02 Base for my son

[Snowbound]

It kept me busy though. Both frame rails were rusted through so I replaced them. Chipped and cleaned all the rust scale off everything, cut it out and replaced it or sealed it with rust convertor then coated it with POR15. I boxed in all the “C” channel on the side rails too for added strength.

 

[Snowbound]

 

[Snowbound]

 

[Snowbound]

Beginning of April I had to do the rear brakes on the Esky. I thought it wasn’t that long ago I just did them but I guess it was in ‘19. Straight forward brake job until I got to the drivers side and the rotor didn’t wanna come off. The parking brake shoe wore a groove into the inside mating surface and I had to force it off. Beat on it, couldn’t get to the parking brake so I didn’t care if I destroyed that brake shoe. Ended up applying pressure to rotor and had to drill a hole in rotor hub face and use a punch to beat the shoe past the groove.

Hole drilled in rotor face at bottom near outside edge.

Replaced parking brake shoe, hardware and one caliper bracket due to worn out caliper pin hole.

 

[Snowbound]

Last Monday, 4-24 I finally went in for surgery on my foot. They put a hole on each side and put a tube through. One side they went in with a camera and the other with tools and relief cut my tendons. Been 5 days now and it feels like the tendons are balled up just in front of my heal when I step, trying to put as little pressure as possible down on it and when I wiggle my toes it feels like the tendons wanna snap from stretching. I only hope this is gonna give me the relief I need once it heals but I’m down now for 4-6 weeks. Going crazy sitting around and every other muscle hurts from not working them. Not recommended!

 

[Fosscore]

Some great updates. Sleds, golf buggy, house, Esky and the foot. Get well soon. hard to be down when used to being so active. Not to worry...projects will be still be there aplenty.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Glad you finally got your foot taken care of. What's it been? Like a year since your foot has been like that? You're a warrior Jim!

 

[Sam Harris]

Damn man! Been busy, and take care of that foot, so you can get back at it brother!

 

[RAMurphy]

Just finished reading through your entire build thread. Wow your work ethic is amazing. The energizer rabbit in human form. Learned a lot through this thread. Sorry for your loss of your dog/best friend. I understand the hurt, we just said goodbye to my first dog and best friend several weeks ago. Still hurt today. Hope you recover from both the loss and your surgery as quickly as possible.

 

[Snowbound]

Just finished reading through your entire build thread. Wow your work ethic is amazing. The energizer rabbit in human form. Learned a lot through this thread. Sorry for your loss of your dog/best friend. I understand the hurt, we just said goodbye to my first dog and best friend several weeks ago. Still hurt today. Hope you recover from both the loss and your surgery as quickly as possible.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I know how you’re feeling at the few weeks, sorry for your loss as well. It’s rough. Thanks for checking out the thread. More to come.

 

[Scott in AZ]

You can take the haze out of the headlights with some 3M plastic compound/polish. I usually sand 1st, go down in grits, polish them out, then use a 2 step UV liquid protectant that dries.

I use the Meguiars 3-step kit for headlamps. Have had a lot of success. Comes with 1000 grit sandpaper, 3000 grit, Velcro sanding block, a drill-mount buffing wheel, polishing compound and the UV sealant in a kit. One kit will cover multiple cars.

I recently swapped to those same Sealight LED bulbs. Driver side high beam failed in a month. On the mirror image picture below you can see the passenger side high beam bulb is only half illuminated. I emailed them and they sent me a new replacement right away, is in transit. Good service response.

 

[Snowbound]

Few updates
August 9th- Wife bought me a Rott. Always wanted one and Lola would have been a Rottweiler but Jess really wanted a bulldog/boxer.
I was totally surprised by it. Mixed emotions. Part of me wasn’t ready and didn’t think I would be for a long time but then I thought about how much Lola meant to me, same with Peanut before Lola and I came to the conclusion that having another dog helps fill that empty hole left in your heart from losing your best friend.
Say hello to Mulder. 100% Germain Rotty AKC registered with a long bloodline of champions.

Recent pic at almost 11 months now and over 90lbs. Full grown at about 15 months.

Julianna gets me to take her on the bike every chance she gets. Gonna have my hands full with this one.

 

[Snowbound]

After my foot healed, kinda, still dealing with issues from surgery because I think they nicked a nerve, I got up north and fixed the driveway. I had to fix the backfill and slope the ground away from garage. Decided to just make a trailer parking area there and open driveway up all the way to street. Pics tell the story.

 

[Snowbound]

I had gravel dropped up there while I wasn’t there. Figured they know how to drop gravel on a driveway so I wouldn’t have to drag the bobcat back up north but this is what they did. Jeez!

So back up I went dragging the bobcat.

The first time my brother offered to drive with his truck so at least I only had to drag it up and back once.

 

[Snowbound]

It rained for a few days before I got back up there so the gravel was really wet and was a mess to work with.

 

[Snowbound]

The next day it was starting to dry out and was easier to work with without bobcat tearing it up as fast as I could smooth it out.

I think it came out pretty good and I’m happy with it. Was even better the next time we went up because it had time to settle and stiffen up.

 

[Snowbound]

Also finished the “mud room” off the main garage going into house to have our gear stored there instead of everyone dragging snow and gear into the kitchen. Only thing I have left to do is mud and tape drywall. Just waiting for weather to break.
This happened early January while we were waiting on snow to arrive.

 

[Snowbound]

This was all done in one weekend too. Nick, my brother and myself. Got there Thursday night and left Sunday morning. So 2 days really.

 

[adventurenali92]

Dang man y’all put in some serious work! Looks awesome though!

 

[Snowbound]

Above posts is how we left it that weekend. I was sore and tired for sure but made good progress.
The next couple trips up I had other stuff going on but I did manage to get lighting, switches and baseboard heater in. Insulated under the landing and got more insulation up in garage walls as well.

Gonna put an exterior door on, mud/tape and paint and do something on the floor and steps. It came together but I still need a bench. I did find some helmet holders.