Third time's the charm - 40*50*12 build
- Thread starter wisconsin hillrod
- Start date
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Man, I love how much space you have in there. I'm just a teensy bit jealous. 
Looks great!
Looks great!
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
The trailer is too wide for all standard 4 posts I found. I picked up both of these new ones for just over $5k all in. (hammer drill, 10 gallons ATF etc). The Bendpak boat 4 post that would have worked is $5500 with a 8-10 week lead time. The other problem with the boat lift is it would be so wide I wouldn’t be able to fit another lift next to it.
Man, I love how much space you have in there. I'm just a teensy bit jealous.
Ha! Thanks. More than I ever thought I’d have and I still managed to run out of space within two years. I’m not looking forward to the whole winter/snow thing and a lack of ceiling/heat. Winter 2018/2019 will be mine tho!!!
sean Buick 76
Well-known member
It has been a while since I checked in and WOW you are doing awesome!!!!
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Thanks!
Not much but got the 2 post unloaded so I can get the second trailer out of the way.
Don’t judge me it worked!
Hrmm that Dannmar 10k looks an awful lot like my Bendpak 10k…
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Greetings,
I had a lot of back and forth in my head as to if I should paint or not and I realized not wanting to paint was me just being lazy so I bought 20 gallons of el cheapo Menards paint during their last 11% sale. As I am at the mercy of help for getting the 2 post hoist up and I didn’t have any this weekend I decided it was time to get some painting done. The first stripe is always the scariest..no turning back!
I’m glad I did it. It looks nice and will be a better background to shop art I plan to hang out there.
-Hillrod
I had a lot of back and forth in my head as to if I should paint or not and I realized not wanting to paint was me just being lazy so I bought 20 gallons of el cheapo Menards paint during their last 11% sale. As I am at the mercy of help for getting the 2 post hoist up and I didn’t have any this weekend I decided it was time to get some painting done. The first stripe is always the scariest..no turning back!
I’m glad I did it. It looks nice and will be a better background to shop art I plan to hang out there.
-Hillrod
TurboMustang370
Well-known member
The walls look awesome! Great choice, in my opinion.
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
The white does look good, plus it helps it look brighter in there. Man, if I was about 10 states closer, I'd offer to help you get that 2-post up!
SiGmA_X
Well-known member
I definitely think the paint was worth it! I really want to finish my drywall and paint. You'll really enjoy the brightness, I've seen the difference in a friends 2 car, it was dramatic. And your place is already well lit, it's going to be very nice.
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Thanks!
Yeah, the house I grew up in was built in 1978 and the 2.5 car garage was drywalled but never painted. My Dad painted it as part of getting it ready to sell in 2010 and the difference was unreal.
The white does look good, plus it helps it look brighter in there. Man, if I was about 10 states closer, I'd offer to help you get that 2-post up!
We will be in Moab in about a month maybe we will kidnap you! Haha, kidding I’m hoping to have it up long before then.
samuelscreech
Well-known member
Subscribed, that's a great looking shop, looking forward to seeing it with all the lifts in and working.
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Thanks! Your shop looks like it is going to be awesome! 40*80 might be big enough for me…I know 40*50 sure isn’t haha.
Thanks!
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Welp I disappeared again. Sorry!
The IROC rewarded me for driving it with a burst heater hose and then the intake gasket started leaking.
I've had enough of the 160hp 305!
I picked up a 1998 Camaro z28 as a donor car for my IROC. I had planned to use a truck 5.3L or 6.0L engine I have sitting around but I was in need of f-body oil pan, accessory drive, intake, and fuel rails. A friend picked up a GTO to replace his Camaro that had some problems so we made a deal. I will be able to use far more than just the motor, including parts of the interior, the substantially larger brakes, the fuel tank, possibly the fuel lines, the radiator, and the dual radiator fans. I may or may not use the wiring harness. The issue is the 1998s use a different ECU that won’t work for my 3 bar MAP custom OS I need for the turbo setup so the harness would need to be reworked to be used.
I wasted no time dropping the motor out as winter was fast approaching and I still have no ceiling so no heat!
I scored a deal on a single turbo setup for LS swapped 3rd gens and got it mocked up.
