ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[customh]

I think once these wear a bit I will try the silicon bronze and see how that works. I know silicon bronze has good wear properties but not sure how it will hold up directly against concrete either.

Silicon bronze is good for lubricated metal-metal wear is what you're referring to?

Hardfacing is a different animal- depositing a harder material layer over a softer parent metal. Generally with an additive like manganese or tungsten carbide. Think excavator buckets, etc. Unless you can get ahold of some electrodes for cheap or free you'll be much better off replacing the steel when the time comes. At least $10/lb for 1/8" Stoody 19 and you'd have to work hard to find a vendor selling less than 5lb packs.

 

[zmotorsports]

Love the paper towel holder mike. Just had to one-up with the indexable feature on big end.
Nice cabinets too.

Not a mustard fan myself, katchup for the win!

Thanks Justin. Sorry, it wasn't a one-up thing, I just wanted to use the entire con. rod, cap included. The indexing portion just made sense when trying to figure out how to clamp using the cap.

Love the meme, mustard is down for the count.

She probably loves you too, Mike.

I sure hope so Scott. In June will be our 35th anniversary so I hope she hasn't just tolerated me.

 

[zmotorsports]

@zmotorsports you could introduce them to Fry sauce and see how that goes over.

I’m a ketchup on a hotdog kinda guy also. Mustard goes on brisket or pastrami sandwich’s only in my mind.

Thank you again for the Por-15 help this afternoon.

Happy to help Dave. Sorry it took me a bit to reply, I was driving home and didn't realize I had a text message until I got home.

It's nice that you people manage to find one other.

Well you know what they say about great minds Scott.

 

[zmotorsports]

How do you like the eagle eyes headlamp assemblies? My 2004 GMC Sierra has severely clouded OEM Lights. If I could find a good replacement I would buy those over sanding them and 2k clear coating them....again.

I really wished someone had quality GMT 800 projector headlights that I could find (And trust). I really don't want to retrofit morimioto projectors in.

I have no idea if these are any good AND they are for the Denali and i only have an SLT

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I like the quality of them so far from a manufacturing standpoint. I don't have any drive time on them yet to know about how well they work. I will say one thing that when I was aiming them the other night I noticed that the high beams aren't exactly aligned. The hi/low are not independently adjustable, so I aimed using the low beams and noticed when I switched to high beams the light pattern was off a bit side to side. That kind of disappointed me if I'm being honest.

 

[zmotorsports]

Silicon bronze is good for lubricated metal-metal wear is what you're referring to?

Hardfacing is a different animal- depositing a harder material layer over a softer parent metal. Generally with an additive like manganese or tungsten carbide. Think excavator buckets, etc. Unless you can get ahold of some electrodes for cheap or free you'll be much better off replacing the steel when the time comes. At least $10/lb for 1/8" Stoody 19 and you'd have to work hard to find a vendor selling less than 5lb packs.

Thanks for the information Travis. My experience with silicon bronze is somewhat limited but I based my comments solely on how it wears on some gears I have repaired and also how hard it was during machining.

**On edit Travis, what TIG rod would you recommend for hardfacing/wearfacing? I wonder if some stainless rod would work or maybe some tool steel rod? Thoughts?

Thank you.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I have a friend who does hard facing all the time. I bet he’d give me a rod or two just cuz. Drop me a DM if you want me to ask. I don’t think you’d need more than that much to do those two skids. Just think, after a couple passes the groves that will get worn into your concrete should help with hydroplaning this coming monsoon season when you zip into your driveway coming home!

 

[zmotorsports]

I have a friend who does hard facing all the time. I bet he’d give me a rod or two just cuz. Drop me a DM if you want me to ask. I don’t think you’d need more than that much to do those two skids. Just think, after a couple passes the groves that will get worn into your concrete should help with hydroplaning this coming monsoon season when you zip into your driveway coming home!

Thanks for the offer Sterling, I think I'm good at this time, but I'm not gonna lie, my worry with something harder is in fact damage to my concrete. Currently with the steel being the sacrificial element in the equation I get no damage, not even scratching, to the concrete which is what I prefer.

