Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DeeDubz Powerstroke shop

[DeeDubz]

Worked the weekend, not at my normal place of work. Just a 2 day visit. Wasn't bad the particular spot gets quite a bit of snow. To clear the apron and parking lot they have a skidsteer. I wanted to take it out and play with it but it had chains. I didnt feel like taking them off or chattering my teeth.
Welcomed my self home with a home depot box that was missing a important part. The battery. I purchased a battery operated Grease gun. This kit came with a changer as well as a battery. But it was missing. No worries as home depot made it right. I upgraded from a 1.5 amp to 6amp battery. Should show up in the mall tomorrow. Im almost done with my YJ. Im finishing up putting conduit on the fuel / electrical. I ran out of conduit ordered some yesterday should be there when I get home.
I kinda have skid steers on the brain. I finally pulled the trigger on one. With out going into too much detail. I just wired the money and will be picking it up Friday. Pictures to come.

 

[DeeDubz]

Wife an I did a thing. We bought a Tracked compact loader. I was finally able to pick it up today. I had to drive 200 miles to get it. My little 10k trailer was screaming. I guess its time for an upgrade. Im super excited about my skidsteer! My plan is too transition from my current job to working for myself. Im blessed to have the opportunity. I have a little over 1 hr on one over the last 5 yrs. No big deal I work with hydraulics for a living. Tom is a 2016 SVL75-2 Kubota. Its got about 1400 hrs. Its in really good shape. I bought it from a rental company. The guys that worked there had nothing but good things to say about this rig. Im glad we made the trek home *200 miles one way*. It rained the whole time. That was probably the heaviest thing ive towed in my truck. Totally underestimated the weight. Ive towed heavy loads. My old 5ther was 12k dry but with all the toys it was almost 16k ish... Well its nice to be home hangin out by the fire. Tom the tank gets to sleep inside tonight. The last couple of days we got a little bit of white stuff on the ground.

 

[DeeDubz]

Not a whole lot going on. Thankful not to be working in this weather. The IE has been getting a bunch of snow and rain. Rain/snowed the whole day. Stayed mostly in the mid to high 30s. Pretty cold outside for so cal. I went outside and made sure nothing was flooding on the property. The kids came out and played in the snow. My wife decided to let the fluffy dawg out.... He got muddy AF so I got to give him a bath... I wanted to run the machine in the yard but i didnt feel like making a damn mess. Figured it might be a good idea to check the tension on the tracks and the buck hydraulics. I have 6 ton jack stands in the back tilted the bucket onto the floor and raised the machine up in the air. From the point of the bottom of the track to the rollers was about 1/34 ". It should be anywhere from 3/4- 1 1/2 inches. I didnt add any grease its not gonna move for a few days. Monday the kutoba dealer will be open so I'll go buy some grease... and a bunch of other ****. The hydros worked great left the bucket up for a while no movement... but i made a mess in the shop. The day I brought it home I regen-ed it for 30mins. Prior to putting it away I used the float on the bucket to get rid of a hump in my drive way with the 3/4" rock. Made the hump disappear but forgot to raise the bucket and dump the rock and dirt that was behind the bucket... eh oh well. I ordered a back up camera on amazon. It should show up today hopefully i can get it installed. You can see pretty good backing up however you raise your *** out of the seat the machine cuts off all hydros and sets the brake. I could disable the seat switch but i think im gonna keep it for now. I heard of ppl disabling it and having problems down the road.

 

[DeeDubz]

Sunday funday It was cold AF and rainy so I put in a few hrs on the shop. I ordered a cheap back up camera for the loader. I wasn't sure where I was gonna mount it. I thought either on the top of the cage * which I ended up doing * or the rear engine compartment. The problem with the rear engine compartment there was really no reference where my tracks are. So I mounted it on the top of the cage. I had to drill a couple of holes to line it up in the center. I ran the wire down the cab to the back then pulled up a arm rest. Ran the cable through there to the screen. Its powered by the cigarette lighter. Mounting it to the cage i cant see my tracks but I can see the end of my boom and whats right over the boom... yep you guessed it the tracks. The mount for the LCD screen was a cheap window suction cup thingy. I dont have a windshield so Im going to have to fab something. I think im going to mount it up in the left hand corner. Also one of the steps is pretty mangled. I tried to straighten it out best I could but i think this will do until i bust out the torch and heat it up. The machine used to be a rental. I bought a heat gun so I could peel off the rental stickers. In one hour I got 3 off... I hate peeling decals.
Went to the kubota dealer in town today but they were closed. I thought it was weird they had equipment parked in front of the main entrance. I was hoping to get some parts / fluids. They looked open earlier in the morning when i passed by on my way home from jiu jitsu. I noticed that the power company had a few trucks on the street in front of the dealer. Maybe the power was out and they said f it every one gets to go home early today.