That's all the further that project is going to go until I get the shop finished. I promised myself that much!
-Hillrod
The IROC rewarded me for driving it with a burst heater hose and then the intake gasket started leaking.
I've had enough of the 160hp 305!
I picked up a 1998 Camaro z28 as a donor car for my IROC. I had planned to use a truck 5.3L or 6.0L engine I have sitting around but I was in need of f-body oil pan, accessory drive, intake, and fuel rails. A friend picked up a GTO to replace his Camaro that had some problems so we made a deal. I will be able to use far more than just the motor, including parts of the interior, the substantially larger brakes, the fuel tank, possibly the fuel lines, the radiator, and the dual radiator fans. I may or may not use the wiring harness. The issue is the 1998s use a different ECU that won’t work for my 3 bar MAP custom OS I need for the turbo setup so the harness would need to be reworked to be used.
I wasted no time dropping the motor out as winter was fast approaching and I still have no ceiling so no heat!
I scored a deal on a single turbo setup for LS swapped 3rd gens and got it mocked up.
That's all the further that project is going to go until I get the shop finished. I promised myself that much!
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
My wife was a little frustrated that I got my “dream car” (blue 1986 IROC-Z) this past summer and since her "dream car" is one that I’ve debating buying it wasn’t a hard sell. Just before the snow flew an E46 M3 6-speed manual coupe arrived in the shop.
His and hers:
This brought the current count of cars to 9 and while they aren’t all staying it prompted action. Luckily for me I hadn’t yet stood up the 2nd 2 post hoist and I had the whole winter to think about what I wanted to do. I got an e-mail from Best Buy Auto Equipment that the Dannmar D7-X 4 post lift was on sale for $2050 for the month of February. That is the 4 post that I bought on sale in August for $2400 so that was a very good price.
The last week of February I placed the order and asked it to be shipped to the same freight terminal I used in August so they could drop it on my car trailer and I could strap it down and head home. I ordered the last one form Garage Equipment Supply (sister company of Dannmar) and this one from Best Buy Auto Equipment (where I got my Bendpak lift from in 2016).
Best Buy Auto Equipment informed me they use YRC freight not ABF and that is where my problems began…
-Hillrod
His and hers:
This brought the current count of cars to 9 and while they aren’t all staying it prompted action. Luckily for me I hadn’t yet stood up the 2nd 2 post hoist and I had the whole winter to think about what I wanted to do. I got an e-mail from Best Buy Auto Equipment that the Dannmar D7-X 4 post lift was on sale for $2050 for the month of February. That is the 4 post that I bought on sale in August for $2400 so that was a very good price.
The last week of February I placed the order and asked it to be shipped to the same freight terminal I used in August so they could drop it on my car trailer and I could strap it down and head home. I ordered the last one form Garage Equipment Supply (sister company of Dannmar) and this one from Best Buy Auto Equipment (where I got my Bendpak lift from in 2016).
Best Buy Auto Equipment informed me they use YRC freight not ABF and that is where my problems began…
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
After checking shipping status twice a day for 10 days (as I needed to coordinate taking time off work and borrowing a trailer) I saw that the hoist was delivered to the terminal and eagerly awaited my phone call to schedule pickup.
That phone call came and turned south quick.
YRC: “Your shipment is in. How do you plan to pick it up?”
Me: “Excellent! I plan to swing by with a car trailer.”
YRC: “How tall is the trailer?”
Me: “Ahh…not sure… maybe 18” off the ground?
YRC: “That won’t work we can only load at dock height.”
Me: “You are a freight terminal and you can’t drop freight onto a trailer or into the back of a pickup?”
YRC: “Nope, no ramp to get forklifts off of the dock.”
Me: “Well that *****. I told them when I ordered it needed to go somewhere that could put it on a trailer for me. What are my options here?”
YRC: “Yeah third time this week! You can either swing by and see if you can hire someone from a neighboring business to drive a forklift over and load it for you, you can rent a dock height truck, or you can get a reconsignment to ABF where they have a ramp.”
ME: “Ok I’ll have to contact the shipper to see what they say because this is their problem to solve.”
Well turns out I got to do all the legwork. I spent 4 days and 30+ phone calls. It has been a month and I’m still working on a final resolution. At no point has Dannmar apologized one bit even though they repeatedly dropped the ball.
