DirtyComanche

Interesting idea. I suspect you'll struggle to keep the belts alive with the amount of snow you get and the torque of the motors. All the tractor mount snowblowers are either direct PTO drive using a gearbox, PTO and chain drive, or direct hydraulic drive, and they're much more reliable than anything belt driven and can chew the heavy/wet stuff. Having battery backup for the house would be a big bonus. I debated getting a cheap Tesla (or maybe a Ioniq) partly for that. I have a 6kw Kubota light plant but it's not the ideal thing to run all the time, but it would charge a car fairly efficiently if needed. Otherwise let the car battery run everything.

Sheathing and making gables. Top trusses on. It's stupid tall. Gables all done, double door framed in for the storage area and the bay doors cut out, windows in. Back windows in and I got them to put a single door on the back of the storage area. I will probably put a staircase on the back eventually. I may pay them to do it but the budget is pretty shot on this honestly, so more likely I'll make something out of steel later. A big thing I did not consider before this was that to access the storage area, well, it's about 17' to the floor. I have a Bobcat and a Clark forklift, neither can lift that high. There will be french doors on the front of it. I think (pending hearing better ideas) I will probably build a beam/trolly system for a hoist off the front french doors, and normally access it from the back. If I can find a forklift that can lift that high for the right price I will sell the one I have, but that's somewhat unlikely as 3 stage stuff tends to be more pricey.

More framing, and carport posts and beams. Carport roof framed, and bottom trusses going on (trusses are two piece because the roof pitch is so high). I went with "spacemaker" trusses because the roof pitch is so high you might as well, it will just be cold storage that is only accessible from outside. Beam installed.

I tracked down a beam for an overhead hoist. I put one in the last shop and it was invaluable, so I did the same but much beefier this time. That said, it's still only good for about 2500lbs single point, spanning 40' is asking a lot without getting really expensive. They got the foundation backfilled, foam insulation on, and did some compacting. Funny thing is you can see the tops of the piers for the carport posts, they formed them so they're square. The guys building this normally do custom homes, so they do some little things to make things nicer, and this does look nicer versus just having the round sonotube sticking up. Then it got cold again, but that's fine for framing. How bloody tall it is going to be started to be apparent. There will be a small washroom, which is what the window is for. The man door is a french door, and overheight. I wanted this as in the last shop I put an "oversize" door in for the man door, but I still found I often took large/awkward stuff through it in the winter versus opening the bay doors, so this should work better.

We finally got going with excavation and building forms. Oddly it warmed up way beyond what was seasonable, which they took advantage of in that they could pour concrete without having to heat it. The posts for the carports are 5' deep and the rest is only 4'. It's all clay, and we will have good grading so it should be happy.

I moved in the summer and lost my shop. Part of the deal/plan with this was that I would build a new, bigger, better shop. I did know somewhat what the costs were before I did this, but man, it's a hard pill to swallow. Ultimately I had to do it though, there was nothing for sale that met my criteria. Anyway, it's 40x40' and 16' ceilings, plus it has carports on both sides. I got hung up bad with permitting due to the area I live in (need permits from multiple levels of government, all of which decided to be on strike at some point in this), so we wound up starting construction in January. January is not one of the nicer months in this part of the world. Actually, it's probably the worst. Back in summer/fall I cleared off the access and site. I used my trusty but terrible 742B (arguably the worst machine Bobcat has ever sold, and man have they sold some bad machines) for lots of this. I relocated as many of the small trees as I could to other places on the property. Site in the winter, after the surveyor came out and verified I met setbacks: It's back pretty far from the house, and the driveway dog legs. It's what I wanted, not obvious or in your face.

It's my project, but I'm not doing much of the work so far: 40x40 with carports on each side. Contractor is doing most of it so far. I did do some clearing and driveway rough in work. He will take it to... I don't know, when I run out of money I guess. Hopefully that's mostly finished. It has space maker trusses so there's a storage area up top (not accessible from inside) and it will have a small washroom because it would be nice to have one that's accessible without going in the house. I also put a beam in for an overhead hoist like my last shop. Maybe I'll actually get back to vehicle projects when it is done.

I've said the odd thing I shouldn't have. For the most part this is a pretty relaxed and drama free group, so there wasn't much that I remember, at least not from back when I was active.

I think the stupid fad of using those slider boxes in the offroad world has finally passed.

That's a whole lot of WTF. And as said, D30/8.25.

I'd buy it. Their design is horrible and there is likely far more rust. If you want to restore it, then I would suggest doing a lot of research into how ugly they are to deal with from a sheetmetal standpoint. If you just want to build a driver and teach your kids some mechanical skills, then it looks like a great candidate.

