Above 1200 Sq/FT Overcoming Good-Deal-Itis One Project at a Time

[madison069]

I got a big fire extinguisher that I need to look into getting inspected. Guess I'll add that to the list of things to do!

Aluminum trim on the corners does look good!

 

[M.Brane]

As long as the gauge is in the green you're good, but it's beneficial to invert them, and beat on 'em a bit with a dead-blow hammer periodically.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I have an appointment to drop my F-350 off at the body shop this coming Tuesday morning to get the carnage from the blowout repaired so I thought, what better excuse to test out my new lift and make sure there’s no any other damage from that event. It was very nerve racking to do the first lift, but…. Ta da!

These trucks have a very narrow set of frame rails and a bunch of stuff in the way, but I got it racked nice and securely. Definitely want a couple underhoist pole jacks on each end if I’m doing anything substantial! But it is really a great feeling to actually be working in my shop and not on my shop! Then to make today a real win I got the last of the Roppe base installed in the machine room.

And for the perfect ending today, I got to watch the NHRA Winter Nationals while working in my shop… Living the Dream!

Hope you all had a great and productive weekend too!

 

[Old Man Roger]

I may be totally wrong cause I’m just looking at a picture, but it looks like those front legs need to go further forward. Don’t underestimate the weight of the engine and transmission.

 

[madison069]

Your garage looks like mine, needs organization! I think I wasted 30 mins this weekend just looking for the tools I needed for a simple downspout project,

It's nice to have that TV on while piddling around! Shop is looking good and machine room is looking close to being finished!

 

[Jgaz]

Definitely want a couple underhoist pole jacks on each end if I’m doing anything substantial!

YES!
I feel so much better when there are stands at the ends.
Ive seen far to many near disasters and a couple of real problems

 

[Xti04]

At least your truck is a crew cab. Mine has the extended cab and the frame is so short for lifting. Always makes me feel uneasy with it in the air. I put my pole jack under the rear for extra support

 

[SilverJimmy]

I may be totally wrong cause I’m just looking at a picture, but it looks like those front legs need to go further forward. Don’t underestimate the weight of the engine and transmission.

I hear ya, but these trucks are tough to rack! Here’s the lift manufacturer lift book diagram for this model Ford.
The left rear pad has to be carefully positioned to just clear the fuel tank and the front arms are at that angle just to reach the frame. After I racked it I lifted it up barely clearing the floor and then shook and bounced it from the front and the rear, it didn’t give me any suggestion that it wasn’t secure.

 

[zmotorsports]

I hear ya, but these trucks are tough to rack! Here’s the lift manufacturer lift book diagram for this model Ford.

Agreed Sterling, these longer trucks are sometimes tricky to get properly balanced, even following the lifting manual to a "T". I lifted these for more than 15 years on my 10k pound lift without any issues, however, the rear arms always seemed to be just a little overloaded due to the longer rear overhang. This is the primary reason I jumped up to a 12k lift this past year despite the criticism I received for doing so over my 10k pound lift's capabilities. The arms on my old 10k pound lift were designed and spec's to be loaded evenly to 2500 pounds, but with the longer overhang to the rear, even though the overall weight itself of the truck was well under the lift's capacity, I always felt like those rear arms were overloaded. Jumping up to my 12k pound lift, even using the same pickup points for the arms, the truck feels so much "happier" now with the beef of my rear arms as well as the column dimensions compared to my old 10k pound lift. Placebo effect? Maybe, but it was well worth the cost in my mind.

I still always put a pole jack under the rear at minimum, but often both front and rear just as a little added safety.

 

[M.Brane]

That looks about right to me being a CCSB with a shell. If you're that worried about it you can run some straps around the frame, and the lift arms. From what I've seen so far that lift ain't goin' anywhere.