That is why I opted to go with thicker wear material on this go round as a test just to see how long they last because I know it won't damage my concrete. If I can get 2x or 3x the duration between rebuilds of the skids then I will consider that a win.

 

[PugetDude]

Lignum Vitae?

 

[Seagoon]

Lignum Vitae?

i don't know about the USA but it would be cheaper over here to use gold skids than Lignum Vitae

 

[zmotorsports]

I hope everyone had a great weekend. For the wife and I we did something we don't normally do, stayed home the entire weekend. We will usually either go to dinner or get take-out one night of the weekend and breakfast on Sunday is pretty much a given. However, with the winter snow warning for the entire weekend the wife just wanted to stay home and relax although she did promise me some kick-*** meals, so I was all in.

Friday night I started out by wheeling the snowblower out to the shop to work on it. It ran good for the first part of the previous storm but then mid-way through it started hunting again and wouldn't idle at all. I thought for certain I had more **** in the fuel bowl but once I got it removed the bowl was clean as could be.

I thought the smaller pilot circuit must be plugged with something from when the bowl had debris in it last week but after working on it for a bit the kids come by and I was anxious to see my grandson so I closed up shop and headed in the house.

Fortunately, we didn't get any snow Friday night but we were expecting 5-9 inches between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The wife made me an awesome breakfast on Saturday and then she wanted to be left alone to do her housework. I took the hint and headed to the shop to pick up where I left off Friday night on the snowblower. I hate these damn tamperproof carburetors that are the norm these days. I realize they do it for EPA reasons, but they can be a PITA to work on. I finally got the pilot jet out and cleaned the pilot circuit thoroughly then she purred like a kitten again. I also took that time to replace the fuel filter under the fuel tank and removed the recoil starter housing to replace the fraying pull rope.

I used the last of the 5.5 size pull rope from my spool with about 16 inches to spare, so I had to order some more afterwards.

It is always better to replace these pull ropes before they break to prevent the spring from blowing apart inside the housing. I caught mine just in time as I don't think it was long for this life.

I clamped the pulley to the housing after pulling the rope out of the pulley, then cut the knots off to allow them to pull through the pulley and handle.


After a double knot on each end I melted the ends after cutting.....


and pulled the knots into the corresponding pockets.


I also added one more revolution to the spring as it felt a bit weak at the last couple of inches. Completed and ready to reinstall.


After reinstalling the recoil starter, I fired it up, checked, double checked and then triple checked that the machine would idle down and rev up to full throttle without hesitation or any hunting. Mission accomplished. I then thought I'd check the RPM and it was a little low. These are designed to run at 3600 RPM and mine was just over 3100 so I bumped it up to slightly over 3400 RPM.

I had originally figured that I would swap the modified skids out when the others wore through after all, I had just flipped the skids at the beginning of this season. However, my curiosity was getting the better of me and I had to see if they would work.

The problem revealed itself as a bit of a design oversight. When I cut the steel blocks last week and welded them to the worn side of each skid, I used a pocket rule for the height and kind of eyeballed it.

Well, when I went to install them I quickly realized that I hadn't allocated enough room for the nut nor a socket in which to tighten the nut. No worries, nothing a quick trip to the mill couldn't take care of.

I clamped the skid in the mill vise and found center of the 5/16" slotted hole and cut a recess approx. .200" deep.


I then grabbed a 1/2" socket and after measuring it, I grabbed a .750" diameter end mill and enlarged the recess to the .200" depth.


This will allow the nut to be installed and the socket to fit without removing so much material that it negates the thicker skid.


Cleaned and deburred. Ready for installation.


After placing the center scraper bar on a piece of cardboard, I installed the skids on either side of the auger chute and adjusted to light contact with the concrete. Tightened the carriage bolts down and it is now ready for snow.


These skids still have a good side so I bagged them up in the hopes that this mod will work for a long duration, then I'll perform the same modification to this set of skids.



Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

After moving the snowblower back to the house garage I commenced a thorough cleaning of the shop.

After cleaning the shop, I decided to call it a day and head into the house. That's when I realized that the snow was starting to fall and was beginning to stick to the ground.












Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

By the time the wife and I went to bed Saturday night there was a good 4 or so inches on the front porch and the garbage cans out the back window and although the snowflakes had gotten smaller than they were earlier, they were still falling. I figured we would probably reach the upper end of the 5-9 inches that was predicted for Saturday night into Sunday morning.

However, when I awoke Sunday morning it actually looked like there wasn't much more than the night before.

After my wife made me a wonderful breakfast and I drank my cup or 5 of coffee it finally quit snowing and I figured I had better get busy clearing the snow. I went out the back door of the attached garage and cleared the satellite dish as well as shoveled around the garbage cans. I noted how freakin' heavy and wet the snow was. Plus it had a bit of a "crunch" to it when walking on it which I thought was odd. We had a solid 5 inches but WOW, was it heavy.


It had to have been blowing a bit as well as I generally don't get snow down to the basement stairs as they are under the deck slightly.


Just as I was clearing around the garbage cans in the back yard I heard the city snowplow going around our neighborhood. For our subdivision they send in the small 1-ton truck with the blade and salt spreader on the back as the cul-de-sacs can be a bit tight for the larger trucks. They do a descent job for the most part but there was just nowhere really to push it, so it ended up creating a nice kerf along the driveway entrances.


By this time I was about 10 AM and I was astonished that I was the first one out to clear snow of all my neighbors. The neighbor across the street came out just after I did and started shoveling around their cars.


After about an hour I had the front drive cleared as well as the sidewalks on both sides of our property. As I was clearing the sidewalk to the east and heading towards our neighbor who lives behind us, he was out by this time. I figured rather than try to turn around on the sidewalk, I would just go the last 80 or so feet and do his sidewalk to where he was clearing his drive.

We stopped and talked for a few minutes and that is when he informed me that he was up around 2 AM and noted the snow had turned to rain at that time. That completely explained the crunchiness of the snow when I first walked outside.

He then was commenting on what a "beast" of a snowblower I had. He was surprised at how far mine was throwing the snow in relation to his. I guess I hadn't thought much about it but as I was heading back to my yard to move into the back yard I took notice of other neighbors and their machines didn't seem to be throwing the snow anywhere near as far as mine was.

My front drive is about 70' from lawn to lawn. I generally make a pass down the middle and then throw to each side. It was throwing well over the edge of the grass on either side and into the lawn which surprised me as that was well over 35' to either side.


As I moved to the back yard I figured there is no way it was going to throw that wet and heavy snow a third time so I tried a new pattern. I opened the gates and figured I throw the front half of the back yard out to the front and side yard. It was working well so far.


As I moved to the west a bit I found out that even from 35+ feet away, I was able to throw the snow over my 6' privacy fence and into the front side yard. I continued right up to about 3' from the fence where the discharge chute couldn't quite go vertical enough to clear as the arch wouldn't clear the fence top. That was still very impressive.


I continued to throw the snow through the gates towards the north and then cleared it off to the side yard to the west. In the 7 years we've been in this house so far, this is the deepest I have piled the snow on the side yard.


The snow in the side yard was closing in on 3' deep at the middle.


With the ambient temps hovering around 32-34 degrees at least the snow that was left was melting.


Few more pictures to follow.

 

[zmotorsports]

Now it was time to tackle the shop apron. The last 45' x 72' is always the toughest as it become like concrete the closer to the lawn I get.


Utility trailer completely snowed in and needed to be cleared around as well.


After a total of 3 hours I was done clearing snow.


The snow in the back yard was also closing in on around 3' deep in the middle.


The front was melting off nicely.



Thanks for looking.

 

[gearhead1960]

Do your neighbors not know your machinery is usually more badass then theirs can ever hope to be?

 

[zmotorsports]

Do your neighbors not know your machinery is usually more badass then theirs can ever hope to be?

Shouldn't be in this case as my snowblower is just stock and nothing done to it to speak of. That's why I was shocked by his comment. He said he saw me throwing snow in the back yard and it was going clear out into the middle. I guess I didn't think much of it and have kind of been disappointed because of how many times I have to throw that back section.

