More winterization work.

So it turned out to be a good thing I didn't get to the quarry on Friday.  Barry has mounds of a dirt and gravel mix that I could have for free, he just wants to get rid of them.  So I put my truck to work today. 


It didn't quite flatten the back end, but there was something really wonky with the truck.  It drove like a slight breeze was enough to roll the tires, and just generally drove like crap.  Plenty of power, but everything else suffered, which is a little disappointing given that I never had this problem with my old chevy which I did completely flatten the back end on more than occasion.  The tire pressure light was one, but I just filled them a week ago.  I will definitely check them.  It might be time for new tires, though I was hoping to get another year out of the ones on it.  It felt like I might have to rebuild the brakes too which is annoying since they were done when I bought the truck and I have only put 6k miles on it. 


The load didn't quite make half the driveway, but the really bad spots are done.




This is what is left.


Apparently I also got a free boulder.


Once that was done I got the weight put on the tractor.  I only put one bag on, I can add the other if needed.  It turned out that the u-bolts I put in were too small, so I said to hell with it and just put it on the other way.  I don't really think it will come off unless I do something really stupid.  I did run out of zip ties though.  I will poach a few from the lab at work tomorrow.  Despite how it looks, the weight is centered on the tractor; the bagger is biased to the right since that is where the discharge is.


Next up was the tire chains.  They are made for a GT which has larger tires, and don't really fit.  More zip ties will be required to tighten everything up.  Normally you just use a couple of bungee cords on the outside, but that probably won't be sufficient. 




I tried to put the power cord up, and it worked well, despite looking kind of ghetto.


But it turns out the cord isn't long enough to run up and over.  I am already running 2 100' cords and a 50', and really really don't want to add yet another cord to the mix.  Instead I think I will just leave the cord up the way it is currently and only run it when I go to use it.  I don't imagine that I will be working outside of the weekends that often during the winter.  I also taped up the joint of the extension cords to minimize water getting into the cord, and got it up off the ground.  The outlet is a GFCI so it should trip if anything goes zap, but still better safe than sorry.


I am headed out tomorrow to get another load, which I hope will complete the driveway.  I will stop in on the way and grab more zip ties so I can hopefully close out some of the items on the checklist, but no movement today despite a lot of progress.