Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT A trip back from the edge.

[xtremek]

Thanks Gasgt1. FYI, I love your signature and your avatar.

Also, to those few out there who are bored enough to drop by, happy and safe holidays to you and yours. May this next year find your family blessed as much as I've been these past few years (by Robin, all my girls, and my boy and his clan).

 

[xtremek]

Thanks Gasgt1. BTW, I love your signature and avatar.

To all those who are bored enough to drop by, happy holidays to you and yours. May this next year find your family as blessed as I have been these past few years.

 

[xtremek]

Ok, so the last post did make it. Sorry for the double. On to the latest. So I’m pretty much done with the Gasser wagon. I made it so you can put either a regular handle on it, or pull the hair pin and put a tongue on it so you can pull it behind a garden tractor. I also put a hitch so that I can daisy chain all the wagons together (I have 3 grandkids and we expect many more). I even got my daughter out to the barn to help me out. The only thing I have left to do to it before paint is make some tie rods. Maybe someone out there can help me. I need access to a lathe for about 30 minutes to an hour so that I can drill the rod I have for the tie rods. Anyone know someone local? Anyway, here’s the latest pics.

 

[MrQuinn]

Thank you for visiting my shop project thread and I really enjoyed reading through your adventures as well. Very inspiring and as Uncle Red says "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy". Looking forward to reading more... subscribed!

 

[xtremek]

Mr. Quinn I'm glad you are inspired. Thanks for dropping by. I think Robin loves me not because I'm necessarily handy, but more because I'm crazy. lol

 

[BuickFarmer]

Why am I just now finding this cool thread? Because before when I looked at your avatar I thought "couldn't have anything in common with this dude" ...How wrong I was. You're a cool dude with a great family, a pond and a fun barn build project but most of all LOVE THAT TRACTOR!!!!
Sorry I misjudged, subscribing now.

 

[xtremek]

Why am I just now finding this cool thread? Because before when I looked at your avatar I thought "couldn't have anything in common with this dude" ...How wrong I was. You're a cool dude with a great family, a pond and a fun barn build project but most of all LOVE THAT TRACTOR!!!!
Sorry I misjudged, subscribing now.

Thanks for dropping by BF. Again, I apologize as well. I love my old mule, but I'd be willing to trade you for one of your Buicks. Heck, I'd take a rough shell (so I could hot rod it).

 

[xtremek]

It's been a while since my last post. That doesn't mean I've been slacking, ok maybe a little. It was just to darn cold to do much.

It’s that time of year, so two weeks ago I reacquainted myself with my old friend, the sledge hammer and demolished a pile (5’ around by 3’ high) of old concrete blocks. One of these days my arch nemesis (the driveway) will succumb, or I’ll die trying to get it into shape. I will say that my body told me it’s been a few months since I swung a sledge hammer.

 

[xtremek]

March means the girls are super busy with Girl Scouts and dance. To top it off, this past weekend was Science Olympiad. Robin runs the shindig. So that means all hands on deck. Friday is spent running the girls to extra dance practice and shopping for breakfast snacks for the SO volunteers. I did my part Saturday and superivsed the Robo-cross event. Sunday was spent replacing the water pump on Robin's Exploder, going to some Catholic/Girl Scout ceremony and doing the dishes. All of next weekend will be spent in Grand Rapids for dance comps. So much for getting anything done around here. But don't let me kid you, the girls are worth it. On another personal note, my son finally cleared Ebola quarintine and was back with his family today. I'm very proud of him and glad he's home with his family.

 

[shortykorte]

As far as weddings go, the girls will probably get the same treatment the wife and I got. She made the cake, I picked wild flowers and everyone wore second hand dresses that they picked out. A very eclectic mix of formal, casual, evening, tea and summer dresses. Nothing matched, but they looked good.

Was going to wait until the end to post but after reading this post I have to comment. "Everyone" wear dresses and your not going to post a pic.

 

[xtremek]

Was going to wait until the end to post but after reading this post I have to comment. "Everyone" wear dresses and your not going to post a pic.

Mine was a tea length that went with my gray goatee

 

[BBChevro]

I only just discovered this thread today and read through the whole thing.

Although I do like reading (OK, make that "drooling over") some of the high-dollar workshop make-over/mega-builds, I get as much enjoyment (on second thoughts, more - because I can identify with so much of it) from threads like this one that share snippets of the OP's day to day life as well as the "garage stuff".