 

[SilverJimmy]

My suffering from “Good Deal-Itis” must be contagious. My friend that I got a good deal on the forklift a couple weeks ago called me on Tuesday to tell me about his good deal he found and asked if I could help him to get it. He knows that I’m pretty good at moving tool boxes cuz a couple years ago we went and got him his first Snap-On roll cab from down south in Tucson. Yesterday we loaded up my trailer with E-Track straps and pads and headed over to pick up his find.
Mid 90’s KRL1001 Roll Cabinet, KRL1201 Top Cabinet, and a KRL1012 Side Locker. These were an early Dale Earnhardt themed special box set, quite popular back then, I sold a few in my route.
Should clean up pretty good for an almost 30 year old set of boxes.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice Sterling. I had a coworker with that exact box/setup back in the early 90's.

 

[madison069]

I dig the box your buddy got there!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Like it never even happened!

Body shop found a good used driver side running board to replace the destroyed one. The one they found is a perfect match to the faded 23 year old passenger board. The only other option was to replace both sides with some cheesy aftermarket tube running board and I really don’t like those things!

Body shop also replaced the driver side headlight and turn signal assembly with an aftermarket setup from TYC. I got all the lights for my ’06 GMC 3500 from TYC and I can’t see any difference between the OEM and these lights, so I ordered a passenger side set for my F-350 to finish off this repair. Anybody here have any long term experience with these TYC light assemblies?
Happy to have my old 6.Ut-Oh back to looking great and ready to move more of my “treasures“!

 

[larry4406]

Like it never even happened!

Body shop found a good used driver side running board to replace the destroyed one. The one they found is a perfect match to the faded 23 year old passenger board. The only other option was to replace both sides with some cheesy aftermarket tube running board and I really don’t like those things!

Body shop also replaced the driver side headlight and turn signal assembly with an aftermarket setup from TYC. I got all the lights for my ’06 GMC 3500 from TYC and I can’t see any difference between the OEM and these lights, so I ordered a passenger side set for my F-350 to finish off this repair. Anybody here have any long term experience with these TYC light assemblies?
Happy to have my old 6.Ut-Oh back to looking great and ready to move more of my “treasures“!

Looks great!

I have a 2003 F350 and the headlamps are fogged with UV fade.

I’m interested in the model number of your TYC lights.

I’ve tried polishing once with a Griots kit and it looked great for maybe 8-9 months so not interested in going down that path again. Ford has discontinued the lights.

 

[SilverJimmy]

This is the drivers side headlight assembly, the passenger side that I ordered off the jungle is TYC 20-6439-00-1 and I don’t know for sure if it’s correct as it isn’t getting delivered until tomorrow. I will be sure to give a after I check it out!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Larry, like you I have polished the headlights on all of my junk that have these plastic lights and after 6-8 times the plastic has become so hazed and the clarity has degraded so much it’s a lost cause. It’s almost like the plastic is foggy on the inside surface and it’s not possible to polish that surface. These TYC lights look so good I’m inclined to believe that the OEM’s probably don’t make their own lights, they just let the Headlight-Guru’s make them and just specify their badging and part numbers be on them so that they can charge many times more than the aftermarket gets for basically same parts!

 

[Xti04]

I have looked into doing a grille and headlight swap on my 99 to get rid of the crappy sealed beams and get the newer style headlights. Just need the motivation to pull the trigger

 

[larry4406]

Larry, like you I have polished the headlights on all of my junk that have these plastic lights and after 6-8 times the plastic has become so hazed and the clarity has degraded so much it’s a lost cause. It’s almost like the plastic is foggy on the inside surface and it’s not possible to polish that surface. These TYC lights look so good I’m inclined to believe that the OEM’s probably don’t make their own lights, they just let the Headlight-Guru’s make them and just specify their badging and part numbers be on them so that they can charge many times more than the aftermarket gets for basically same parts!

We have an O’Reillys auto parts that I can have the TYC ones shipped to. I think they are like $48 each on their website.

Let me/us know your thoughts after getting the other one and driving around at night. I see they come with bulbs.

