geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

Thanks man!

Appreciate it. Need to buckle down on the garage and get going on my plans. I wanna swisstrax the floors (99.9% sure) and then get started on the french cleat wall system. I need to figure out a good storage system too. So many options and ideas.

Then I want to finish up the front suspension; gusseted spindles and a few other things.

Actually just peaked into the totes that store that stuff a little while ago today. Nice reminder.

 

Oooh the house payoff mod…that’s the best one.

I haven’t decided what will be next for the truck. We already have some big trips planned for 2024. I might have a professional paint correction and ceramic coating done. Idk.

Organizing is the best. I think next I’m going to be replacing the interior doors because they’re all ancient.

 

So the wife is ok with the pineapple lite?

 

Speaking of pineapples. I was at the barber today. They had some cooking show on the TVs and the dude was cutting a pineapple. The barber hadn’t said a word in like 10 minutes and he suddenly goes “Do you like pineapple?”

I was like….

 

Sus AF

 

More updates:

- Replaced old garage door seals (about 20 years old)
- reinforced the garage door opener for the big door; too much movement when going up or down
- adjusted the belt since the technician seemed to not have been able to tension it properly
- replaced front yard landscaping lighting; old ones looked like they were on the bottom of the ocean.



- had to have our water softener tank rebuilt; took twice as long because they cracked our tank and didn't know until they brought it back the first time and replaced it and there was a leak.
- brought back the exterior wall decor



- this was a fun little adventure..



- the in-laws were in town during all of this so it was even more adventurous.

- was supposed to be deep sea fishing but the weather was not cooperative.
- went bass fishing instead and got on 'em good.

Chaos.

 

More house mods; we have been trying to bring this house back from a neglected state that the sellers and previous renters left the house in.

- Updates in the laundry room; new lighting (had to put in a junction box since the old light wiring was run through a hole in the ceiling), removed the out of reach ceiling cabinet that will be utilized in the garage somewhere, took the trim pieces from that cabinet to finish out the remaining cabinets in there, new blinds and a foldable drying rack. Nothing special, simple, basic and functional.



- garage lighting; I took the old light from the laundry room and put it in the garage. Only one light in the garage worked and was irritating. So I replaced it with a known working one to get two lights in the garage:



This was a fool's errand, however, because some genius replaced the old florescent bulbs with LED ballast bypass bulbs not knowing they would never work since they didn't bother to bypass the ballasts.

The mismatched bulb temps irritated me to no end, and the one in the photo to the right would not kick on immediately. It needed time to warm up. So, I went to home Depot and got 4 4k DIRECT REPLACEMENT bulbs:



- next was preventing the truck from going through the back wall of the garage. I would try my best to line up on the camera and adjust for the new location since the swingout forces you to relocate the backup camera..no such luck. This would have probably gotten worse and worse:



Another trip to Home Depot and about $35 later, boom:



Touched up the wall with paint and onto the next project.

- Jackstand storage; every time I went out to the garage to work or tinker on something, I was tripping over or moving the jackstands out of the way. Every time. Got a 8' 2"x3", had to taper one end of it using a circular saw and an electric sander to mount it between the two garage doors, painted it white to blend in and voila:



I also took the time to clean up and zip tie the cat5 cabling out of the way. Still have to do one side of the small door, but it looks much cleaner.

Only thing I am thinking of is moving two of the jackstands up and adding a retractable 50 foot extension cord reel.

Future plans (currently; subject to change almost daily )

- hoist system to store the RTT above one of the garage bays to help free up wall space for more organization and storage.

- putting up wall prefabbed organization for the yard and garden tools and some other miscellaneous items around the garage

- then, I would like to build a shelf above the two metal cabinets we have in the back of the garage for tote bin storage. I might ditch these cabinets altogether to have 2x4 and plywood shelving here instead.



That's it for now.

 

Wasn't there a recall for these types of HF jack stands?

Oh btw, i bought the HF insider track thing. You can use it if you want to buy some cheap painting supplies. Or tools haha. It uses my number, so send me a PM if you want..

 

I don't think these are the recalls (?)

 

Oh i thought they changed the design with the triangle piece that slides in.. im not sure. I have some older craftsman ones, so im behind on the times

 

I'll have to triple check. I'm doing an oil change soon so that means tire change. Just got an order of OEM oil filters off of Amazon, too.

