Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Big Country Texas Shop

[83VillageRepair]

I could have taken it to a tire shop but I have always enjoyed doing my own tires. I used it as an opportunity to give the underneath a once over, clean everything up nice and torque all the lugs correctly to 100 ft-lbs (spare to 45). Since the tires were takeoff's they were already balanced. I had to transfer the tpms sensors and valve stems over from my old rims.

The tire shop that swapped over the tpms for the former owner destroyed the valve stems. Good on the left bad on the right.

 

[83VillageRepair]

After

I really like that modern tpms sensors are self learning, took about a mile.

Next up I am going to change fenders.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Bronco looks great, I love the steelies! Please report back on your first impressions of those Grabber's, I'm highly considering them for my truck.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Bronco looks great, I love the steelies! Please report back on your first impressions of those Grabber's, I'm highly considering them for my truck.

So far they are great no road noise or vibration. If you can live with the size 265/70 R17 look for a set of Bronco Black Diamond takeoffs. I have seen them for as little as $600 for a set of 5 and you can resell the wheels and make some back.

 

[MadeByMiller]

So far they are great no road noise or vibration. If you can live with the size 265/70 R17 look for a set of Bronco Black Diamond takeoffs. I have seen them for as little as $600 for a set of 5 and you can resell the wheels and make some back.

I've got to stick with 30x9.50 15s so unfortunately I can't go down that route. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[83VillageRepair]

I've got to stick with 30x9.50 15s so unfortunately I can't go down that route. Thanks for the feedback!

Unfortunately these days they charge extra for 15" tires if you can even get them. They would look good on your Dakota

 

[MadeByMiller]

Unfortunately these days they charge extra for 15" tires if you can even get them. They would look good on your Dakota

Agreed. They're readily available online, but at about $200/ea.

 

[lowdowndodge]

Windmill weights are very collectable I have this one and many others do your homework before you move it on.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Windmill weights are very collectable I have this one and many others do your homework before you move it on.

Thanks for letting me know. I did some googling. There are several windmills in a pile. Hopefully some more weights

 

[83VillageRepair]

Planned on putting the new fenders on the bronco this weekend but didn't get to it. Friday I got the entire lawn part of the property mowed and trimmed for the first time this spring.
It started raining Friday night and hasn't stopped.

I'm going to finish some long standing little projects today and listen to some music in the shop. I have recently done a deep dive into Jesse Dayton. Check him out, you won't be sorry.

I'll update this post in real time with some pictures

Start of the day

I hate mud daubers, find them everywhere

I have had these scrap 4 × 4 s laying around for a few months. Time to turn them into blocks. I will take the with on my spring trip to dad's place.

 

[83VillageRepair]

 

[83VillageRepair]

Grass looks pretty good for country grass.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Mowed a bunch this weekend and finally sold this old Montgomery Wards Sea King I've had on Marketplace for 5 months. I only got $250 out of it but I couldn't bring myself to scrap it. The guy who bought was really excited and wants to restore it.

It's been the most painful sale ever. I had at least 100 inquiries and in the end the first guy who looked at it in person bought it.

I had to fix the crusty old tires today. What a pain!

 

[83VillageRepair]

Just returned from a trip to my dad's place in South Dakota. Its kind of sad being there without him but at the same time good remembering all of the fun times. Much of the week was taken up with estate duties in my role as executor (not fun) but we had some fun. Cleaned the shop and office and checked out my new project, which I forgot to take pictures of. More later on that.




I also am thinking about this car for next years Buffalo Adventure run. We are running the 5th Avenue one more year.

 

[Prospecter]

We had one of those when I was very young. Dad fixed the floor pan with flattened coffee cans and tar. My sisters and I would ride in the back and watch the road go by through the rusted out floor. Good times in a bygone era!

 

[83VillageRepair]

I mowed the last 2 days after cleaning under the mower deck and putting slime in the tires (Mesquite thorns and Cactus are hell on tires). The lawn looks pretty good for country grass. Time to get to work on Dirty Mabel, race is in 2 weeks.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Getting ready to pull the engine and replace timing chain, water pump and freeze plugs. It's always leaked a little water and it be in the hundreds when we are driving so seems wise.

Also adding 15 gallons of range.

 

[83VillageRepair]

4 day weekend for Memorial Day. My mind is on the people I served with, some who are no longer around.

Time to pull the engine in Dirty Mabel.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Topside is done now for the bottom side. Not as fast at this as I used to be.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Engine is out and boy does it need freeze plugs. We definitely would not have finished, not sure how we made it last year.





Time to get busy it's going to be over 100 degrees F today.