 

[DeeDubz]

I continued to pull rental decals of the machine. The other day I bought a 4x6 at the depot. I cut it up into two ft sections. Im going to use it for cribbing. When I need to get the tracks off the ground Id rather use wood as a base. I used 6 ton jack stands last time. It worked but it seemed a little sketchy. Im gonna get another 4x6 or maybe a 6x6. I went to the local kubota dealer close to home. I bought some hydraulic oil, gear oil, grease and a replacement hydraulic lock out switch. The lock out switch is needed to have hydros = travel and movement of the boom. ive been bypassing using the auxiliary hydro. The mounts for my camera came in. I dont think ill get to it today. Lots of running around to do. Wife car is going to the dealer for a recall. Looks like ill be a taxi today. I was hoping to stay off the roads today its raining like cats and dawgs.

 

[DeeDubz]

Snowed again yesterday wtf. Its been getting pretty cold in the shop. I noticed the other day my machine had a bit of a hard time starting. Probably from the cold an old battery. I gonna try and leave a float charger on it to see if that helps. Also I wanted to check the hydros. The tank was down a bit I put about 1.5 gals in it the other day. The crappy thing is the tyou have to raise the boom to fit it. I checked the reservoir, the fluid looks pretty good. Not very dark. With the operators compartment up I checked the pump and hydro lines. From what I could see everything looks pretty good. I did notice some fluids at the bottom of the machine. I put cardboard underneath it. No fluids on the cardboard but I can see some next the two access holes for maintenance. Lots of dirt in the bottom. The oil likes like its whats the after math of a hammerhead changing oil. This thing was a rental so I figured the guys changing the fluids didnt really care if they spilled. Once it drys up outside I'll pull out the pressure washer and clean it up a bit.
Today I gotta do some welding. A pool gate latch finally broke. Im gonna take it off and run the mig on it.

 

[DeeDubz]

I went to home depot in the am with the oldest kid. We got a few things. Couple of impact metric sockets. A gate latch 4x6 and a few other things. The gate latch I ended up not welding. I couldn't take the gate off the hinges weren't open on the bottom. I didnt feel like changing the wire reversing the power wires inside my mig just to be able to weld something outside. I bought a new latch for the gate and just put in two self tapping screws.
ONce I finished that project I cut up another 4x6x8 into two ft sections. Then I had enough blocks to get the tracks off the ground. I pulled the grease access cover off and found a **** ton of grease. I think last time they released the ram they didnt clean the grease that came out they just left it in there. Unless theres a leak. Ill keep an eye on it. I leveled some rock in my driveway to the shop then put it away.

 

[DeeDubz]

This weekend I took the kids out to az to go see my mom. We were out there for a couple of days. Nothing really exciting for our trip. Just wanted to get the kids out of the house and see their grandma. Sunday morning I left pretty early to make the 4 hr trip home to be able to spend a day with the wife. Hung out in the am had breakfast, hot tube. She had homework to do so I go into the shop. First thing I had to do was get a look at my truck. Its thrown a couple of codes the last week. Its a P0401 I think. I did some research on the inter webs. It could be a lot of things everything from MAS to EGR cooler cleaning. The code came on in the am driving home somewhere in the desert. I had some MAS sensor cleaner. Pulled the sensor off and sprayed it as the directions said. I had to let that dry until i could drive the truck. I drove the truck this morning to work no issues. Lets hope it works.
I did a little mod for my back up camera. Finally found a surface to mount it. Up out of the way. The only thing left is to clean up the conduit. I couldn't find any 3/8s conduit holders. Ordered some on amazon. They'll show up when i get home from work. I had a few hours to spare so I started to cut into my driveway into my shop. Its got a high spot. It bugs the wife she wants it even. So Im working on that when I can.

