I did have some more things to address around the yard and lot, pertaining to Truckstang and the Dog Kennel Greenhouse. First of all, on Truckstang, the Ranger rear end was missing the speed sensor that was used on Rangers since like '89. When I did some test drives, the rear end spat out water and grease. Of course, the rear end would need plenty of oil to allow for the gears to spin with the least amount of resistance, as well as minimize wear. Solution to that problem was to replace the speed sensor. A visit to the junkyard yielded a replacement speed sensor. It didn't even matter if the thing works or not, I just need to plug the hole. I had to get the bolt that holds the sensor in place just as well. This was one of those issues where I would have to slide underneath and fill the rear end with gear oil and install the sensor. I couldn't exactly drain the assembly in case there was any water still in place, since there isn't a drain plug in place. I wasn't about to pop open the cap to do this as I would need to replace the gasket afterward. In this case, I just used an oil can to dump three cans worth of oil into the rear end before installing the sensor. I will probably end up having to open the rear end up anyway in the future when I get around to replacing the gears with a lower ratio rear end since this one is for a vehicle with an overdrive transmission. As far as the Dog Kennel Greenhouse is concerned, before I start on the roofing portion of the project, I wanted to get the hydroponic garden pipe manifolds fixed up and ready for use. After I get the greenhouse fully completed, I can bring the HP gardens online along with the raised beds. I started with the soda bottle gardens. I still have two sewer pipes that I have to cap off and cut holes to create another version of the Double Barrel Hydroponic Gardens. I had to change how the pipe manifold is set up, since the old version had bottle caps glued in place. I wanted to change this up and do something that was a little more durable. The new configuration on the bottle hoppers, involving a 1/2" pipe with a coupling on it to help hold the pipe in place. Note the glue spread around in the neck. I might add another coupling on the outside that would further hold the assembly in place, and just cut the excess off, installing that piece on the other end of the outer coupling, making for a bottle assembly that is sturdy and easily removable. After removing the bottle caps and using a grinding wheel to ream out the openings to allow for the installation of 1"-1/2" reducer bushings, I took short pieces of 1/2" pipe, added a coupling to one end, then added glue to the pipe right at the coupling. I slid the pipe from the inside of the bottle into the neck, allowing the glue to spread around in the neck area. I applied a little bit of glue around the edge of the pipe and neck to further top off. With this setup, I can slide the 1/2" pipe end into the reducer bushings to complete the garden setup. These bottle assemblies can be easily removed for cleaning. Once these two manifolds are done, I can get the stuff to finish off the larger pipes so they can be ready as well. Lastly I will need to source a high powered submersible pump to install on the tube feeding the HP gardens. Once the roof gets installed, I can run power to the greenhouse and add the timer for the HP gardens. Last thing I would need is a tap on the sprinkler system line that would dump water into the HP garden hopper drum to top it off. I'll probably add a float valve that will at least shut off the water flow to the drum when it does get full. The Dog Kennel Greenhouse is one of those projects that has been on the back burner for way too long and its long past time to finish this project up so I can close it on the books and be able to move on to other things. It would be nice to not have to worry about this project in this capacity anymore as it would be completed and fully operational, unlike some of the other projects that are still open.
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