Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DeeDubz Powerstroke shop

[DeeDubz]

Yesterday I started installing the hardware. Didnt start until noon. Worked on it for a few hrs until the wife got home and talked me into going in the pool. Not too bad for one person. My hole was in the correct location. It lined up without needing help from the top side. Sliding the cross members inbetween the frame and the bed was a *****. Lots of banging with a mallet. In order to get the plate with the hole in it there wasn't much room with the exhaust pipe in the way. I tried using a breaker bar to pry and give me more room but the bar slipped and damn near too some teeth out. To make room I used a small bottle jack. Found a flat spot under the frame and exhaust so the bottle jack wouldn't slip. Once I had enough room it fit interlace no problem. After that It was just lining up the hole and moving the cross members into place.
I found that my airbags made things a little interesting. The plate that goes on the drivers side frame rail 3/4 bolt barely fits through the hole with the airbag mount. Im not sure how im going to tighten it.... Maybe using a crows foot. Another 1/2inch bolt on the drivers side gave me a problem. Theres this thing in the way called the fuel tank. My hands aren't small enough to fit in-between the frame and bed to put the bolt through the hole. I dropped it 4 times in-between the frame and tank... Damn near impossible to get. I was pretty close to just cutting my loses and replacing the bolt. Leaving the one between the frame.
Now im at the point i just need to finish torquing the bolts. The bolts under the bed were a ***** to tighten. I took my gloves off to give me a little bit more dexterity. IT was all good until My torque wrench slipped and bashed the f out of my hand. Pretty proud of myself I didnt throw any of my tools. Just let out a few cuss words. Thats when the wife came home.

Today I should finish. All theres left to do is finish torquing the drivers side install the latch. Grease up the ball and call it a day.

 

[DeeDubz]

Here's the finished product. Sat I finished in about two ish hours. On the drivers side I had Take the plate off and put in a space I forgot to add. Also Decided after busting my knuckles a few times I just used my Airwrench to tighten all the bolts. The Bolt on the drivers side where the airbag out was a *****. There wasn't a lot of room to put a wrench, crows foot or socket. I was able to wedge a piece of metal in-between the bracket and the head of the bolt. Then I used my CP to tighten it on the other side of the frame. A buddy of mine wants to install a gooseneck hitch. I told him not to put on air bags yet.
Now my wife wants to buy me a trailer lol.

 

[DeeDubz]

I had an extra fire hydrant in my shop. My FIL gave it to me many yrs ago. He was a FF and told me that every FF needs a hydrant. I believe he got it at work back in the day. Cant really do that these days. The other Hydrant I received from the water district when they were replacing the main in my street. There were about 7-8 dudes that worked on the main for a few weeks. Super cool guys Id buy them lunch and always had a cooler full of soda and water. The hydrant was just taking up space in my shop. I figured it would serve a better purpose outside on the corner of my shop. That space of empty dirt will be eventually be the home of my gooseneck trailer... and eventually Im going to add on to my shop another 15x35. Less of a chance of me / someone taking out the side of my building with the hydrant in the way. Obviously if you have enough momentum it will plow through that. I drilled 3/8" redheads x5 on each hydrant. Theres not a whole lot of thrift around here. The bolts are pretty tight. Im sure if someone really wanted it they could take it but the redheads will slow them down. Not to mention those things are f ing heavy. I should finish up today. 3 of the 5 holes were finished when the wife got home. Hadn't seen her in a bit so it was nice to chill with her. After im down with that I gotta do an oil change on the F250. Then you'll find me in the pool with a diet beer in the company of a nutty brunette.

 

[DeeDubz]

Good ol CA I got my registration in the mail a few days ago for my F250. ****** thing is I need to get it smogged. What that entails is I have to pull all the **** off my truck that isn't CA approved. First I had to pull my Stealth Module. The pain in the *** part is unplugging the fuel pressure sensor on the drivers side block next to the fuel pump and plugging the OEM back in. After that I was taken off I had to take my MAP sensor spacer off. That was pretty much it. I Drove to the normal place that I usually get my truck smogged. It was great they told me they couldn't do my vehicle because they were star certified. Theres probably 6 or 7 places in town that can do. Next place was two blocks from where I was. Got in sat in the warm waiting room. 20 minutes later and 38 bucks to the smog tech. IT failed.... WTF. No check engine lights.... no smoke? So my truck has a couple of permanent codes. Those codes are the reason It failed. After doing some research those codes will disappear after 15 cold starts and 200 miles. Im gonna give it another shot. If it fails again ill be registering it out of CA. If I do that Im going to delete the truck.
After that bad news I figured I try and fix my drill press. I had to drill out a larger hole on my exhaust bracket for my gooseneck. As I was drilling the chuck fell off. I tried smacking it with a hammer but it would fall off. I figured I could put a small bottle jack under it. Another fail. After I cleaned the chuck and the housing I couldn't get it to seat. I think this drill is toast, unless anyone else has better ideas. When I put pressure under it the top of the drill would move up. If I keep going Id break something. Next time I get to home depot ill replace it or find one on offer up. I have a larger drill press but I dont really like using it for small ****.