Once he said something I paid a little closer attention and realized mine was throwing it quite a bit further than other neighbor's machines. Not exactly sure what make/models they are using but it did make me a bit more pleased with mine, at least for the day.

 

[LXCam]

Do your neighbors not know your machinery is usually more badass then theirs can ever hope to be?

They know now

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Dude, save some welders for the rest of us! That's quite the collection (helmets too)!

 

[Snapped-off]

For as much as you've got to clear, I'm surprised you're using a walk behind blower.

I've got the same issue currently with my little Toro single stage. I got maybe ⅓ of the driveway cleared with it, but it was struggling for fuel, so I just pushed it back into the garage to go through the carb on a warmer day.

I ended up bringing the tractor and blower out to clean up Saturday and I've gotta say, it was fun! I'm not sure I can go back now.

 

[zmotorsports]

Dude, save some welders for the rest of us! That's quite the collection (helmets too)!

Thanks Ryan. Like the old saying, there's a tool for every job and a job for every tool. That goes for welders as well.

As for welding helmets, the two furthest away are my old fixed shade helmets that I have had for probably 25+ years now, I just replace the headgear and protective lenses when needed.

The Miller Elite helmet my wife and son got me as a Father's Day gift about15 or so years ago. I don't use it much but it has its place. I found when welding under a vehicle or tight in a chassis is where the auto darkening really shines (no pun intended).

I am generally not a fan of auto darkening hoods, or most other tools that require batteries for that matter, and just prefer my fixed shade helmets but I had heard and read good things about the Lincoln 3350 so about a year and a half ago I had an opportunity to pick one up at a reduce and what I thought was a reasonable price, so I grabbed one. I hate to admit this, but I really like that helmet. I've used it quite a bit now over the short time I've had it and am quite impressed with the clarity and viewing capabilities. I also am impressed that it doesn't eat batteries.

For as much as you've got to clear, I'm surprised you're using a walk behind blower.

I've got the same issue currently with my little Toro single stage. I got maybe ⅓ of the driveway cleared with it, but it was struggling for fuel, so I just pushed it back into the garage to go through the carb on a warmer day.

I ended up bringing the tractor and blower out to clean up Saturday and I've gotta say, it was fun! I'm not sure I can go back now.

I used to have a Polaris 4X4 ATV with a blade on it at our last place along with a little 2-stroke Snapper single stage for light and fluffy stuff. I used the ATV and blade for better than 20 years but there were a few years that I was running out of places to push snow. Anyone who uses a blade can testify that you can only push so much until you can't push any more and it stacks up around the edges while the middle of the lawn or yard is melted with grass showing.

We had a nasty winter in 2013 that convinced me the blade was not the answer. Plus we had sold all of our dirt bikes, sand toys and ATV's a couple of years prior as well as one of our enclosed trailers and I was looking to downsize my fleet of things to have to maintain, so the ATV and blade went away and I purchased the Toro snowblower in the fall of 2014. I loved that I could direct the snow exactly where I wanted it and not have to have 5' piles along my driveway while grass was showing in the lawn three feet away on the other side of the pile.

When we moved to our new home in late 2016 we brought the snowblower with us and for the first several years it worked fine. However, after adding all that concrete and having a couple of winters that were well above average in snowfall amounts, it has gotten a bit less appealing. For most winters we generally only get 6-8 snowstorms that require that much snow removal where the snowblower is needed. Many of the storms are an inch here or there and light enough that my large push shovel clears it faster than the snowblower. However, last year nearly broke me and this year is also getting off to an ugly start with snow removal.

I can't seem to bring myself to spend more money buying more equipment to do a job that I already have a tool to do. Although the snowblower I have isn't ideal, I just can't justify spending more money at this time when there are other things I want and need those funds for at this time.

 

[aka Larry]

I'm sure glad there are different people that enjoy different climates. I'm exhausted just reading Mike's posts about clearing some effing snow. I just can't fathom doing that over and over, year after year. We *might* one maybe two snow days here per year, and I despise even those. My motto is if you need a snow blower where you live, you should move to somewhere you don't!

Shop looks nice and clean Mike...as always. Mine's a wreck right now!