 

[DeeDubz]

Moved my trailer from my shop to the front of my yard. Im getting ready to list it for sale. Its an iron panther with maybe 3-4k miles.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

That looks nice. If only I needed a trailer

 

[DeeDubz]

That looks nice. If only I needed a trailer

Thanks I got it from my FIL. He used it twice. Looking to upgrade to 14k.

 

[Sifan]

This is GJ, when did NEED have anything to do with acquisitions???

 

[wreckdiver1321]

This is GJ, when did NEED have anything to do with acquisitions???

Ha! I'm not sure how well my Land Cruiser would tow that trailer.

 

[Sifan]

Now you NEED a tow vehicle

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Typical GJ, vicariously helping itself to my money

 

[DeeDubz]

Got paroled from work. Had a few appointments in the am. After that I got home and had a few hrs before I had to go pick up my youngest. Perfect time to grade my drive way. I spent about an hr grading it getting the hump out of the driveway. Most of its gone. I still have a little work to do on it. When im done im gonna order some more 3/4" rock as a base. I wanted to get some stick time prior to the rain. Its suppose to rain the next two days before I go back to work. After I was done I wanted to check the tension on the tracks. I raised the machine off the ground and measured in-between the track and the rollers. Didnt move an inch since I tightened it. I made a lot of tight turns and wasn't sure if it put added stress on the tracks. Its all put away for a few days. I did finish my back up camera. I'll get in the shop later today and take some pictures. Not bad for under 50bucks.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Man, you are in the wrong part of the country to be flying flags like that

 

[Xti04]

Its funny to me to see a machine from Sunbelt thats not green

 

[DeeDubz]

Man, you are in the wrong part of the country to be flying flags like that

I know lol. We re stuck here for the duration. Wifes got a great job wont be leaving this s hole till the kids are out of the house. Having said that the town we live in is one of the last hold outs. Pretty conservative for the most part. Lots of MAGA flags around here... not so much the other party.

 

[DeeDubz]

Its funny to me to see a machine from Sunbelt thats not green

I was pretty close to getting a bobcat that was green.... Im glad i didnt. Sunbelt did put quite a few stickers on the machine. I made a good pick Kubotas hold their value pretty well.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

I know lol. We re stuck here for the duration. Wifes got a great job wont be leaving this s hole till the kids are out of the house. Having said that the town we live in is one of the last hold outs. Pretty conservative for the most part. Lots of MAGA flags around here... not so much the other party.

Don't want to be devolving into a political conversation since that's frowned upon here, but I feel for ya.

 

[DeeDubz]

Don't want to be devolving into a political conversation since that's frowned upon here, but I feel for ya.

Like wise. I got put in jail last time. Not being political at all. Its just a flag.

 

[DeeDubz]

We've been getting a bunch of rain. Im glad I got my grading in before the weather it. I think everyone is over the rain. I was able to finish up the back up camera for the skidsteer. After that I started on the jeep. I finished up wrapping the fuel lines. Put the skid plate back on the frame. All thats left is to set up the computer and tap into the distributor. Im not sure when Ill get around to it. Spring break is right around the corner.

 

[DeeDubz]

Family an I just got back from Utah. We went out to see my wifes parents in St. George. We only stayed 3 nights. I think everyone was ready to get back home. Kids had an ok time. My in laws have a hyper german Shepard that my kids aren't too fond of. Tuesday I had a few hrs to put some work in my garage. I had ordered some parts for my truck a few weeks ago. They finally showed up while we were out of town. Ive been needing to bleed my brakes. The fluid in the reservoir looks pretty dark. Started with the rear, pumped on the brake a few times let it sit. Pumped some more, waited for all the air to come out of the system then I moved on the next.
While I was bleeding the brakes I needed to replace the waste gate solenoid. For the last 6 yrs of having my truck every time I turn the truck off 15 seconds after shut down you hear a vacuum pump run for 30 seconds... Its sorta annoying. Its not that big of a deal. This issue doesn't affect the performance of the truck so ford never issued a recall. While the vacuum is running if you pump on the brakes a few times it will stop. Finally ordered the 60 dollar part. It wasn't too big of a deal. Took apart the intercooler pipe a few bolts and I swapped the solenoid out. Did this while I was bleeding my brakes.
My son had a few flags hanging in his room. We rearranged his room and he didnt want his flags on his walls anymore. So he gave them to me to hang up in the shop. Also I moved my snap on cord reel. It was hanging over my skidsteer. Theres really no reason for it over on that side of my shop. I moved it on the other side where I could really used more light.
More rain is in the forecast this week... Its suppose to be spring. Today is the last bit of sunshine we re getting this week. I used my skidsteer for about 10 mins. Flattened out some dirt over by my pool gate. It was all torn up from the construction and trenching. Theres a big piece of eucalyptus by my shop thats in the way. Its heavy AF. We ve been tripping over it getting chicken eggs. I really need to split it but im too lazy. I loaded it in the bucket and moved it by the wood pile.