 

[DeeDubz]

What better time of the year to trim a cherry tree in the mid afternoon. It was pretty freaking hot. I wanted to get it trimmed before the bees start showing up. That usually happens when it starts to flower. I put a good dent in it. Filled up my green can. I have a little left over mostly big stuff. Once I was done fooling around I was able to bring out my Skidsteer and move about 2 yards of dirt. I didnt have the intension of moving dirt but I wanted to wash out my garage bay. That meant I needed TOM out of the shop. Today my buddy is gonna come by. Hes got a check engine light related to the def system. It might be something we could fix. Its a win hes brining his youngest over to play with my 9yr old.

 

[DeeDubz]

Yesterday I got home around 2ish after getting all my errands done. It was in the 100s so I figured what the hell lets finish up a welding project. I have a flat head axe I wanted to mount in my truck. I just wasn't sure where or how. A while go I purchased some rubber straps at tractor supply. With some strap pieces of metal and a small screw I glued them together. They're the perfect length for the strap. The next part was trying to find a place in the bed of my truck. I carry a 27gal tote full of stuff for my truck. Its got a spare gallon of delo, bottle jack, wd40, lithium grease, tire patch kit, some tools, 4 chock blocks...ect. The best place for it would be in-between the tote and the bed. The straps are a foot apart. Next part is to weld them to the bed.... Ive never welded on a car or truck. I didnt really wanna screw up any electrical things with my daily driver. I disconnected both negative terminals. Took some paint off the bed where Im placing the mounts. I have 4 holes in my bed from my old fifth wheel. I put my ground for my welder in one of those holes attached to the bed. Next thing I laid some beads on to my truck. Some of my passes were pretty good. Others not so much. Today while Im out and about im going to get some silver spray paint and touch up the paint a bit.
Later down the road im going to add a few more straps. One for a shovel the other for a Pulaski or a McCloud.

 

[DeeDubz]

Fun fact, My Plasma cutter goes both ways. It goes 110 and 220. I didnt really like using it. It would only cut for 20 seconds. Either you had to take a break or the breaker would take a break. The cutter probably didnt like the 110. I ordered a new plug from amazon. IM gonna try and get it wired up today and see what I can do about improving my cuts. As I was ordering a 220 plug I keep hearing the ash tree behind my shop rubbing up against my roof. It wasn't very pleasant to the ears. Wired up my pole saw and took out what I could reach. Later this year Im going to hire my tree guy to give it a trim. Defiantly dont want to take a tree limb through the roof.

 

[DeeDubz]

Got some things done yesterday. Went to home depot to get some paint and ended up getting a 18v cordless 8inch saw. I needed something small to get small branches. All of my other saws require both hands. The little saw does ok for just over 100bucks it will do the job. While I was unboxing I started to wire my plasma cutter to 220. I think this will make this little machine cut a bit better. Ran the 8inch saw filled up my green can. It was tooo hot to be doing anything outside.

 

[DeeDubz]

The other day I noticed one of my pins was making some noise. I didnt get a chance to grease the fittings till thursday. One of my pins wouldn't accept any grease.... I was hoping the zerk was the problem... It hardly ever is and it turns out the zerk isn't the problem. I figured Id try and pull the pine clean it off see if its salvageable. I spent 2-3 hrs trying to get it off. I tried hitting it with a sledge, heating it up with my torch. At the end of the day I put a bottle jack and some cribbing to try and press it out. Only 1/4" has moved. I'll leave the bottle jack on it over night. I hit it with some penetrating oil. Im not it a rush Im sure ill get it out.

