The Jeffersons trailer

[Skipped_Link]

It's the Jeffersons trailer cause we're moving on up, not cause it's black,

After a coupe requests to post more about this project I figured I would start documenting this build, but first a little back story,

! Warning ! If you don't like a "Cool story bro" or care about what lead up to this project, skip the fist couple posts.

Our current trailer is they typical crawler hauler, 20ish foot (closer to 18' without the tongue) travel trailer on a 34 triple axle tag trailer,

This combination has worked fine for the last 8+ years, & other than tires, has been a really reliable trailer for many trips, but as with any RV, the travel trailer portion is starting to show its age, there are a couple spots where the fiberglass sides are starting to delaminate, to use the refrigerator I have to manually light the pilot light, the AC quit working, & now the bath tub/shower has a crack,
With the new rig that I am building I knew I would need more deck/hauling area due to the longer wheel base, so I considered just getting another, newer, shorter travel trailer & swapping them out.
There were two cons to this,
1, Not only is the new project rig longer, it will be considerably heavier than my buggy, so bigger trailer axles & rubber would be nice
2, I no longer haul a rig on the back of the truck, so a 5th wheel trailer would be much better than the bumper pull,

So I decided a commercial sized trailer would be a better option, There are a couple down sides to this I'll get into later, but I really think the pros outweigh the cons,

Knowing what direction I wanted to go I started looking for a trailer, I wasn't in a rush to buy anything as I figure the old setup has several years left in it, & it would be a while before the new project rig was do to where I really needed a different trailer to haul it, but I did want to get the ball rolling so when the new trailer was done the old crawler hauler could be sold & still be plenty usable,

Keeping an eye on local Craig's list, & FB market place ads I was specifically looking for single or double drop, moving van style trailers, preferably double drop as the center of the trailer drops way down after the 5th wheel pin, then has raised inner fender boxes over the axles & tires, this would be good for keeping the weight lower in the trailer, & bigger more common rubber.
It didn't take long to find what I needed, I run across an ad on CL for a 40ft double drop 1974 Dorsey moving van in Tacoma Washington, the pics looked good & the seller was a reputable trailer dealer, since it was listed as road worthy I knew it should at least make the trip home, & I wouldn't be out there fixing lights in the parking lot just to get on the road, the only down side was it had Dayton style wheels/hubs & tube type tires, Nothing a new set of hubs & wheels wouldn't fix later.
After nearly 1500 miles, $5000.00 & driving for over 24 hrs strait, I had a new old trailer in the yard,

BUT,,,,,, about 20 hours into this trip, well on my way home while looking in the mirror, I noticed the rear fenders on the truck sticking out just slightly from under the trailer, with a sinking feeling in my gut I thought "this has to be an 8ft wide trailer"

First thing I did when I rolled into the yard was grab a tape measure & sure enough, 96" wide to the outside of the trailer, & inside the walls were only 93" that wasn't even looking at getting through the door way,
For most this would probably be ok, but both my rigs have Axletech diffs, they are 94.75" wide.

I had no idea they ever made any commercial trailer that wasn't 102 inches wide, but here's a little fun fact, 102" didn't become common until the early/mid 80's.

Needless to say this trailer was backed in a slot, posted for sale, & my search continued,

It wasn't long before another prospect popped up on CL in the Folsom/Sacramento area, After confirming with the seller that this second trailer was in fact 102" wide, & getting lots of pics, I went for another drive,
Another day trip (this one much shorter) & another $5k, I had another trailer in the yard. This one was a 1985 Alloy, 40ft, double trop, single axle (less tires to buy later!)
It was originally a Police command center, basically a rolling office, even though they are in the wrong location for my use, it did come with a bathroom, & 10kw Onan generator.

