Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

Well dinner was, as Trimguy said "AWESOME". I have never had pork chops like that, over an inch thick and as tender as could be! After dinner we had Birthday Apple pie (my preference) and ice cream. I was stuffed, still am, I think.
 After dinner I got a call from an old buddy who always calls me on my Birthday in recent years. He is a Luthier and part time musician. His business is busting out and has been for over a year and all the pros being stuck at home taking advantage of the time off to get repairs done, and the semi-pros doing the same or ordering new instruments. He gave up trying to keep up with the workload a long time ago and just plugs along as he can. ANyway we had a really nice chat for an hour or so about everything from the pandemic to wood selection, raising kids, the influx of city folks driving up land prices well beyond reasonable and the effect on our community. I haven't enjoyed a visit like that in a long time. I miss seeing them, and especially his little girl and is growing so fast and learning even faster. She's about 8 now, going on 15. ;D ;D  I finally hit the rack around 10:30. 

Today I will test load the Mule for fit, but I also have to screw down some flat bunks on the trailer so that when loaded I can get a strap under them for picking. The trick is to make sure that the bunk locations don't interfere with the Mule position on the trailer. I don't mind if the tire is on top of the bunk, but I do want to make sure it is either fully on, or fully off the bunk so it won't be on the corner and maybe move when it is not 'desired' or get jammed against the head rack or tailgate. I am just going to take some HW boards I had been culling from the lumber rack and cutting for firewood. Its a better use. Just a couple of deck screws should hold them in place. Then I really should get the lawn mowed and finally remove the barrier around the new grass and cut that. some of it is going to seed. I could rototill too, but I am not sure I am up for that yet. Supposed to be the warmest day so far this year (mid 70's) so I will play it by ear. Trying to rest the legs but get things ready. I also have that chimney repair to do and all the parts are here, so if it gets really hot I can do that in the cool(er) shop.
 Time to get at it.

[Cedarman]

Happy belated birthday Tom.  Enjoyed the read.  As Ross Perot once said, just do it. And you did.
I can tell you see life as a journey and are enjoying the trip.  Have another good year.

[Old Greenhorn]

......  As Ross Perot once said, just do it. And you did.
I can tell you see life as a journey and are enjoying the trip.  Have another good year.

Well, no doubt I tend to over think things like this because most of the time when you buy something like this and expect it to perform as advertised, you will be disappointed. I expect this to happen, and that is OK, IF one has time to correct and improve the issues with design corrections. In this case I did not want to add another project this week, but the research I did gave me a feeling it would work OK if I just added more support from the get-go. The function of the crane itself was another question but I watched a video of a guy using that unit to lift a V-6 from with ground onto his truck bed, with the engine stand attached. Except for his diamond plate bed flexing, he did it just fine and got 4' of lift with that little pump jack. SO I took a chance. I am very pleased with the way it works and it lifts much more than I really believed it would.
 But I am trying to run a business, or at least pretend to, so the cost has to be justified or else I am just playing with a new gadget. SO the cost of that gizmo, all in, is about 50 mushroom logs or 1/3 of my first trip. I know it's small potatoes but the point is if I watch the small stuff and make careful decisions, the big stuff never shows up. Again, this might seem like a lot of thought over a small thing, but I try to do that on everything, that is, relate it to how much work I have to do to pay for something, or more often, get it to pay for itself in productivity improvement. This should be saving a lot of wear and tear on my leg muscles and that has value in that I can work a longer day. Being able to use it for firewood unloading is a bonus I didn't expect. I will at some point need to add a drop jack on that one corner to reduce the twist load on the trailer frame, but that can wait for now. Maybe just put it on the next trailer. For under 200 bucks, this worked out pretty good and I remain surprised at my luck.
 Thank you for the good wishes. I hope the coming year brings us all better days, I think we have earned them.

[Ed_K]

 What a great birthday present  ;) . I hauled a lot of 8' cordwood home for a couple yrs with the same setup tho mine was mounted to the front center of a 4' x 8' repurposed boat trailer. Next Sunday Rita will turn 67 and I get to call her an old lady  ;D till end of June when I turn 68 and she goes back to being a spring chicky bab'e  :D ;) . Hope you have another great day today too.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   If permanent bunks are in the way why not just make slots/brackets out of angle iron or wood that your bunks (I assume something like 2X4 or 2X6) slip between, cut the bunk boards to length, stack them up and ratchet strap them down where convenient during transport then lay them in the predetermined slots when you want to use them.