 

[zmotorsports]

I'm sure glad there are different people that enjoy different climates. I'm exhausted just reading Mike's posts about clearing some effing snow. I just can't fathom doing that over and over, year after year. We *might* one maybe two snow days here per year, and I despise even those. My motto is if you need a snow blower where you live, you should move to somewhere you don't!

Shop looks nice and clean Mike...as always. Mine's a wreck right now!

Vincent, I would agree that if you don't like where you live, move. That being said, I LOVE where we live, despite the snow. Northern Utah is home to me and always will be. I was born here, grew up on my parent's farm here, met my wife here and raised my family here. The fact that it offers us so much versatility in our recreation choices is a bonus. We are a few hundred miles away from so much of what the western U.S. has to offer and that fits our lifestyle to a "T".

I can "tolerate" that white **** for a few months if it allows me to have a nice green lawn throughout the remainder of the year and for the most part, mild temperatures throughout the year. While we do have those times when we have single digits and triple digits, those are not the norm and are more of a rarity.

There are many people that hate mowing their lawns and move to where they don't have to deal with that but I actually love mowing my lawn and look forward to that first mow of the season and dread the last one each fall.

Thanks for the comments and for the kind words Vincent. The shop is going to be a bit cluttered over the next few weeks as work begins on the attached garage but it will be nice going into spring with the house garage completed and looking good. The wife and I have been saving up to complete it and it will be nice to finally finish it the way I want.

 

[Monza Harry]

Mike since you have a decent riding lawnmower [sorry not a fan of JD's equipment] why not look into a front mount snow blower? A vinyl cab is even available [no heat but drier and less wind chill (+/-)] only a small additional piece to store and a bit less work than the semi-manual way you have right now. Just thinking out loud. I have a vintage garden tractor and this option would be a ground up endeavour for me, you just need a "Mastercard" or a bucket of $$$, as there are lots of blowers from JD new or used. Harry

 

[aka Larry]

I was born here, grew up on my parent's farm here, met my wife here and raised my family here. The fact that it offers us so much versatility in our recreation choices is a bonus. We are a few hundred miles away from so much of what the western U.S. has to offer and that fits our lifestyle to a "T".

I agree that it's definitely what you're used to when you have lived some place all your life. Same for me here in NC as I've always lived within 30 mins of where I grew up. We have the beach within two hours, and the mountains within six hours. My wife grew up literally on a mountain in WV, but loves the beach. She'd live at the beach if it were her choice, but not me. I like it fine just where I am. I guess I'm not too adventurous...LOL.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike since you have a decent riding lawnmower [sorry not a fan of JD's equipment] why not look into a front mount snow blower? A vinyl cab is even available [no heat but drier and less wind chill (+/-)] only a small additional piece to store and a bit less work than the semi-manual way you have right now. Just thinking out loud. I have a vintage garden tractor and this option would be a ground up endeavour for me, you just need a "Mastercard" or a bucket of $$$, as there are lots of blowers from JD new or used. Harry

I'm ok with walking behind a snowblower vs. riding. That to me isn't the end of the world. Unlike you, I am a big fan of JD equipment and I did start looking about a year ago for an older JD garden tractor that could serve as both a riding mower and snow removal. I have suspended my search for the reason that I have other expenses that are of higher priority and I already have a means of removing snow and mowing my lawn. I'm sure it would be a higher priority if I had no means for one of those two tasks.

That being said, I still would like to find something in the JD line that would fit my needs and would very much like to make it a restoration project but it will have to be sometime in the future as it is not a priority at this time.

 

[zmotorsports]

I agree that it's definitely what you're used to when you have lived some place all your life. Same for me here in NC as I've always lived within 30 mins of where I grew up. We have the beach within two hours, and the mountains within six hours. My wife grew up literally on a mountain in WV, but loves the beach. She'd live at the beach if it were her choice, but not me. I like it fine just where I am. I guess I'm not too adventurous...LOL.

I guess that is where I am quite fortunate Vincent. My wife and I are both on the same page and love where we live. We are also fortunate that we get to travel around the western U.S. quite a bit in our RV and we often ask ourselves whether or not we could live at one of our travel destinations. We generally seem to visit these locations during their "prime" season so we ask ourselves could we see ourselves living here in the winter with sub-zero temps or in the middle of August with 120-degree temps? We keep coming back to the thought that we love where we live.

