Offroad/Motorcycle Home Workshop

[cynicalrider]

My wife and I just bought our first home, and my only requirement was a home with a garage. I knew if I only got a 1 car, it would only be for working in and storing motorcycles so I really wanted a 2 car garage so that my wife can park in it too.

I used to have a motorcycle when I lived at my parents house and when I moved into an apartment with my wife(then girlfriend) it got stolen.

Here was my old toy:




After that I ended up getting a truck and got big into offroading as well. So far I have only been locally in the NJ pines and at the offroad playground Rausch Creek in PA, but I do hope to get out to Moab within the next year.




Now that you know my hobbies, it will be the basis of the garage build.

Here we are the weekend we closed.



Our first priorities were painting, little fixes, etc so the garage took the back burner for a bit but I finally got to start little mods here and there.

Blank slate:



First step was to open the ceiling up to gain access for wiring. Also the home came with a very large (and ugly) work bench in the garage. I cut it down to be a very stout and future movable workbench for drilling into and little projects.

Then I found a metal workbench on craiglist for $50 so I jumped on it. Going to pull the casters off and potentially bolt it into the floor after I refinish it.




Thanks to pftwhftb and his awesome review on these outdoor floods I decided to give them a shot. They look AWESOME. I used 7 in a 22x18ft space and the light output is amazing. My wife says it looks like she is walking into heaven when I open the door. I still have to hang a florescent fixture in the center that came with the house as well.

Unboxing:



All lit up:






My next step is to hide the garage door wires, patch all the holes and paint.

 

[Rockcam]

Looks like you may be able to perform surgery in there with that lighting.

Nicely done.

 

[JustinS]

Holy bright!

 

[FTWingRiders]

Looks great. the more light the better!!

 

[cynicalrider]

Looks like you may be able to perform surgery in there with that lighting.

Nicely done.

Holy bright!

Looks great. the more light the better!!

Thanks all! Been a while since I posted, been holding back because painting was taking forever. Was a huge pain in the *** but so worth it. Also got a new toy which kept me pretty busy.

New toy:

2004 R6







Paint progress:









Teaser of the final product:



I'll post final shots when the clutter gets reduced.

 

[cynicalrider]

Finally got everything swept/cleaned out and started the long road to ideal organization.





Saw in the new work bench it has the ability to have outlets installed so I will probably do that eventually. Outlet situation is meager in this garage. Only one on the wall, two on the ceilings. Planning on adding retractable cords to both on the ceilings, and adding a 240v and 120v on the left wall eventually.

 

[jameskuyke]

Can you give me more info on the flood light setup? Where you bought them and how you have them wired up?

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice looking garage so far.

Congrats on the new home for you and your wife. That is an exciting time in one's life.

Mike.

 

[cynicalrider]

Can you give me more info on the flood light setup? Where you bought them and how you have them wired up?

I bought them on amazon here

Since the wires that come with them are so short I had to install a box at each location I have a light in the attic. You can either do that or wire them to a cord and plug them in. Since I knew this would be permanent I wired them into boxes and have them daisy chained to the main junction in the attic.

Nice looking garage so far.

Congrats on the new home for you and your wife. That is an exciting time in one's life.

Mike.

Thank you! Yes we couldn't be happier with the house and garage. Now we just need furniture for half the rooms.

 

[upndown]

Can't really tell from the pictures, but being an old garage door guy as well as the Father of three younger couples such as yourselves, Please check the springs on your garage door to make sure they have safety cables! If not install some ASAP. The last thing you want is one of those springs flying around in close quarters with you or your Wife in there. Or your stuff for that matter.

Garage is coming along nicely. Best of luck to you both. Congrats on your purchase

 

[cynicalrider]

Can't really tell from the pictures, but being an old garage door guy as well as the Father of three younger couples such as yourselves, Please check the springs on your garage door to make sure they have safety cables! If not install some ASAP. The last thing you want is one of those springs flying around in close quarters with you or your Wife in there. Or your stuff for that matter.

Garage is coming along nicely. Best of luck to you both. Congrats on your purchase

Thank you! And yes they do have safety cables, no worries there.

Hosted a "mod day" for my fellow Tacoma World buddies. We installed an add a leaf / u bolt flip on one members truck and a full suspension overhaul on another members truck. My buddy also gave me a 30 gal compressor and I bought a husky 800ft lb impact for the event/future use.

