With the Ranger cab and the S10 bed in position in the chicken yard, I had to get more gravel in the yard, especially over the area where I plan to set up the new coop assembly. Of course the F250 served its purpose yet again as I brought back another load of gravel. With the wheelbarrow I quickly got the rest of area in the NE corner of the chicken yard covered with gravel. The remaining area was relatively small as I managed to get the NE corner covered up going back into the chicken yard to meet up with the other graveled areas. I still had a bunch of gravel remaining so I started covering some more of the back area of the chicken yard around where the old chicken coops are currently situated at, in the Northwest quadrant. I then spread some gravel over an area around the entry gate as it was soupy after some rains that passed through. With more of this area covered I started laying a path from the gate over to the NW quadrant of the yard. I ran out of gravel before I could fully lay a path to the tree line. With the gravel laid later on I picked up the pair of railroad ties I wanted to use for laying the cab and bed on. Getting these things home was slow going as the weight of these fuckers had the poor trailer cockeyed all the way back home. Getting them off the trailer was a literal exercise as the two of us trying to move these damned things was slow going, getting them off the trailer and onto the 2 wheel dolly then moving the tie from the driveway via the dolly into the chicken yard and to the site where I wanted them to be set up. After the work we put in moving these things into place we then moved the cab into position. We worked the cab onto the ties, having to move the ties some to get everything in the optimum position so the cab doesn't rock on uneven mounts. With the cab in position we then went to move the bed into position. When we moved the bed into position over the ties, one thing we did notice was the way the fenders of the bed extended down below the bottom of the bed and its corresponding mounts. Because of the way this bed was made it never even made contact with the ties even when positioned directly over it. After butting the bed against the raised up cab we found out that things really didn't line up the way I hoped for. With that I immediately made the decision to pull the ties and just lay the cab right on the ground with the bed. Of course to do this involved us lifting the bed up vertically and off of the ties, then tipping the cab back on its side off of the ties, then muscling the ties out and off to the side out of the way. After that workout we tipped the cab back on its bottom then moved the bed back in position behind the cab. As I figured, the cab lined up pretty good with the cab, right on the ground. As can be seen in the pics most of this was done at night. After getting the two parts in position I did make note of the idea if I raise the front of the cab up some the back would meet up better with the bed. I went ahead and grabbed a couple of bricks and propped them under the mounting points on the front of the cab to keep the body raised up and against the front of the bed. With the new configuration for the cab/bed combo, I no longer have to worry about trying to secure the two bodies to the railroad ties, I'll be drilling some holes through the front of the bed and through the back of the cab to attach long nuts/bolts to hold the two together. I'm not going to bother trying to weld anything on the outside as the nuts/bolts should be sufficient to hold the two bodies together. After getting the two bodies attached my first order of business will be to take some corrugated sheet metal and use self tapping screws to make a panel/cover for the dirver's side door opening. From there I'll re-attach the passenger side door. Next will be cutting a hole through the front of the bed and into the back of the cab. This project will come together pretty fast like the Toyota Chicken Truck did. I have some other ideas for improving the overall design and function of this coop as well as improving the other car coops as well. Stay tuned for more.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2023
|