ebinmaine 67,592 #3376 Posted November 21, 2021 10 hours ago, Horse Newbie said: Leaf duty today… I'm super happy we live in a forest. Trees grow leaves. Trees lose leaves. We give them back. We don't have much area to clear in comparison to a lot of you folks. We use an electric blower and this year I bought a gas powered one too. We did shred a few to use as insulation/mulch over a strip of strawberry plants Trina just planted this fall. Otherwise we keep pushing to the outside edges of the cleared area with the blowers. No loading up, unloading, hauling etc... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse Newbie 7,074 #3377 Posted November 21, 2021 2 hours ago, ebinmaine said: we keep pushing to the outside edges of the cleared area with the blowers. That’s what I did when I lived in the woods in Waxhaw NC… 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Razorback 1,035 #3378 Posted November 21, 2021 On 11/7/2021 at 8:05 PM, Razorback said: Yesterday I replaced the passenger-side ball joints on our 1981 Ford Bronco..... today, while I had the ball joint press, I replaced the axle pivot bushings in each half of the front axle. Alignment shop said the driver's side ball joints are tight, but I have not checked them myself..... I need to do that..... On the agenda for this afternoon: Ball joints on the driver's side...... yee haw!! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Lister 142 #3379 Posted November 21, 2021 Ball joints they either go nice and all is well OR it can get ugly 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handy Don 12,235 #3380 Posted November 21, 2021 (edited) 16 hours ago, Horse Newbie said: Our village runs a truck-sized trailer mounted version of this for picking up curbside leaf piles (typically getting to each street three times between 1 November and 15 December). It keeps getting broken because residents' hired landscapers embed branches and all manner of other stuff in with the leaves. All they care about is that the leaves wind up "somewhere else". Edited November 21, 2021 by Handy Don 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 27,601 #3381 Posted November 21, 2021 (edited) Today I helped a friend cut & load some fire wood. All of which was green oak. We filled his truck and my trailer. A pic of my load. @Pullstart is always telling us how much a Chevy can haul and I gotta admit that he is right, they will carry a load. Truth be known, it only takes a Little Dodge to move that load though. Edited November 21, 2021 by Achto 3 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lynnmor 7,307 #3382 Posted November 21, 2021 Years ago I was passing a trailer like that carrying a full load of firewood, as we started downhill the trailer started swaying so I floored it to get away. The firewood was tossed both ways shutting down all lanes of the interstate. The van towing the trailer went completely sideways and rolled. To make matters worse, the Jeep station wagon in front of the van was driven by a companion so he quickly stopped to run back and never got it into park so it rolled away into a guardrail. I watched the whole thing in the mirror like it was in slow motion. Trailers need at least 10% of their total weight on the ball and that is easy to miss with wood having much different weights depending on species and moisture content. A short, boxy trailer may not have the ability to get the tongue weight right and my bet is the one in the photo isn't correct. 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Razorback 1,035 #3383 Posted November 22, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, Razorback said: On the agenda for this afternoon: Ball joints on the driver's side...... yee haw!! Got 'em done. Not too bad..... As old as this Bronco is, I cannot imagine that these were original, but who knows? This side had no grease zerks, now they do, so I am happy about that. Now, the only lingering issue is with the speedometer. I have done some investigating and some research..... the speedo drive gear in the transfer case has a noticeable worn, concave dip in it. So, it is not reliably engaging the driven gear on the end of the speedo cable that plugs into the transfer case. Not an expensive part, but a booger to get to..... I am contemplating either rebuilding the transfer case if/when I open it up, or just swap out the transfer case entirely with a new one, considering how old this thing is and no telling how many miles are on it. All I can say is: the time I have had it, it has received the best care of it's life. Meanwhile, I will just use a phone app for a speedometer. Edited November 22, 2021 by Razorback spelling 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Kennell 38,209 #3384 Posted November 22, 2021 3 hours ago, lynnmor said: Trailers need at least 10% of their total weight on the ball Over the years, I have towed some fairly heavy campers and boats without any problems. I always set up with a minimum of 500 lbs on th ball hitch. One day I was taking a 27 ft. tandem axle Mobile Traveler camper three miles to get it inspected. I didn't bother to connect the load leveling bars. I was not over 40MPH when for some reason, the camper started to sway and before I could get stopped, it nearly rolled the old full sized Ford Bronco towing vehichle One of the scariest driving experiences ever. 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 27,601 #3385 Posted November 22, 2021 4 hours ago, lynnmor said: A short, boxy trailer may not have the ability to get the tongue weight right and my bet is the one in the photo isn't correct. Good eye!! After I took the picture, I moved the trailer a little bit in the yard & felt the hitch bump up once or twice. Before I went down the road I moved some chunks of wood around in order to get some more tongue weight on the trailer. