What did YOU do today?

[racsan]

Got the F150 running, turns out the connection for the wire to plug on the fuel pump relay had corrosion & broke off. temporarily jumpered it so I could finish the brake bleeding & of course I had to take it out on the road. Running really good. Pulled the bedliner to have a look & swept the dust out that was there, drained the back fuel tank, the gas in it was really bad, only about 5 gallons in there though. Put the new tailgate cables on. Next I need to get a new pigtail for the fuel pump relay & then I will move on to windshield wipers.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

After church I got the electric fan in the Choptop secured for now (somehow it lost the two lower bolts and plastic retainers, it’s got a temporary fix for now). Also got a couple other little things straightened up and spent most of my time in my shop cleaning off some of the workbench and filling my service cart. Hopefully I can finish collecting the odds and ends I need for the shop and get a few dry days to get it extended and wrapped in steel.

 

[superj]

helped my son fix his girlfriend's friends police interceptor explorer.

That thing is awesome

 

[scotts90ranger]

Some of the wife's family drove up from central California so we drove 90 minutes south at the buttcrack of dawn this morning to hang out for a bit, went to a swap meet and got a couple things then got home and mowed again

Oh, this morning while we were in the wife's Camry I noticed some steam out of the hood area so I investigated and turns out the radiator is fried, so that's fun... over 100 miles and it only lost a pint of water though... it's just the top tank.

I mowed most of the afternoon and did a couple other things...

 

[Rick W]

After church I got the electric fan in the Choptop secured for now (somehow it lost the two lower bolts and plastic retainers, it’s got a temporary fix for now). Also got a couple other little things straightened up and spent most of my time in my shop cleaning off some of the workbench and filling my service cart. Hopefully I can finish collecting the odds and ends I need for the shop and get a few dry days to get it extended and wrapped in steel.

View attachment 140847

It’s all terrific!

Is there some reason the official “shed of miracles” committee has not received your application?

 

[Rick W]

EDIT on axle sizes

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I love craigslist/marketplace. I kind of troll them daily and occasionally I find a deal.

I picked up another 2000 pound axle FOR FREE, and while I found him on craigslist, I got four Michelin tires for $100 from an old friend (before I got injured). They’re the European semi-all-terrain tires that came on the early 70s/80s/90s Mercedes convertible SL sports cars in Europe. Old, but garage kept for their lifetime. They look more like vinyl than rubber. Perfect for my next trailer project.

That was a week ago. A couple days ago, I picked up a couple more axles.

All good E-rated tires!! The little one is a solid 1-1/4” solid bar with 4 x 4 hubs, and the big one is a 2” heavy tube assembly with 5 x 4.5 (Ranger) hubs. That one must be 7 feet long! I got them for $100 total. I think I’m going to use the big one for the “dump” tag axle (more to follow), and the little one will be part of the 4-axle car trailer.

And when I was quitting today and cleaning up, a guy responded from marketplace, and I picked up three 12’ 3/4” x 3/4” by 1/8” aluminum C channels. I had to pay $40, more than I would usually pay, but I have a specific need to make a window frame for an ARE 5x8 full size camper top I’ve had for a while with no rear window (more to follow on that later).

And the most important thing: I got a 4-pneumatic tire cute butt buggy for the cute little Burnette for when she’s pulling weeds in her garden. Steering & tractor seat! She’s bringing it over on Tuesday for me to assemble it. I think, after that, she may “thank me.” Woo hoo! (You guys under 55, ask your dads what that means!).

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It’s all terrific!

Is there some reason the official “shed of miracles” committee has not received your application?

Probably lost in the mail with all my other missing mail.

Also possibly because this is not my “shed of miracles” but rather my “shop of miracles”. Shed needs rehabbed at some point this year after the shop is done and my green Ranger operational. Garage of miracles is likely a couple years out. I have it, just no flat spot to assemble it. There’s a bunch of things standing in the way of that and most of them revolve around money that I don’t currently have.

 

[SenorNoob]

Then I took them out again, and drilled/doubled the diameter of the four holes that feed the water, so I can take a decent shower.

I need to look into that myself. With 80 lbs of pressure in the house it's still kinda underwhelming. Considering I'm used to spring water running like 5 lbs, that's saying something. Was that in the faucet or the shower head?

 

[Jay11]

Finally got to my junkyard haul. Cleaned up the wheels. Tires are good, the steelies could use a "wheel face lift." I had picked up graphite spray paints from the Advanced Auto for $1.95 on clearance. They are now ready for the market place. Yeah baby show me the money

What do you guys think of the graphite gray color for the steelies? I thought this was a better color for the looks and to attract buyers compared to oem aluminum color. Yes/No?

Also snagged a spare steelie for $20 for the F150. The present one on the truck was dry rotted, dated from 2007 even though it had brand new treads on it.

 

[Rick W]

I need to look into that myself. With 80 lbs of pressure in the house it's still kinda underwhelming. Considering I'm used to spring water running like 5 lbs, that's saying something. Was that in the faucet or the shower head?

“Yes”

I did the showerhead a long time ago, but I think if you take it off, you can see the little hole. You might have to take it apart to find the restriction hole. It’s only like 1/8 or 5/32 inch. I drilled it out to about a 3/16 or 7/32, but you have to be very careful not to damage anything underneath what you’re drilling. When you increase the diameter, a little bit, you actually increased cross-section area by a lot.

On the mixer valve, if you take it out, on the backside, you’ll see the little holes. I made them about twice the diameter, but that actually increases the flow by about threefold. Behind by mixing valve, Kohler, I had to drill out the back of the scalder valve, a fancy thing that prevents you from getting scalded. I had to drill the hot and cold in the front, and the hot and the cold of the back on that one.

It’s kind of soft plastic, so you have to be very careful about the drill catching and pulling itself in and damaging something else. The mixture valve and the scalder valve cost me about 150 bucks.

And 75 psi is way too much pressure for house plumbing. You should probably regulate that down to more like 30 or 35 psi, maybe a little bit more if you’ve got a second story.

Now that’s all illegal in Georgia, we’re supposed to have the water savers

 

[SenorNoob]

I know about the legally required "low flow" showerheads at 2.5GPM. IDC.

 

[superj]

35 would feel so low. here in south texas, the average i saw, depending on how close to the tower, of course, was 60-65. guys close to the towers had to get pressure reducers added to the house inlet or their toilets valves would keep breaking because the close houses generally saw 80-110psi.

my house reads 60 at the shed and garage level spigots, i never check the upstairs because you can feel how low it is compared to downstairs.

a plumber came and did a pressure test on the supply and sewer side last week for the builder of our new house. he stupidly pumped the lines up to 100psi and blew out the toilet valve in the shed. since i was at work, i didn't know till got home and was wondering why the toilet was running out there. the builder called and told me how impressed the plumber was that the system held so much pressure and no leaks on the supply lines.

i told him nothing should leak because i redid all the upstairs lines last rummer rerouting where we had all the stuff in the kitchen and also how i had to redo alot of the sewer lines at the city side of the yard since they never glue anything.

but i hadn't found the toilet till later so i didn't get to tell him how that flush valve leaks now.

 

[SenorNoob]

I'm gonna catch up on some things since I haven't been online in awhile.

Oil change and driver's side armrest on the truck.

All 3 of these little clips gave up the ghost.

Only replacement I could find was a 1/4in license plate bracket clip with #12 1.5in screws. Works great.
Got the mower out and serviced. Mowed the yard.
Went to Mom's and helped her and my uncle clean up brush from the storm last month.

I also have a plan to fix the grill on my truck. Details later.