The Cold is Coming

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I moved the trailer outside a few weeks back cause we got busy in the shop with work, needed more work room. But the weather overall the last couple of weeks has been warm, well warm for this time of year. Cold front is starting to move in and we got snow last night.

Here is the trailer outside the shop, I have it close enough to run a 20 amp service and a 50 foot water line to fill the onboard storage tank. It's working well except that we are right in the wind again.

I am glad that it is turning colder due to the ground will finally freeze up and we won't be tracking in mud into the trailer. I keep getting the forklift stuck right outside my overhead door due to mud and lots of it. I am doing a dump truck for a ashalt guy and he says about 1200 bucks will get the area outside my overhead door asphalted. He starts work in around March so that is high on my priority list for spring cleanup time. I did cleanup all oustide the shop door, I moved all my parts and junk to the back yard and piled it neatly.

I have been working on my little hauler truck a little here and there. I did find a used power chip programmer for my truck for 100 bucks, I installed it and what a difference in power. I have it set to level 2 which is insane for pulling a heavy load like my fiver, but its a guy thing and I had to see just how much this chip will make. Well with the trailer hooked up and on gravel, I can easily spin the tires, not bad, but hard on the truck never mind the tires. I am hoping for a increase in MPG too as alot of guys with the same setup say I should expect that. I got the flatbed part made already and the fuel inlet welded in, the electrical is done with a receptacle for the trailer and a terminal box mounted just behind the hitch where it is easily accessible if I have any electrical problems.

I will probably mount a small headache rack today. Something to sit behind the sleeper on the deck to protect it.



IHere is that Peterbilt from last fall that was white, we are expecting to finish this job tomorrow and kick it outta the shop. Its in the shop right now to paint the frame, then install the fuel tanks and tires. Finally done. The flatbed job is in the shop too, and we expect to get that out next week.

I put a ac unit into the truck camper last week. 13500 btu unit which is way overkill for such a small area. It went in easy as the camper was prewired for it. Fired it up and it shoots real good airflow. The kid and two of his buddies camped in there last night, his army cadet buddies, they have exams today at school and I found out this morning that they were up too 630 this morning, the wife got them outta the camper at 8 am, exams will be tough today ha.

Shop has been steady but seems like it takes a long time to get anything done. Impossible to collect money too, I don't think this year is going to be any better than last. Guys are getting stuff fixed but little money to spend.

With all this good weather this winter, collision work is way down, we are doing alot of welding work instead of usually doing collision work this time of year. Got a little dump truck job to do on a single axle, shorten the frame and mount a 10 foot dump box, the frame is done just waiting to get it sandblasted now. I painted the cab last Friday night and it turned out nice. Pics coming

Slow progress

I got a few more things done to the truck,. Progress has been slow due to being busy with customer work in the shop. Anyways, got the terminal box done, and receptacle for the trailer plug, also the fuel inlet tube. I made a access plate over the fuel tank too. I added a Edge programmer to get a extra 60 horse out the powerstroke. It works good, the motor is more responsive and feels like it has extra power. Won't know for sure till I get it out on the highway with the fiver hooked.

Buddy dropped me off a real nice wiring harness, which we feed the whole rear end of the truck for all the lights, slick for sure. I am hoping this coming week to have some sort of sides welded on and rear lights installed.

Shop has been busy, here is a pic of that white Pete from last fall, just getting around to finishing it off, I painted the hood the other night as I was waiting for grille surround. Pete wanted close to two grand, aftermarket 600 bucks, big difference.

Pretty much booked this month for work, thats a good sign for the beginning of the year, maybe it is starting to turn around. At any rate I hope it sticks.

The kid made a island for the kitchen area in the fiver. Problem with our unit is the lack of counter space and we have a large kitchen, lots of floor space. So he made this in wood shop at school, brought it home and I stained it and then clear coated it, it looks pretty good and is at the right height too, wife is happy to have the extra counter space.

Were still camping in the shop, been inside since before the holidays. I figured to move the fiver inside to save on propane and fuel costs on the generator and seeing how business was not overy busy, might as well use the shop space. Now I am busy again and could use the space the fiver takes up but now that we are inside its nice and warm in the trailer without using a ton and a half of propane. We have no water today, no water on the property, so thats a bummer, I could go out and load up some water in one of my tanks, but once i do that the water will be back on, you know murphys law.

Theres a shot of the trailer in the shop, tucked into the corner. Were going through about a 100 pounder of propane every two weeks, alot better than one every three days.