 

[DeeDubz]

Got home from work. I hit the ground running. Wife wants more garden boxes. I decided on my only free day off was to go and get the supplies I needed. That included 12 2x8x8, 12 2x2x8, 8 bags of potting soil, Chicken wire and a couple of plants. The weather is starting to get warm again. I think the rain is finally gone. In the process of making my boxes I had to make serval trips to my shop. After the 3rd one I figured Id hitch a ride. Fired up the kubota and threw my stuff in the bucket. By the time I was finished building the boxes it was starting to get late. My kids were hungry so BBQ some steaks. I can finally put the fire place to sleep for the summer. I had a buck full of wood laying in my garage. Wife wanted it gone. Dumped it in the wood pile by the shop. This weekend Im gonna throw some dirt in the boxes and top it off with some soil. TBC

 

[DeeDubz]

Saturday we finished up our garden stuff. Dropped a couple of loads in the garden boxes and put top soil on it. Put some peppers, tomatoes and some other stuff in the ground. The corner of our retaining wall / pool area needed some fill dirt. I dont think the dirt got compacted enough.... Shocker the contractor sucked. One load of dirt. The wife helped me spread it. I noticed a drop in my concrete. This corner area we dont really hang out in. I sprayed for weeds and noticed it seems to have sunk a bit. Oh well We dont really utilize this area of the pool. Went back to work the next day. Should be off tomorrow. Were having a patio cover installed and I think I found someone to buy my flat bed. we ll see.

 

[DeeDubz]

After building the garden boxes the wife wanted them enclosed. We have cats... birds and other animals that will destroy our beds. I went to home depot the other day to get some 2x2s... I didnt buy enough. The next day I had to go and get more. I was able to build two of them. All of our boxes are covered. While I was in the shop I decided to put my kubota sicker on the boom. I know it doesn't looks normal but it doesn't matter Im going to put a decal over the whole thing once I figure out my company name. The tail end of the day the older boy showed his face. We did a few things in the shop and then chilled while I smoked a cigar.

 

[DeeDubz]

We've been wanting a patio cover for a while. After a few weeks getting quotes we signed a contract with a local company. Took em about a month to get materials and a week to start the cover. A one day job turned into 4 days. We still have a few minor things they have to finish before they get paid. Overall Im really not happy with the build. Neither is my wife. The cover thats elevated has metal brackets that are on my roof. They stand out and and look like ****. Im not sure how were gonna hide them. They installed 23 rafter tails on the smaller section away from the pool. I picked out the rafter tails... I had no idea they were gonna put 23 of them. 16 on center.... I would have liked them spaced farther. WE asked the installer how much it would be to replace that section. Also theres a section of my eves that dont have a rain gutter and they leak on the end. Eh first world problems... It will keep the heat off the house a bit. The bedrooms that face south get blasted by the son.

 

[DeeDubz]

Got home from work monday AM. Had a free day to do whatever I wanted... well almost. The wife wanted some pea gravel moved from a planter in front of the house. She wants to put some plants and wood chips in there. I used my wheelbarrow. Took 5 loads to move it all. I wanted to use my machine but I think the wife would have been pissed with track marks in the grass. I also moved some dirt around. Im trying to fill in some gaps and level some parts out. While I was in the process the kid came out and wanted to get some stick time. I gave him a 5 min crash corse on operation then let him have at it for 10mins. He loved it. He told me he wants to do it more often.

 

[DeeDubz]

Almost finished my blocks for the machine. I would like to paint them orange. I get it... Dont really need to but there gonna travel wherever the machine goes. Just in case I throw a track or need to put the machine off the ground. I put some handles on them using some left over webbing. Makes it a lot easier to move.

