Above 1200 Sq/FT 86's 20HP shop

[Strouty]

That sounds like "fun", I have that type of fun more than I would like to admit. Keep picking at it, I am sure you will get it sorted out before the grass is waist high.

 

[86turbodsl]

if it gets that high, then i have to split the tractor and fix the pto to run the bush hog. it just never ends...

 

[Strouty]

I saw a news article about a guy that was out of town settling an estate, he hired a guy to mow while he was gone (60 days), while he was gone lawn guy died, lawn didn’t get mowed, city fined him $500 per day due to grass being over the height allowed by law. Now they are trying to foreclose on his house after he refused to pay $27k in fines for his lawn.

 

[DynoDave]

 

[86turbodsl]

Been a while, i've been at it daily for over a week, and it's been the non-stop barrage of car breakdowns and other **** from hell.

Summary:
2004 Audi A4 had a bad tie rod end, i replaced it and scheduled an alignment. They told me the other tie rod was bad. I didn't feel it, but it was slightly loose. Return home and order a second new rod end. Wait a week. Replaced yesterday and scheduled for tomorrow again. Hope that's it.

2012 Kia Rio needed brakes. Did that Tues night. Still has an issue where it loses crank position signal after getting warm. I have to tear the wire harness off it and investigate. It's not the CKP or the ECU. I replaced both of those. It's getting warm. It ***** to drive. I'm in that daily to get to work. Yuck.

1997 F350 i replaced all the fuel stuff and the fuel selector valve i JUST PUT IN IT has already failed. After like 3 switches.

The grass has STILL not been mowed this year. The mower defied all attempts to get it started and i finally resorted to pulling the engine out of the chassis to teardown and investigate why it was CRAZY hard to turn over EVEN with the plugs out. Tore it completely down and found it suddenly got easier to turn over after it was all apart. I found the problem. At some point in it's past, it had blown a rod, and the dummy who rebuilt it left a chunk of rod cap in it. It must have jumped up and got caught between the counterweights and the block or something. So now i have a briggs oppy in pieces and needing a rebuild kit. Trying to determine what upgrade parts i may want to throw at it while it's apart.

I haven't used the big tractor to mow because the PTO blew up on it last year and i haven't been willing to split the tractor yet. I have to remove the loader frame to do that, and that's NOT FUN.

I actually told the missus to get the horses out in the yard and earn their keep. Why feed hay with all that grass sitting there??? [emoji38]_hitti

ONE bright spot.. sorta. Happened this last week.

I’ve been working on this deal for 9 months. Last August, I found a 4 post lift in a shop up in Lansing that closed up.
I’ve been wanting to stack the Fairlanes and get 300ft of floor back.
The landlord wanted to rent it to the dealer next door, but the dealership wanted it cleaned out. There were 3 lifts in there, one the owner pulled out and managed to scrap it by doing so. The other 2 were left standing. He advertised on Craigslist and I saw it and went to go look at it. Put down a 100 deposit. Then the guy goes in the hospital, Then winter hits, then his wife in the hospital, and we finally can’t make it happen until now. I go up last weekend and start to pull it out.
He can only help a little while he is running around. I did most of it. Saturday morning, I go back up and start working again. He gives me a key to the building and tells me not to hurt myself. I keep working. After 2 trips and many hours, I pull both lifts down. He told me he would rent a uhaul to get his lift home. I had to rent a uhaul to get mine home because our little trailer wasn’t big enough. Sunday after church I rent a uhaul and drive up there, and when I get there, he’s started taking some of his stuff home, and I start loading mine. All the little stuff I got loaded, and all I had left was the big stuff. Remember I didn’t have any equipment for loading, I took my engine hoist up there and took the entire thing apart with that. The owner shows up with his two sons and he asks me if we can use my uhaul trailer and truck to haul the rest of his stuff home. Now I needed help to get mine loaded, so I figure he has me over a barrel, since I need his help. I agree to haul his stuff across town if he will help me. We load his lift up on the uhaul, using my truck, trailer, straps and engine hoist. Drive to the north end of Lansing, from the south. Unload all his stuff with my engine hoist, into his tiny tiny 2 car garage and
Concrete pad outside the garage. Then load my hoist back up and drive back to the shop.
Then load my stuff up and hoist and tools and as I’m strapping down, he says I should give you some discount for all the work you have done.

I’m thinking YEAH you should. I said, we agreed on 500 for the lift, you can decide what you want to discount.

I go back to strapping down. Finish up, and then go to count out my money to him. 100, 200, 300, and as I’m counting out the last 100, he says, why don’t you keep 50?

THEN he says, “I was going to say a 100, but I’m feeling cheap today.”

 

[86turbodsl]

I saw a news article about a guy that was out of town settling an estate, he hired a guy to mow while he was gone (60 days), while he was gone lawn guy died, lawn didn’t get mowed, city fined him $500 per day due to grass being over the height allowed by law. Now they are trying to foreclose on his house after he refused to pay $27k in fines for his lawn.

HOLY SMOKES.

That's a bad story. I would be furious.

 

[Strouty]

I always feel cheap, but I don’t usually tell people about it.

Sounds like you have been really busy, it will be worth it it in the end. Excited to see the lift installed!