Finally after a really frustrating 4 days I got my conformation call the lift got moved to ABF so I made my way there. I noted damage to the shipment and knew I was in for a treat. I don’t really care about scratched paint given this will be shoved in the back corner but they really can do better than this:
One of the runways ships upside down and you have to flip it over somehow. I got cleaver this time and wedged some angle iron between the boards on the trailer to keep it from sliding and used ratchet straps as winches to flip it over so the runway that was upside down was now right side up.
Piled some heavy stuff on one end as a counterweight and set it down on some furniture dollies.
Another lesson learned is last time I picked up the cross bars that go inside the posts and it was really difficult to do. This time I laid the posts down and slide the end pieces in from the ground then stood them up as a unit. Then used a combination of my floor jack and engine crane to get the runways onto the cross bars. Two floor jacks would work fine for this but I left my old floor jack at my parents place.
Now something that burned me last time is I didn’t realize if you want to position the hydraulic pump up front you can’t assemble the lift against the wall as they designed it with the ~12' lock release bar to only be able to go in from the back in that scenario. I don’t believe there is any mention of that in the instruction manual nor is there mention of the cable retainers you need to install around the pullies that they had to add to get the lift certified. Instead the manual just has typos and is generally disappointing.
Since I was originally shopping Dannmar against Greg Smith I decided to compare the Dannmar instructions to the instructions in the Greg Smith Equipment 4 post lift and…wow. The Greg Smith instructions really do a substantially better job. They specificity mention how much room you need AND WHY and they have clear pictures. I still got it figured out but I’m starting to feel like I might have made the wrong decision at least for the 4 posts.
Once it was assembled I needed to get it moved into the back of the shop. I’m not about to spend $400 for a caster kit that I’ll use once so I made my own out of junk I had laying around. I grabbed the steel bars from my Harbor Freight 20 ton press and put them through the holes they use for the caster kit. I didn’t have a bungee cord handy so I used some romex to hold the 2*4s together. (Don't judge me!) Then took a scrap of 2*8 on my floor jack and then picked up each of the 4 corners using the 2*4s as a lever and set the posts onto furniture dollies. It slides around really easily like this.
Bam!
At this point I've bought 5 hoists. Dannmar is 2 for 4 in having a happy customer but I have nothing bad to say about Bendpak. My issue isn't with the product it is with the service. Dannmar can definitely do better. It doesn't seem likely but if I find myself in the market for another hoist I'll be looking closer at Bendpaks and Greg Smith.
In other news I ordered my steel for the ceiling Friday night. Snagged it during Menards 11% off and before the steel tariffs jack up the price.
-Hillrod
That phone call came and turned south quick.
YRC: “Your shipment is in. How do you plan to pick it up?”
Me: “Excellent! I plan to swing by with a car trailer.”
YRC: “How tall is the trailer?”
Me: “Ahh…not sure… maybe 18” off the ground?
YRC: “That won’t work we can only load at dock height.”
Me: “You are a freight terminal and you can’t drop freight onto a trailer or into the back of a pickup?”
YRC: “Nope, no ramp to get forklifts off of the dock.”
Me: “Well that *****. I told them when I ordered it needed to go somewhere that could put it on a trailer for me. What are my options here?”
YRC: “Yeah third time this week! You can either swing by and see if you can hire someone from a neighboring business to drive a forklift over and load it for you, you can rent a dock height truck, or you can get a reconsignment to ABF where they have a ramp.”
ME: “Ok I’ll have to contact the shipper to see what they say because this is their problem to solve.”
Well turns out I got to do all the legwork. I spent 4 days and 30+ phone calls. It has been a month and I’m still working on a final resolution. At no point has Dannmar apologized one bit even though they repeatedly dropped the ball.
Finally after a really frustrating 4 days I got my conformation call the lift got moved to ABF so I made my way there. I noted damage to the shipment and knew I was in for a treat. I don’t really care about scratched paint given this will be shoved in the back corner but they really can do better than this:
One of the runways ships upside down and you have to flip it over somehow. I got cleaver this time and wedged some angle iron between the boards on the trailer to keep it from sliding and used ratchet straps as winches to flip it over so the runway that was upside down was now right side up.