Kind of odd but the exterior walls on this trailer was laminated plywood/fiberglass construction, & really thick hardwood floors, it was noticeably lighter than the Dorsey,
Someone had already started stripping the inside, so not long after getting it home I continued stripping it out,
However once I had it nearly cleaned out, I decided I just didn't like the fiberglass walls. Delamination is one of the issues with the crawler hauler, & figured there was no point in putting a bunch of effort into a trailer with the potential to have the same problem,
So it was backed in next to the Dorsey & posted up for sale,

It actually took a few months to come across the 3rd prospect, but sure enough, Craig's List struck again,
This time it was a 1986 Kentucky, 48ft, single drop with low pro rubber, & a nice hydraulic lift on the back.
Not a double drop, but would still work fine. After a phone call to confirm it was 102" wide I set a date to go take a look,
Fortunately right before going to look at trailer #3 a guy came out & looked at the Alloy (cop trailer) & decided to buy it,

$5,500 this time & another day trip less than 12 hours to northern CA to get this one back to the yard.

This trailer was chocked full of junk, not good junk either, it had been used as storage for years, slapped together shelves front to back down both sides littered with everything from old life vests & umbrellas to fabric & old seat upholstery, there were a few little nuggets in there, but they were far & few between, The storage bins under the trailer however were stacked full of wood, not dimensional lumber, just good fire wood & cribbing, (best score in the whole unit for a guy that heats his shop with a wood stove)
I was a couple sets of days off cleaning this one out, but once the trash was gone, & any goodies given away I disassembled all the 2x4/plywood shelves & stacked the lumber up, (street value lately is probably more than I paid for the trailer)
Inside the trailer was insulated walls, tons of E-trac, & beautiful hardwood floors, 3 good sized curb side loading doors, & a big double door on the street side,
Really good potential for using a couple of the curb side doors for building slide outs. The rear most curb side door was in the perfect location for exiting whatever rig was being hauled,
I was really exited about this trailer, but for some odd reason I continued shopping,

With the Mayflower still backed up to the shop where I had just cleaned it out the week before, I yet again happened across an ad, this time on FB, only this time it wasn't someone's storage unit, or an old office, or even a moving van, it was a real, purpose built race trailer,
I've looked at a lot of those while shopping for an old junker to build, the problem is usually they have short, narrow door openings, usually a stacker (2 level) & always out of my price range, (usually mid $40-50k on up to $150k or more)

This one had a door floor to ceiling, & was in the $30k price range, so I figured it was worth a message to get the skinny,

I'm going to take a moment to point out, it was only at this time my wife give me any sideways looks at all, & her only comment was "You just barely got the 3rd trailer cleaned out!" I simply reassured her that all bets are off until I start putting screws in one. Besides I had just sold the Dorsey (trailer #1) so I had the room,

 

[Skipped_Link]

So back to trailer #4

1987 Competition Trailers, 48ft, double drop, two level (stacker) with lounge area, toilet, & shower above the 5th wheel, lots of cabinets & storage. Comes with a stainless steel cabinet that mounts on the truck & has a 20kw diesel generator & air compressor that ties into the trailer, $36000.00
In Alaska....

After reading through all the comments to see if it had already sold or any questions I had were already answered I seen an offer for $30k, the seller replied with "sure if you want to pick it up" (turns out the $36k included shipping to Tacoma)

Last post in the comments was the seller stating he found cheaper shipping & would sell for $32k shipped to Tacoma, That's when I decided I better take a serious look at this one.

After many, many questions & messages with the seller over about a weeks time, he assured me the door opening was over 10ft tall, & was over 96" wide, Also his opinion was that it would not be hard to remove at least part of the upper level & the curb side doors would be in a location that would work for what I want to haul (wont be blocked by whatever rig is loaded in the trailer) I then explained how important the width through the door was, & that I had already drug one home that was too narrow.

With everything looking like it should work great without a whole lot of work, (most of which would be removing the rear most 20ft of the upper level) we called it a deal, before I sent him the money I asked again (for the 4th time actually) "you're positive I can get 96" wide through the door?" The seller again said it was so I sent the money,

The title was in my hands within a couple days & all I had to do was wait for a call from the shipping company,
Something on the sellers end wound up delaying shipping by a bit over a week, but it wasn't long after that & the trailer was on the boat,

This time I took 2 days to make the Tacoma trip, the plan was an easy day up, get to the dock first thing in the morning, & hopefully be on the road only a couple hours later.

