from my Badlands jack. It was enough to get the nut to break free once I got the pulley holder tool jammed against the truck frame. I sprayed the threads with some Fluid Film in hopes that the nut won't be so ornery next time.

EDIT: Oh, while I had the fan out, I blew the clutch fan vanes out with an air nozzle. The was a lot of trail dust accumulated in the vanes.

And the bolt illustrated by others as being the culprit for the oil leak was cleaned and installed wet with engine RTV. There was another that I questioned being a leaker as well. So, while I was there, I cleaned and wet installed it as well.

 

[Bill]

I repaired the hollow core bedroom door that has a crack in the fram right at the doorknob. I took out the old piece of lightweight balsawood and cut a 2x4 to the same dimensions, slid it in there, screwed it in place, and glued the veneer panel back to the fram with wood glue. I have it clamped down now and waiting for the glue to dry overnight before I cut the hole for the door knob where the new 2x4 is.

I never put any thought into how cheap these builder-grade hollow doors are. The frame around the perimeter of the door is only slightly better than particle board. The piece of wood to support the door knob is the lightest wood I've ever seen. You could drive a nail through it with your thumb. The two panes are glued to the frame and cardboard.....yes, cardboard, is used as a spacer to keep the two panels from flexing in and out.

 

[superj]

Yup /\

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I repaired the hollow core bedroom door that has a crack in the fram right at the doorknob. I took out the old piece of lightweight balsawood and cut a 2x4 to the same dimensions, slid it in there, screwed it in place, and glued the veneer panel back to the fram with wood glue. I have it clamped down now and waiting for the glue to dry overnight before I cut the hole for the door knob where the new 2x4 is.

I never put any thought into how cheap these builder-grade hollow doors are. The frame around the perimeter of the door is only slightly better than particle board. The piece of wood to support the door knob is the lightest wood I've ever seen. You could drive a nail through it with your thumb. The two panes are glued to the frame and cardboard.....yes, cardboard, is used as a spacer to keep the two panels from flexing in and out.

Yup. I’ve also seen builder grade ones that not only had essentially balsa wood for the wood bits and cardboard spacer (almost more construction paper consistency than cardboard) and essentially pressed cardboard for the veneer…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Did some more cleanup in the shop and I’m pretty happy with how it is now for the moment. Decided to move the piece of steel to where it’s out of my way but not really inaccessible. It sort of blocks the torch tanks, but it will be ok.

Moved some stuff to my property. It’s in my way over there, but it’s out of my shop. Compromises must be made…

Also discovered that a load on my lifting pole assembly on my farm tractor causes it to go to full lift. For some reason I thought it only tripped that feature when force gets applied the other direction to the top link but maybe my thinking was wrong. Probably should have had a camera going when I grabbed the end of the pole to give the assembly a tug test and that thing went shooting for the sky with me hanging on… I let go quick but my boots still left the ground…

 

[Rick W]

@lil_Blue_Ford

I’m a city kid, but curious. How about a pic of the contraption/human catapult?

& @Bill

No criticism here, just a thought. I have been blessed that I have traveled the world and seen many cultures. In many relatively modern places, world powers, a good bit of the population still lives in Adobe huts, grass huts, cardboard box assemblies, plaster cracker box cabins they have to repair after a rain, with tin roofs made from flattened out drums and such. No concept of a door casing and a door at all.

Rare in America. I agree with everyone that some of the building materials are incredibly flimsy, but they are still “building” materials, subject to minimum codes.

Also, in a lot of those cultures, there is no way for them to learn how to use tools or fix such a thing. It’s a perspective thing.

God bless America!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

@Rick W , I don’t have a pic currently but I’m working on a video of the whole thing. Sadly the video won’t have footage of it trying to moon launch me unless I try to recreate it, lol. I took it apart to do some more fabrication to the whole thing so a pic will have to wait

 

[Bill]

Yup. I’ve also seen builder grade ones that not only had essentially balsa wood for the wood bits and cardboard spacer (almost more construction paper consistency than cardboard) and essentially pressed cardboard for the veneer…

The pressed cardboard-like material is probably mdf. That's what is used now. This place was constructed in 1971 and has a mix of what would have been used in the late 60s and early 70s. Back then they still used something like wood paneling. This place still has the original laminate countertops, linoleum flooring, and along with that, dark wood paneling, trim, and cabinets. Previous tenants who live here were kind of rough on it. I've patch and painted the walls and baseboards, along with fixing things previous tenants managed to damage in the past. The next project is sanding and painting the bathroom cabinet. The finish is peeling off of it. And, I might pull the goofy wood paneling off the dining room wall. That's going to involve finishing and texturing the drywall behind it.

 

[JoshT]

Sadly the video won’t have footage of it trying to moon launch me unless I try to recreate it, lol.

Need one of those sign smilies that says "Do it!" then post a few of them back to back to cheer you on. "Do it! Do it! Do it!"

 

[Rick W]

@Rick W , I don’t have a pic currently but I’m working on a video of the whole thing. Sadly the video won’t have footage of it trying to moon launch me unless I try to recreate it, lol. I took it apart to do some more fabrication to the whole thing so a pic will have to wait

All of your close friends are really curious, and you’re not willing to re-create it?

What am I gonna do with this T-shirt I got? It says “flying lil blue ford”

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The pressed cardboard-like material is probably mdf. That's what is used now. This place was constructed in 1971 and has a mix of what would have been used in the late 60s and early 70s. Back then they still used something like wood paneling. This place still has the original laminate countertops, linoleum flooring, and along with that, dark wood paneling, trim, and cabinets. Previous tenants who live here were kind of rough on it. I've patch and painted the walls and baseboards, along with fixing things previous tenants managed to damage in the past. The next project is sanding and painting the bathroom cabinet. The finish is peeling off of it. And, I might pull the goofy wood paneling off the dining room wall. That's going to involve finishing and texturing the drywall behind it.

It’s more like Masonite than MDF, but yeah, it was still wood veneer back then when your place was built.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Need one of those sign smilies that says "Do it!" then post a few of them back to back to cheer you on. "Do it! Do it! Do it!"

All of your close friends are really curious, and you’re not willing to re-create it?

What am I gonna do with this T-shirt I got? It says “flying lil blue ford”

Ok, ok, I’ll re-create it when I put the lifting pole back on, geeze, lol. I need to work on the green Ranger and I want to do some fabrication on the pole so it’s a little less sketchy before I do it though