Piled some heavy stuff on one end as a counterweight and set it down on some furniture dollies.
Another lesson learned is last time I picked up the cross bars that go inside the posts and it was really difficult to do. This time I laid the posts down and slide the end pieces in from the ground then stood them up as a unit. Then used a combination of my floor jack and engine crane to get the runways onto the cross bars. Two floor jacks would work fine for this but I left my old floor jack at my parents place.
Now something that burned me last time is I didn’t realize if you want to position the hydraulic pump up front you can’t assemble the lift against the wall as they designed it with the ~12' lock release bar to only be able to go in from the back in that scenario. I don’t believe there is any mention of that in the instruction manual nor is there mention of the cable retainers you need to install around the pullies that they had to add to get the lift certified. Instead the manual just has typos and is generally disappointing.
Since I was originally shopping Dannmar against Greg Smith I decided to compare the Dannmar instructions to the instructions in the Greg Smith Equipment 4 post lift and…wow. The Greg Smith instructions really do a substantially better job. They specificity mention how much room you need AND WHY and they have clear pictures. I still got it figured out but I’m starting to feel like I might have made the wrong decision at least for the 4 posts.
Once it was assembled I needed to get it moved into the back of the shop. I’m not about to spend $400 for a caster kit that I’ll use once so I made my own out of junk I had laying around. I grabbed the steel bars from my Harbor Freight 20 ton press and put them through the holes they use for the caster kit. I didn’t have a bungee cord handy so I used some romex to hold the 2*4s together. (Don't judge me!) Then took a scrap of 2*8 on my floor jack and then picked up each of the 4 corners using the 2*4s as a lever and set the posts onto furniture dollies. It slides around really easily like this.
Bam!
At this point I've bought 5 hoists. Dannmar is 2 for 4 in having a happy customer but I have nothing bad to say about Bendpak. My issue isn't with the product it is with the service. Dannmar can definitely do better. It doesn't seem likely but if I find myself in the market for another hoist I'll be looking closer at Bendpaks and Greg Smith.
In other news I ordered my steel for the ceiling Friday night. Snagged it during Menards 11% off and before the steel tariffs jack up the price.
-Hillrod
jbmatth
Well-known member
***** to hear about all of the trouble with the lift, and it is nuts the terminal didn't have any way to load from anything but the truck dock. I'll be looking forward to what you end up doing with the Iroc, your plans sound very fun!
JB
JB
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
^^^^^^^
What he said!
What he said!
RangerSVT
Well-known member
Wow, just read through this whole thread. Great build! Wow, so many lifts, but put to good use!
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
^^^^^^^
What he said!
Thanks! Sounds like I’m getting a caster kit for my trouble. Although it wasn’t intentional haha. I got a notice from YRC that I’ve got a shipment headed my way. Called in to see what it was about and after another few phone calls it was a caster kit sent to me I didn’t order that wasn’t paid for but was shipped anyway. They told me to keep it because I bet it would cost almost as much to have it shipped back.
I will use it when I hang the plywood up on the back wall and report back how it works compared to my 2*4s haha.
A few weeks ago I scored a LS2 dropout from a 2005 Corvette for $1500. This thing is complete…harness, ECU, DBW petal, accessories, and auto bellhousing I can sell for probably $100 and cats I can sell or scrap for another $100. I'll probably end up selling the heads too as I want to run lower compression ones and the heads are worth $400. A 2005 Vette LS2 is special because it has the better gen IV rods/pistons but is still 24x crank / 1x cam trigger so can use the gen iii computers.
I'm trying to figure out if I want to run the LS1 or the LS2 in the IROC. Depends how much power I want to make. The other thing that is great about this Corvette LS2 is that the Corvette accessory drive works on the GM a-bodies so I can use that setup on my Olds when I get around to it. I also have a SLP underdrive crank pulley leftover from before I supercharged my C5 that I can use.
Thanks! I only intended to have 1 2 post and 1 4 post originally but things have a tendency to snowball. I'm glad I did a 6" slab everywhere and no in floor heat. Gave me flexibility.