 

[DeeDubz]

So the pin saga continues. I spent about an hour yesterday in the shop. I tried to us the bottle jack with some pieces of solid metal. Wasn't making any headway. I was worried I might start messing up the other side so I put a stop to it. I think today Im going to weld a smaller pin on the end so I can smack it without holding a pin. My hands feel weird after smacking the thing all day. Im going to see if I can make any progress with my torch. There was no more head way gained. Wife offered to give me a hand today after her appointments. Our patio cover has about 7 or metal L brackets that are attached to the roof. They used bright white roof glue to seal the holes. Wife wasn't happy about the color. So she wanted me to paint them to match the roof. Two coats later and they turned out pretty good. After that It was time to get in the pool followed by a Davidoff.

 

[DeeDubz]

The stuck pin on the kubtoa continues. I think its gonna stay that way for a bit. Ive tried damn near everything to get it to come out with no success. The next step is to lance it. I dont have a O2lance so thats something I could get in the future but right now im going to put things back and just leave them to be. My machine isn't goin to be doing much work for a bit. Today I tried my air hammer. Its an Ol CP. It belonged to my dad. I couldn't get the bit out of it. So I took it apart and cleaned things out. The bit came out no problem but I don have a "striking" bit so I took an ol chisel bit an cut it. I used that to try and free the pin but no luck. Its a job for the lance. I dont feel that bad. Its the lowest pin on the machine. It collects the most dirt. There a youtube video watch that out lines how to fix it. ON my machine... same pin... same side... Almost same machine.

I changed oil in my truck a few weeks ago. Usually I have a few filters on hand in my cabinet. But I apparently went through my last on. I ordered one on amazon and it was suspect. Wayyy different than the usual filter. The box was suspect as well as the ****** sticker on the filter. Not sure wtf but my buddy said that ford has changed the style filters for the new 6.7... eh we ll see. Im probably goanna return it.

 

[HogDude]

So the pin saga continues. I spent about an hour yesterday in the shop. I tried to us the bottle jack with some pieces of solid metal. Wasn't making any headway. I was worried I might start messing up the other side so I put a stop to it. I think today Im going to weld a smaller pin on the end so I can smack it without holding a pin. My hands feel weird after smacking the thing all day. Im going to see if I can make any progress with my torch. There was no more head way gained. Wife offered to give me a hand today after her appointments. Our patio cover has about 7 or metal L brackets that are attached to the roof. They used bright white roof glue to seal the holes. Wife wasn't happy about the color. So she wanted me to paint them to match the roof. Two coats later and they turned out pretty good. After that It was time to get in the pool followed by a Davidoff.

Nice call on the Davidoff.

 

[DeeDubz]

My MIL came to visit us for a few days. She wanted to get away from St.George and lay in our pool. Prior to her coming out she asked very nicely if I would be willing to plastic dip aka rattle can her stock jeep wheels black. I told her not a problem. Dont mind doing it at all. The jeep my in laws have is pretty nice. Its a 2019 with less than 20k miles. They belong to a jeep club out in Utah and are always going on trips with their club. MY mother in law asked my FIL to do it about a yr ago. Age is starting to catch up with him. Its pretty sad to see him getting slower. Hes helped me fix and taught quite a few things. The least I could do is pain their wheels. I guess neither one of them are a big fan of chrome. The whole process took about two hrs. Took my time even met up with one of my buddies to have a beer and a cigar. I think I went through 3ish cans. Mil is happy with the out come.
For dinner the 5 of us had a tomahawk. My tribe likes that more than any other meat. No more prime rib or Brisket. In the process of cooking it my traeger caught on fire. It took a bit of heat but I with a little cleaning it will still get the job done. Thats what I have to do today. Gotta go get some cleaners and im going to attach the traeger. The last photo was at night. Wife an I were chillin in the pool I looked at my shop and thought how cool my shop looked at night.

Cheers

 

[DeeDubz]

This afternoon I started cleaning my traeger. I found out real quick it was best to move it out of the pool area. I was flinging carbon all over the place. Between cleaning it jumping in the pool I felt it was best to put it in the shop to finish it up. Theres a few medications I want to make on it. The family has been using this smoker for about 5-6 yrs. Except for the grease I clean the ash out of it ever two meals. The thing with traegers is that they re way over priced. For the amount of money you spend I dont feel its the best designed smoker. Most of the hard wear has been replaced. Im gonna tac a few spots on the lid so it doesn't slip off the hinges. Might work on it today we ll see.