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lynnmor 7,307 #3386 Posted November 22, 2021 1 hour ago, Achto said: Good eye!! After I took the picture, I moved the trailer a little bit in the yard & felt the hitch bump up once or twice. Before I went down the road I moved some chunks of wood around in order to get some more tongue weight on the trailer. Trailer examples. Look where they place the axle(s) on factory built trailers: 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gregor 4,846 #3387 Posted November 22, 2021 4 hours ago, Ed Kennell said: One of the scariest driving experiences ever. Been there done that ! It's not fun at all. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,592 #3388 Posted November 22, 2021 My father had a similar ride when towing a backhoe with a van. Went down the road fine until he crowned a hill and physics kicked in. Didn't crash despite the best efforts of the trailer. A friend went back and picked up the wild beast later. I have a tendency to run heavy on the tongue weight because of experiences like that. I'd rather use a heavier rated tow vehicle and keep the downward push on the drive axle where it should be. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 27,601 #3389 Posted November 22, 2021 5 hours ago, lynnmor said: Look where they place the axle(s) on factory built trailers: Thanks. I'm very aware of axle placement on trailers. Here is a picture of the 12'x6.5' trailer that I built to haul my 's around. Story behind my wood hauling trailer. About 15yrs ago I picked up a 1 ton Chevy with no motor or trans. and a damaged front end. Rolled the cab off, cut the frame & notched it to so it could be bent to reach the tongue that I made for it. Removed the drive axles from the rear end so it would pull easier, spiced a plug into the harness, threw some racks on and added a tongue jack. BAM!! one heavy duty wood hauling trailer. Price out of pocket $125. A really wish I knew how many cords of wood have been on and off that trailer since I built it. I borrowed my wood trailer to a family member. And because no good deed goes unpunished. When I went to pick it up yesterday morning, I got it back with one side rack smashed, one tail light smashed, one tail gate smashed beyond use, and one safety chain missing. Lesson learned I guess. 1 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,592 #3390 Posted November 22, 2021 51 minutes ago, Achto said: Lesson learned One of the ways Shakespeare was well ahead of his time... "Neither a borrower nor a lender be....." 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 27,601 #3391 Posted November 22, 2021 35 minutes ago, ebinmaine said: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be....." I have borrowed things and returned them in better condition than they were, never in worse condition. Unfortunately not everyone is like that though. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,592 #3392 Posted November 22, 2021 4 minutes ago, Achto said: I have borrowed things and returned them in better condition than they were, never in worse condition. Unfortunately not everyone is like that though. Yes sir. Us too. I've only got a couple people that I would borrow anything from on a regular basis. One of them has a ton of tools that he doesn't use anymore because he's changed careers for the timing on return doesn't matter anymore. The other is our neighbors across the street and up the hill. They are good old-fashioned country people with good values and we borrow things back and forth as needed. On a semi side note I learned a neat self-rule a while back from a GM tech. He was fairly new in the business and not really sure exactly how many hundred tools he was going to need so he followed this... If I borrow at once, I borrowed it. If I borrow it twice, I need to buy it for my own. Nowadays we follow a combination of that and one other thing. If it costs us less to buy the tool to do a job instead of hiring somebody then we carefully weigh that as an option as well. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 27,601 #3393 Posted November 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said: If I borrow at once, I borrowed it. If I borrow it twice, I need to buy it for my own. I have acquired many of my tools using this rule. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rjg854 11,378 #3394 Posted November 22, 2021 42 minutes ago, Achto said: I have borrowed things and returned them in better condition than they were, never in worse condition. Unfortunately not everyone is like that though. truer words have never been spoken, I'm very careful who I lend to anymore. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse Newbie 7,074 #3395 Posted November 22, 2021 My brother built my 10x 6 utility trailer when he worked at a steel fabrication shop called Steel Fab. The did structural steel… bridges, skyscrapers, etc… It can be towed at any speed with no wobble at all. A few years ago I upgraded to LED lights. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse Newbie 7,074 #3396 Posted November 22, 2021 Think I should pull that little red cart off before I go to the dump ? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SylvanLakeWH 25,598 #3397 Posted November 22, 2021 Yes…! 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,592 #3398 Posted November 22, 2021 1 minute ago, SylvanLakeWH said: Yes…! Yeah that!!! 1 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse Newbie 7,074 #3399 Posted November 22, 2021 1 hour ago, Horse Newbie said: Think I should pull that little red cart off before I go to the dump ? 1 hour ago, SylvanLakeWH said: Yes…! I don’t think it is a Wheel Horse cart . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SylvanLakeWH 25,598 #3400 Posted November 22, 2021 8 minutes ago, Horse Newbie said: I don’t think it is a Wheel Horse cart . That’s ok… @Vinylguy set me up with some great graphics that I’ve used on several of my train cars… none of which are “Wheel Horse “ models… besides, it’s already the correct color… Save it!!! 1 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