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
I got a random e-mail from YRC that my shipment was on the way. Talked to BestBuyAutoEquipment again they looked into it called me back to say It turns out Dannmar sent me a caster kit by accident but they are just going to let me keep it for my trouble with the hoist. My guess is it would cost them about the same to have it sent back but hey still a feel good feeling.
Since it was only 160lbs I figured the truck driver and I would have no issue unloading it so decided to just let them ship it to my house instead of trying to pick it up at the depot. The day it was to arrive I got a call from the driver who informed me due to spring thaw (lower weight limits while the frost melts) there is no way to get to my neighborhood and asked me what I wanted to do. He was very apologetic and offered me quite a few options. I elected to just meet him at his nearest delivery. Went and met him there he was great we chatted for a while but he made sure I noted it was damaged.
So…
Looks like some small parts could be missing:
Yep that’s pretty bent…
Note only 3 steel bars are there (they are what were hanging out of the box)
They didn't come with any instructions but I think I've got it together correctly. I figure the bent caster will work fine bent but I can’t get it to work without the missing steel rod. I thought I could use one from my press that I used with the 2*4s but the holes on the caster kit are one size too small and I don’t have a drill bit big enough.
I’m sure Dannmar will be pleased when I complain about my free caster kit being damaged and missing pieces. This one may be on YRC not Dannmar though. I will report back how well it works compared to my furniture dollies once it is operational.
-Hillrod
Since it was only 160lbs I figured the truck driver and I would have no issue unloading it so decided to just let them ship it to my house instead of trying to pick it up at the depot. The day it was to arrive I got a call from the driver who informed me due to spring thaw (lower weight limits while the frost melts) there is no way to get to my neighborhood and asked me what I wanted to do. He was very apologetic and offered me quite a few options. I elected to just meet him at his nearest delivery. Went and met him there he was great we chatted for a while but he made sure I noted it was damaged.
So…
Looks like some small parts could be missing:
Yep that’s pretty bent…
Note only 3 steel bars are there (they are what were hanging out of the box)
They didn't come with any instructions but I think I've got it together correctly. I figure the bent caster will work fine bent but I can’t get it to work without the missing steel rod. I thought I could use one from my press that I used with the 2*4s but the holes on the caster kit are one size too small and I don’t have a drill bit big enough.
I’m sure Dannmar will be pleased when I complain about my free caster kit being damaged and missing pieces. This one may be on YRC not Dannmar though. I will report back how well it works compared to my furniture dollies once it is operational.
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
It was only 38 degrees but I decided to get some things done. I’ve been putting off doing my framing and insulation above the “inception shed”. I was thinking I would have to move all kinds of stuff to do it but it turned out I only had to move 4 pieces of lumber. It did take me over 8 hours though.
In other news my ceiling is in:
Based on my last post with the lower weight limits right now I’m not sure this can be delivered right now. Then again the Menards contractor may not care and he’ll drive there anyway.
-Hillrod
In other news my ceiling is in:
Based on my last post with the lower weight limits right now I’m not sure this can be delivered right now. Then again the Menards contractor may not care and he’ll drive there anyway.
-Hillrod
Firepower flyer
Active member
There pulling weight restrictions here in Waukesha on Mon, so maybe soon out by you. I'm hoping we don't get the snow/rain Tuesday, I'm suppose to break ground on my 45'x85' shop this week.
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
We shall see. I wasn't in a big rush to get it delivered since the guy at the lumber desk assured me the skids wouldn't be sitting outside... I need to start bringing a tape recorder with me everywhere so I can hold people to their word haha.
45x85' sounds amazing. You got a build thread?
kyle@hcb
Well-known member
Awesome space/cars!
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Thanks!
Two bits of good news:
First of all Dannmar is sending me replacement parts for the caster kit which should be here Friday. Secondly, my buddy that works at Menards was able to move my steel under a half *** awning which is better than nothing. They will be delivering on Saturday.
We’ve got some **** weather coming tonight and my wife and I have been parking outside to make room to put the hoist together. (The M3 and 3000GT were in the house garage). My wife is working in NYC this week so it took a little longer to get things moved around without my spotter.
Successfully got the new hoist doing work!
I’m really digging how well that back area works with the 4 posts side by side.
Even with the cars 7.5’ in the air there is still plenty of headroom!