 

[Finallygotit]

Larry, like you I have polished the headlights on all of my junk that have these plastic lights and after 6-8 times the plastic has become so hazed and the clarity has degraded so much it’s a lost cause. It’s almost like the plastic is foggy on the inside surface and it’s not possible to polish that surface. These TYC lights look so good I’m inclined to believe that the OEM’s probably don’t make their own lights, they just let the Headlight-Guru’s make them and just specify their badging and part numbers be on them so that they can charge many times more than the aftermarket gets for basically same parts!

This is true! North American Lighting (NAL) used to make headlight assemblies for many OEM's. I say used to because I have been out of the injection molding biz for a while now. For all I know, they still do.



EDIT: I just checked and they are still manufacturing lighting assemblies.

 

[Cheep]

I've used the TYC brand several times and they are as good as it gets for aftermarket. Sometimes the only choice.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I built this metal shelf years ago for my ”storeroom” at our old house. Pretty simple design and I welded it and just did multiple heavy tacks to attach the shelves.

Took it to a local shop in Dewey to have it powder coated, basic black, semi-gloss.


Turned out great and I like how the heavy tacks look now that they’re finished. Joe’s Powder Coating did a wonderful job!

 

[SilverJimmy]

The new headlight assembly for my 04 Ford F-350 came in, and it looks real good, almost OEM.
Even came with new bulbs!
Almost cheaper to buy these than to buy new bulbs, crazy! Although, this truck is still running the factory bulbs @ almost 23 years old.

 

[larry4406]

Headlight looks very good. Let me/us know your thoughts with the lighting at night.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Wow! Been so busy it’s been over two months since I’ve done an update here. Lots have happened so I’ll try to do stuff chronologically and in order of excitement! First thing we did was get the camper loaded and packed for the first SCTA meet of the year @ ElMirage Dry Lake.

So happy to be able to do this inside and out of the elements. This trip to ElMo was a great shakedown test for the new Dometic 12 volt compressor fridge I had just installed. I also upgraded to two 105 AH Lion Lithium and a lithium charger. The camper has a 200 watt solar system and over the 5 days we were off grid the fridge worked perfectly and the batteries were rock solid and over 80% charged constantly. Wife is very happy that we now have a fridge she doesn’t have to worry about, freezer is always -6 or colder, fridge is always 33-34 degrees always!
Next accomplishment was moving both of my race cars down to the new shop. This is my 1985 Pontiac Firebird T/A that has a 1952 GMC 302 CI inline 6 with a Howard/Arias 12 port cylinder head. It holds the record at ElMirage Dry Lake in the XXO/GC class @ 165.545 mph…. On dirt!


Got it loaded on the trailer and hauled it down to Prescott, also got my Rear Engine Modified Roadster moved too.

Moved both into the shop, seems like I’m playing Tetris again!

Next up is getting ready for the coming adventure….

 

[Xti04]

Nice rides! Im shopping a cooler style 12v fridge/ freezer setup for the truck camper when it arrives. I have a Jackery 1000 to run it off of as well as shore power if available. Good to hear the Dometic did well, its on the list, but might be out of the price range.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Oops! Lol!

 

[SilverJimmy]

@Xti04 a buddy has a SnoMaster 12 volt fridg/freezer and it works great. He has it in his Jeep Gladiator PU with his pop up tent setup. I’ve checked them out at the Overland Expo here in Flagstaff a couple years ago. They had a great demo where they would offer you some frozen rock hard Blue Bunny ice cream, when it was over 90 degrees in the shade!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Next up was prepping for a near month long trip to Wyoming to tour Yellowstone and all points between and near Jelly-Stone! Been so busy I haven’t had time to swap all the lights on my GMC to the new LED stuff so I just polished them as best I could. I’m also a bit hesitant to do the swap right before such a long trip without having the new lights proven. Looking good!

Got the Jeep also prepped and loaded with everything from lawn chairs to fishing gear and then hitched to the back of the rig and ready to hit the road!