 

[DeeDubz]

Messed around in the yard with my kubota yesterday. I moved some dirt and rocks around by the shop. I wanted to clean up the side of my shop and move the wood shed. Prior to that I took the bucket off and cleaned the hangers where the pins go. They looked pretty gummed up. I ended up using the bucket to move the shed. I wrapped a chain around the top to have something to pull so I could tilt it. Over all it worked out pretty good. I was able to move it and nothing got damaged. I dumped a couple of loads of dirt to level the area out. Over the weekend I'll move the wood shed to the final spot behind my chicken coup. Wifes off today I think were going to hit the local nursery to get some wood chips and some plants for the front of the house and the pool area.

 

[DeeDubz]

I got my first job for my kubota last week. It didnt pay anything..... my wife volunteered my services at my sons school just a few blocks away from our residence. My wife is pretty close to the principle / school district. They needed ppl to show up with shovels/ wheelbarrows ect to help fill some galvanized tubes for the playground. With the help of the machine and couple of volunteers we finished in less than an hour. My oldest got to drive up the street. It was a weekend so not too much traffic. Once we got close to the school and we had cars on the road i took over. We were told to show up at 8. I didnt start working till 9. The sand truck was a little late. The area that we worked in was just a empty lot next to the school. The route was a little sketchy. A few narrow places with just enough space for my tracks. There was a creek on the other side of my track that is 10-15 ft deep that was a concern. I didnt wanna end up in it. Also a gas line that was right next the the fence by the school. Made a few friends maybe it will pan out for a few more jobs... that ones that pay.

 

[DeeDubz]

The family an I booked a camping trip at the river. Took the kids out of school, loaded up the truck and trailer on the road at 11. 60 miles away from home my truck blew an intercooler hose. At the time I didnt know it was the intercooler. I was going up hill and heard a loud pop lost all my boost. At the time I was thinking it was the turbo. After it happened I pulled over and checked under the hood. All the hoses and boots looked fine. The crack was at the bottom of the intercooler. I wasn't about to pull the intercooler out on the side of the FW. We limped the truck home. I dropped it off at a local diesel shop. At the moment I was trying to salvage our camping trip. The Diesel shop was 100% sure it was the turbo... that would have been 5k. While I was getting my truck looked at my wife called up my best friend and asked if we could barrow his F350. Hes a great friend and let me barrow it. The only thing is that I had to drive to his house which is an hour away... Then drive back to my house and load up the truck for our trip. Long story short we go into camp at 9pm... It sucked backing up a truck in the dark and setting up camp in the dark. My wife took a picture of me crushing a beer after I was done. Not once did I yell or snap at her. We're a pretty good team. The weather we had was kinda crappy. Windy during the day perfect weather at night. Kids had a blast did a little bit of fishing didnt catch anything. Pulling out and backing down my drive way I scratched the F out of my driveway..... My friend didnt have a drop hitch and I didnt have a 3inch receiver.

 

[DeeDubz]

I finally got some pictures of where I ended up putting my wood shed. I did some rough grading. When I get closer to putting 3/4" down Ill compact it with the skid steer.

A buddy of mine was on a job clearing brush with his skid steer. He noticed one of his tracks was starting to separate so he tried to get the machine on the trailer. We ll he ended up being short. Missing a track he left it on site. He just ordered some new shoes for it. Probably so up next week. I'll give him a hand putting them on. Apparently he purchased standard duty tracks. I think they re less than a yr old.

 

[DeeDubz]

I hit the ground running yesterday. It was my only day off before I went back for 4 days. Made a few pit stops before I picked my youngest up from school. I found a new nursery thats 15 mins away from the house. A buddy from work told me they had tomatillo plants. I picked up two of them. Hit home depot for some paint. Got some kubota orange. Got my truck washed then went home. Later during the day I installed my battery for my jeep. I took it out to charge and add some water. I went to reinstall it when the terminal broke. Ordered another on amazon, should be waiting for me when i get back home.

On a side note. I might be switching careers very soon. Working for the gov isn't what its cut out to be. ITs good pay but im away from home too much. Wife has a great career which will give me the freedom to do something different. I got a hook up on a new gig sorta part time. Between my retirement and this new position it will be the same. Not to mention my skidsteer business. A buddy of mine runs a land clearing business. I might trade up and get a different machine with a muchler attachment. Will see the wifes on board. Kids would be very happy to see dad home every night.

