you all will understand more than anyone else.
That pile of blue and yellow bins. And the coffee can, mark the last unsorted nuts and bolts in the shop. Theres still a few bins on the wall i could probably dump in the trash and never know what i missed, as i have no idea whats in them. But they will come in time.
Regardless, this is the cleanest the bench has been since before the $2019 challenge. Closer to $2018 if im honest. That green bucket is leftover from stripping the miata to start the buuld.
This feels GOOD. buy im a little nervous. When my shop gets this clean, i tend to start a huge new project. Im not ready to start one yet....
Three bicycles to fix, trans in the truck, button up the miata fir the season, maintenance on the mower. These are the next projects i plan.....
Ill get it swept and mopped after that last bit of hardware.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
I love how there's always a 2 liter of Diet Mt. Dew within 20 feet of you at all times.
Not as much anymore. Limit to one a day, all over by lunch now. After that water. I'm still needing to cut that one back to zero, but a step at a time.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
Is that limit one two liter? I had to quit leaded dew 4 years ago now, and I try to keep myself to two 12 oz cans of unleaded or less a day now. Would love to quit forever, since they are actually made of poison, but addiction is tough.
I was a 4 per day Diet Dew guy for many,many years. Free refills at restaurants is a bad thing....
I quick soft drinks cold turkey 2.5 years ago. I drink only water and tea now.........and beer.
Dew (and all soft drinks) is seriously addictive. Haven't had a drop since, but still can taste/crave it.
For me the limit is one 2 liter a day. When I had the heart attack I was up to four to six of them a day. I'm still working on cutting back from there. Goal is to eventually get off of all together, but I quit smoking and started taking care of my diet and exercise first.
Trying to get more used to coffee and tea vs. Soda. At least the redeeming quality of it being Diet Mountain Dew is there...
not not really shop specific, but the side of my driveway borders the city sewer line. Its overgrown with bamboo, vines, and other vegetation.
It bothers me. City won't do anything about it, despite years of me trying to get them to.
Im fixing it. From the two bigger trees to the road was almost overrun at 9am. Plan is to get all the big stiff out woth the chainsaw, little crap with the saw blade on a stick. then keep it chopped back. Maybe put a goat or two out there.
Before from the two bigger trees to the middle-ish of my driveway. It gets worse from there.....
calling it quits. Three solid hours of nonstop work from the teenage girls from the girlscout troop that asked me if i had anything they could do to earn money.
I told them minimum wage. Thats ~$8 hr here. I paid them $11. They asked me to take them to Dunkin donuts as soon as i paid them!!!
thats starting to look like i want. Long way to go to see the creek though. Step at a time.
Your shop space is inspiring me to tackle mine more when spring hits (too cold to tackle it right now and can't get my car out of the way do to snow build up outside the large doors).
I plan to focus on organization and lighting foremost.
This is the crawlspace. I call it cold storage.
This year during annual termite inspection, they mentioned possible mold to my wife and i. Me being mister one lung, we can't play around there. So, everything came out. All my parts, supplies, etc. I hauled off and gave away many truckloads until the final push in a one day thrash of car buddies. Stu Lasswell, racetruckron, my autocross instructor and his buddy, brother dallas. One day. All their vehicles filled, everything i kept stuck in half a 16 foot box trailer, rest to scrap. Stripped all the insulation, then paid the man. He scrubbed all the joists and subfloor, graded the dirt, vapor barrier and spray in insulation. Its tight as a drum.
I then lined cheap osb with styrofoam insulation as a floor protector, and loaded in what parts i kept.
8k later, im almost done. And kicking myself for a lot of what i purged now that the amc is back.....
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Cold storage got all fancified. Looks nice.
In reply to Stampie :
Thanks! Its actually nice in there now. House smells better too.
So, this has ki da become my thread for tbe shop/shop equipment/property stuff i do.
Guess well start a section on tow dolly rebuilding.
This is my $400 tow dolly i bought from Patrick. Ive never had my own dolly, and only ever used uhaul. So, this will be an adventure!
I want to grind down, reweld and plate the repair to the neck. Reinforce the deck. Replace tires and ratchets. Have new straps. Add fenders and lights. And be in it for under $750 for a nice, refreshed dolly.
Heres the starting point.
So, i want to reweld and plate this area since i have no idea why it is the way it is. Its on all four sides of tbe tounge near as I can tell so far.
the winches are currently this design. It came with new straps, but the winches are pretty rough. Im debating what to do. Replace with the same design? Replace with tbe ratchet strap version like uhaul, assuming they fit the mounts? Option i dont know about? What says the hive?
Ghis is the deck to reinforce. Someone cut the one edge off at some point, and the welds at the front corners are cracking. Patrick suggested, and i agree, that i grind and reweld the cracks. Add 1x1/2x2 angle iron to rebuild the rear lip, and one or two laid to make triangle down ths bed on eother side of the pivot point. Anything else i should do or add? Im not above modifications for better usefulness on anything on my property.
Lastly is fresh tires. These are quite hard. Not entirely sure how old, but....
Ill repack the bearings as well while im in there. Then add fenders and lights. Would love to add brakes, but not sure i can on this design of trailer spindle according to a quick and incompetent google search.
Disassembly in process. I only have so much space, so im chipping away at it.
First order of business in my world is always cleaning. So thats where im at now.
The grease for the pivoting deck has solidified. Im pretty much scraping undercoating.
Ill need to do something here for reassembley. I know grease and send it is what most would do. However, is there a better, more durable solution? Umhw sheets? Bearings? Or am i overthinking it again?
Long time lurker and first post or first post in many years. Either way, also a long time tow dolly user and that looks like a Master Tow. The older ones had the grease fittings like yours. I'm pretty sure the newer ones simply have some kind of poly blocks instead. Master Tow has a decent website and parts are here: https://www.mastertow.com/product/All%20Parts/?3%7C0
In reply to dke :
Thats a really awesome link! Thanks!!!
Looks like newer parts will fit tje older dolly. And the sheets are cheap through them, as well as the ratchets.
Fenders are $50 each. So ill keep looking there....
Hi this is Mini__Munchkin dusterbd13's kid. We went to grab garage doors for the carport in Lenoyr.
We somehow managed to find a working McDonalds ice cream machine. Somehow.
It's warming up, I'll be back in mine soon
Awesome seeing others' garage projects, inspiring.
Mini-munchkin and i got secretarias quickjack repaired and working today.
I think im going to love it once i get used to it.
Hey, I have got a stihl weedeater with two different brush blades on it that could save you hours of clearing there. (i've cleared acres of brush with it)
As well as several other clearing tools. I doubt it'd fit in the boss to drag to the next CCR event but let me know if you want to borrow it. Can maybe try meet you halfway to loan it to you.
that was a lot of work. 
