Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

Never load or unload a car trailer up or down hill. Last night a friend needed someone to help their son who had lost a caliper mount bolt on a OT vehicle. I went to recover the vehicle while dad went to get new bolts and drive this way. Parked the dually up the driveway from the shop and we installed the new bolt still on the trailer. Checked the other bolts and went to drive it off. When he reached the ramps the truck started sliding backwards down the hill. I ran up, grabbed the door and dove in. As it was gaining speed I hit the brakes and fired it up. With me on the brakes it slid almost 30 feet. When the car hit the ramps the trailer CG shifted taking the weight off the rear tires. I didn’t expect that. No damage was done other than ruts in the gravel from tires and ramps.

 

I never thought of that, however I usually chock the trailer wheel when loading and unloading.
Dan

 

I had both the trailer and truck chocked with 4x4s. My driveway is apparently a little too steep. The trailer chock slid with the trailer.

 

Your mention of friction tape brought to mind what I use instead of friction tape. The black tape used on hockey sticks works better than basic friction tape, I use it when splicing woven wiring loom material.

https://howieshockeytape.com/collections/hockey-tape

 

Nothing like a rapid forced sweat.
Glad you out danced it.
Once pulling a Wagoneer 4x4, using a side road as I approach a stop sign the cross road is a good 6 feet lower than my road.
The difference is made up in about two and a half car lengths.
Wagoneer 4x4 is resting on the sling straps the bottom bar is under the bumper.
As I hit the brakes, full pressure, the weight of the Wagoneer is pushing down hard enough to make my steer tires lose traction and slide. ( apparently the rear drums aren't adjusted tight enough )
I had to ease up the brake enough to allow the front tires, and discs to grip the asphalt and do their job.
Meanwhile the whole mess rolled onto the crossroad. Thankfully the road just led to 2 farms and a deadend. YEESH

 

Scary I wonder if there is easy way to set the trailer brakes?
Dan

 

IF I’m ever crazy enough to do it again, I’ll lock it in 4X4 and the between the parking brake and the trans locking both ends, it should hold. But it would take something pretty serious to get me to try doing anything on the hill again.

 

How steep is the hill?
Dan

 

I’ll have to put the angle finder on it. If I had to guess I’d say between 10 and 15 degrees. It takes 4wd in the winter if we’re lucky but it’s only 300 ft. from the road to the garage Otherwise I clear a spot near the bottom and we can walk the fence up to the house where it levels off. The shop is about 1/3 of the way up if we can get there to park

 

Locking in 4x4 is your friend . The tongue weight changes and raises the rear axle of towing truck off the ground . I have seen it happen many times , loading and unloading equipment on the pipeline rigs . Scary stuff , the operator on the equipment on the trailer can do nothing but ride the **** storm out . Always tried to get to most level spot as possible . Most of the drags we used had feet to support the ramps which made it some what better . Air brake trucks helped .

 

When we bought this D-9 dozer the owner loaded it on the back of a four axle trailer….on an incline! As he climbed onto the trailer , the trailer and truck started heading down hill at a rapid pace, starting to Jack knife! I was observing this at a distance, thinking this is not end well for the guy we hired to haul this monster! The owner , cool as a cu***ber, just shifted the D-9 into reverse and backed it off the moving trailer , when the cleats reached the ground, everything stopped, short of any damage! Coolest thing I have seen in years!




Bones

 

When we loaded him there was a slight slope and his tires could barely get him up on the trailer. The truck didn’t show any signs of moving at all. But had he backed up on the trailer when it was slipping, it probably would’ve stopped everything as the weight returned to the rear axle of the truck.

 

Sometimes logic is a bit slow to show up during a crisis. Much easier to get it right the next time.

 

i'm not sure that is a 9.....

 

That's OK. I bet 99% of us don't know the difference between a D-9 Caterpillar and a rocking chair.

 

Here's one I discovered this afternoon when I was replacing some disk brake pads. I've always pulled both bolts out and removed the caliper completely (except for the rubber brake line) when replacing pads. I was having a hard time with the 2nd bolt on the first side that I did and accidently found that I could just pivot the caliper up and out of the way on the other bolt. Well, that saved some time and aggravation. By leaving one bolt in there was no need to fiddle around lining up the bolts again.

First pic shows one bolt removed and the piston/housing moved slightly. Second pic shows piston/housing swung completely out of the way allowing the pads to just about fall out.

Replace the pads; push the piston back in; swing the housing back down; reinstall one bolt; and boom; you're done.

NOTE: this may or may not work on other vehicles, but it worked this time on this one.

 

1990s and 2000s Subarus come with one pin and one bolt with the ***umption being you'd undo the bolt and swing it on the pin.

 

I’m sure it is, because I said it is and I bought!




Bones

 

That dozer is still a brute. The heavy duty winch is an awesome addition. It may not have all the bells and whistles of a modern D9, but I bet it can get the job done. The sun shade/cab cover showers that thing was meant to be worked. In the words of some on the site, I’d drive it.

 

Thank you! We bought this monster some years ago, like thirty! We acquired a new pice of land on the West side of the ranch, that was bottom land with huge trees. We used it to clear that piece fir gr***! It was a blast to operate. We would put it in low gear, drop the 14 foot wide blade and raise it 1 inch and just drive through the smaller trees. Funny thing about the engine. Idle was 900 rpm, wide open was something like 1400! lol




Bones

 

better look around your neighbors for a 60 or 70 can-you have a dbl drum on there!

 

Yep! We don’t use it any more. All the big stuff is done! I have a s****er that will fit it! I was planning on building a lake on the East side of the ranch, but got too old!
If we need anything done we use my D-6 or one of our wheel tractors, with front end loaders!




Bones

 

One day with that brute and I could be done with all the dirt work I’ve been doing for the past 20+ years

 

You can break a rocking chair...

Cheers,
Harv

 

So many pop ups I can't see what they're selling, so helwithem.

 

I don’t even know why a person would have linseed oil. The only time a can remember using it was on a steam turbine rebuild at a power plant 35 years ago. Iirc it was triple boiled if that makes a difference. Seriously what do you guys use it for?

 

linseed oil used to be used in paint. Some people use it for a wood finish.

 

My Dad was a carpenter. He treated his wooden ladders with it for weather protection.

Gary

 

50 years ago I used it to freshen up some window sills that had long been neglected. Sticky stuff. I'd hate to think someone would pour it into a crankcase. Talk about the anti-Marvel Mystery Oil.