I will be doing wiper blades and the cabin air filter, too. Gonna probably be giving this girl a bath. She needs it. Just been putting it off with everything else going on.

 

Shifting to the truck mods:

Has anyone that's still here ever replaced the antenna nut on their Tacoma? Mine is DESTROYED.

 

Randy has. You need a special tool

 

For sure. Got the tool in my cart and the replacement antenna base.

I thought I had the tool already, somewhere, but could even begin to think where it would be after the move. Maybe my triple bank but not 100% on that.

 

Never a dull moment around here:

- hot tub is all hooked up and the gas tank is filled; ready for relaxation



- sold some old furniture and made some cash.

- temps flew into the mid-70's this week and when we turned on the AC, the second floor was not blowing cold air. Had the company back out that was here in August to swap the manufacturer defective EVAP coil. They found the issue and we have cold air again. During the process, the two technicians that were here we're questioning the install and the logic behind the install when the company the sellers used installed the new units.

- best guess by them was that they mixed up where the units were going to be located and which thermostat was going to control which floor.

The recurring theme of this house seems to be "Why would someone do it that way?"

Hopefully, we can move forward from this and I can go on to garage organization and making the space functional. Next, will be organizing and hanging up yard tools. Trying to tackle one section/area of the garage at a time.

Picked up one of these for the truck as there are plans in motion this year and the truck may sit for some time. Maintaining the battery will be necessary:

NOCO GENIUS5, 5A Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V and 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV, Lithium and Deep Cycle Batteries

$70 NOCO GENIUS5, 5A Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V and 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV, Lithium and Deep Cycle Batteries

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W8KJH44

Still need to do an oil change, filter changes and wash the ole girl; there seems to always be something going on, however..

 

I bought that same one Monday

 

Hell yeah. Never had one for the truck and I guess it was about time. Always had and used one for my motorcycle.

 

I just did the antenna delete and run spotify myself. The antenna just rolls around on a shelf in my garage nowadays.

 

I'm thinking this weekend might be some maintenance and garage organization; likely Sunday with the possibility of rain. I can leave the truck out to get "clean" while organizing.

- first up; oil change, tire rotation, new cabin filter and new wiper blades.

- I went and got some hooks from Home Depot last week when I went to swap out a propane tank and purchase another one for our fire table (also, to serve as a backup for the grille ) The hooks will be for both the string trimmers and creeper. Then, rakes, shovels and the blower will be hung using simple screws and 2x4's; at least, that's the plan for now but I don't need anything fancy.

- I am thinking that the extension cord reel that I wanted to put in the center of the garage will be best located somewhere else. Maybe I can mount an air hose reel there instead.

The extension cord reel might go up into a corner near the front of the garage and still be functional but not stick out and be in the way when moving around the cars. I might mount the vacuum next to that as well because, honestly, for the extension cord reel and the smaller vacuum that used to be mounted on the ceiling in the old garage, there really isn't a good place to mount either of those anywhere else. I am thinking about having them mount above the water softener in the garage as anything else like shelving for storage would be pointless; at least the vacuum can be removed to access the water softener and the extension cord reel swings out of the way.

- lastly, I received my

$70 NOCO genius5 , 5A Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V and 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV, Lithium and Deep Cycle Batteries

NOCO genius5 came today:



- depending on what I can get done, I might take a stab at the antenna base replacement, too. I have the tool and the replacement base came today with the NOCO.

- I have some new wheels coming for my workbench, too. The ones I have now we're damaged in the move and I wanted some new ones. Those are supposed to arrive Friday.

 

Boy was it a weekend..

Needed to relocate some sprinkler heads but also shorten them a bit.



After and planted:



Found this while planting:



Got some things organized in the garage. Pretty happy with it, but eventually, the ladders and sawhorses. I would also figure out some horizontal storage; things like the flag for the truck, 270 awning, spare driveshaft, frame plates and DOM tubing etc.



Got my flags hung up:



Stormed Sunday morning pretty good. It was supposed to be shitty all day, however, only half the day was crummy and the weather broke around noon/1pm.



Because the afternoon was so beautiful out, I got some time in on a few new ponds instead of changing the oil and rotating the tires.

Managed to get 6 but only land 5 and this was the biggest boy. I need to order a scale but this guy was conservatively 19".



Before and after:



Before and after #2:



It's coming along nicely..



More cleaning up of the landscaping to come..most likely this weekend.