 

[DeeDubz]

One of my wifes friends came by the house today. Her kids an our kids are pretty close so they got to hang out play video games... pool... pizza..ect. My wifes friend, her husband, is a good friend of mine hes out of town so it was just her me, the wife and kids. They do the girl talk so I got some time in the shop. We use the traeger at least once to twice a week. Mainly on the weekends. But I wanted to finish cleaning it and making the mods. To start off the hinges are secured by cheap *** bolts. They get hot and get weak and bend. I took the hinge off and bent it back to try and make it straight as possible. Then I ran a few beads on each hinge. My welds could be better but I just want it to hold. Ill smooth it out and pain it.
I found out welding in flip flops and board shorts ant a good idea. My fee caught a few hot welds. For the longest time the cap to the chimney has been missing. It feel off a few yrs ago. Its not that big of a deal unless it rains and i forget to put the cover on.. which happens. I made a few tacts to hold the bracket for the cap. Then tacked the cap on the top.
A while ago the bracket that holds the stop for the cover got loose. Again heat, grease and cheap hardware. It doesn't last long. Ran a couple of tacts on that.
Its almost done. Im gonna scrape it again and then season it. Heat it and call it good. Also some members were slowing off their mods on their smokers. The last pic is my mod. I added a little shelf to hold bull ****. It was cheap and easy.

 

[DeeDubz]

Haven't had much time to do anything. Over the weekend we went to and hosted kids pool parties. Yesterday my oldest was complaining about his x box remote not working. He asked for some tools so he could take it apart. Hes not the best paying attention to detail so I helped him. One of the buttons on the trigger had slipped off its bracket assembly. Not a hard fix. They use cheap screws. My husky screw drivers got about 6 of them but my snap on got the rest. The fix made the kids day.
During the day I was able to score a few items on offer up. I got a parts washer and metal storage cabinet. Really not sure where im going to put these at yet. Im going to have to move some things around. I needed another storage cabinet to house all of my filters fluids ect for my soon to be fleet of equipment.

 

[DeeDubz]

Yesterday I wanted to get my new cabinet and parts washer put in its place. I had to move a bunch of stuff to make room. Jeep had to come out. Had to move all my garden/digging tools. Used oil, fuels, floor jacks ect.. My dad told me a long time ago that he hated garden tools in his shop. At the time I didnt really think it was that big of a deal. Fast forward to now I feel the same way. He ended up building a shed and putting all his shovels ect... in that shed. Well I sorta did that. I have an outdoor closet that we bought for pool toys/floats. The wife got tired of it in the pool area. I moved it to my shop. I didnt really wanna get rid of it so I kept it. I thought about putting it outside of my shop but I didnt really wanna do that. So to hide all my garden tools I put them all in the shed inside my shop. The goal of this was to make a cabinet for fluids / filters and a cabinet for misc stuff, as well as putting my parts washer into place. While still being able to walk around my jeep and open cabinets. Eventually the jeep will be parked outside. My skidsteer will end up being parked there which will give me more room. I still have to do some more cleaning. My floor jacks need to find a new home. Really not sure where im going to put them yet. Theres a bunch of wood and steel thats in the way. That will be my next project.

 

[DeeDubz]

During the week the I checked on the generator. Yep dead bat. Wont hold a charge. I ordered one on amazon It will be here tomorrow before the storm hits. I doubt we will have power issues but Its nice to have a working gen when u need it. My mom came out to see me and the kids while my wifes out of town for a work conference. She's never had a Tomahawk steak. Went to the local states and got two. One for my mom and one for the freezer. My mom turned 75. She's in very good health. Theres not a whole lot i have to worry about her. She can be forgetful sometimes but its not to the point that is concerning. Her an my wife dont get a long which has changed the relationship with my mom. The wife an I have been together 16 yrs we've been through so much **** that nothing is going to split us apart. But for whatever reason my mom cant get a long with her.
The wife is up north in NV with some coworkers. She got a notification last night that her flight home will be most likely cancelled. Instead of flying she and two of our friends will be renting a car and driving back home. I dont expect her to get home till early next am. I guess the storm is no joke. It hasn't started raining yet but its on the way. Wife insisted I put a tarp on our chicken coop. Whatever it will make her happy.

Cheers.

 

[DeeDubz]

Hillary has made land fall and we've just started to get some rain and wind. We encountered our first casualty, the wifes peach tree. It got blown over and broke a few branches. My raised garden beds have taken a beating. One was flipped over. Ill have to replace it the rest of the boxes should be fine I locked them in place. The wind was pushing our gate open. It tends to do that whenever its really windy. Typically we dont get this type of wind very often. Usually we have a piece of eucalyptus that we put up against it to hold it from blowing open. Wife said thats not gonna work this time. initially she asked if I could chain it up... but I figured a couple of old tie downs will do the trick.