 

[86turbodsl]

Yeah, that was like the last stab in the gut. I couldn't believe he actually said it. I'm too nice of a guy, i should have told him to piss off. I mean, i took down his lift FOR HIM and stacked it nice and then hauled it FOR HIM. At my labor rate, he should have paid me!

 

[DynoDave]

Happy New Lift Day!

 

[86turbodsl]

I really need to open the door and roll everything outside and get it going, but that probably won't happen with it raining every day.

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[Strouty]

Yes, the rain has been annoying.

 

[86turbodsl]

And the cold! It's never been so late to 80F in decades.

 

[Strouty]

Our heat kicked on Wednesday morning at the house, the thermostat was set to 60.

 

[86turbodsl]

We had a day this week where i woke up to frost and 34F outside.

 

[DynoDave]

Oh the heat is on the way. I love the cooler weather, so I'm enjoying all of this.

 

[Strouty]

I am a 50s kind of guy myself, so this has been nice, I hope we get a transition before the 80s hit, an instant 80s from the 50s makes for a rough transition.

 

[86turbodsl]

Light switch would be the norm these days.

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[DynoDave]

This is what I had read.

https://www.mlive.com/weather/2019/05/if-summer-weather-pattern-is-showing-its-cards-better-check-the-air-conditioner.html

 

[86turbodsl]

I've heard warm June and colder July and August. We will see.

Working on cleaning up. Simply ridiculous how bad it's gotten. Multiple overlapping projects don't help.

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[Strouty]

That looks like my shop, unfortunately I know how you feel.

 

[86turbodsl]

It's getting better. I have most of the truck parts on the pallet rack and starting on the Fairlane shortly. I'll take pics.

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[86turbodsl]

Got quite a bit cleared tonight. I'll keep at it. I can say with 100% certainty, that my pallet racking has been the single best purchase i have ever made. It might not be convenient, but it sure does hold a lot of stuff.

 

[86turbodsl]

Got this big space opened up on the floor tonight. Mostly truck parts and a few Fairlane parts. This blank floor space was completely covered in parts 2ft deep.
Really.

I'm really amazed how much stuff pallet racking holds. I should be able to start laying out spaces for the big lift pretty soon.



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[Strouty]

I love seeing concrete, keep at it, you will have the lift installed in no time.

 

[86turbodsl]

Got all the parts up in the racking now, and even got the house shingles which have sat on concrete for 10 years up in the rack. I love bare floor.

 

[86turbodsl]

I was cleaning up and putting away tools, and it has become very very clear i'm out of tool storage space. The drawers on the old crapsman are hard to move they are so heavy. I told the wife i was out of storage space, and she said, i guess you need to get rid of some tools.

I just laughed.

Per her recommendation, i'm going to grab a couple of 44" HF boxes and do a full steevo bench as soon as i can get a coupon for the boxes. Can't pay full price you know...

 

[86turbodsl]

Moved the toolbox around tonight, cleaned up a few more things, found MORE shingles to haul up top, and generally getting ready to build the workbench.

I scored a couple of blueprint files at an online auction today, i'm hoping to turn them into nice bolt storage using some schaller bins or something similar. They should work pretty good for the amount of fasteners i keep around. Just need to find a spot for em. Real estate is getting hard to find these days.

 

[Strouty]

Is your shop essentially one big open bay? I was just talking about my shop being a pain due to that, having a dividing wall *****, but also makes for more room because it gives you more wall space to use. The blueprint drawers are pretty big and should hold quite a bit, I have seen a few people make an L bench and put them in the corner at a 45 degree angle.

 

[86turbodsl]

Yes, my shop is all one big bay. I try to keep everything on wheels. Since i'm trying to do a lot out there, and i don't have room for a lot of discrete spaces, i needed everything to be mobile and setup for tasks as needed. I'm also not opposed to having workstations out in the middle of floorspace.

I think by the time i get 3 lifts up in there, i'm going to be about out of room.

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[86turbodsl]

Getting ready for the work bench. Cleaning cleaning

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[Strouty]

I have the same issue, I can change my shop layout in an instant, sometimes it is infuriating as I have a better feel for where things are based on memory, so once I move stuff, things are all over the place and I get all discombobulated.

 

[86turbodsl]

I think my goal for this year is going to be that all major tools have a home, and a place they go. So i can stop this constant looking for something because i moved it once or 100X.

 

[Strouty]

That didn't help me, I established homes for things, then when I moved the homes, I got all messed up, sometimes you just couldn't get to the home or other times I was just plain old lazy.

 

[86turbodsl]

Don't permanently move the homes. I think that's key.

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[Strouty]

Permanently means different things to different people, I don’t think anything in my shop is permanent, except the exterior walls and the floor.

 

[86turbodsl]

Picked these up yesterday. To be fastener and drill storage. Can't wait.

Also ordered a 44 hf cabinet. No store within 100 miles had one.

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[86turbodsl]

Permanently means different things to different people, I don’t think anything in my shop is permanent, except the exterior walls and the floor.

I hear ya. Somewhat permanent?

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[Strouty]

Did you order a fancy color or did you get boring red??

 

[86turbodsl]

The blue. They look sweet. They are not carried anywhere though.

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[Strouty]

Nice! I am a big fan of blue.