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Here is the deck completed, I got around to it this afternoon, we have been busy in the shop, shortening a Peterbilt. Now the customer wants the frame blasted and painted, good for us, bigger bill for him.

Pretty happy with the deck, I need to install a fuel inlet and a access panel on the rear deck section so that I can open up the fuel tank if needed. Thinking of what I want to do for some side rails or walls and a rear bumper and lights etc.

I found a used Edge Power Chip and will have it in about a week or so when the guy comes down our way. 100 bucks and works on my year of truck, apparrently three settings, up to a 100 hp improvement, I would only want the level one setting which is supposed to up the horsepower some 60 hp.Here is the Pete, cut out a 26 inch section, move the drives up and redrill, mostly together now, tomorrow need to ream some holes and tighten it all up. Weld back on the rear section, lift postion and weld, sounds easy but can be a bear sometimes jobs like these, especially with 8 inch bolts going through aluminum housings, one inch impact would'nt even budge them, heat impact heat impact and then finally break them loose. I woke up this morning and my arms and wrists felt it, not getting any younger. Got all new hardware today, always use new hardware as I like to sleep well at night knowing the work going out the door is done proper.

Cold weather is heading our way from what I hear, glad the trailer is inside the shop.

It's been a month

Man how times flies, I have not posted anything for almost a month now. Let's see what is new. I moved the trailer indoors now, its been in the shop the last two weeks, I got tired of paying for propane and gasoline and getting dirt and gravel in the trailer cause its in a truck yard, so one day I packed it up and moved indoors. Business in the shop has been steady and if I get real busy I can always pull it back out.

Propane use is way down, a 100 pounder last two weeks now, were plugged into a 30 amp service I installed, so using the fireplace for some additional heat. I took the hd antenna off the trailer and got wire and ran it to the roof of the shop, getting at least 25 stations all crystal clear. Very happy with the tv system now.

I bought a Flojet macerator and about 100 feet of hose so that I can drain the grey and black tanks. I dump the black every two weeks and there is a public bathroom at the front of our complesx where I can do the dirty deed, usually late at night lol. Grey water goes onto the tank on the truck and out to the back of the yard. I have the empty the grey tank every day. The flojet works as advertised and can pump 100 feet no problem at all.

Last week I decided that I am going to keep my truck and not go with a bigger unit. I can't see the sense of going bigger when we only travel a half dozen times with the trailer. The truck is a 95 but only has 220 k on it, mechanically perfect and paid for. Next year I will be lucky to put on 3000 k so I might as well make do with what I have. I do need to loose some weight from the truck and I have started that project already.

I removed the steel bed and the fake fuel tanks, that was about 1400 pounds or so, built a flatbed and remounted the hitch about 18 inches ahead of where it was, it now sits just ahead of the rear axle. I am enclosing the fifth wheel hitch so that it is no longer removable. This truck will be dedicated to trailer hauling duties full time. My idea is to have the truck all setup and ready to go at a moments notice. Water and waste tanks mounted, genset mounted along with the water pumps etc etc.

I should have most of the work done maybe later this week. Once the flatbed is finished i will paint the cab sleeper and then have graphics added to match the trailer.
There she is with the hitch mounted and no deck, I had thought of enclosing the frame rails and then adding fenders but that little hump over the axle really irritates me, with the flatbed I don't have to look at it lol.
I don't need the truck till next spring anyhow, so I can take my time with the repairs