 

[SilverJimmy]

What I truly love about a fresh 6” snowfall is that in the morning my yard is just as nice as my neighbors who work on their yard all year long! Weeds? What weeds?!?! Lol!

 

[zmotorsports]

What I truly love about a fresh 6” snowfall is that in the morning my yard is just as nice as my neighbors who work on their yard all year long! Weeds? What weeds?!?! Lol!

I think I have a couple of neighbors that would feel the same way Sterling.

 

[HEEP]

Can't wait to see what is in store for the attached garage.

Bill

 

[Scuderia-F1]

After moving the snowblower back to the house garage I commenced a thorough cleaning of the shop.

After cleaning the shop, I decided to call it a day and head into the house. That's when I realized that the snow was starting to fall and was beginning to stick to the ground.












Thanks for looking.

I can't put words on how much I enjoy posts like these. Sooooooo much inspiration.

 

[zmotorsports]

Can't wait to see what is in store for the attached garage.

Bill

Nothing too much. Just finishing the walls, textured ceiling and paint mostly. Lastly, I will have the floor epoxied. In my last house I went gray with the floor epoxy, however with this house being more in the earth tones I am leaving towards tan with some colored specs for the floor. The walls will just be an eggshell white, nothing too exciting.

Before my nephew gets started next week on the garage, my son is coming over to give me a hand emptying it out and putting stuff in the shop temporarily until I can move it back in.

I began work demo'ing some of the original owners work last night so I can redo the work properly. I also picked up some conduit and boxes as I want to add an outlet nearer to my front sprinkler timer so I won't have to continue using an extension cord. Plus I will run some conduit from the boxes I added when I built my shop that contains the CAT5 and coax and will run that to the basement. I drilled the hole between the garage and basement last night so I could mount a junction box, now I just have to bend and mount the EMT.

I will probably post up progress pics and completed pics to my house/shop build thread and keep this more for actual shop projects.

Thanks for following along and for the comments.

 

[zmotorsports]

I can't put words on how much I enjoy posts like these. Sooooooo much inspiration.

Thank you Anders. You continue to flatter me with your kind words.

 

[zmotorsports]

I drove my truck for the first time yesterday since performing the facelift a couple of weeks ago. It felt good to be driving it again and it was such a nice beautiful day for it, although it never made it out of the 20's all day. Cold but clear and nice.




We then awoke this morning to this, another 3+ inches of snow and it is still coming down quite hard. I went out the back door of the garage and cleared the garbage cans and satellite dish as the wife is fortunate enough to be able to work from home today.


From the front when I opened the garage door.


I cleared the steps and about 25' from the house but it was accumulating as fast as I was shoveling.

 

[Jgaz]

I drove my truck for the first time yesterday since performing the facelift a couple of weeks ago. It felt good to be driving it again and it was such a nice beautiful day for it, although it never made it out of the 20's all day. Cold but clear and nice.




We then awoke this morning to this, another 3+ inches of snow and it is still coming down quite hard. I went out the back door of the garage and cleared the garbage cans and satellite dish as the wife is fortunate enough to be able to work from home today.


From the front when I opened the garage door.


I cleared the steps and about 25' from the house but it was accumulating as fast as I was shoveling.

I sure remember those days.
Up early, clear snow before work, so my wife can get out.
And then the snow plow comes by and puts a snow berm across the end of the driveway effectively sealing you off from the street.

 

[zmotorsports]

I sure remember those days.
Up early, clear snow before work, so my wife can get out.
And then the snow plow comes by and puts a snow berm across the end of the driveway effectively sealing you off from the street.

Yep. Sounds like you have the routine down.

 

[Bob Heine]

if you need a snow blower where you live, you should move to somewhere you don't!

Larry, before self-serve gas stations, you could put a snow shovel in the trunk of your car and start driving south. Each time you stop for gas, take the snow shovel out of the trunk. When the attendant servicing your car asks what it is, you're far enough south.