Day 1 went as planned, day 2 started as planned, but once at the dock things got a little sideways with where I was supposed to go, shit communication between departments was the culprit there, then once I got hooked up to the trailer there were multiple light/wiring issues,

By the time I got on the road I was just jamming for home, hoping to at least be close when it got dark in case the trailer had other wiring problems,


Fortunately trailer #4 made it to the yard,

It was getting late, but with the trailer home & no longer having to worry about anything, I finally got to take a look & what I bought,
One quick look from the inside to the back of the trailer & I could tell there was no way the door opening was 96" wide,
so I closed the side doors & went home,







And this is where the build actually begins.

 

[Cowboy63b]

Ok, I'm a Peterbilt tech, and that looks like a 359, but I want to call it a pencil nose because it's narrow AF.

 

[Skipped_Link]

Ok, I'm a Peterbilt tech, and that looks like a 359, but I want to call it a pencil nose because it's narrow AF.

It was originally a 351, the butterfly hood predecessor to the 358 (also narrow nose) & 359 (wide hood)

I have a pretty in depth build on the truck on the old site if you're interested in that.

 

[CDA 455 II]

Subscribed!

 

[Cowboy63b]

It was originally a 351, the butterfly hood predecessor to the 358 (also narrow nose) & 359 (wide hood)

I have a pretty in depth build on the truck on the old site if you're interested in that.

I am. linky? I mostly play with 389's and 579's all day. I get to play with 359's that have electrical gremlins when they show, which has been 3 in the last 2 years. I actually had a 352 not long ago, I got to run the rack on its 8V.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

So is the door 96" wide or not?

If it's not, are you on your way to AK with you biggest pair of boots on yet?

 

[Skipped_Link]

So knowing I was just told whatever I needed to hear to make a sale, I figured I better see what else the seller lied about,
Rather than post all the issues as a list, I'll just post them as I found them & tackled them.

None of the lift gate was functional without hooking the generator up, (batteries for running the 24 volt pump were shot) but with a couple hours & a couple chargers I was able to get the back door/lift gate open, I was able to lift the gate all the way up & check out the roof, all looked good there except the main header over the rear door, the door/lift itself had been closed, then lifted at some point or multiple times to the point that it had bent the upper header/tube creating a place to trap moisture at the back of the roof skin, where it corroded the skin, which in turn leaked into the trailer ruining the overhead cabinets just under the upper level in the trailer, the cabinets were no big deal because they were being stripped out anyway,
But the roof skin & door header were going to be a project,

Right off the bat a little hot wire harry action was conducted rewiring a plug to the AC motor on the lift gate, so I could just plug it in to the shop, then raise/lower the lift reliably,
Next I confirmed that the inside walls were over 96" wide & even if it required heavy modification to the door frame, I could in fact fit an Axletech rig inside,
Knowing I was good there I began tearing out the rearmost 20ft of the upper level so anything taller than a car would actually fit, This was several days as the whole upper level was decked with 3/16" aluminum, several hundred pop rivets & an adhesive of some sort holding it in place,
The ceiling for the lower level (under the upper level) was a much thinner aluminum, just as many rivets & several florescent lights,
With all that removed all that was left was several structural stringers, all of the upper structure is 2"x3"-.120 wall rectangular tubing,
As I cut that out I tried keeping it in big enough pieces for re-use later.

Eventually I had it opened up pretty good,

In the above pic you can see I've also removed a few cabinets exposing the insulation, the AC breaker panel was removed since it too would be in the way.

The rectangular tubing along the walls will stay for added structure, & even though all the wiring will be redone, it will be routed through the tubing as it was from the factory.

What's left of the upper level up front will eventually become the bedroom.