   You know what is fun about your thread is we can all respond with totally insane suggestions that take lots of work and cost plenty of money and we never have to do any work or spend any money in the process. :D :D

[Old Greenhorn]

You know what is fun about your thread is we can all respond with totally insane suggestions that take lots of work and cost plenty of money and we never have to do any work or spend any money in the process. :D :D

Well, maybe for you..... but for me what's fun about this thread is that people get to throw out insane ideas  and they lead me into thinking of something useful that solves my issues and I can figure out a way to do it without spending lots of money. There is quite the brain trust here. :D ;D
------------------
Now to the task at hand. This morning I pulled a bunch of junk boards off the rack, mostly live edge and cut up the bunks and laid them on the trailer about pretty much where they go. Then I tried to drive the Mule up. Tried. But that post and crane were impeding on the Mule just a little bit. Apparently when I did my measuring, I measured the distance between the outside of the tires. I didn't notice that the doors and cab are just a tiny bit wider, maybe an inch.
 So I reconsidered. I took the crane off the mast, that gave me 1/2" or so. Then I took another run at it and scooched the Mule as far to the left as I could. I got it on.  Still I was rubbing the crane mast on one side.


 
And it was pretty tight on the other side.


 
It fits, and I think on the next attempt I can get it tighter without the mast touching the window. But it fits and I can work with that. It is a 'bit' harrowing to drive it up there so I am not doing it on a whim more than i have to. A bigger trailer will make this a non-issue. I checked the bunk locations and they were all good except the one that the rear tires fell dead on. I don't want the Mule like that for transport, so I cut that one up. When I get on site and dismount the mule I can run the screws and for the sectioned pieces. So I screwed everything else down.


 
 So that's pretty much as ready as it is going to get. I did some other little odds and ends on the trailer and parked it. Had a client come by for a vacuum machine I fixed for him with the oil it needed so we loaded that in and it works just fine. He is happy. He wants to know when I can start working on his place. ;D Well, I dunno just yet.
 I checked in up north to see if we were on schedule for this Friday/Saturday and it turns out we have to put it off about another week because of unforeseen circumstances. No big deal, this is our life. Weather, machine breakdowns, they own us. ;D I just made a call or two to try and pull in some of the other clients I had put off and it will work out. This is the nature of the business and we have to roll with it.  I wouldn't have it any other way. I have SO much stuff to do that even if it didn't work for my clients I could work my butt off here every day doing things that I really need to get done. It's all good and not even a hiccup.
 So I mowed the lawn and got that new grass cut for the first time and it looks better. My shop compressor blew the breaker hard yesterday and I just ignored it. Today I started looking into it, got the covers off and found the motor and pump turn freely. That's as far as I got. I'll get into it tomorrow. I still have the woodstove to refit and get that done. That's a days work right there. So I have plenty to do. ;D
 Tomorrow is another day and I'll just keep pulggin' along. :D

[nybhh]

Great thing about dead ash for firewood is it makes procrastinating on that big stack of btus a lot more forgiving 😉

[samandothers]

Could you weld a plate on the side of the trailer to the rear of the fender well outside the bed and use a bottle jack under it for support?  It would need to be braced so when the load swings into the trailer it does not bend the crane into the bed.  This might put the mast/crane on the outside of the bed area and make more room.

[nybhh]

I think the obvious answer here is to buy a narrower UTV  ;)

[doc henderson]

not sure of all the applications and reach, but in line with what NYBHH just suggested, one of the front corners would be well braced as well

[Tacotodd]

I think the obvious answer here is to buy a narrower UTV  ;)

not sure of all the applications and reach, but in line with what NYBHH just suggested, one of the front corners would be well braced as well

Or both 🤔

[Old Greenhorn]

Geez, some 'interesting ideas' once again. Actually Sam may be onto to something, but I am not planning on having this trailer too long, so I will wait. I think I would use a swing down jack instead of a bottle jack, but same idea. Brandon, we can discuss your idea tomorrow. ;D Doc, I hope you were referring to Sam's idea, not NYBHH's idea. 

Well I had forgotten today was the monthly food shopping trip, so there went half the day. When we got home and got it all stowed I went out and dug into that compressor issue. Thought it was the pressure switch/relay and bypassed that to confirm the motor worked. It did not. Motor turns fine by hand, but blows the breaker in an instant. I think it is the starting cap, but I am not going any further. Its a craftsman 6HP/30 Gallon and I can buy the same unit working for $150, so I am not going to put a lot of effort in it. That thing is a noisy screamer and I hate it. I'll deal with a replacement later. But I do have an oldie and goodie that I have been meaning to get back to working, now that one is worth my time.



 

You don't see these around much anymore.