These days there are millennials in Minnesota that don't know what a snow shovel is.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Larry, before self-serve gas stations, you could put a snow shovel in the trunk of your car and start driving south. Each time you stop for gas, take the snow shovel out of the trunk. When the attendant servicing your car asks what it is, you're far enough south.

These days there are millennials in Minnesota that don't know what a snow shovel is.

Don't have time to identify a snow shovel when they can't accurately identify their biological gender Bob

 

[mercracing]

Nothing too much. Just finishing the walls, textured ceiling and paint mostly. Lastly, I will have the floor epoxied. In my last house I went gray with the floor epoxy, however with this house being more in the earth tones I am leaving towards tan with some colored specs for the floor. The walls will just be an eggshell white, nothing too exciting.

Before my nephew gets started next week on the garage, my son is coming over to give me a hand emptying it out and putting stuff in the shop temporarily until I can move it back in.

I began work demo'ing some of the original owners work last night so I can redo the work properly. I also picked up some conduit and boxes as I want to add an outlet nearer to my front sprinkler timer so I won't have to continue using an extension cord. Plus I will run some conduit from the boxes I added when I built my shop that contains the CAT5 and coax and will run that to the basement. I drilled the hole between the garage and basement last night so I could mount a junction box, now I just have to bend and mount the EMT.

I will probably post up progress pics and completed pics to my house/shop build thread and keep this more for actual shop projects.

Thanks for following along and for the comments.

Hey Mike,
I love following your thread. To be clear, will you be posting the garage updates in the shop/build thread? I just want to make sure I'll follow the right one! Thanks for how much you document in detail!

 

[zmotorsports]

Hey Mike,
I love following your thread. To be clear, will you be posting the garage updates in the shop/build thread? I just want to make sure I'll follow the right one! Thanks for how much you document in detail!

Thank you. I will be posting the garage finish work on the Shop Build thread.

However, I have to ask, why aren't you following both? You don't have to follow one or the other.

 

[zmotorsports]

Arrived home last night only to find out I had another night of clearing snow. We made the local news last night as it showed West Haven having the most snowfall during the day yesterday along the Wasatch Front with a total of 8 inches. Personally, I didn't think it was quite that much, but I did end up clearing a good 6" from my yard last night.

When I pulled into the neighborhood around 3:30 yesterday it was obvious that the snowplows hadn't been through the subdivision as it was deep and quite slick. My next-door neighbor has a Bobcat with a bucket and had done a good share of our particular cul-de-sac and had piled up the snow as well as cleared the areas along the gutter at the end of our driveways.

I had only made a couple of passes when the city snowplow came into our subdivision. They had the larger truck so rather than turn into the cul-de-sacs he ended up backing into each one and pushing the snow outward. Although this was a slightly larger truck than the 1-ton with the blade they usually use, I think he could have made the turns easy enough.


Here you can see smaller area that I cleared the 3+ inches in the morning before leaving, and the area that had at least 6" the last part of the drive as well as the remainder of the yard. I also looked like someone had made one pass around the neighborhood on the sidewalks. The piles across the street are from my neighbor with the Bobcat and bucket.


Another 3 inches fell during the day after I had already cleared 3+ inches in the morning from the stairs.


The snow is getting quite deep on either side of the stairs and my lights are buried.


Making progress on the front driveway as I move to the side which is the drive going to the back yard.


Front main section cleared and the neighbor back out in his Bobcat making small piles bigger.


Just before dusk the skies started clearing a bit allowing some much wanted sunlight through. Not long enough to melt much but it sure made for a pretty sunset.


And just like that it was dark and time to turn on the wall packs. Adding those wall packs about 5 years ago was one of the best mods I did to the back yard.



Unfortunately, I was so busy clearing snow that I didn't get any work done on the attached garage last night.

Thanks for looking.

 

[SilverJimmy]

It looks like you neighbor with the bobcat is making piles in the street. Maybe the pictures are making it look that way. Here in Arizona snow Country that’s a huge No-No, will get you a ticket! They give you the stink eye if you even sweep snow into the road here! They even have a no overnight parking on the street ordinance from November 1st till April 30th!