Please forgive me, I just realised that the previous paragraph was all one sentence (I tend to do that a lot) - I hope you can understand my rambling.


Anyway, I'll get to the point now - thank you for sharing, I will be tagging along from now on.

 

[shortykorte]

Thanks for the pix. Tea length, sweet.

Great effort and great job. Nothing better than a house you make your home through blood, sweat and tears.

 

[xtremek]

.........on second thoughts, more - because I can identify with so much of it) from threads like this one that share snippets of the OP's day to day life as well as the "garage stuff".

Please forgive me.....thank you for sharing, I will be tagging along from now on.

Thanks for dropping by Mark. This thread will never be about mega anything, except for mega pain, mega adventures, and mega love (Robin's crazy not to run away from this old man). As far as forgiving a run on sentence, I'm definitely not an English teacher.

......Great effort and great job. Nothing better than a house you make your home through blood, sweat and tears.

ShortyK, thanks for the compliment. I dropped by your thread and that's one outrageous remodel you've got going. I love your philosophy of reuse and repurpose.

 

[mwbailey]

Well, xtremek, I hate to hear that you're fighting with your drive! While I understand completely due to my drive experience, I feel for you since yours is a lot longer than mine. I've been told to just keep at it. Besides, it's a good excuse to drive the tractor. . . .

 

[xtremek]

So Science Olympiad and dance recitals are over. I haven’t updated in a while, but it’s because I’ve been busy and getting back into the real swing of things. Since I last wrote, the gasser wagon is now a rolling chassis and I think it looks pretty good. The Squirt ate its engine (just over 178k on the odo). This required the fabrication of a special adapter for my old floor jack to occupy the same space as the cherry picker, in order to hold the trans up while clearing the flywheel. I took me a month of nickel and dime moments (see the intro comment about SO and dance recitals) to finally get the thing in and running. The last hurdle was the new motor was out of ’14 Cruze(?) has 5 rib pulleys and the Squirt has 6 rib. Found out the hard way when it ate the original belt. She seems to be running fine, but when I run it hard, two codes pop up. One for coolant flow and another turbo code. Seeing as I rarely run it hard, that gets shuffled to the back of the line. I’m finally getting around to taking care of Robin’s ride. Struts all the way around, rear brakes, rear wiper motor, sway bar links, an alignment, thermostat housing, and the fog light a turkey took out. I also put bearings in my old Dewalt 4½”electric angle grinder and I got my pencil sharpener mounted to the bottom of my cabinet.

 

[xtremek]

Whew, that was a mouth full.

 

[1/2 Cup]

It sure was a mouth full xtremek, you have been busy by the sounds of it. Thanks for the update.

Regards

 

[jon72vega]

You've been busy sounds like!

 

[xtremek]

Just when I think I'm in the clear, the wife reminds me of orchestra/band/choir concerts. So much for getting back in the groove. I hope I can sneak in a parts run before the orchestra concert tonight.

 

[CNGsaves]

OP . . . somehow I missed it what what vehicle is "Squirt" that blew engine at just 178K miles ??? What engine ?? Why ??

What engine is the '14 Cruze that you got ?? From wrecked insurance total ??

 

[xtremek]

I probably didn't mention it, but Squirt is a '12 Sonic 1.4t 6spd (that's the Squirt parked next to my truck). I'm not sure what caused the failure. I know there was 0 psi compression on the #2 and #3 cylinders and the intercooler had quite a bit of oil in the bottom of it. Also, those plugs had no center electrodes and the side electrodes looked melted. I plan on pulling the head once I get Robin's ride back on the road.
I got the engine from a highly reputable local bone yard (Schram's). I'm guessing it's a insurance total. I was told it had 12k on the engine. I could have got one with 2 miles on it, but I didn't want to drive halfway across the state to get it (a sister yard that's located about 15 miles from the plant that builds the Sonic).

 

[iceman510]

I got my pencil sharpener mounted to the bottom of my cabinet.

I think I have that same pencil sharpener. Got it from my parent's house and have moved it 4 times with house changes. Best sharpener I have ever used.

 

[xtremek]

The oldest daughter's boyfriend gave the sharpener to me since his parents are getting a divorce. I remember these from when I was in grade school.

 

[bonecrrusher]

If that is a 12 - is the warranty gone - its only 3ish years old?

Schrams - that is a name that I haven't heard in a long time.

I've been to there yard in Holt - very cool to see them cutting up GM's show cars - at least they used to be one of the yards they sold too.