My buddy’s wife took this picture as we were climbing the pass from Idaho into Wyoming, beautiful country!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Over the next 3-1/2 weeks we traveled everywhere you can go in Yellowstone and the adjoining areas! Saw 10’s of thousands Buffalos, a couple herds of elk, moose (damn, those things are big!) black bears, 4 grizzly bears, and even a bunch of eagles. During a float trip on the Snake River we saw 15 Bald Eagles and even saw one do a little fishing. It dove into the river right in front of us and pulled a nice Yellowstone Cutthroat out and flew away. Catch and Release must not apply to the natives!
We even did all the touristy things, went and sat for over an hour for Old Faithful, pulled over at a moments notice for any four legged critter (did refrain from trying to pet the fluffy cows!) and sat in multiple traffic jams when somebody did decide to get too close. You never know when you might get to capture on film human stupidity! Really didn’t take a lot of pictures, I leave that for my wife. I’m just happy that she has an iPhone cuz I would’ve gone broke developing all the film for the amount of pictures she took!

 

[SilverJimmy]

I did take a few pictures of the favorite place for me that we went to. We traveled over to Dubois, Wy to the National Museum of Military Vehicles. Very cool museum, we walked over 1-1/2 miles inside it and didn’t see everything. They have almost a sample of almost every military vehicle ever used by American and a lot of foreign militaries.

But what I thought was the most important and interesting article in the museum was this musket, especially with our 250th anniversary coming in a few days! Check this out and please, read the text, we ALL owe our freedom and American way of life to people like him!

 

[LXCam]

What a kickass trip Sterling!.

 

[SilverJimmy]

What a kickass trip Sterling!.

It was! Saw so much of this great country and am really glad that those in power chose to preserve as much as they could for the future Americans!

 

[SilverJimmy]

After a couple weeks in Wyoming we made our way back down into Utah and spent a couple days in Provo Canyon on Deer Creek, relaxing and fishing. Had an RV spot right on the creek and saw ospreys every day also fishing the creek.
Its called “fishing” and not “catching” cuz I definitely didn’t do as well as the birds did! The campsite was beautiful tho, so it was a great time!

 

[LXCam]

I told the wife as we were driving thru there last year we’re coming back to raft that baby. What a gorgeous area.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Next we went farther south to Panguitch, Utah for the last 5 days. Spent a day going thru Zion National Park, hadn’t been there since the early 90’s and my wife had never been there. Lots of changes since then, much more commercial and restrictions on where you can and cannot go. Still impressive to see, just not the same!

 

[SilverJimmy]

I even managed to prove my worth as a Hunter-Gatherer and bring home dinner! Caught this bad boy south of Hatch on a small creek!
It ate GOOD!

 

[SilverJimmy]

So now that I’ve shared all the good from the last couple months….
Early in May I started noticing something strange with my vision. When watching TV at night I was seeing a strange blip on the screen going across the line of the ticker tape, almost like an EKG heartbeat blip... WTF is that? Asked the wife if she saw it too, just got a blank stare from her!
Pretty much forgot about it and went to the first SCTA meet in May, all is good, till we’re driving home and I’m following my buddy whose trailer has a polished Stainless Steel panel on the rear… that pesky blip is back there too! Now I’m concerned, do I have a brain issue, eye cancer, blood pressure problem, did I do this to myself by not taking care of myself?!?! Made an appointment with my eye Dr immediately!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Eye Dr is the best! Instantly diagnosed the problem! A Total Thickness Macula Hole!
Got an appointment with the best surgeon for this problem in the whole western United States & Canada! Got surgery scheduled for July 9th (two days ago!) and he also said that I HAD to go on our planned trip to Yellowstone cuz I had to see it!

 

[SilverJimmy]

This surgery was intense! I was awake and could see everything that was being done in perfect focus! The only thing I’m really bummed about is that I won’t be able to go to SpeedWeek this year because part of the surgery requires a gas to be inserted into my eye and I have to be very careful with altitude changes over 500 ft!
I‘m sharing this because I really want to try to impress how important it is to not ignore health issues as we all age. If I would have not acted quickly I might have lost my vision in my left eye forever! Be safe, be vigilant, be happy!