While I was doing all this I figured I should swap the batteries out of the gen. It was cool when I found out that I bought the wrong one. Even my wife knew I got the wrong one but didnt say anything lol. I have it on a trickle charger. It should be fine if we lose power im sure it will start.

 

[DeeDubz]

Last week I replaced the damaged cover for my raised garden bed that was destroyed by Hillary. The funny thing is that my local hardware store had a better selection of lumber than home depot. I still need to screw in the hinges but this will keep the birds, cats and squirrels out.

 

[DeeDubz]

Ive been meaning to install a high idle mod for my super duty. After watching a couple of you tube videos it didnt seem like it was that big of a deal. The biggest problem was trying to find a resistor. I didnt have any in the shop nor did auto zone, hardware store..ect I guess they all left when radio shack closed. Amazon sent two in the mail showed up in a day. Then it was just finding the right wires. Connecting my PTO wire to my aux 1 switch. Then adding the resistor to my pto idle speed and connecting it to the pto on switch. This took about 10 mins. After all my hard work I finished it off with a cigar.

 

[DeeDubz]

I was out trimming my tomato plants when I ran into some horn worms. Theres been about 5 that Ive caught so far. I check the plant everyday. The things are pretty hard to find at times. Another thing that freaked me out is that I found a snake skin in my pool area.... I freakin hate snakes. Its been about 2 yrs since ive seen a snake on my land. The usual suspect is a red racer thats about 2 -3 ft long. Not sure if its the same snake. The neighbor has an old shed right up against my fence. There must be a snake nest or something over there. When we had our fence on that side replaced the workers found a few snakes when they installed fencing by the shed. I guess it freaked them out.
The water spigot by my garden boxes has been leaking for a long time. The family was out of the house long enough for me to shut the water off. Cut the old leaky spigot off and glue the new one. After a few hrs i turned the water on. No leaks.
The spill over on the pool was beginning to trickle. That means its time to clean pool filters. Its not too bad. My pool guy would charge me a couple hundred to clean them. He doesn't mind not doing them so myself or the wife usually clean them. Every time I take the cap off to get access to the filters I seem to drench my right foot in pool water. I need to let the thing drain more. The filters were pretty hammered. After all of the cleaning I had to put 8 lbs of DE in the pool. Gotta put on a mask and glasses... gloves ect...

 

[DeeDubz]

This is a little project that Ive been working on. The wife is turning 40 next month. She's a jameson fan. I saw a project on pinterest that looked cool. A whiskey bottle locker. Its been nice to dust the cobb webs off the welder and plasma cutter. Im getting better at my cuts with the miller spectrum. I changed out the tip, it seems to have a difference. This project is about 75% done. Just gotta grind some stuff off weld the numbers on the top and paint.

 

[DeeDubz]

I noticed the other day while I was watering my tomatoes there were these small red insects. Not sure wtf they are. I found a couple on my plant as well as the top of the planter box. I was finally able to move all of my pool dirt. I still need to grade and fill in some holes on the side of the shop. All of the left over dirt I used to re enforce my fence. Some parts were eroding away from all the rain we've got this yr. Putting th finishing touches on the wifes b day present. Just need to grind some rough surfaces and paint.

 

[DeeDubz]

Last weekend the wife turned the big 40. We started it off with a trip to Northwoods. Its her favorite place. We dont make the trek to LA very often. The whole reason for the trip was to see Incubus at the hollywood bowl. It was an awesome concert. We got good seats. But I doubt we ll be seeing any more concerts at that venue. It took us an hour to get out of LA. I finished up the wifes Bottle cage. She was surprised. No one has ever made anything for her.
Its been a min since Ive been able to put any work in the shop. The place is a freakin mess. I cleaned my metal working bench only to make it dirty... an hour later. I moved some pieces around to make more room... While doing so I decided it was time to make a bench grinder stand. I was getting tired of using my vise. I found some tubular steel. Cut them 1' in length. Used the surface refinisher to get some rust off. I found a piece of galvanized steel as a pole. Made cuts at just over 3 ft. And thats where the day ended. Thursday night football is on and I have to make rice with our tacos. Apparently its taco thursday at our house today. Cheers.