The last for rectangular stringers & about 4ft of deck was left at the back of the trailer to work from temporarily, & was also required to be in place for the lift gate to function,

I knew for sure the lift gate would have to be removed, but I kept it on the trailer for as long as possible. Now that I could just plug it into the shop it was real handy for removing parts of the upper level, raising/lowering tools, & made a great platform to work from while making the roof & header repairs.

Which was the next step,

The original header tube was cut out, & replaced by a piece of new 2"x3"-.188 wall rectangular tubing installed vertically, directly in front of that a piece of 2"x2"-.120 wall square tube was married up to the new header & welded in place, this gave me a place to reattach both the roof skin & ceiling panel after cutting the damaged portion off.

No pics but a second 2"x3" tube was added about 8" below the first, then it was plated between the two, this made for a super stout header, plus a good place to mount the door winch & clearance lights,

 

[AK_F250]

Who was the seller of #4? Fairly sure I've seen that trailer back in my road racing days.

 

[Skipped_Link]

So is the door 96" wide or not?

It wasn't even 90" between the lift gate posts,

Which brings us to the next part of the build,
After many trips up & down it was finally time to retire the lift gate for good,
On a nice 103* day I loaded the plasma cutter, & torch on the lift & raised it to the top then started cutting the 6" long welds hold each lift/gate post to the rear structure of the trailer, there was a weld about every foot on both the inside & outside of each post,
Once I had everything cut that I couldn't reach from the ground I unloaded the tools, stripped the aluminum tread plate decking off the top/interior side, then rolled my welding table to the back of the trailer, lowered the lift gate onto the table, unhooked the chains, cut the hinge rod & rolled the gate way,
After the hydraulics were disconnected the forklift was hooked to one lift post, the rest of the welds were cut & that post was removed, that process was repeated on the opposite side, After a few hours of grinding where I had cut the welds I was left with the main structure at the back of the trailer, which is 4"x4"-.250 wall square tubing,
With the lift gone I could also remove the last 4ft or so of the upper deck, & get started on the rest of the work on the rear structure,

Each slide in the lift gate that traveled up & down had a gear rack attached, then there was a shaft that crossed from side to side with a small gear on each end, the gears ran on the racks keeping both sides of the lift in time,
In short this mechanism left some holes that needed plugged in the rear 4"x4" structure.

A couple patch panels cut out of a matching tube from the scrap pile made short work of it,

Now if you're keeping track you know I have a 102" wide trailer, the rear frame work is inside the tin/trim, & with 4" tube on each side for the structure, that's 8" lost on the width through the door, so I'm still under 94"

Fortunately I only need the width in a small relatively small area to get the axles through,

So from the floor of the trailer, up 36" the 4x4 tube was notched 2" out, then boxed with 1/4" plate.

Also seen in the pic above is the holes cut in the bottom of the structure tube where the hydraulic lines passed through to the lift gate cylinder, these holes were also patched on both sides.

 

[Skipped_Link]

Who was the seller of #4? Fairly sure I've seen that trailer back in my road racing days.

The guy I bought it from was Devin Welsh, From what I gather he drag races.
He also had a 379 Peterbilt painted to match that I believe sold before I bought the trailer.


So no that I can finally fit my rigs through the doorway, it was time to figure out how to close it up, swinging doors would have been pretty easy, & light weight, but then I would have to deal with handling & storing ramps, So logically a ramp door would be a better option,
However my ramp door needs to be 10ft long/tall, & be able to drive an 8000+ pound rig on it,
Both my rigs are long enough the door should never see full weight, but I still don't want to have a bent door after driving on it a few times,

Since I had a couple pretty good sections of 2"x3"-.120 wall rectangular tubing that came out of the upper level, I decided to work with that,
A couple sticks of 2x3-.188 was ordered to build the perimeter/main frame of the door, then the .120 wall left overs were used for stringers/crossmembers,

The center (painted) pieces in the above pic are just as they came out of the trailer, I simple cut all the short legs to the same length, & then split the difference long ways to center them, The spacing between the short tubes is a little odd at 25" I'm not sure the reasoning for that from the trailer manufacture, but it's basically free material at this point so I can work with it,
Also round tube was used at the bottom of the door so the gap from the trailer floor would never change from closed to open.

