Tailgate Ladder

Six years ago I made a tailgate ladder for my truck. Now that I'm going to try and sell that truck I took it off the tailgate. I did that last fall and I sandblasted the parts and painted it. The pieces have been hanging in the shop waiting for Winter to be gone. Yesterday I finished installing it on the truck I am driving now.

Like I said in the original post on the tailgate ladder, I'm getting too old to jump up on the tailgate to get into the box of the truck!

While this picture looks like Winter is gone, we still have snow on the ground. There are patches of bare ground, but the shady places still have snow.

I Think We Need A New Awning

This is the way we had the awning set up. I put a board down under the upright in front and screwed the upright to it. That way it wasn't in the way like it would be when it is attached to the side of the motorhome. It made it easier to walk around but it also made it more hassle to close up. 

A few nights ago it was windy. The awning was out and flapping pretty good. About 5 o'clock in the morning the Old Lady said she was worried about the awning because it was making so much noise. We were out trying to get the awning closed when it ripped. When we bought The Guppy the awning had already been ripped by high winds on the end that attaches to the motorhome. The previous owner had used a couple of furring strips and screws to attach the awning to the side of the motorhome. We figured we would have to replace it at some time, just have been wondering what design on the awning to get. The Old Lady would like one with the logo of her alma mater. Question is which one, Michigan Tech or Virginia Tech?? The school colors for Virginia Tech would sorta match the accent strips on The Guppy. Anywho, we had sorta figured on replacing it sometime this winter and now we really need to do it if we want shade.

I'm making a cover for the windshield and doors. I had an old tarp with a couple of rips in it so it wasn't much use for covering stuff. I was able to cut pieces out of it to cover the windshield and the windows in the doors. I have it taped together temporarily but will need to sew the pieces together as the tape isn't holding very well. I used aluminum tape as I thought it would hold better than duct tape. Well it doesn't seem to stick to the tarp very well. I bought some strip magnets to hold it in place and is laying smoother than in this picture. The strip magnet came in a roll, so I laid it out for a day or so to straighten out, but it still wants to curl. I laid the magnets out on the trunk of the car during the afternoon and  overnight. But when I cut pieces from it, they at times still want to curl.

Another thing I've done is put a piece of sheetmetal under the door for the water heater to direct the water away from the compartment under it. The relief valve on the water heater weeps after the water gets hot in the water heater. I replaced the relief valve and it still weeps some water. I thought maybe the city water pressure at campgrounds was too high, so I got a pressure regulator that is supposed to keep the pressure at 40-50 psi. It still weeps. There is no way to adjust the temperature on the water heater, which if I could lower the temp (which gets real hot) that might stop the problem. In any case, I thought this would at least stop the water from running down the door for the storage compartment below the water heater. Yesterday I saw some guys working on the skirting for a trailer here in the RV park and I asked if they had any scrap pieces of sheetmetal that I could have. The guy cut off a piece and gave it to me. I then cut it to size with my utility knife and installed it. I took the screws out across the bottom of the water heater and slipped the sheetmetal up under it and replaced the screws to hold the sheetmetal in place. The piece was bent at one edge and it makes a trough for the water to run off to the side and away from the compartment door.

The Old Lady Keeps Buying More Work For Me

Back in Sept. The Old Lady bought this motorhome. It's a '89 model built on a Ford E-350 chassis. It has a 460 V-8 motor. When we looked at it it had a problem with the brakes. It would shake badly when you applied the brakes. The seller said he got an estimate on what it would cost to replace the rotors to do a brake job and was told $400. (So far I've spent about $200 on the brake job and done the work myself.) So he said he'd knock that much off the asking price. The RV battery was shot so I got him to knock another $100 off.

The first thing I did with the brakes was to check how warped the rotors might be and discovered the wheel bearing on the drivers side was way too loose. I could shake the hub in and out when I removed the caliper. The wheel bearings had been replaced about 1000 miles before we bought it. The previous owner thought that might have been the problem with the brakes shaking. A loose wheel bearing will cause it to shake under braking. But after I adjusted the wheel bearing the problem was still there. So I took the rotors off and brought them to a local auto parts store that turns rotors and had them turned to true them up. They were able to true up the rotors and I got new pads and installed them when I put it back together. It didn't shake anymore when I test drove it, but the calipers hung up and were dragging. One of the brakes was smoking when I got back home after only a few miles. Didn't appear to do any damage to the rotors.

So I got new calipers and flexible hoses. After installing the new parts and test driving it the problem was gone. I still need to check the rear brakes and see what shape the shoes are in. I know they're working, just don't know how well.

Then I changed oil and filter on the engine and lubed the front end and u-joints on the drive shaft. Checked the level in the rear end. Had to add about half a quart of gear lube. Now I have a gas leak coming from somewhere on top of the gas tank. Not sure where the gas is coming from or how much is leaking. Will need to investigate this problem further.

This is the generator for the motorhome. Have no idea what is wrong with it or why it was taken out of the motorhome. This is something I will look at next year. The first thing I'll have to figure out is how to hook up a battery to it to turn the starter. The throttle and choke butterflies were frozen in place, but some penetrating oil sprayed on the shafts freed them up.

I winterized the water system on the motorhome so it shouldn't freeze. Had the propane tank filled and checked out the stove. All the burners and the oven work. Will check out the furnace sometime in the future and also the refrigerator, which is gas and 110 electric. Still need to do some minor stuff inside, like replacing a few cabinet latches. The Old Lady is planning on us heading South in February, so I need to get things done before winter sets in.

Projects, Past and Present

This is my Mur-Tis tiller.  I originally had a Mantis tiller, but after many years of hard use, the engine wore out and I was told it would cost as much to rebuild it as it would to buy cheap tiller.  Bought a Murray tiller about the same size, after a couple years the gears wore out, but the engine still ran good.  So I married the two of them.

Connection between Murray  engine and Mantis tiller.

The clutches were different size, so I welded the cup parts together and made spacers out of pipe to bolt it together.  Still works, but since then found another Mantis tiller for 50 bucks which was like new, having only been used for one season.

One of my latest projects, a tailgate ladder.  I'm getting to old to jump up into the box and it's awkward trying to get up on the tailgate by stepping on what little of the corner of the bumper is there with the tailgate down.  Saw one at Tractor Supply, but I thought I could make one as I have angle iron and other parts from an old hide-a-bed and a wire welder.

The tailgate ladder in the storage position with a pin to hold it in place.  Need to clean it up and paint it.

I have several of these clamps where one end broke off.  I could probably have waited until they were on sale at Harbor Freight and got some new ones.  Two things come to mind, 1. there is no Harbor Freight store anywhere close to where I live and 2. what to do with the broken ones, throw them away??  Strikes me as wasteful when I figured I could fix them so I could use them some more.

This is my fix.  I got some 3/4 inch square tubing and made a new end.  I cut slots in the tubing to slide on the bar of the clamp and drilled a hole to bolt it in place.  This is the first attempt and now that I got it figured out how to make them, I have plenty of material to fix the other broken ones and any that break in the future.