11-14-11

The other day as we were driving  up the dirt road to the cabin, we hit a particularly bad stretch of washboard and I heard a loud “snap!” The left front mounting bolt for the rack broke. Fortunately the rack stayed together until we got to the cabin. I didn’t have any tools to fix the rack at the cabin but I did have some black vinyl tape, so I taped the rack together and it held until we got home.

Yesterday I took the rack off the jeep to make the repair. I had to cut the ends off both legs to keep everything even.

This is the end with the broken bolt. “duh”

I came across a couple of 3/8” x 1” grade 8 bolts in my bolt stash so I used them for replacements.

The 3/4” tubing inside the 1” tubing is the stub of my first attempt to make the mount. When I cut it off to attach the original bolt I found that the inner tubing was just what I needed for a spacer for the bolt head to fit tight.

I tacked the bolt in.

 

then filed it flat,

 

The next thing was to drill a 3/8” hole in a piece of 1/4’ flat stock and put it over the bolt and tighten it down with a nut.

Then I welded the 1/4” piece to the tubing

and grind it all down nice.

This morning I threw some paint on it and as soon as the paint dried I put the rack back on the jeep.

Today I went to see a guy that makes Prosthetics to get a brace for my left leg to help with my drop foot and hopefully help to relieve some of the pain I experience when I walk.

We’ll see.

The brace is supposed to be worn inside of a shoe.                      My right foot is already one size smaller than my left.                    To fit the brace, the left shoe will have to be at least another half size larger than the shoes that I wear now. That means that I will likely have to buy two pairs of shoes and will have one very large right shoe and a smaller left one left over. Any suggestions for what to do with a pair of shoes that are two different sizes? I have to go shoe shopping tomorrow, after we get the RV out of storage.

We have moved our departure date for Quartzsite to Monday the 21st.

Okay that‘s all for now.