 

[DeeDubz]

Monday I had the whole morning to try flattening the dirt area next and behind the shop. It works out great the neighbors... especially the one thats an ******* is at work. Anytime Im doing anything making noise he pokes his head over the fence... trys to yell at me but i dont engage. Its not perfectly level but it will work for now. I d like to get some 3/4" rock in the next few months before it starts to rain. Eventually im going to add another section of the shop on the side with dirt. Im going to try and do 15ftx40. We ll see It like to make it so I could park my machine and trailer inside that section.
The wife has been bugging me about getting ready for winter and splitting firewood. Ive been pushing it off also its been hot AF. After moving dirt I pulled out the wood splitter and went to work. 1 1/2 hrs later its all done. Till I get more. I had a mini hydro leak on the splitter. I notice I puddle in the dirt. Wasnt that big of a deal. I was just about done and just wanted to finish. About 10 mins later it started to leak too much. It was just a small fitting that needed to be tightened. Probably vibrated loose. We ll thats all I got for now.

 

[DeeDubz]

For the last 3 days Ive been smelling diesel on my F250. Ive looked the best I could without pulling anything off. Finally it showed it self. Passenger side of the truck dripping on the control arm and frame rail. Prior to this AM, I had no idea where the leak was coming from. I figured it was coming from the passenger side but I couldn't see without taking things off. There was a heat shield and fender well that needed to come off so I could get to the fuel rail.
It started to get really bad. The problem is that it was halloween when I found it.
The next morning I walked out to my shop and found another leak... water leak. I think this is my bad. I drove my 10ishK skidsteer over my water line. Its about 2 ' trenched. After digging a hole the leak was at the joint. Getting back to the F250, I pulled the fender skirt off as well as a heat shield on the fuel rail. I noticed one of the fittings on the fuel rail had fuel on the top of it. Once I found the proper wrench "metric17mm" It tighten about a quarter turn.
The frame rail and control arm had a bunch of fuel on it. Just to make sure there were no more leaks I cleaned it up the best I could with break cleaner. I ran the truck for 30ish mins.... no leaks. No more smell of diesel.

 

[DeeDubz]

Wife an I had the morning off together. While the kids were in school we rain some errands. Went to ford and bought a replacement insulator for the fuel rail on the passenger side.... just shy of 100 bucks for a piece of **** fabric. The one that I took off was saturated in diesel. Probably a good idea to replace. It was too bad to install. It would help if my meat hooks were smaller. After it was re installed I had one wheel off and decided to rotate my tires. Still had some time to swap out fuel filters. Called it a day.

 

[DeeDubz]

Over the weekend I noticed that my chickens had a un welcomed visitor. A few of my chickens were missing some feathers and for a few days all their eggs were gone. As if they had eaten them. However I found some egg shell outside the coop. Whatever it was they have been stealing my eggs.
No time to deal with it at the moment. Wifes going in for a major operation and she requested the spa an a tomahawk steak. We probably wont be using the spa again until after the first of the yr.
Back to the un welcomed guest. I set up my ring cam facing the chicken coop. Monday night I got an alert that the camera had detected movement. The ring relieved it was a skunk... Thats the a hole thats been messing with my birds and eating the eggs. I grabbed my pellet rifle a flash light and headed to the coop. It was about 9 at night and very dark. I turned on the flash light and the skunk froze. He got plugged outside the coop. He managed to retreat about 10 ft where he laid dead. I left him where he laid until the am. Damn thing was huge. I have no idea how the f they're getting in but im going to have to reinforce the coop.
The last picture is another skunk... I plugged him while he was in the coop. He sprayed in the coop and the outside. Today when I get time I have to really figure out where they're getting into and add some chicken wire. Also gonna stop by tractor supply and get a trap. Maybe see if they have like a rodent repellant.

 

[Bob Heine]

Danny, I mentioned your wife to my invisible friend. I hope the operation is successful and she recovers quickly.

 

[DeeDubz]

Danny, I mentioned your wife to my invisible friend. I hope the operation is successful and she recovers quickly.

Thank you Bob, The Operation went well. Shes doing good still a little sore after a few days. It was her first major surgery. You've been in my thoughts as well Bob, I hope things are going well. Its nice to cruise your garage gallery. Ive never been to Florida. It looks awesome. Our plans are to eventually go there. Hope all is well Sir.