Some photos:

 

[willbrown82]

Congrats on the place. How did you manage to bend the jack?

 

[Boost Creep]

looks like a good time. i have a cvt on my yukon

 

[zkling]

Nice place, congrats on the new house and marriage. That is quite the unique lawn mower storage method, really saves on floor space.

 

[PhilMeUp]

I used to have a motorcycle when I lived at my parents house and when I moved into an apartment with my wife(then girlfriend) it got stolen.

Bikes are very easy to steal. Just have a look at an auction of insurance write-offs and you'll see heaps of them.

At the very least, always have some sort of lock on one of the brake discs when the bike isn't being ridden.

Even just a basic (but decent quality) padlock will stop the spontaneous thief.

http://www.xenasecurity.com have locks with sensor alarms.

 

[cynicalrider]

Congrats on the place. How did you manage to bend the jack?

Thank you! We were jacking up the dark grey truck from the pumpkin and it fell off to the right. There is a very minor slope in my driveway which may have been the cause or the fact that his front wheels were slightly turned. Either way it gives me a good excuse to get a nice 3-ton from HF this weekend.

looks like a good time. i have a cvt on my yukon

I want one really bad but can't justify it yet. I use the truck to haul bikes so a bed rack isn't in the cards for me yet. Ideally I want to build an off road trailer in the future.

Nice place, congrats on the new house and marriage. That is quite the unique lawn mower storage method, really saves on floor space.

Yeah my Dad had it stored like that in the shed so I did the same for the time being. It's now out of the garage and under the deck where I much more prefer it.

Bikes are very easy to steal. Just have a look at an auction of insurance write-offs and you'll see heaps of them.

At the very least, always have some sort of lock on one of the brake discs when the bike isn't being ridden.

Even just a basic (but decent quality) padlock will stop the spontaneous thief.

http://www.xenasecurity.com have locks with sensor alarms.

Yeah i do need to invest in something for it. I am extremely paranoid now and always park in well visible locations but I know that's not enough.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Your jack has a nice approach angle! Nice pics and build-out.
Time to coat the floor, icing on the garage cake.

 

[cynicalrider]

Eventually I want to but not in the budget for now. Did no work on the garage but finally took my truck in for the 1st time. Had to pull my CB antenna to get in. Also didnt go in fully to give myself some space to work up front.





Installed a lift on it:

 

[holdingfate]

Hey man, fancy running into you in this corner of the internet.

 

[cynicalrider]

Hey man, fancy running into you in this corner of the internet.

Ha! You got a build on here? **** I should have told you about the fire sale an mc dude was having in Virginia. Total derp move on my part.

 

[holdingfate]

Ha! You got a build on here? **** I should have told you about the fire sale an mc dude was having in Virginia. Total derp move on my part.

No build, I've lurked here for years getting inspiration for when I build a house.

 

[ASHMAN_AZ]

Thank you! We were jacking up the dark grey truck from the pumpkin and it fell off to the right. There is a very minor slope in my driveway which may have been the cause or the fact that his front wheels were slightly turned. Either way it gives me a good excuse to get a nice 3-ton from HF this weekend.

If its not too late Id recommend getting the long jack with the tallest lift height. When working on truck projects and suspension you will need the long travel jack.

 

[cynicalrider]

No build, I've lurked here for years getting inspiration for when I build a house.

Ah word, definitely a fun place to lurk. So many ideas, so many ways to spend money.

If its not too late Id recommend getting the long jack with the tallest lift height. When working on truck projects and suspension you will need the long travel jack.

I got a harbor freight 3 ton. It's a pretty long rapid pump jack with their highest lift height at 19 and 3/4". I have 4x6 blocks to help boost height till I get it on jack stands. Was able to lift both front tires off the ground with the jack and a single block.

The biggest advantage is having the really tall 6 ton jack stands. Love those things, got 4 now.

 

[cynicalrider]

Been a while since I posted. Truthfully more has been going on in the garage than to the garage.

Wife's car has been acting up and found out it fell victim to the power valve screw issue:




She also got me a bumper for the truck which I promptly installed with my buddies help:



Only to find out I had to strip it all off because Toyota was going to replace my frame under the recall:




I did however put up some gladiator gear track in the garage and organized a ton of the hand tools to get them out of the way:




And cleaned up my work bench area for the first time in months:




Too bad this other part is still a mess due to everything I had to strip from the truck:

 

[cynicalrider]

Held another mod day at my garage. Got a snorkel, a new leaf pack, and some foglights installed, and also had a buddy cut off/drill out his sliders for removal.