 

[xtremek]

Bonecrusher, the warranty was gone in the first year and a half (20 months if you want to be accurate). Holt's where I got the motor. Their Pontiac yard is where the 2 mile motor was. I'm guessing something happened to that car at the Lake Orion plant. I mean 2 miles, it can't have left the plant lot, right?

 

[Bassfishing54]

And I thought I drove quite a bit! My 2014 Camry (new in September 2013) has 84,000 miles, but the "Squirt" really gets driven. I understand about the warranty out in the first year! Keep up the good work!

 

[xtremek]

So GM told contract workers we had to take an extra day off over the holiday. So during that time, I finished a few projects in the barn. The first was I fixed the trigger on my old Green Machine weed whip. Then I broke out the welder and made some tabs to attach the bird feeder hangers to the side of the deck. After that I helped one of the twins finish her bike and the put a basket on the other’s.
Another project I did was the 12v conversion on the Old Mule, which required massaging a bracket and painting everything satin black. I had to rewire the Old Mule as part of the conversion, so I thought I share a pic of that. Definitely not my best work, that’s for sure.
There was a flag pole in the middle of the front yard that hadn’t been used for roughly 15 years. I tried to yank it out with the Old Mule but had no luck, so I grabbed the torches and cut them off 8” below the ground. The front yard looks so much cleaner with that gone.
I also decorated the new mailbox that needed to be replaced after someone decided to play mailbox tag. The next replacement will be fabbed out of ¼” plate since I don’t like replacing the sucker every 2 years.
Finally, I took my birthday money to Menards and bought 4 t-5 fixtures, bulbs and a roll of insulation for down the center of the ceiling (3½” x 23½“). I did get to install the fixtures over the tool boxes, what an amazing difference. I did get one more tree cut down on the east side of the garden. That ended the holiday weekend here at the Princess Palace/Hack Shack.

 

[xtremek]

So I was finally able to upload the last post after two weeks of trying. The moderators told me to pull my head out of my a$% and shrink the size of the pics. Ok, they were a whole lot nicer than that. Anyways here's the next post I had ready for last week.

Two weeks ago I finished putting together the stock racks I have material for. I had enough left over old door opener trolley track to make 4 more supports. I’d like to make 8 more supports so I can have 3 rows for stock.

After that it was time to get back to Robin’s ride. I had the left rear strut torn down, but the right side lower bolt was seized in the sleeve. That meant cutting the ring, the burning off enough rubber to heat up the sleeve. UCK!!! I finished that and threw on new rotors and pads on the rear and cleaned a wheel stud that had the end thread boogered up. Since the rear is done, my next step will be to turn my attention to the front end, and then finish all the little stuff the Exploder has needed but wasn’t a priority. I was going to be ambitious for Sunday and tear apart the front end, but 50F weather sucked the life right out of me. So this next week promises to be nutsoid yet again. Thanks for stopping by and checking the progress of our trip back from the edge of chaos.

 

[jon72vega]

Been awhile since I've checked in on your thread.
You've been busy.

I've been using photobucket for my pictures for awhile now.
Not necessarily better, but it's what I'm used to.

BTW, my brother lives in Owosso.
How far is that from St Johns?

Take care.....

 

[xtremek]

Hey Jon, things have been fighting me every step of the way, but that's life. Owosso is about a half hour almost straight east of me. 21 cuts through St Johns and Owosso, and I'm a little over 5 miles south of that. Are you planning on coming over the the Westphalia car show? I'm taking a half day off work so I can go.

 

[matt_i]

You sir, are a Worker! Really enjoy your projects, old tractors are a blast. I have a couple of Internationals (Super A, 460 Utility) that I use for grass cutting and "dirt work" and they never fail to disappoint in the "fun factor".

I've done some pulling of stuff with the tractor, bushes, shrubs, concrete slabs...and what I do is hook the chain to the back leg of the 2 bottom plow I have. Its frame is heavily reinforced by its previous owner and there is no damage evident from the projects. The advantage is, if I ever did get the nose of the tractor going up, the 2nd plow bottom is either going to skid on the ground or dig into it. Since its on a long lever and restrained by the 3 points, its a "rotational safety".

I actually did a similar thing missing the edge of the road while plowing snow across it and got nose down in the ditch where I had no traction on the rears to get out and not enough traction to go forward either. My pickup is a 2wd dually and thus useless on snow....so I had to do it the old fashioned way and wait for things to melt a little, in the meantime the county plowed the road and salted, and in about 3 days there was clear road for me to dig thru the windrows with a shovel for a slot to pull the old guy out.