 

[DeeDubz]

Quite a few of my friends are running red dot sights on their EDC. I came across a pretty good deal on a crimson trace. Typically I carry my XDs. I think thats going to change in the future but I wanted to start running a red dot. I still have to sight it in. I think im going to get a bore sight. The beginning of next month im going to go see my mom out of state. Ill probably zero it in then. My oldest wants go shooting. Ill probably bring a few pew pews. My kydex holster needed to be modified to accommodate the reflex sight. Just had to cut a few pieces off to make room.
As USC was getting their asses kicked for season ender I decided it wasnt a good idea to watch the suffering anymore. Figured it was a good time to fire up the kubota and move a scoop of dirt. This area in the last two phots is the top of my property by the street. Up there I buried my Lab (diese)l and my sons rat. I chose that location because Diesel loved to hang out there. He would lay up there because it was close to the street. He could see whats going on. Sometimes he would lay in front of the gate. Often times I could see his nose underneath the gate. Just a brown nose lol. My neighbors cats have been using this area as a litter box.... Needless to say I dont appreciate that. I started by putting chili powder there. Thinking that would detour them. Nope didnt work. The other day I picked up a package that had been delivered. The package was dropped in that area... So instead of them having a nice sandy area I dumped a yard of dirt there and compacted it best I could to make it hard as a rock. Hopefully this will work and they can find another place to do their business.

 

[DeeDubz]

This week has been pretty uneventful. Wife is back to work still kinda recovering. Monday I went to a buddies shop. He was replacing his brakes on his F250. Just got back from the baja 1000. He just did the rear. Both rotors were trash. One of the shoes was down to the rivet. Tuesday afternoon I noticed another wet spot in my yard by my shop. We had just gotten some rain thats what I thought it might be. Naw not that lucky. The next day I figured it couldn't hurt to dig a bit and see wtf. Sure enough its another water leak at the coupling. I didnt have any double female couplings. Made a trip to home depot. Bought a retractable air hose reel, couplings, pellets *traeger* and a couple of electrical adapters. I finally hooked up my new indoor ring camera. Ive been using the original one to monitor my chickens. After I replaced the section of PVC i decided to see wtf is wrong with this section of PVC. The section I cut I was able to use a pipe wrench and twist it off.... Looks like little to no glue. It gets better. My wife reminded me that this section of water pipe has my name on it.... So its my fault not the contractor. But She also reminded me that I had covid while I was doing this. During this time a few yrs back I trying to finish up this project getting ready for my pool build. There was a time crunch. Also I had old ****** glue and no primer. At the time I wasnt able to go and buy any... we were locked down at home. Lesson learned. Hopefully this doesn't happen again...

Headed to AZ to see grandma. Enjoy the weekend Cheers

 

[Xti04]

Nothing worse than chasing water leaks. I used to do a lot of irrigation repairs and for some reason with irrigation work you see some absolutely hack *** work. Used to make me so mad to find unprimed or poorly glued jointsor find 4 couplers in a 1 foot section of pipe. Why not replace it all instead of leaving multiple chances for failure

 

[Bob Heine]

Sure enough its another water leak at the coupling.

Danny, I don't know how hard it was to get those sections of PVC back together but it's a real fight for me. I came across Dawn Kwik repair couplers that connect the PVC without bending and fighting. They use PVC glue, not compressed rubber o-rings. Amazon has them (for $12.99) but I buy a few from online sprinkler suppliers and keep 3/4" and 1" in the shed. So far I've used two. Here's one source:

Products

Search Results

cheapsprinklers.com

And a video:

Not sure it matters but these are made in the USA.

 

[Xti04]

I used to use those slip fixes for irrigation lines. Always had pretty good luck with them. Had one that leaked and another one that blew apart because I didnt let the glue setup before I put the pressure to it.

 

[DeeDubz]

Nothing worse than chasing water leaks. I used to do a lot of irrigation repairs and for some reason with irrigation work you see some absolutely hack *** work. Used to make me so mad to find unprimed or poorly glued jointsor find 4 couplers in a 1 foot section of pipe. Why not replace it all instead of leaving multiple chances for failure

100% agreed. This is the second one in a few months. I hope all the other sections are good. We are doing are best not to be wasteful. As much as I enjoy going to the local hardware store, things at times can be chaotic. Its really convenient having two day shipping with prime. After browsing prime I was able to get a cheap water meter that will help me keep take of how much water is being used. The meter itself was 12 ish bucks. Homedepot wanted like 25. This isn't going to be a long time fix. Just to give me a piece of mind. This section of pipe feeds the pool and my shop. Since its winter the pool doesn't have much water loss. As far as my shop goes I don't use much water. My truck doesn't get washed there. Too much sun not enough shade. My swamp cooler uses water but Its done for the yr.