 

[83VillageRepair]

 

[83VillageRepair]

I have this fancy OTC puller set and none of the adapters fit so I had to redneck it.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Chain had about an inch of slack.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Engine ready to go back in

 

[83VillageRepair]

Another successfully completed Buffalo Adventure Challenge is in the books. We finally got the car running correctly on thursday morning, the race was that night. Had a great time and ran much harder than last year although we finished in 7th this year compared to 4th last year. This is the last year of Dirty Mabel, we are going to pass her on to someone else and run a 1972 F250 next year. You can see it in the background of some of my other pictures.

 

[GreenIron]

 

[83VillageRepair]

 

[83VillageRepair]

The car ran good and met our goal of being able to reliably run 100mph, although we mostly cruised at 90. I should have put on a new radiator cap because it pushed out coolant, had to top off a couple of times.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Most importantly we raised over $500k for Camp Able.

 

[83VillageRepair]

The last few weeks I have been helping a friend build an addition on his shop. We are trading labor and we have all the tools needed between the two of us. We have pretty much wrapped up his and now I am getting ready to start mine. Disclaimer: these are weld up red iron buildings done the Texas way.



This weekend I serviced my JCB Telehandler and started making room for the new shop addition. I thought the Ford line up looked pretty cool after I moved them.



Here is quick sketch of what I might build. I will be using a mix of new and used material.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Went to HGR, my favorite industrial surplus place, today and picked up this good looking ESAB plasma cutter that I got on last chance closeout.


Took the wife and we made a day of it. Had lunch at the Ft Worth Stockyards and stopped in Weatherford at Dave's Stove Shoppe on the way back.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Got some more done on my cleanup project

I am going to unload my moving truck of tools in this space temporarily so I can finally access the tools I need to build the new shop.

 

[ybnormal]

The last few weeks I have been helping a friend build an addition on his shop. We are trading labor and we have all the tools needed between the two of us. We have pretty much wrapped up his and now I am getting ready to start mine. Disclaimer: these are weld up red iron buildings done the Texas way.



This weekend I serviced my JCB Telehandler and started making room for the new shop addition. I thought the Ford line up looked pretty cool after I moved them.



Here is quick sketch of what I might build. I will be using a mix of new and used material.

are you going to put transom windows in that 3' difference so you can get ventilation?

 

[83VillageRepair]

are you going to put transom windows in that 3' difference so you can get ventilation?

I would like to

 

[83VillageRepair]

I have been doing nothing really interesting lately so haven't updated this thread. I am finally unloading my Van Box of tools and shop stuff that I moved from SD five years ago. I am jamming everything into the current shop so I can move the 3 containers that are in the way of the shop addition.

Most welcome tool out of the trailer was my little scissor lift. Changed oil and did a five tire rotation on the bronco this weekend.





I also researched Clearstory window overhangs. I want to block the sun during the hot months and let it in during the cold months. Here is my drawing showing sun angles for the latitude I'm at. I will probably put my overhang at 2ft.

 

[consti2tion]

Looking forward to seeing the addition put up. The single slope was the right choice in my opinion. Will you re-skin the old one to match? Are they going to be wide open in the middle or still separate?

 

[83VillageRepair]

Looking forward to seeing the addition put up. The single slope was the right choice in my opinion. Will you re-skin the old one to match? Are they going to be wide open in the middle or still separate?

I am reversing the slope on the existing building so I will completely re-skin. The existing tin is horizontal and wired on which I hate. They will have openings but be separate i think.

 

[consti2tion]

I am reversing the slope on the existing building so I will completely re-skin. The existing tin is horizontal and wired on which I hate. They will have openings but be separate i think.

That's a good idea. Not sure what your intentions are with the add on, but I wish I had a space to do all my cutting, grinding, welding etc and a cleaner area just to turn wrenches in. I am about to build a loft in my shop for more storage and also to partition off room to put my metal fab **** in, not that I have a lot right now, but I intend to acquire more.

 

[83VillageRepair]

That's a good idea. Not sure what your intentions are with the add on, but I wish I had a space to do all my cutting, grinding, welding etc and a cleaner area just to turn wrenches in. I am about to build a loft in my shop for more storage and also to partition off room to put my metal fab **** in, not that I have a lot right now, but I intend to acquire more.

I would also like to have multiple smaller spaces. My last shop in SD was a 30 X 100, one big open space with only one door in the end. It was not very functional for me always a traffic jam. I also have 40s Gulf gas station that I am going to set up out front. In the end I want at least on small workshop that is completely conditioned space so I can work/play both winter and summer.

 

[consti2tion]

I would also like to have multiple smaller spaces. My last shop in SD was a 30 X 100, one big open space with only one door in the end. It was not very functional for me always a traffic jam. I also have 40s Gulf gas station that I am going to set up out front. In the end I want at least on small workshop that is completely conditioned space so I can work/play both winter and summer.

Looking forward to the progress! Conditioned space is one of the best things I've ever done, I couldn't go back to sweating all day working in the shop.. well I could but I don't want to!

Not sure if I missed it in the thread but really can't wait to see the 40's Gulf Gas station!