I really like having the big open area right inside the big garage door but with as wide as these 2 posts are I don’t think it will be an issue. I think I will wait to put up the last hoist until after the ceiling is done as I’ve already got a ton of obstacles to work around. I just need to triple check there will be enough headroom to get the crossbar in. (There isn’t for the other hoist).
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
This has been the crappiest April I can remember since getting my driver’s license in 2002. We got 6” of wet snow on top of an inch of ice this past weekend. I said to hell with the temperature I’m getting stuff done!
I bought a China Freight 12k winch a couple months ago that I've been waiting for better weather to install. I didn’t want to grind off the nice powdercoat on my car trailer so I decided I would fabricate a modular winch mount that bolts (clamps) onto the trailer instead of welding to it like I did my last trailer. Spray paint flakes off and the trailer gets rusty really quick compared to the powdercoat. I built it out of **** I had laying around. 2*2 square stock, 1*1 square stock, and some u-bolts off of my 1995 Silverado that I sold in 2008. I just had to buy the battery box and the winch.
I’ve had my Millermatic 150 welder since 2004. Dusted it off and had to deal with some garbage stuck in the tip but then it was a trooper. My welding has definitely gone downhill and my surface prep consisted of a wire brush for my grill haha. I was working in the shop and didn’t want to send rust everywhere.
The roller fairlead tucks inside the trailer’s fence and is bolted to the 1*1 angle.
I designed it to torque against the u bolts and push against the fence when under load. Additionally it is trapped by the fence and the taper of the rails so it can’t move even if the U-bolts come loose. When it eventually warms up I will take it apart and paint it. I’m undecided if I want to close off the ends. With the holes for the u bolts I’d hate to trip water in there.
-Hillrod
I bought a China Freight 12k winch a couple months ago that I've been waiting for better weather to install. I didn’t want to grind off the nice powdercoat on my car trailer so I decided I would fabricate a modular winch mount that bolts (clamps) onto the trailer instead of welding to it like I did my last trailer. Spray paint flakes off and the trailer gets rusty really quick compared to the powdercoat. I built it out of **** I had laying around. 2*2 square stock, 1*1 square stock, and some u-bolts off of my 1995 Silverado that I sold in 2008. I just had to buy the battery box and the winch.
I’ve had my Millermatic 150 welder since 2004. Dusted it off and had to deal with some garbage stuck in the tip but then it was a trooper. My welding has definitely gone downhill and my surface prep consisted of a wire brush for my grill haha. I was working in the shop and didn’t want to send rust everywhere.
The roller fairlead tucks inside the trailer’s fence and is bolted to the 1*1 angle.
I designed it to torque against the u bolts and push against the fence when under load. Additionally it is trapped by the fence and the taper of the rails so it can’t move even if the U-bolts come loose. When it eventually warms up I will take it apart and paint it. I’m undecided if I want to close off the ends. With the holes for the u bolts I’d hate to trip water in there.
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Hrm. I tried another browser and it works in both for me. Anybody else having this issue?
I’ve got a bit of a motor hoarding problem. Apart from the ones in vehicles I’ve got:
2x LM7s (5.3L Vortec)
2x LS1 (Although one is actually a Darton MID sleeved Lunati 427 (7L) stroker)
1x LS2
2x LQ4s (6.0L Vortec)
I decided if I sell one of the LM7s I can make room for the rest if I build a bench tall enough they fit under it in my inception shed.
Moved all the **** out of the way:
I have a proper compound sliding miter saw up on a stand but for anything with straight cuts up to 2*4s this $50 this Tool Shop one can’t be beat for convenience!
Bam! Two LQ4s in place with room for 3 more once I finish the next project. (There is another motor between the air compressor and the wall).
-Hillrod
Last edited:
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
No problem here.
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
No problem here.
Thanks for the feedback. Seems I’m not doing anything wrong. Sorry the pics aren’t opening in the app… I’m open to ideas.
I work in IT and was eyeing up some power whips when I was in one of our data centers a couple weeks ago:
Granted this is 4 wire 3 phase but it solved the issue of not wanting to hard mount EMT conduit to the 4 post lifts as they tend to wobble around a bit. Decided I will add L6-30 outlets to the back wall and make 30 amp cords off the pumps and flip the hoists around.