The picture is the water meter. Before the haters chime in on my plumbing job ill explain for whoever cares. This section of pvc was replaced by me earlier this yr. It feeds my shop and pool. There was a failure earlier this yr. It could have been my fault or the contractor that built my pool or my shop. I have no f ing idea. During the summer my pool loses quite a bit of water. I thought it would be nice to keep water going to the pool and my shop. The garden hose going under the gate goes to a faucet by my house. Its kinda ghetto but I had no other way of getting water.... unless I dropped 10gs to replace my main feed to my house. We plan on replacing it in the next few yrs. Once thats done IM going to branch off a section to the pool.... going underneath the gate. Hope that makes sense.

 

[DeeDubz]

Danny, I don't know how hard it was to get those sections of PVC back together but it's a real fight for me. I came across Dawn Kwik repair couplers that connect the PVC without bending and fighting. They use PVC glue, not compressed rubber o-rings. Amazon has them (for $12.99) but I buy a few from online sprinkler suppliers and keep 3/4" and 1" in the shed. So far I've used two. Here's one source:

Products

Search Results

cheapsprinklers.com

And a video:

Not sure it matters but these are made in the USA.

I've never used those. One of the many trips to homedepot I was pretty close to purchasing a few but I have no experience with this nor do any of my friends. The thing I wanted to use was a flexible coupling. Its less than a ft in length, double female and flexible enough to make it easier to install. My sure my luck will change soon and I'll be done digging holes and cussing replacing pvc. However in the future I will try the repair couplers. Im sure it will be a lot quicker and less of a headache.
THanks bob

 

[DeeDubz]

The water leak is pretty much wrapped up. Ive been monitoring the meter. No significant leaks at the moment.

Over the weekend my kids an I went to see my mom in AZ. With the holidays coming up this will be the only time she ll see the grandkids. My mom had mentioned she had a tree that needed to be trimmed. There were some big pieces that she couldn't cut. Against my judgement as well as my wifes, I decided not to bring my Stihl and instead just back a little 8inch electric saw. The paloverde tree that was in my moms yard got a little too big. She had some friends of hers come by and cut the branches. There were two decent size piles that I trimmed, bucked so she could throw into her trash. I offered to get a dump trailer and haul it to the dump but she said this will keep her busy for a while. These tress are freakin nasty. Tons of thorns. What should have only took maybe 30mins took me about 2 hrs. My ryobi saw would over heat so I would give it a break. The kids had a good time. While I was cutting they were driving the golf cart around the yard.

My buddy just bought a new multi process welder from harbor freight. He brought it over to take a look at. Its pretty nice It will do TIG MIG and stick. IT was the same price as my lincoln mig. We couldn't figure out how to get his mig to work. He managed to leave the instructions at home. Youtube wasnt any help. Eventually we just did some stick welding. The thing is too fancy. Has a lot of buttons and dials. Hes planning on getting some gas hopefully he gets it hooked up correctly. Its been a few yrs since Ive had to hook Mig wire and gas in the Lincoln. I did what I thought was right but we couldn't get it to arc. Im sure its something simple.

 

[DeeDubz]

I thought summer was over but in so cal we're still experiencing high 70s during the day. While I went to go pick my son up from school I noticed my A/c in the F250 was blowing warm. My truck is a 2011, the ac over the past yr has started to not blow as cold as it should. My plan was to tackle it early next yr. My kids were starting to complain about the temps so its time to try and fix it. I thought it might be low on coolant. It wasnt that low from what I can tell. I added some but it didnt seem to help. The coldest I could get air coming out was about 60 degrees.... Thats not going to cut it. Told the wife we need to get this fixed... Dont really wanna spend the money right now but I cant live without good working AC.
I checked the core in front of the radiator. It doesn't appear to have any punctures or leaks. Ive heard if theres a leak you'll see darker areas in the core. It all looks the same.
The compressor engages and works. It doesn't look like its in disrepair.
All the coolant lines look fine i cant find any leaks. The line going * i have no idea * gets cold to the touch. That tells me something is getting cold
The drain looks clean. No oil, it doesn't look like its clogged. which tells me that the condenser is working. Also the control arms on the passenger side aren't discolored. Which also tells me that theres no leak. If there was you'd be able to tell by a discoloration on the control arm.
All the major components seems fine. Maybe it just needs to be serviced? I havent serviced it since ive had the truck. Maybe it has too much coolant or not enough. Im gonna take it to a friend of mine to see what the real deal is.