Also installed this retractable extension to take advantage of one of my ceiling outlets/

 

[jabin]

Good to see it being used. How are the Treadwrights working out for you? The floor treatment would really make that place a 100%

Thanks for posting, keep up the good work.

 

[cynicalrider]

Good to see it being used. How are the Treadwrights working out for you? The floor treatment would really make that place a 100%

Thanks for posting, keep up the good work.

Agreed on the floor treatment just can't justify the cost currently. Ideally priority is getting insulation in, getting a tool box, building an enclosure for the tank, installing a heater, installing a hard line air setup, getting a welder, and probably a thousand other things haha.

As far as the treadwrights go they have held up to a ton of abuse especially wheeling but am probably going with coopers next. I got a bubble in the side wall and they told me there was nothing they could do discount wise on a new tire. They blamed it on the original manufacturers casing failing.




Plus waiting on a tire to be shipped to me that cant just be gotten at a normal tire shop is something else I didn't like.

Also made a time lapse from my mod day that I really liked:

 

[thetastelingers]

I love hosting mod days!
So much fun.
Nice place!

 

[TRS63]

Oh, another stuntrider! Great! I also used to stuntride a lot, spending hours on parking lot, but I am not training anymore, only free-riding on my way to the office

Nice garage also, and a lot of mechanical action there, I like it!

Antoine

 

[cynicalrider]

Oh, another stuntrider! Great! I also used to stuntride a lot, spending hours on parking lot, but I am not training anymore, only free-riding on my way to the office

Nice garage also, and a lot of mechanical action there, I like it!

Antoine

Ha thank you, yeah had a lot happen since I last checked in here. The R6's chain snapped and ripped a hole in the case. Got the truck back from toyota and went full retard. 50 got rebuilt, currently for sale now. Hoping to use the dough to fix the R6.

IMG_1752 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_1750 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_1754 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I love hosting mod days!
So much fun.
Nice place!

Thank you! Been a while since I had one, though I did have some friends over to fix a busted stub shaft in my front diff.

IMG_1927 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_1943 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Been a while Garage Journal. Not much actual progress on the garage itself, lots of stuff happened to the toys, and life.

Tacoma is now on 35's, regeared and has taking me across the country and back.

IMG_0050 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_0047 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_0244 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_0513 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_0605 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Biggest garage update is that the LED lights have started failing on me. I found a different brand of 50 watters I will be switching to to give a shot. So far only 3 are surviving.

 

[cynicalrider]

So the garage finally got some love, and it's reignited the hopes to reorganize as well as finally knock some projects out.

Finally replaced the burnt out LED's.

Here it is with only 3 out of the original 7 left:

IMG_2478 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Definitely darker than when I first put everything up.

I replaced the burnt out 4 with these 50 watters I got on Amazon as well:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DYHVN59/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Much better:

IMG_2302 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And in that above photo you can see the driving force for my garage reorganization, a 52" Husky tool box I gifted myself. For years I have had things all over my work bench, under my work bench and on top of my mobile work bench.

Now I can try to condense as much as I physically can into this tool box, and reclaim some working space again. Here is all the clutter I needed to go through:

IMG_2303 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_2306 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

In fitting the tool box, I needed to move the compressor to the front left corner of the garage. I wanted to do a fancy air line setup using the max air kit, but for my uses it's not really needed. I'm thinking of just running a hose into the wall up into the attic and to a central hose reel. Cheap, easy and off the floor.

I also need to wire an outlet too to feed the compressor, should be easy enough.

After I de cluttered all my junk, purged what I could, and got rid of a bunch of hard cases, I was able to eliminate many boxes and plastic hard cases.

IMG_2308 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_2309 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Probably the cleanest my bench has been since I got it.

IMG_2310 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Tool box nice and organized:

IMG_2311 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I need to finish a couple other projects and then I can clean the area around the motorcycle frame. Then I plan on finally ripping into the motor to try to get it welded and back in the bike. I miss riding the damn thing.