I tested them and they work great. I need to finish sheeting the back wall then I can mount my outlets and flip the hoists around.
-Hillrod
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
No kidding!!
Wait a second...you are a 1986 guy? I totally figured you were at least 10 years older...damn, you are doing GREAT so far at this point in life!!
My middle kid is your age & is nowhere near where you're at (just bought his first place 2 years ago)...actually, you remind me of ME at your age with your overall drive. But I had a young family with 2 kids by 1986, sooo...different priorities to deal with. I discovered rather quickly that kids get expensive, which aimed my focus elsewhere.Oh, and all your pics show up fine for me...but I am not into the smart phone **** (and all the ailments), I am old school & surf the GJ on my tried-n-true desktop confuzer.
jbmatth
Well-known member
Interesting, I am an '86 kid too, but as C_F at 32 I have 2 kids and they do get expensive. When we had 2 in diapers and daycare I could write off an easy $1,000 a month and that doesn't get into formula, food, clothes, toys, furnishings, etc. You are in a good spot in life, enjoy it. I really like what you've been up to and enjoy following along.
JB
JB
cesarbee440
Active member
Just started following this thread.
You guys are pretty ambitious at age 32! My son is 46 and we own a shop together that I started in 1986 and we are planning on building a 40'x60' pole building on our landlords property with help from the owner. We own our 8500sf building but we need more room since we joined a franchise group. Seeing all the pictures,lifts etc is nice to be able to plan for the use of space and storage/office area.
Great job!
The landlords lot is less than half a block away from our shop and we've been leasing that space for 14 years and he doesn't want to sell.Might be confusing that I'm saying we own then I have a landlord.
You guys are pretty ambitious at age 32! My son is 46 and we own a shop together that I started in 1986 and we are planning on building a 40'x60' pole building on our landlords property with help from the owner. We own our 8500sf building but we need more room since we joined a franchise group. Seeing all the pictures,lifts etc is nice to be able to plan for the use of space and storage/office area.
Great job!
The landlords lot is less than half a block away from our shop and we've been leasing that space for 14 years and he doesn't want to sell.Might be confusing that I'm saying we own then I have a landlord.
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OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
No kidding!!
Wait a second...you are a 1986 guy? I totally figured you were at least 10 years older...damn, you are doing GREAT so far at this point in life!!
Oh, and all your pics show up fine for me...but I am not into the smart phone **** (and all the ailments), I am old school & surf the GJ on my tried-n-true desktop confuzer.
Thanks! Yeah I'm an old soul there...I don't know how people deal with only their phones and tablets. Everything is relative and everyone has their own path, ambitions, and means. By 32 one cousin had his MBA from Northwestern, another had her PhD from Cal Tech, my sister had her master's and was a published author and I'm just over here with a barn full of old junk haha.
Thanks! Most of my co workers have kids and drive CRVs and minivans. That could well have been me too but life didn't go that direction. Lots of different paths and ways to feel fulfilled.
Thanks! If you can answer vaguely enough for people not to be able to track you down, what do you do with the 8500 sq ft shop? I used to tell myself 40'x60' was the minimum size for a pole barn. I came to find out just how expensive everything is in reality and feel very fortunate to have a 40'x50' one.
Yes, I am from 1986 haha. That’s why my IROC had to be a 1986. (I prefer the 85-87 in the first place, and I don’t care about 87s having the 350 engine since I planned on LS swapping anyway. So since they made the car I wanted in the year I was born that was that. (Side note…it bums me out a bit my Ski Nautique is an 87…)
A little background as to how I was able to build the shop:
My wife and I are dual income no kids and are fairly frugal aside from cars so I’m sure it looks like we’ve got more than we do. I’ve had many coworkers over the years paying more for daycare alone than my mortgage cost.
I was able to live at home and saved up for my first house. I actually ended up buying it while I was still in (community) college as I was working full time just finishing up a few credits in night classes. I was originally going to save at least 20% down to avoid PMI but I wanted in on the $8,000 first time home owner’s tax credit so I ended up putting 12% down and buying a cheaper place than I would have had I waited another year or two. I used the tax credit to fix some stuff up, started paying 1.5x mortgage when I got a new job ($) and refinanced to a 15 year mortgage killing off PMI and it was only $100 more a month thanks to lower interest rate and no PMI.
