How'd it go today?

[cybergeek23851]

Holy Molly I could tear it up and break some bones with that thang.

Especially with the hills out your way, which I was out there today. I met my old college dorm mate, and his fiance(that I introduced him, to) for a wine sampling down at Horton Vineyards, on my way back from Massachusetts.

 

[squisher]

damn...I thought you were peddling...yeah, your outta shape

Don't underestimate what it takes physically to tear some shit up on a moto.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I also forgot to mention, after having to work gaff-less all week. It really felt good to stab them again

 

[Stumper]

Today sucked. A lot. I spent allday yesterday in the bucket doing a vista prune/topping mutilation. I screwed up by looking at it from above and not hiking in to look at it from the bottom. The Rec district let me have a key to drive into the park do the work and I discovered that I underbid it bad. ....so all day yesterday in the bucket and all day today cleaning up. I then drove around to get paid and discovered that the customer wants more. I've got 19 hours into a job bid for 7 and now I have to go meet with him tomorrow to look at it in better light. Crap.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Live and learn, and laugh a lot!

 

[stehansen]

I ground a stump this morning and did a bid and worked on my trailer this afternoon.

 

[Old Monkey]

Sorry your job went south Justin. I've been there too. I hope you can get done and put some distance between you and that job.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Should be close to done on the trailer eh Steve?
How's it coming?

 

[brendonv]

Don't underestimate what it takes physically to tear some shit up on a moto.

+1

 

[Dave Shepard]

absolutely Squisher. A good session on a bike or quad will leave you beat. But it's worth it.

 

[Al Smith]

I did some work yesterday on the metal lathe for souping up another saw .

Today I've got to help get Toms old chip trunk going which is in my shop .It seems he's got it sold .

Got an 11 foot Southco box still to get rid of .

 

[stehansen]

Should be close to done on the trailer eh Steve?
How's it coming?

I would probably be done if I could ever work on it for any length of time without interuption. I still need to do a few more gussets and I need to re-route the wires up to the end of the hitch, install a light plug in the bed of the pickup, safety chains, and paint of course. I need it on Thursday, I have a 24" dbh liquid amber to remove in Modesto.
When I engineer things like this my inclanation is to use material that is way too heavy and so purposefully I use material that is a little lighter than I would use if I were to build it the way I used to build things. Example: My Dad got the material for the sides and floor of this trailer and it is 16 guage, which is pretty thin. I was thinking 1/4" would be right. The whole time we were putting this together I thought we were wasting our time, that this stuff wouldn't hold up and I would end up replacing it. Well the sides and floor have held up just fine, so my thoughts on the material would have added a couple thousand pounds to the trailer without much benefit.
My original thoughts for this hitch would have been to use 2"X6" rectangular tube with a 1/4" wall. I downsized to 6" channel iron because I already had almost enough of it to do the job and it would be lighter than the tube. The trouble with this method is that when I'm almost done with the project I start having second thoughts about using the lighter material. I get these visions of the whole thing collapsing when I load the tractor in it, or going down the freeway and seeing the channel iron twisting, you name it. So then I try and figure out the weak points and start bracing those. I have no formal training in this stuff and I don't even know how big the loads and stresses are if I were to try and engineer for those. I called my Dad to come over for a consultation a couple of days ago and he thought if I braced it up everything would be fine.
Does this count as sharing my feelings? If so I will have to tell my wife.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Can't wait to see it all hooked up. Should be rather impressive looking. That should really make it easier for you to get the trailer in tight places. Better distribution of weight obviously.

 

[lumberjack]

For sure gusset and fishplate the hail out of the start of the gooseneck frame/trailer frame interface and the 90* mitered joint.

Is it just me, or does the neck look really long? Could just be camera angle.

Looking good

 

[SkwerI]

Dumb question Steve- Why did you come forward off the frame for 2'-3' before going up with the gooseneck frame? Seems like that extra distance will just multiply the stress on the attachment point. The ones I've seen come straight up with just enough clearance for the box to dump without rubbing.

But then I'm not a welder either, it just looked a little funny. And possibly a little weak.

 

[lumberjack]

I pondered the same thing.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Probably so the box doesn't hit the gooseneck.

 

[lumberjack]

The box is hinged at the bottom, so the closest it ever gets would be all the way down.

But maybe it was closer than he cared for.

 

[Dave Shepard]

You are making the assumption that the box stops at the end of the original frame, and doesn't overhang it.

 

[Old Monkey]

Maybe he wants to put a tool box there.

 

[Mr. Sir]

If you scroll back a few pages, there is another pic of this trailer from the side. The original frame is behind the front of the dump bed, so the gooseneck HAD to be extended forward for proper clearance.

 

[Dave Shepard]

And there you have it. I scrolled, but not enough.

 

[stehansen]

I think it's the camera angle. It is a little longer than I envisioned it, and that is one of the parts that worries me. The original hitch angled in before it got to the front of the box. Here is the left side finished except for slicking it up. I put a channel iron gusset that you can see plus on the original piece that is boxed I left out a little piece of the box until last so I could reach in and weld the inside of the channel iron at the interface. After I welded it I welded in the last piece of the box.

 

[littlenick]

I think it's the camera angle. It is a little longer than I envisioned it, and that is one of the parts that worries me. The original hitch angled in before it got to the front of the box. Here is the left side finished except for slicking it up. I put a channel iron gusset that you can see plus on the original piece that is boxed I left out a little piece of the box until last so I could reach in and weld the inside of the channel iron at the interface. After I welded it I welded in the last piece of the box.

That will be a nice dump trailer when its finished...

I looked at a truck today i think im going to buy...

2001 Ford F250 4x4 XLT, 50,000 miles, 5.4 V8, Alloy wheels, new tires...

There asking 10k for it...

What do you think?

 

[sawinredneck]

Check www.kbb.com for prices in you're area.
It sounds a bit high to me. I am not sue if they had the head problem fixed by then. The old 5.4's would blow the spark plug out if they were not installed tight enough. They also could be gas hogs. Some drank a lot of fuel, some didn't. The newer 3 valve motors do a lot better.