I got a little bit more done on the tire carrier yesterday.
The tire mount works although I got the studs a little out of line.
Here is the tire carrier on the jeep.
With the tire.
The next thing I’ll do is build the mount for the gas can.
That’s all for now.
We are leaving this morning for the cabin and will be there until Tuesday so I’ll talk to you Wednesday.
We did a little shopping yesterday morning.
When we got home I went back to the tire carrier project.
I figured out where to mount the part that holds the tire.
I had to weld a plate in between the arms of the tire carrier to have something to weld the mount for the tire to.
I am using a 6” long piece of 3X3” square tubing
with a 1/4” plate welded to it to mount the lug nuts on.
Below is the plate, marked but uncut.
I will cut, drill and weld the mounting plate today. I need to buy the lug nuts and some metal cutting blades for my jig saw to continue.
Patti and I are going to the cabin tomorrow (Saturday) and won’t be home until Tuesday.
I’ll finish the tire carrier project next week.
Yesterday morning I had to go to the DMV to get my drivers license.
Since I am over 70 years, I had to take a written test, have a new picture taken and new fingerprints.
I only missed one question on the test. They decided that I was awake enough to drive so they passed me.
I got home from the DMV and started working on the tire carrier. It was a little short on top so I had to add a 4” piece. Then I Finished all the welds on the frame.
As I was turning off the welder Joanne and Dave showed up.
We spent the rest of the day visiting.
Around 5:00 we went to Betties Fish and Chips for dinner. It was very good.
It was a good day and relatively productive.
We had a very pleasant day with Jerry and Loraine yesterday.
We picked up Jerry and Loraine at their house around 9:00.
And headed for the cabin. We got their around 10:30 and sat around out side enjoying the nice weather and visiting.
I spent a little time fixing the leak in the cabin water line. and putting some clamps on the refrigerator battery wires.
Even though I destroyed a yellow jacket nest the last time we were up at the cabin.
While we were sitting around visiting we were buzzed by several bees. When it came time for lunch we went into the cabin to get away from them.
We hung around in the cabin visiting until around 3:00, then we left for home.
It was a nice relaxing day and Jerry and Loraine enjoyed the outing.
I got a little more work done on the tire carrier yesterday.
I have the main frame work for the carrier all tacked together.
It looks like it will follow the door pretty close when it opens.
I think all I will need is a pivot connected to the door to hold the carrier.
The next thing I have to do it figure out how to mount the tire on the carrier.
Today we are going to the cabin for the day we are taking our friends Jerry and Loraine up there for lunch.
Jerry has been ill and can no longer drive. They both needs some woods time.
Okay that’s it for now, talk with you tomorrow.
I went over to Bob’s yesterday.
He fixed up an old computer for me. So I went to his place in Guerneville to pick it up.
We messed with that for a bit and visited some; then put the computer in my jeep. We put another kayak on Bob’s car and went to Monte Rio to go kayaking on the Russian River.
It was a beautiful day. We put in at the boat ramp in Monte Rio and slowly paddled down stream toward the Villa Grand Hole, a couple of miles down the river.
There were several Great Blue Herons along the shore today.
We stopped several times in the shade of overhanging trees to check out wildlife and just generally relax.
Here is a cormorant warming itself in the sun.
This young Grebe came motoring by chasing fish.
That stick looks just like a blue Heron. Oh! It is a blue heron.
Eventually we made it to the Villa Grand Hole where we took a break.
There were a bunch of people on the beach across from the hole. They were having fun and playing in the water. We watched for a while and then headed back up stream toward Monte Rio.
On the way we came across a guy fishing from a canoe. He had a real good setup.
His girlfriend paddled the canoe while he fished.
She even got out of the canoe and pushed the canoe into the places the guy wanted to fish.
What a deal, and she was good looking too! ;o)
We got back to Monte Rio around 4:00 and headed for home.
It was a very pleasant day on the river.
It usually is.
This is the first chance I have had this summer to go on the river and I really enjoyed it.
We had the first rain of the season yesterday. It rained pretty hard until about 10 am then the sun came out and the rest of the day was pleasant.
I did a little more work on the tire carrier yesterday.
I finished shaping the spacer and welded it down over the bolt.
After that I cut a 2 1/2” piece off the 2” round stock. I chucked it up it in the lathe, trued the ends up and then bored a 1” hole through it.
This will be slipped over the bolt and will be the hinge for the tire carrier.
The main beam will be welded to this piece.
In the afternoon both my daughters and their significant others came by for a visit.
It was a good visit and a good day.
I have been puttering around with a project on the jeep the last couple of days.
I am attempting to build a tire carrier for the jeep.
The tire and gas can are just too heavy to be hanging on the back door.
I am trying to design the carrier so that it will swing open with the door without a second latch.
Also I wanted to be able to bolt the mechanism to the bumper rather than weld it.
The base is a piece of 3/16” X 2” X 3” angle with the pivot a 1” X 4 -1/2 – X 1” diameter grade 8 bolt affixed to the angle iron.
Once I got everything for the base plate measured it was time to machine the head of the 1” bolt so it would fit in a hole in the base plate where it will be welded.
Then I had to drill the mounting holes in the base plate.