I had $60k in equity after living there 5.5 years. When my now wife moved in we started searching for a new place. Found the new place and bought it with 5% down and a 30 year mortgage with a plan to fix that. We painted most the house and put new carpet in and I took my equity and had the bones of my shop built. Doing that stuff and a slight market upswing got us 25% equity so we refinanced to a 20 year mortgage with no PMI and again thanks to lower interest rates the payment only went up $200 a month. I think that is huge since it cuts off 10 years of payments and I plan to have the house paid off by my 50th birthday.
With that plan in mind I’ve not worried about trying to pay extra on the mortgage anymore so I’ve been funneling time and money into the shop.
-Hillrod
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Wow that last post was boring…just a wall of text with no pictures!
I decided the floor on top of the inception shed was a little too spongy for my liking and the idea of me and another guy working up there to do the shop ceiling was starting to make me nervous. The way it was did pass the framing inspection so I was technically ok but I’d like to toss a lot more stuff up there as well.
I made a beam out of leftover 2*8s (rafters from the original garage on the site). I didn’t have boards long enough for the whole 17’ span so I just offset boards and screwed it all together with a box of screws haha.
To get the beam in place I had to get a little creative. I found the joists were sagging close to an inch so I ended up pushing up on the beam using my transmission jack and pole jack to get everything level again then ran some lag bolts through my 2*4 supports and nailed in the joist hanger over the door into my ghetto header. Sorry I neglected to snap any pictures of jacking up the ceiling. It worked perfectly.
The floor is pretty solid now so I think it was well worth it. I finally got a few more sheets of plywood up too:
-Hillrod
I decided the floor on top of the inception shed was a little too spongy for my liking and the idea of me and another guy working up there to do the shop ceiling was starting to make me nervous. The way it was did pass the framing inspection so I was technically ok but I’d like to toss a lot more stuff up there as well.
I made a beam out of leftover 2*8s (rafters from the original garage on the site). I didn’t have boards long enough for the whole 17’ span so I just offset boards and screwed it all together with a box of screws haha.
To get the beam in place I had to get a little creative. I found the joists were sagging close to an inch so I ended up pushing up on the beam using my transmission jack and pole jack to get everything level again then ran some lag bolts through my 2*4 supports and nailed in the joist hanger over the door into my ghetto header. Sorry I neglected to snap any pictures of jacking up the ceiling. It worked perfectly.
The floor is pretty solid now so I think it was well worth it. I finally got a few more sheets of plywood up too:
-Hillrod
jbmatth
Well-known member
Good call on the additional beam, it should be plenty for the loft area. I have a similar story on homes and with that $8,000 new home incentive program but rather than being smart with it I used it to put the down payment on my Cobra replica. Interest rates have worked out well in my home buying years lately and am now where I don't plan to move for a while. Enjoying the progress and builds you have going on and will be watching.
JB
Interest rates have worked out well in my home buying years lately and am now where I don't plan to move for a while. Enjoying the progress and builds you have going on and will be watching.JB
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
Good call on the additional beam, it should be plenty for the loft area. I have a similar story on homes and with that $8,000 new home incentive program but rather than being smart with it I used it to put the down payment on my Cobra replica.
JB
I *may* have used some of of mine to buy my first boat... It never failed to disappoint me even after I sold it haha. It was a 1973 Glaston v140. But what I saw was the James Bond GT150:
http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/product/glastron-gt-150
I figure the point of that tax credit was to stimulate the economy so we both did exactly what we were meant to!
Thanks!
OP
wisconsin hillrod
Well-known member
I took a couple days off work and got most of my nailers up in preparation of steel for the ceiling:
Before:
After:
I keep looking at this picture thinking it is finally starting to look more like a shop and less like a barn.
I’ve still got lots to do but I can visualize a ceiling now which feels like a long awaited milestone.
-Hillrod
Before:
After:
I keep looking at this picture thinking it is finally starting to look more like a shop and less like a barn.
I’ve still got lots to do but I can visualize a ceiling now which feels like a long awaited milestone.
-Hillrod