I also finally got rid of the 03 Altima and got myself a new DD. It's a 17 Corolla SE with 20k on the clock. My wife also got rear ended and replaced her white 13 CRV with a newer 15.

IMG_2266 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_2269 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Hopefully less time working on maintaining the DD's will leave more time for working on fun **** like the bike.

 

[cynicalrider]

Organization is finally done, mobile work bench is finally cleaned off, and used my label maker and some rolls of magnetic strips to create clean moveable labels for the tool box. I will likely memorize the tool box so this will help more if I have my buddies over. I also figured the magnets would be great in case I ever need to move stuff around or wanted to change how I had the box organized.

IMG_2320 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_2322 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_2323 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_2324 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I also installed a bench vise I got from my boss on the mobile work bench as well.

IMG_2321 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

[wasfast]

I labeled the drawers on my rollaway and have caught nothing but grief for being so "organized"/OCD. Some folks just don't get it

 

[cynicalrider]

I labeled the drawers on my rollaway and have caught nothing but grief for being so "organized"/OCD. Some folks just don't get it

It honestly has helped so much when working on stuff already. I love being organized and I am already feeling the effects the efficiency has had. Your garage, your rules. **** the haters.

Added something else I always wanted in the garage, an air hose that is off the floor. I needed to run power to a new outlet for the relocated compressor which was simple enough especially with no insulation in the walls. I then just ran a simple air hose into the attic space and to the hose real. Not as fancy as multiple drops, but the way I see it for a garage my size, this solution works great for me.

IMG_3348 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I have the hose run into the ceiling similarly the way people run HDMI cables into a wall.

IMG_3349 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And on the wall the compressor is on, I have a similar exit point for the hose to go to the compressor.

IMG_3350 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

While I worked on this project I decided it was time to finally paint the ugly brown electrical panel white to match the walls.

IMG_3351 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

It's pretty awesome finally using my mobile work bench the way I intended. Will be finishing work on this motor soon and getting it back on the bike.

IMG_3356 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I'm also pretty proud of how large the beer fridge collection has gotten. I haven't been drinking as much lately so the fridge has gotten fully stocked for the first time ever.

IMG_3358 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

[cynicalrider]

Some garage updates, along with a new hobby to help me with my other hobbies.

Scored myself a new stool to sit at the bench with. For $15 on let go, can't complain!

Garage update by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Speaking of good Let Go scores, I got this bad boy for $60 and already wired up a new 240volt 50 amp breaker using 6 gauge. Should be more than enough for the stick welder, and future proofs me for a good 240v MIG setup one day.

Garage update by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Got to take it on its first run this weekend. This is 3/32" 6011 between 60 amps and 75 amps.

Garage update by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Garage update by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Garage update by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I've never welded stick before in my entire life so be gentle lol. Planning to do A LOT more practice before I actually build with it.

This last one I was proud of:

Garage update by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

[ckblum]

Sweet build man, good to see another Taco fan and also into bikes too. I got an 03 DC Prerunner, vanilla stock right now, collecting parts for 4wd swap, but first need a space to work. I only recently got permission to start doing up our garage space now that the inside is mostly done in our house, now just need to find the time between work and everything else.

 

[cynicalrider]

Sweet build man, good to see another Taco fan and also into bikes too. I got an 03 DC Prerunner, vanilla stock right now, collecting parts for 4wd swap, but first need a space to work. I only recently got permission to start doing up our garage space now that the inside is mostly done in our house, now just need to find the time between work and everything else.

Thanks! A 4WD swap is no easy project from what I've seen, good luck dude! Looking forward to your future build.

Here's the ongoing progress of the bike so far:

https://www.r6-forum.com/forums/57-...689-another-r6-hole-because-broken-chain.html

The biggest joy came from this moment:

 

[cynicalrider]

Bike is off the stands for the first time in 3 years.

IMG_3383 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And acquired a 20 ton press to change the wheel bearings on the Tacoma.

IMG_3384 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

[Bears Fan]

Cool stuff going on in your garage It would be awesome to add a couple of those lights to that grill hanging up on the back wall

 

[cynicalrider]

Cool stuff going on in your garage It would be awesome to add a couple of those lights to that grill hanging up on the back wall

I actually have the old HID's I used to run behind the truck grill that i want to put up behind that too. I just need to add an outlet up there that taps into the lights circuit. Def on the list and has been part of the plan for a while haha