The center section of the door was lowered 1" buy using 2x2 tube. The reason for this was I knew the tread plate I had removed from the old door would not be big enough to cover the new door, so I figured I would use the tread plate & cover the sides where driven on, then the center section I could just use 3/4" plywood without the center actually being raised,
Plywood is retarded expensive these days, but it's still cheaper than a couple sheets of aluminum tread plate. Plus it won't be as noisy when walking in & out of the trailer loading stuff up.

Along with the .188 wall tube, 2x3-.188 angle Iron was fitted between each leg to add strength, & hopefully keep the door from getting a bow in it over time.
Also seen above, the pocket for a tie-down/hook point for the door witch, & small tabs to keep the plywood from sagging between each center crossmember,

For the pivot/hinge, on the door side a couple slugs were built & welded into the round tube on the bottom of the door frame.

The trailer side is a couple pieces of 1/4 plate laminated & bored with the same diameter hole,
Once welded in place a 1.25" pin passes through the laminated tab on the trailer, & into the slugs in the door frame,

After a little careful measuring & more hotwire Harry to make the 4500 lb winch work temporarily, I was able to test fit & close/open the new door.

 

[Skipped_Link]

The new door got hauled to town & dropped off for powder coat, Not having to worry about stripping/prepping, & painting meant I could continue forward on the rest of the trailer,

The hydraulic power unit for the lift gate was removed, along with all of the rubber "coin flooring" which lead to all of the original aluminum panels being removed since most of them had terribly installed tie-down points, or holes/notches that had been added throughout the trailers life.

You can also see most of the aluminum interior walls & some of the insulation in the cargo area has been removed up to the long 2x3 tubes I had left in place from the upper level,
The big stainless box in the center/rear is actually a 146 gallon fuel tank, I believe when this trailer left the manufacture the generator was mounted above the driver side tires,
I think this might come in useful as a water supply for washing the rig down before loading it up, I did fill it full of water & the tank appears to be leak free.

After getting it all stripped out there was a lot of tubing & angle iron added from the rear trailer structure clear up through the fender boxes, again just a little piece of mind for when these heavier rigs are riding back there,
Once I had the added support I felt was needed, A LOT of the 3/16" aluminum from the upper level was cleaned up, cut, & fit to make new panels for the floor, fender boxes, storage areas (under the ramps from the fender boxes to the back trailer structure)

Hard to see but both ramp sections on each side are 2 pieces & hinged for access to the compartment below, the driver side rear most section will have a battery for the door winch, & an AC panel/breaker box for all of the AC power in the trailer,
The section just ahead of that (right behind the tires) will house an 8000 watt generator,
On the passenger side there will be an air compressor, & likely a pressure washer.
Also worth noting & can barely see above, I welded in a few plates to bolt tie-down points to.


Towards the front of the trailer I needed to extend the hauling surface, since the front edge of the fender boxes were about a foot short of having my rigs drive off then end before the door could close.

The tube spanning the gap in the above pic was cut out so the walk way would be clear from front to back of the trailer,
Where the tube was cut out I capped the ends & each cap has a 1.5" diameter hole in it, later on I will build a removable (spring loaded) bar that will span this gap, the purpose will be so I can roll the tires for the rig I am hauling up against that bar & tie them down, if that doesn't make since, it will be more clear as I get further along in the build.

About this time I got a call that my door frame was done.

Since most all of my floor panels were finished I just took them when I picked up the door & requested a non slip, grip type coating on all the floor plates.


Before finishing up & mounting the door there were several areas that needed cleaned up & painted,
So the wife & kiddo came down & gave me a hand.

/\ as long as they don't tell her what kind of mask to wear, she don't have a problem with any mask mandate,

 

[Skipped_Link]

By the next days off the paint was good & dry, I had my floor panels back
With everything including new door skin material on hand, I got busy drilling & riveting.

Prior to skinning the door the flooring was installed along with the new tail light plate, (which was coated to match the door frame)

Next the door was flipped over & pinned onto the trailer for good.

