Where are you Mr. Clean?

Well, I certainly haven't been blogging, that's for sure. Lots has happened though. A whole summer has gone by.
I broke the fron axle on Hanky prior to Pinelands. Munched the pinion and ring gears. Took Heavy D to Pinelands instead and stoved in the side of the bed. Thankfully it (mostly) pushed right back out.

Alan is helping me rebuild another front axle. Will be heading down to his place his week as a matter of fact. Gotta get ready for Pinelands in two weeks. Eek, I'm cutting this close.

Took Heavy D to a car show earlier in the summer with Bryan and the Devil's Chariot, his '73 WagonMaster.  Also took Hanky to Carlisle. That was fun, as always. There are pics around here somewhere.

And I bought a car trailer. yeah baby. Did I post that already? Anyway. The idea is to use my brother's F250 Powerstroke to pull Hanky to Pinelands. Yup, ride in comfort and get better gas mileage too.

Tag Along

Something followed me home last night. Literally. Looky what latched itself to my hitch. It's a car trailer. Fancy that. Yep this is the one I was talking about the other day. 16', 7000# with 10k winch, new tires, one new axle with new brakes,  new LED light all around, new breakaway battery new aluminum diamond plate storage box full of straps. Also has diamond plate ramps and reinforced driver's side fender so you can stand on it.

What's not to love?

Haul Me, Haul You

Agreed to terms on a car trailer today. Not a bad unit. 16' wood deck, new tires, rear axle, brakes and backing plates, wiring and LED lights. 10k winch, diamond plate tool box. May pick it up on Saturday.

Have also been working on those gauges bit by bit. Today I plumbed the oil pressure line (but realized that I don't have the compression fitting for the block, grr). Also plumbed the vacuum gauge and tachometer. I still need to wire the tach illumination and fuel gauge. Then calibrate the tach, hook up the speedo and bolt it in and see how it all works.

El Producto

Good, productive day today. We gathered at Brian H's place today to pull the transmission from the Wagonmaster, which we did. And to swap some lift springs onto Chewbacca, which we also did. Well half way. We got the rears on, but not the front. And there are still a few things to do on the rear to really call it done, like getting shorter bolts for the front spring hanger, so the shims can come off and put in a longer rear brake line. No problem, that's stuff he can do himself. Helps having some extra hands around, especially when the old bolts don't want to let go or if the centerin pin head is too big and needs to be 'adjusted'.

The best part might have been Bill's Irish Red and IPA home brew that he brought with him. Mmm, mmm, good. Might fine brew, that was and a good way to end the day.

It's Here, It's Here!

The new JL Scout has been released, so look for it in your friendly neighborhood toy store. I scored two from my favorite online distributor, but haven't spotted them at Toys-R-Us yet. Keep your eyes peeled.

Crispy or Regular?

Remember when I let the smoke out of my dash wiring on the trail a few years back? Well, at the time I couldn't find any seriously burnt wires. I must not have looked very hard. After exposing innards of the dash during my gauge installation, I found one of the taillight wires totally fried from the switch to the bulkhead and from the firewall side of the bulkhead down about three feet. The mud and the loom hid it until I really looked.

So, I need to fix that before I move on with the gauges. Yesterday and today I spent replacing the plug on the engine side and splicing it into the rear harness. All good. that's done. Now I need to pull the bulkhead connector from the cabin side and replace that whole length of wire. That's going to be fun.

Nibble, Nibble

Today I took out the jigsaw and cut up my perfectly good dash. Well, I didn't feel too bad because 1) this is going to be totally awesome and 2) the stereo hole had already been hacked. I think I'll have to bob the heavy metal bracket behind the dash also to fit in the Tach. So be it.

Not much support left in the sheet metal, so I might add a little back in when I get to final fitment.