 
When I moved this over from my Dad's house it wasn't developing much more than 30PSI and I had no time to get into it then. Today was the day. I figured the valve in the head needed cleaning, so I pulled the head off and cleaned all the pieces the best I could, put it all back together carefully and started it back up. As soon as it got up to 35psi it was building air a lot slower, if at all. Everything seemed fine in the head area and how it sounded. I looked elsewhere and finally thought of checking the bleeder cock on the bottom. Sure enough, it was leaking, the screw pulling in the taper was loose and is was bubbling away. DUH! So I tightened that and it began to build air again! Went up to 110PSI and shut off (Dad was always conservative on pressure). Now this thing was never a speed demon building air, but it makes air and holds it. I let it sit 2 hours and it dropped 5psi. I am pretty happy with that, at least I have compressed air.
 I did notice one thing, while it was building air, there was a constant leak from a bleeder vent on the pressure switch. In the photo below, it is the little open line going from the switch off to the right.



 

 That is an open line and I assume it is a pressure let off in the switch, but should that be venting when it is making air? When the unit hits pressure and shuts off, that line no longer leaks. Does anybody know if it should leak air while running? Inquiring minds need to know.
 Anyway, this will fill the bill for now. I will keep my eyes open for a newer unit as I have time, but for now I can run a temp line from the shed where this lives over to the shop and just tie it into the circuit. That will include the tank on the dead compressor and give me a little more reserve. I don't think this one will keep up with the water pump on my tank, but time will tell. It is a HECK of a lot quieter and that's funny to me, because when I was a little kid, I thought this was the nosiest thing in town.
 In the middle of all the compressor work, my son showed up with a rented stump grinder on it's way back to the rental place, He thought he would grind up a couple of stumps on our front lawn I have been mowing around for 5 or more years.


 

He made quick work of it. When I finished the compressors I went out and raked everything out and picked all the rocks he ground up. Nice little machine, works well.
 It was hot today, it hit 85! I am not used to that, for sure. A few days ago I was wishing for 60. Tomorrow I am back in the woods and I am also using this extra time to think through more of the details on log handling during the harvest work. Think I will make a beam with an eye bolt and a 4x4 to lift the slung logs from the mule to the trailer with. Something to play with anyway.
 Tomorrows another day, I'll figure it out then, if I have time.

[doc henderson]

yup, I just peaked back down below, and did not go far enough.     maybe admin will move this to did something dumb today! :D

[trimguy]

It's quieter because it's in the other shed. :D :D

[doc henderson]

and you cannot hear crap after years in the trades/industry.

[Old Greenhorn]

It's quieter because it's in the other shed. :D :D

Well um, yeah. True enough.  :D
But side by side the old one is much quieter than this Crapsman Oil less compressor. True it doesn't build air like the newer one, but it is old. I think it needs a ring job and I sure wish I could get the valves apart, but I am afraid of breaking the shanks.
I have lots of options. I can leave it where it is and just run a line to tie into my outside line and back feed the system. Or I could move it into the shop, tie in the tank from the old one and run that way. I could also put a spare remote switch on the old one in the shed and turn it off at night without having to walk out there. But frankly, it's a just a compressor. I need air, but it's not a big one on the list as long as I have it. Most likely I will spend the summer cruising CL waiting for the right unit that is not too far away. I'd like to get another older one that is quiet but makes air in decent time. Then I can leave the one out in the shed where it is also useful as a secondary system and a backup. If I was in a hurry, I found the exact same crapsman on CL and hour drive away for 150 today. but I have paying work to do, so it will wait for a while. Worst case, I still have another small compressor (10 gallon) that carried me for 35 years in the shop ready to go. It's just small and kind of loud. There are always options when a guy isn't backed into a corner, and on this, I am certainly not. ;D ;D

[doc henderson]

my brother always remote located the intake and that really reduces the noise.  if you do not fix the old ones, you could put the tank in the attic with a drain downstairs, and have a lot of volume for the times when you need a bunch.  mine is in the basement so I can barely hear it.  and i have a little hearing loss too.  

[21incher]

I recently bought a California  Air oilless quiet compressor for my woodshop and it's really quiet. Have you looked at the DR versa trailer pro xl200? It looks like it would  be great in the woods behind your mule. Just saw it in the new catalog I got today. 

[Old Greenhorn]

I recently bought a California  Air oilless quiet compressor for my woodshop and it's really quiet. Have you looked at the DR versa trailer pro xl200? It looks like it would  be great in the woods behind your mule. Just saw it in the new catalog I got today.