For the vinegar to kill anything it needs to be strong, cleaning vinegar is about the minimum concentration at 10%. In the US it's fairly easy to purchase much stronger vinegar than that, just be careful as the higher concentrations can really hurt your skin/eyes/etc if you screw up. You also need to add salt (1 cup per gallon sort of thing) and a surfactant (soap, I just use dish soap, a good squeeze of it). The soap breaks down the protective lipids (fats) on the leaves and allows the vinegar to penetrate, where it then causes the leaves to die. The salt is there to soak into the ground near it and stop things from growing. I don't think you'll have great success at wiping out poison ivy with it, it's just a fairly benign option for controlling broad leaf weeds, but anything that can outgrow it will. Dandelions stand no chance against it though. I use it only because I have a well and would rather not use anything more toxic than that. Glyphosate is used almost everywhere and in massive quantities on a regular basis. As to if it causes cancer, it probably does (most things in your kitchen can), but like most things the exposure entry method, quantity, and duration likely affect the probability. If you use it be sure to follow the instructions and wear the appropriate PPE. Glyphosate does do an excellent job of killing the roots, as that is what it's designed to do. Triclopyr is fairly toxic, but it does break down fairly quickly (30-90 days). It's used all over the world (including the US) for spraying ditches and right of ways, as it's fairly indiscriminate in what it kills. I'm not a fan, but it does work well on poison ivy, and is well regarded for that. Again, PPE up and read the directions if you use it. Mechanical removal is the most effective method to kill things without risk of long term toxic effects. A rake and a hoe will do wonders. You could start off with the vinegar mix and follow up with the hoe a few days later. You just need to turn it up enough that the roots are removed. If you don't want anything to live there again, you can rake in a few bags of water softener salt. Or plant a cover crop on it that will choke out any future weeds.

I know a guy at the Ford dealership, so that's the main way. He gets me wholesale + 5%. I don't let them mount and balance them though. There is huge margins on tires, so the online suggestion is a good one too.

Any auto parts store, Summit, Speedway, Jegs, Amazon, or any of the scumbag Chicom distributors (besides Amazon). The quality does vary a bit. Pico makes okay ones. The genuine ones are made by Delphi, but they're harder to find and more money (the GM dealer will have them). A pack of pins for them from Pico is a few bucks from my local auto parts store.

Those are standard GM Weatherpack connectors. They're an obsolete connector in the OEM world, but were used in millions of vehicles for a couple decades. What I'm getting at is you can buy the pins/connectors/tools for them everywhere and for very little money. If that pin is that mangled then likely the mating pin on the engine harness is as bad. You should consider replacing them as it might be causing the no start, and it would be a very inexpensive fix. Also, if the engine harness pin is mangled, a new CPS likely won't fix it.

Ah yes, Rankin, another armpit of the world.

Is there a dump/scrap area there? Lots of those places have an area where things just get dragged to when they're done with them. They might still be somewhere there. If I'd spent more time in Baker Lake I would have tried to arrange getting that MJ backhauled out of there. It really was in decent shape.

I think about it and considered adding a roll cage/5 point harnesses. There is some issues with doing that, but you could probably improve survivability by a fair amount. But then I haven't bothered to put a cage in my XJ that I wheel... So, umm, maybe that should be the priority over a MJ that doesn't run/drive.

I'd look at JK/JL or WK or other late model Jeeps with 5x5. Some of that stuff might work, or be made to work.

Exactly. The OEMs tried to get away with it using the caliper with the integrated mechanical parking brake, and it just didn't work right. Hence it had a short production span for the Cadillacs, and same for the Isuzu, and same for any of the other examples out there (there is a handful more, and they are all as equally obscure). They then mostly went to the "drum in hat" or a similar version of parking brake, as it proved to be much more reliable. The only reason you can buy the Cadillac calipers is that there was so much demand from people trying to use them for rear disk brake conversions that it made sense for somebody (using a factory in China) to put them back into production. There is a slightly better fully aftermarket version of them in the 4x4 aftermarket scene, I forget who makes them, but they're a lot more expensive and they still will fry the brake pads if used regularly. The drum brake design works really well and lasts nearly forever as a drum in hat parking brake, so we've seen probably 30-40 years of it being used. Now the push is to go to an electric parking brake, as the drum is something of a waste of hardware. However, the OEM is looking at it from the perspective of producing millions of them over the lifespan of a vehicle's production, versus us with a "not wanting to bolt that on there" sort of mentality, they have the chance to save a significant amount of money in the long run so it is worthwhile to do the R&D for an electric setup. The electric setup also saves even more money in there is no cables, no pedals or handles, and it can just be straight up integrated into the CANBUS architecture to automatically engage or disengage, and so on. I suspect this will be the logical future for swaps once suitable caliper(s) are found, as the DIYer can just make most of them work with a toggle switch and (optional) indicator light. I hate raining on the parade of someone who is already invested in something, but there's also something to be said for making someone aware of an issue before they get farther invested into it.

Just a warning about those calipers. Lots of guys wind up junking them and running the equivalent front caliper and ditching the parking brake feature. They like to seize up and eat brake pads and rotors. That's an inherent issue with their design, and the Isuzu calipers that are similar do the same thing. I've been on and off looking for something that uses an electric parking brake caliper as it should be a more reliable option long term.

That "kit" is just over $10 on Rockauto (I'm guessing conversion because mine shows in funny money), under Standard Motor Products P/N HK7. You can also grab a Standard Motor Products SK9 for a kit of 12 orings for the injectors for another $7. If you don't like Rockauto you should be able to get them from other retailers as that's a fairly generic brand. I swear Dorman makes them too, but you'd have to look in their catalog probably. Dorman 800-016 is the same part, but for bigger (5/16" and 3/8") lines.

There's lots of them in that form factor, I just linked the first one that popped up.

Can't really help you with that, but how about one of these style radios? https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Round-Waterproof-Marine-Stereo/dp/B01178KZ94/ref=sr_1_3?crid=35RNH94APC51N&keywords=round+marine+radio&qid=1678040845&sprefix=round+marine+%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-3

Super important, because I don't know if you can buy them. Dorman sells the clips I believe. If they're at all crunchy, replace them, because having the line pop off because the clip fails will quite possibly end in burning your truck down.