 

[DeeDubz]

The other day I got around to painting my blocks for my machine. Wife has been bugging me to do a dump run... Yesterday afternoon I finally had enough time to get some stuff loaded in the truck. A couple of closet doors, entertainment center, shoe rack and a umbrella. My onboard air compressor for my air bags stopped working. Its 5ish yrs old. I figured it was time to replace. But before I dropped a couple of hundred bucks on a new one I figured Id see if it was something simple to fix. I started by checking the air compressor. Its mounted on the frame rail just below the crew cab. Everything looked fine wires were intact. I made my way into the fuse box. I wasn't sure where Id find the fuse from. But I got lucky. The first one I checked was the one that was blown. There happened to be a yellow wire inserted in the fuse box with a fuse on the outside of the box. That was the one. I replaced it with a 15amp fuse and it blew right off the bat when I tried to air my bags up. I ended up putting a 25amp and its working fine. Which brings me to this am.

Right now I have a 600lb skidsteer track in my buddies dump trailer. His machine is still missing a track. Im going to go help him this morning to put the one fresh track on. Ill take pictures im sure it will be fun. It would help if we had a machine to help us move the track but i think we ll be able to man handle it. The beginning of next week we ll put the other track on in his shop.

 

[DeeDubz]

The track install went fine. It took use about an hour. I underestimated how much the track weighs. Ive watch plenty of youtube videos of guys changing them out with ease. This track weights over 600lbs and is 18" wide. The whole process wasn't too bad just a lot of ratchet straps and pry bars. For whatever reason his ram inside his idler didnt wanna retract too much. We had to put two straps on it to push it in. Made a mess no where for the grease to go but out. We thought we got all the grease out until we started to get the track on the idler putting more tension on the ram. After that I hauled some eucalyptus home.
I had to beat the traffic home. Wifes favorite band was planning locally. Got cleaned up went out to dinner had a beer and stayed up way too late.

 

[DeeDubz]

The left side only took 20 minutes. I was hoping to do the swap in the shop with the shade an ac. My buddy was afraid if anything went to **** the 6 ton machine would be a paper weight in the shop. We would have restricted access in the shop. Oh well it went on pretty easy. I guess the more you do it the better you get. The guys on youtube make this look easy. But most of the tracks Ive seen aren't 18" wide. I think the next time *hopefully* I do this will be at the end of the yr when I get new shoes for my kubota.

 

[DeeDubz]

Its been a minute since Ive updated my GJ. Im currently off work right now. The good news is I have plenty of time to do projects. The bad news is that I cant really do much. I tweaked my knee a few months back. It wasn't getting better and was impacting my quality of life so I got it checked. Waiting on an MRI and PT then go from there.
My best friend forgot about my birthday in the beginning of the yr. I guess he felt bad and has been sending me **** from etsy for the last few days. One of the things he got me was a metal sign for the front of my shop. I was able to hang it to my door.
I dont have any before and after photos of the back of my shop. It was over grown with weeds and some chain link. More or less a junk pile out of sight out of mind. When Im healthy im going to grade the area behind my shop and on the side then put some 3/4 gravel down. With the help of the wife and kids we cleaned up the back. Two trash cans full of weeds. A buddy of mine came by a few weeks ago and moved some dirt for me. Id say id got about 10 yards left give or take. Im using the dirt around my property to fill in some low spots on my fence line. Its gonna be a while before I can operate it.

The Yj has been sitting for a few months. I found out that im not getting any spark. I need about 1000bucks worth of parts to get it running. I think in a month or two ill get it running. Its been bugging me that its just sitting in my garage. On a sad note I lost my favorite flash light. My LED ryobi flash light. Its been MIA for a month. I have no idea where the f it is. Wife thinks its gonna turn up. Eh next time I make it to home depot ill replace it.

 

[DeeDubz]

Im getting bored sitting on my *** all day. I pulled the trigger on a gooseneck hitch. Eventually Im going to get a flatbed trailer to haul my equipment. With all the weight I thought that it might be a good idea to get a gooseneck. 12+k on a bumper pull is a little sketch. I wasn't really happy the way my old trailer towed when I picked up my machine. Taking it easy I was able to pull my exhaust heat shield off. Prior to that I dropped the spare to give me some extra room. Once that was done I was ready to measure where im going to drill my hole. I measured about 8 times lol just to make sure I was putting it in the right spot. No turning back now. The hole was spot on. Next I cut a V section on the riverside under the bed. This will allow me to put the cross members in between the frame and the bed. Tomorrow I'll have some help to put it all together. Shouldn't be too bad the rest of the way.