I don't think I would be looking for a new compressor. Used should be just fine, but that could change.
 On that trailer, yes, I have seen that one and the price, compared to others, is attractive, but still pricey until it earns its way. Now I see that all these builders are offering free shipping which I assume is built into the price somehow. The one I had my eye on is the Iron Baltic Pro 1000 which is also 2,000# cap, but comes in at nearly a grand more and a lot of the need accessories are extras (log bunks, lifting mast & winch, etc) so you are really looking at around 4 grand all in. It appears that the Iron Baltic is built heavier, but who can tell from photos? I don't know anything about DR but see they are in VT and wonder if that is where their shop is? DO you know of their reputation? Have you bought anything of consequence from them? It's a 4 hour drive for me, but I sure would love to see one of these before I buy it. I have to work too hard for that money. ;D
 In any event, this would be a 'next year' thing, because I would want the cash in my hand before I bought. I know I am playing roulette with the market and economy. The bottom could drop out and prices drop with 'fire sales', or steel could be even harder to get and prices go up or they go back to charging $350 for shipping.  But first things first, I have to upgrade the main trailer for moving stuff over the road.
 Well time to get the truck loaded.

[Walnut Beast]

Check out Midsota trailers they build some small ones that look pretty nice

[doc henderson]

in general, I like the pipe rail trailer vs angle.  for the type of work you are doing, it would be easy to torque a stick of ankle rail.  they seem to look nice longer.  your son seems handy, can he be subtlety tasked with scrounging up some materiel and helping you build one?  good experience for the grandsons.  made to your specs.  build the hoist mast into the frame, custom trailer flooring.  tool boxes and saw racks, tip or ramp the way you want.  your title no longer says "keeping busy" so I assume you have lots of time, and I am sure you have thought about it.  we have lots of oil field pipe around here that people make lots of stuff with.  just thinking on the keyboard.

[Old Greenhorn]

No oil pipe around here Doc. Finding cheap or free materials is pretty much out of the question these days. You suggestion reminds me of the expression "Just because I can does not mean I should." My son sure doesn't have time for a project like that and neither do I. Yeah, I could, but it would not be fast and would consume a lot of my time that I surely don't have now. If I could find the materials, I might build a walking beam log trailer over the winter, but I would need to get my lathe and Bridgeport back up and working which are other tasks yet to be done.

  Well today I spent most of it feeding a chipper and made a nice pile with all the tops and slash we built up over the last few weeks. We also loaded another trailer load of firewood. I got that home and tried using the trailer crane to unload just to get used to it and seeing home it worked. I leanred that the trailer needs to be level or else gravity takes over and the boom wants to swing to the low side. SO spinning a 500# log around against the mast lean is tough. I even got this green maple beast off.





It took a fair amount of work, but it was different muscles being used, mostly upper body. I think this is going to work out as a big help. I managed to top off this stack, so there is that.


 

 No, its not easy, but do-able. It would be nice if there was a way to extend and retract the boom while loaded, but that's not going to happen. I was just surprised it handled that maple log because it is heavy, which makes a bundle of mushroom logs look pretty easy at this point.
 Pretty tired tonight and will probably be in bed by 9.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[21incher]

I know the old DR products were reliable but all the new stuff is basically drop shipped from China as is everything  else these days.  I have been trying  to buy a side by side about  the size as yours for over 2 months  now with none available to buy and was thinking  about  building  a trailer to go with  it but then saw this one that would  work for my yard. The thing  is most utvs have a 2000 pound tow rating  on level ground that drops to 1500 pounds or less on angled terrain that includes  the weight  in the bed. This  trailer comes in at 650 pounds that would  leave another 650 pounds for a load and 200 pounds  of tools in the bed. If l built one it would definitely be heavier limiting the load and take a long time to finish.  They sell refurbs that have been returned under their  guarantee at a good savings I was thinking about.  Steel just  went up another  30% and I think price increases  won't  be far off if you can even find stuff to buy. Crazy times we are dealing with caused by over stimulating the economy.   

[farmfromkansas]

I built a trailer out of an old hay stacker a few years ago.  Copied one my neighbor bought, one that the floor tilts down so you don't need ramps to load your mower or atv.  The angle was all 1/4" thick, made a pretty strong trailer.  Got the parts needed from Red Neck Supply in wichita.  

[Iwawoodwork]

Old greenhorn, on the booms that I mounted on my trailers (2) I welded a piece of pipe just larger than my jack handle at 90* to the post so I could insert my jack handle for some swing control. I also made a new jack handle out of thick wall pipe about 24" long for leverage so I had better control of the swing ( I learned the hard way).