Saturday was abnormally productive, especially considering my arm was a bit sore. Given the next storm was inbound, I worked on the snowblowers. I remeasured everything, and sure enough, the old one was 2 inches too short. So I intentionally cut the new one 2 inches too long.
Guess what? It was 2 inches too long. So I cut it down a little further.
Then it fit perfectly. It was still a touch on the long side, but not long enough to damage the PTO or the snowblower, just long enough to be annoying to put in. Because of how much I was cutting out though, the extra half inch or so of overlap is a good thing though.
It lives.
The first stage didn't seem to feed the second stage very well. I will have to clean this out every time I use the machine.
I also got the metal plate installed on the chute for the walk behind.
It is reinstalled and ready to go.
I also managed to get out and pick up a free truck cap. The cap is in really rough shape and will need some TLC in the spring, but since new ones cost north of 3 grand I don't mind.
You also can't buy ones with the bump up that this one has. Not on an 8' box. Neither Leer or ARE make them. Yes, I know it is dirty and needs a bath really badly.
Courtesy of the stupid tailgate design on my truck (the cap came off an older F-250), the window doesn't shut.
I will fix the back window when I fix the fact that the bottom of it is starting to rot. I had some trouble clamping it down, partially because an F-250 is wider than my truck by a couple inches, and partially because the bottom part is rotted. Likely from sitting. I plan to cut off the bottom chunk, and build a new base with a larger lip to make it easier to clamp.
It is admittedly an obnoxiously small sample size, but the cap seems to have no impact on my gas mileage. When I picked up the cap, the average for the tank was reading 21.2mpg, and it increased to 21.4mpg on the ride home. I don't believe that my gas mileage is higher with it on, but that at least means I was still getting north of 21mpg with it on.
I will probably take it off soon though. The way it is held on is really sketchy... Yes, that is a board that is strapped into the lower bed rails. And one of those straps is a cinch strap, not a ratchet strap.
The side isn't well attached either.
I also picked up another shovel while I was out.
Sunday was a snow day. It snowed pretty much all day. So I stayed in and played some games. I did finally get around to assembling the stuff that came in Saturday though, and was put here to dry.
This is the first attempt at under-counter storage for the bathroom. It is disappointingly small, but it is one of the largest I was able to find.
I have concerns about its longevity considering that the shelves simply slide because there isn't much friction, there are no bearings or anything, but it did start to organize the underside of the sink, I ordered two of the cheaper options, the other one hasn't come in yet.
I woke up to a lot more snow than I expected this morning. When I went to bed, the forecast said that the storm was mostly done, and there was only an inch, maybe two outside. I came out to a little over 6" this morning. And it was wet heavy snow.
The tractor snowblower made very short work of it though. I clearly need some practice and it is awkward to clear with, but it cleared the main part of the driveway in about a half hour (the walk behind takes 2 hours roughly, and this is one of the faster walk behind units I have had). It threw it as fast as the tractor could back into it. It did occasionally have an annoying habit of pushing the snow instead of throwing it though. Usually when it started doing that I would just raise it a few inches, and then drop it down on it.
I can definitely see why people who use these have cabs on their tractors though. I got completely covered, and it wasn't windy out.
As noted before, I do have to clean it out when I am done. Oh well.
Just because I was curious, I tried to back it up the hill. Much to my surprise, it actually started to go up. I didn't think the tractor would drive up it, much less snowblow it.
One thing I noted is that I forgot to adjust the feet. It dug a bit more than I would have liked.
As I was clearing off the truck, I noticed that the corner of the cap has come completely unfastened. I will probably try to get a couple of people together tomorrow or Wednesday to get it taken off the truck.
This completes the ASAP portion of the to do list, the snowblowers were the last piece of it. The cabinet upgrades are now in progress with the first bathroom shelf in place too. We have a stretch of nice weather coming up, so hopefully I can get working on the armoire for the front entry and the new entertainment center.
Current To-do:
ASAPShorten PTO shaft for snowblowerFinal mowing of leaves?Winterize equipment- Winter projects:
- All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
- Design deck
- Build armoire.
- Install whole house filter.
- Shelving upgrades in master closet.
- Access panel upgrades in master closet
Install cube organizer in living room.- 2024 Projects:
- Back yard drainage. Complete Mortgage.
- Insulate the water lines
- Take scrap metal to Buffum
- Close up tiny home. Seal up plumbing.
- Deck
- Entertainment center
- Storm doors
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