2" insulation was cut & fit throughout the door.

Then a couple sheets of 3/4" ACX was cut, drilled, & Duplicolor bedliner was rolled on.

After drying they were bolted in place.

 

[Skipped_Link]

It was wide open for a few weeks, but I could finally close the door & seal up the trailer again,
So most of the new AC power wire was routed, along with new 7 wire SO cord front to back for the trailer lights,
The winch battery & breaker box was also installed,
Rather than reuse the insulation that I had removed, I just bought several new sheets of 1.5" R-max & cut/fit it.

Before skinning interior walls I needed to move a couple cabinets/drawer sets around up front.
The condensed story is, I need to install a sink, & I need room under the sink for plumbing, the best way to get that room is remove a set of drawers, Just so happens if I completely remove the drawer set farthest back in the trailer which has big wide drawers in it, & replace with the short drawer set that is farthest forward, this gives me an open spot for the sink up front, & shortens up my entire counter length to match the cabinets directly over them.
Easiest part of the project so far, & it was shit house luck that the upper & lower cabinets ended up the same length.

I just needed something to support the end of the countertop & sink at the other end.

Plas out a hole for the sink that was donated by a recently stripped out police trailer, & lopped the extra 10" off the other end & it was good for a test fit.

Next was new interior skin, I asked the kid what she though for color, go dark, or go bright,
She chose dark "to fit better with the outside of the trailer", since it only goes part way up the walls it didn't make any difference to me.

I ordered dark gray, but it's not nearly as dark as I thought it would be, actually it's a very close match to the lower cabinet drawer faces up front, & Allison likes it, so win win.

I opted for a profiled tin rather that flat panels, I though it might not be as wavy,

Of course seam line on the tin just misses the backsplash on the stainless counter top by 1/16" so I'll have to figure out how to dress that up when I get that far, but I think it would be nice to continue the tin between the cabinets & counter all the way up to the front.

The area not covered from the skin to the top of the fender boxes is going to get 3/8" bed lined plywood, like the center of the door, only this is kind of a sacrificial piece that can get tore up & easily replaced when needed, I'm sure a rig is goin to get into the wall a little from time to time, hopefully the ply will keep it off the tin for the most part.

That's pretty much where I'm at on this project currently, still a lot of work to do yet.

 

[ridenby]

Like watching your work.

 

[Aggie06]

Cool build. Bonus internet point if the trailer is painted like this.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Subscribed. This is going to be fun.

 

[DT75FLH]

Sub...

 

[BillyBronco]

I can’t wait to see how you finish it out. Did you bring it to the sellers attention that you know he lied?

I would be planning a trip to Alaska to collect the funds for the rebuild of the door and other things he lied about. Either in cash or ass whooping. I can’t stand liars and scammers.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Needs more pics of your vintage loader collection.

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

Soooo how does the rear door seal at the top? I feel like that would leak?

 

[white-rhino]

very cool

 

[Skipped_Link]

I can’t wait to see how you finish it out. Did you bring it to the sellers attention that you know he lied?

I would be planning a trip to Alaska to collect the funds for the rebuild of the door and other things he lied about. Either in cash or ass whooping. I can’t stand liars and scammers.

I've not contacted the seller since the day I picked it up, I doubt there is much point, any communication from him pretty much ended once the trailer was on the boat, I'm certain any complaint would be blown off,
I won't even threaten about getting even, the way shit works for me a trip to Alaska would be one way with me getting shot
I doubt this will be the last time the guy is a piece of shit, he'll get his one day. Maybe if I'm lucky our paths will cross in person,

Needs more pics of your vintage loader collection.

That's about a whole other hobby itself, I'm up to 4 machines now with 3 of them perfectly usable,
I'll dig around & post a couple pics.

Soooo how does the rear door seal at the top? I feel like that would leak?

I have a rubber bead seal to install yet,

 

[GLTHFJ60]

What's your plan for a latching system to keep that ramp door up and the seal compressed?