 

[xtremek]

Thanks for dropping by Matt and the compliment. Sounds like you had an adventure or two yourself. Do you have pics of your tractors on that thread?

 

[jon72vega]

xtremek,
I'm not going to that car show in Westphalia, but sounds like fun.

My brother is 4 or 5 miles south of Owosso, just off of M52 on a small lake.
Beautiful lake.

 

[xtremek]

Jon, some day, if you get a chance, you should try to make the Westphalia car show. It's a little town that is nothing more that a 4-way stop. They shut the town down on a Thursday afternoon/evening and pack in about 1000+ cars. That's more cars than the Detroit Autorama. What gets me is that it's such a tiny town and the show is on Thursday, yet so many cars/trucks.

Also, if you ever feel like dropping by on your way to see your brother, feel free

 

[xtremek]

So I started on the front struts on Robin’s ride last weekend. Surprise, the right side front had the same issue as the right side rear, with the lower mount being seized to the bolt. More burning rubber. In the process, despite my best efforts, I melted the outer CV boot. So I spent this past week trying to separate the outer joint from the shaft so I could save $50 and put just a boot on. Even after making a special tool, I was unsuccessful. So I admitted defeat and I have a half shaft coming. I also went to Menards and bought some more T-8 fixtures. We got some HEAVY rain Saturday night/Sunday morning. When I went out to the barn, there was water dripping everywhere on the west side of the barn. I continued to rain Sunday, but not as hard and I saw no leaks. Looks like it’s time to crawl into the attic space and try to locate the problem spots and see what’s happening on the top side. Once I get Robin’s ride rolling I hope to get pull the engine out of Christine (Uncle PL’s truck) so it can be scrapped/traded. I also need to open the pool, drop the trees on the east side of the garden, and till the patch in front of the barn. Stay tuned for more fun.

 

[jon72vega]

Jon, some day, if you get a chance, you should try to make the Westphalia car show. It's a little town that is nothing more that a 4-way stop. They shut the town down on a Thursday afternoon/evening and pack in about 1000+ cars. That's more cars than the Detroit Autorama. What gets me is that it's such a tiny town and the show is on Thursday, yet so many cars/trucks.

Also, if you ever feel like dropping by on your way to see your brother, feel free

xtremek,
Sounds like a fun time.

I'll pm you the next time I visit my brother.

 

[sublime68charger]

xtremek

great thread and thanks for sharing all your adventures with the GJ community!!!

 

[xtremek]

You're welcome s68c. I wish my place was going to turn out half as nice as yours did

 

[xtremek]

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this and things are lurching along. SWMBO wants a fence around the garden and a shed to house ducks (I really don’t get her fascination with waterfowl). The shed will be sectioned off, part for the ducks, part for her gardening stuff and part for lawn equipment. Clearing the area requires removing a ton of brush and about 30 stumps. I got the Old Mule out and started pulling up the brush. I pulled one next to the house and a few around the existing shed (it’s in the process of collapsing). I got to the stumps and there was no way it was going to budge any of them. I was chatting with the neighbor about a repair job I’m going to do for him (kind of as a payback for loaning me his roto-tiller) and asked if he knew of a good place to rent an excavator. He said, “You can borrow my bulldozer”. Of course I jumped on the offer. I pushed the first few over and the dozer stopped turning left. Great, just what I need, dozer repairs. I did a few more (only turning right) and I needed to move some of them out of my way to get at some more. I asked one of the twins to help me drag them up to the front of the yard using the Old Mule. We drug the first one up and I start walking back to the garden to find the next stump when I hear a crash and loud crying. I run back around the shed and see that she let the tractor get away from her and it is now backed into the side of the pool. She’s sobbing hysterically, water is gushing out of the pool and lapping at her feet, while the tractor is sitting there idling. “ARE YOU OK?!? ARE YOU HURT?!? ARE YOU OK?!?” After a little bit, she sobs she’s not hurt. In the meantime I’m laughing so hard I’m about to pee myself. The pool was free, the tractor was free and unhurt, and she’s not hurt. No big loss. I tell her it’s no big deal. She’s not the first to wreck something and she won’t be the last. And we’ll get a new pool tomorrow. What a wild 4th of July week. It’s what keeps life interesting and fun.