Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

After having my spare rust solidly under my bed, I’m more mindful of the need to clean under there

@Delta09

 

The undercarriage needs some attention now and then...

 

It is way easier to keep something nice that get it back to nice.
I pull the spare down every spring and give things clean & look over.

New trucks are you tired of the color already?

 

Well said

 

I've done this with every truck I had. This was my 2021 after two particularly harsh winters




And I'm just playing around about the truck thing. I'm probably going to buy this one out when the lease is up. Never been more impressed with a truck. Despite the hate I think Toyota did a good launch of the 4th gens.

 

I got my fingers crossed Toyota will make the AC with functional doors at some point in the future.

I’ve been in a 2nd Gen AC (07 & 15) since 07 and driven them an estimated 495K miles. Can’t imagine not having the doors.

Knowing my luck, Toyota will probably scrap the AC altogether rather than put the doors back.

 

Pretty sure they're not bringing back the AC doors. AC's are definitely low volume now. Honestly I like my double cabs more than the AC's I've had. Much easier getting groceries and putting stuff in and out of the back.

 

Good morning shop crew, had my best nights sleep since moving in the new house. I even slept in. Hope everyone has a great and blessed Sunday.

 

good, you deserved it !!

 

I appreciate that perspective but I’m old and set in my ways

I put my bud on notice (he lives in the LA area) I might be asking him to find a ‘14-‘15 AC for me in the next few years…

 

It’s been a long few weeks. I would like to lay around today a do nothing. That’s not going to happen. Laundry, paperwork and 2 oil changes need to be done.

 

Well then.......

 

Yes Sir!

 

some of that is solved with a side profile shot.
it's really just a 2" ball hitch with a add-on 2" receiver above it.



but i'll provide some backstory, because it's the weekend and i've got the time to entertain.

my trailer project is still pending, and is my big project for at least the rest of this year, possibly longer depending on what comes up. it's unfortunately reaching that '80% spot', where 80% progress has been made with 20% effort, and further progress is going to take 80% the effort for 20% of the result. which means that it's going to end up getting pushed to the side for other projects out of motivation and need. bad habits.

but to the hitch winch project-- i have a bad history of not being able to go much more than 2-4 years with vehicles. doesn't matter the vehicle, i just can't keep anything much longer, as there's usually something newer/shinier/different that catches my eye, or i just plain get sick of my current projects and want something new. this is the first time in my history that i actually want to keep what i've got beyond that time frame because nothing newer appeals to me in any respect-- it was why i got what i got when i did--my opinion is that new vehicles are lateral movements with no improvement in my personal usage. both vehicles i've got are entirely reliable enough to make a trip across the country at a moment's notice, which i've also never had before.

that said, my 2-4 year vehicle jitters are still getting to me. so i started looking for a work beater to keep the other vehicles nice. the first issue is that now that i'm comfortable with a few ultra-reliable vehicles that i don't want to get rid of, i want something unique and different from what i have that's also got ample parts availability. which are things that don't ever jive.

i ended up fixating on 1978-79 ford f150/250 trucks--main benefits being 4x4, carburated, and still ample parts. problem is that all of them in my $5k price range are generally 'yard art' pieces that haven't ran in years, and will need work. so any potentials all require a trailer, and a way to get them onto said trailer. my project trailer isn't big enough, and while i have a co-worker that's freely offered his larger trailer, i have a significant bad family history with violent trailer tire blowouts. he's got a nice trailer, and i'm looking at traveling at least 6-8 hours for most vehicles i'm looking at. so given that i want to stay amicable with my co-worker, a u-haul rental trailer is in my best interest. but uhauls don't have winches on their trailers.

enter this winch project.

it's a way to hold any trailer in place with the pass through ball hitch, and adds a winch to pull any project onto or off of any make/model of trailer(it's also a 4500 pound winch because if i need more, i'll run a snatch block, which will dual-effect of double my pulling power, but also halve the winch speed). i would never plan to tow any distance on any public road with this setup, it would be a yard-dog setup for loading/unloading only once the truck and trailer are into position, because the side-load extension forces of the adapter lengths and heights make me slightly uncomfortable for public roads. it's not a great solution, but a far faster/easier to implement solution than the behind-the-license-plate, or headache rack winch big projects that i really want to do in the long run. and the main benefit is that it does it in a universal 2" receiver that can be used with any vehicle with a trailer hitch.

and now you know "the rest of the story"!

personally, i use a sound machine specifically for this. it's more noise, but it helps cut down on my racing mind when i should be calming down and sleeping. also helps keep the dog calmer at night too, passing cars don't wake him as much, which doesn't wake me as much.

i used to have a lot of stigma's about noise machines, and generally avoided them as childish. but i'd rather have my sleep over any social impressions. and all of us have far too much going on most times, that trying to get even a full 6 hours of sleep can be difficult to blank out the mind for that long without something else to focus on, even if it's white noise.

lol, i've got basically the same list. my laundry is going now. i also really need to start the process to transition my 401k to my newest employer fund, but honestly the markets right now have me kicking that can to every 'next week' for a lot of reasons i won't get into here.

i realized this weekend that both my vehicles have hit 5k miles, which is my normal oil change interval. the trucks getting close on tires and brakes, and the car is a few hundred over 60k, which is the major service interval to deal with spark plugs, fluids, a squeaking idler pulley, and well-known for throwout bearing replacement(my cars an early 2nd model year, the first 3 years the throwout bearing was well known to fail within 30k-50k, so i'm already on borrowed time). really not looking forward to doing any of it, but also want even less to need to pay anyone for any of it. yay stubbornness!

i decided i'm doing 7500 mile oil changes this time.

 

for anyone in the wyoming area... it looks like this is an amazing place to go for a history trip.
https://nmmv.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3eCmeZutmk

 

Good Sunday afternoon friends! Hope the day is good to you all

 

The 3 screws with the slotted plate are for putting on a round unthreaded piece so it’ll line up straight, there is only one thumb screw on the back to hold the die in

 

It’s great. Being lazy

 

Yeah, at this angle it shows plenty of room. This setup will make loading chore a breeze