 

[Skipped_Link]

Needs more pics of your vintage loader collection.

I won't get into great detail on them, so here's the short story,

I seen a pic on the internet of a Hough HA, & thought the thing was so damn cute/neat that I needed to find one for general yard work,
My dad actually located one, So I bought it as a runner & used it as is for a while,
This one is a 1953 Hough HA

This was during the original Peterbilt build

It got a few things over time due to maintenance needs, 12 volt conversion, repaired the brakes, new tires, a new hydraulic pump, & even a new head gasket repair/replace a burnt valve, I've had it for a little over 10 years now I think,
Super handy little machine, but not worth a hoot for digging dirt, eventually it wound up with the bucket replaced with kind of a multi tool attachment, now I can put a set of forks on it, or a small blade for cleaning the barn or spreading gravel, or a little home made boom for hoisting stuff on upper shelves in my shop,

A couple years after getting the Hough & realizing how useless it was for actually loading dirt, I decided to keep an eye out for a little bigger machine, by this time I had somewhat rehabbed a 49' Ford dump truck, so something big enough to load that was all I needed,

I ended up with a 1957 Michigan 85A originally 4-53N Detroit powered, but someone had swapped in a 4-53T (turbo)

It's pretty decent for an old machine, a guy can move some dirt with this one,

For the last couple years I had been thinking a mid size machine between these two would be handy,
There's a lot of stuff around the shop the HA just won't pick up, & the 85A is just big & cumbersome for anything but moving dirt or snow around the shop.
A Hough HAH or a Case W5 would be perfect, but it is super rare to see either for sale, & when you do they bring more money than what I had in both the other machines,

Then the first part of this year I seen an ad over in Reno for a running Hough HF (2 sizes bigger than my first little machine)
So I picked it up.

It also came with a parts machine,

The yellow one ran, but not real good, with lots of farmer rigging on it, I messed with the carburetor a little bit & got it running really pretty nice,



Then like anything else, the actual machine I wanted popped up 100 miles away,
It was a non running Hough HAH,
By the time I called it was sold, I asked the seller to pass my number on to to buyer & tell them I would trade a running HF for the non running machine if they wanted to call,

We ended up making the deal, & I got the HAH,

The cool thing about the HAH is it's just a little bigger than the HA same basic design though, The HAH I ended up with is a model newer, so there were some design changes from the early to late 50's

Still not the best for digging dirt, but great around the shop,

This one took a carb rebuild & a full fuel system clean out, but it runs like a top now,


Since I had it in the shop, the HAH got all new wiring, & gauges,

It has been setting in the old car port ever since,
I fire it up & drive it around the yard about once a month,
I need to get a master cylinder for it & fix the brakes, Then I'd like to get another set of forks, make it the new yard goat down at the shop,
Then I could take the little HA up to the house & retire it to yard & barn duty, maybe do a little more cleanup/paint someday.

 

[Skipped_Link]

What's your plan for a latching system to keep that ramp door up and the seal compressed?

I'm hoping to tackle that projects Wednesday after work,
Basically a couple aluminum cam-locks that suck the door in tight, I'll post more on that when they get installed, I have the parts cut out, & ready for machine work already,

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

Man if you are married, and get to do all this, then you had a heck of a wife.....

 

[Skipped_Link]

Man if you are married, and get to do all this, then you had a heck of a wife.....

She's pretty understanding, mostly!

 

[arse_sidewards]

Gonna need to see pics of the wife before we decide whether she's being understanding out of necessity or because she's a genuinely good person.

 

[AK_F250]

I've not contacted the seller since the day I picked it up, I doubt there is much point, any communication from him pretty much ended once the trailer was on the boat, I'm certain any complaint would be blown off,
I won't even threaten about getting even, the way shit works for me a trip to Alaska would be one way with me getting shot
I doubt this will be the last time the guy is a piece of shit, he'll get his one day. Maybe if I'm lucky our paths will cross in person,

The owner of the track he runs at is my dad's employee/partner and his family. I'm sure something could be done...