After that I welded the 1” bolt then ground down the welds to clean things up.
The next job was to machine a spacer that will cover the part of the bolt head that sticks above the surface of the mount and provide the spacing for the swing arm clearance. The spacer will be welded to the plate.
A grade 8 washer will provide the bearing surface.
I am still working on the spacer. It will be done today, then I’ll weld it to the plate.
I had to get an ultra sound done yesterday so on the way home I stopped at the local salvage yard. I got the rest of the steel that I will need for the tire carrier; some 1/8” x 1” X 2” rectangular tubing and a 1’ piece of 2” cold roll steel stock.
Okay that’s it for now. Talk to you later.
Patti here:
I went to our grandson’s football game last night. They played against a team from Antioch (east bay) here at Santa Rosa High. Unfortunately Santa Rosa got their first loss, 50-16. They are now 2-1.
Number 7 is our grandson, Harvey.
I was talking with my friend Chuck (AKA Swamp) the other day and he sounded like he needed some time in the woods so I invited him to come up to the cabin for a couple of days.
I left for the cabin around 9:30 Thursday morning and got up there around 11:00.
I got moved in and had lunch.
After lunch I decided that I would take a walk up to the Bear spring. It is the first time I have walked up there in a long time.
It took me a while to get there but it was a nice walk.
As I was getting back from my walk, Chuck drove up.
We hung out and visited for the rest of the day.
The next day was pretty laid back. We took a walk down to the old homestead site where we normally shoot trap.
Chuck standing near the trap.
I wanted to see how high the grass was and to ascertain whether or not it would be safe to shoot down there next month.
It might require a little weed eating to be done, but if it rains between now and then there should be no fire danger.
We also spent some time throwing a tomahawk and throwing knife at some blocks on the campfire wood pile.
If you look close, you can see the hawk stuck in the end of the block of wood at the right.
Once you learn the technique and with practice you can do that fairly consistently.
While we were sitting around we noticed a lot of yellow jackets buzzing around in one area. As we watched we could see several of them going into a spot where a couple of logs for the dining hall perimeter come together. They were disappearing into the gap between the logs.
I put some gasoline in a gator-aid bottle and poked a hole in the top. We collected an old tarp and a small log to cover the nest and set them near by.
After it had been full dark for a while we decided that it was time to wipe out the hive. We went over to the dining hall with a couple of flashlights.
I squirted the gasoline up into the entrance of the nest and all around the area. Then I threw the folded up tarp over the spot, put the log on top to hold the tarp in place and left it there over night.
In the morning there was no trace of yellow jackets coming from the nest.
A good deed done, mission accomplished.
We set up a couple of rounds to throw the hawk at
and played with that occasionally during the day.
Here is Chuck’s best throw.
I wanted to check out the spring that Bob had connected when he was up.
Chuck had not seen our spring setup so we climbed the hill to the cabin spring and then we walked across the hill to the old spring where we found that the line coming to the tank from Bob’s spring was disconnected and the tank was almost empty. We re-connected the line and the tank began to fill.
The next day we took a ride down to the grove.
Later we did a little target shooting with my .45.
Chuck left around 10:00 Sunday morning and I took another walk to the Bear spring.
In the afternoon I started working on a path along the back side of the cabin. I had forgotten that I had a waterline buried in that area and as I was chopping away with the Polouski I cut through the line. (Oops!).
I walked up the hill to where the valves are and turned off the water to the cabin.
The cut was a short slice length wise on the pipe so I had to remove a section.
I pushed a short 1/2” nipple into the pipe and clamped it. The clamps that I had were some aluminum ones that I bought at Harbor Freight. They aren’t strong enough to stop the water from leaking.
I will have to use a slightly longer nipple some Rector seal and some stronger clamps. It will get fixed the next time I come back.
I packed up Monday morning and left around noon.
I turned off the water to the cabin before I left for home
It was a fun couple of days and I enjoyed hanging out with my old friend, Swamp.
We haven’t been doing any thing important this week.
I checked the transfer case on the jeep and it is still leaking.
I went beck to 4wheel parts and they are going to finally change the seal and the yoke some time next week. That should fix it.
If not I want them to send this kit back to the manufacturer and get one from a different manufacturer.
I am going up to the cabin today. My friend Chuck is coming up also.
I will be there until Monday.
Talk to you later.
We were up at the cabin for the last 5 days.
Joanne and Dave came up also.
We didn’t do a lot, most of my work up there was all done except for a couple of easy jobs.
One thing i did was to put a couple of lag bolts in the rails on the steps to tighten them up.
The next thing I had to do was to finish the refrigerator cabinet.
I put the bats on the sides of the cabinet and put a metal back on it with vents.
The last project was to put new legs on the table in the cabin.
I used some left over pieces of the poles that I cut for the porch roof.
Joanne and Dave puttered around with various projects of their own.
The rest of the time we just visited and enjoyed our time in the woods.
We haven’t done much the last couple of days, mostly just taking care of business and get things ready to go to the cabin today.
We will be leaving after we take care of a couple of appointments this morning and will be there until Saturday morning.
Joanne and Dave are coming up today also.
Talk to you when we get back.
