Gotta Know Your Limits!

It has been too long since I have had the bearings packed on the tent trailer and it has been sitting mostly idle for nearly two years. The plan is to pull the trailer behind the BoggsMobile when we leave Ohio and I had a nagging feeling the bearings needed some attention.

You have to know and respect your limits, right? 

Taking things apart, I could do.

Cleaning wheel bearings I could probably do. 

Packing wheel bearings I could maybe learn from YouTube. 

Inspecting wheel bearings would make me nervous. I am not sure I trust my knowledge. 

Putting it all back together being sure it was right, nope, beyond my limits.

It is time to bring in the professionals. Except, I have not been successful in finding the right professionals that I can trust. I have a trusted friend who is a mechanic, but he has been physically sidelined and there is no way he could get to it.

No one else was interested.

I did have one partial option. I could remove the wheels, check for improper movement in the hubs, remove the grease caps/dust covers fill the hubs and caps full of grease as best I could, put it all together and roll.

I used to do that to our Kountry Star wheels once or twice a year and I have done that to the tent trailer too. It is not a substitute for cleaning, inspecting and packing the bearings properly, but the wheels will pull the added grease into the mix.

It was really the only option that I had.

I awoke one morning to find an extremely pleasant surprise of 58 degrees in August. Wow! What an amazing gift!

I figured it was a gift that I should take advantage of!

I jacked up one side, inserted two jack stands, removed one tire at a time and went to work.

All of them had plenty of grease. That is a good sign. I cleaned each cap, filled it full of good high-temperature grease, packed as much grease in the hub as I could and buttoned everything up.

On the second side, the last two wheels showed a small problem. The grease cap on each of them was working its way loose. I am very glad that I caught that. You may be able to see what  I mean in the picture below.

I tightened all 48 lug nuts and I will tighten them again once I get south of Cincinnati in a couple of weeks. 

I am not a mechanic, nor do I play one on TV, so please do not take anything I say as mechanical advice. I do have a very beautiful helper. That should count for something!

With KJo's help we had all six wheels removed and reinstalled in about two hours. I spent some time the day before finding my grease and some tools, but not too bad of timing for a flunky like me.

I am very close to having the tent trailer ready to roll and that makes me very happy!

Thank you for joining us today.

Davy

Home and Preparing to Roll

When we leave this area in just over two weeks after Dryden Rd Indoor Fellowship Meeting, we will be dragging the tent trailer behind us. It has been idle for a good long time, so it needs a little TLC before we roll. Those things are on our list of priorities this week and next.

First things first, Dad needed his old mower. He brought this old mower here and used it to mow Odie's grass many, many times since the summer of 2015. He had purchased a replacement sometime before and the Lazy OD Ranch became the retirement home for the old one.

Even after we brought a newer used mower to the Ranch, Dad used this old one for the tight areas and for trim. It has served in retirement well.

Dad had a purpose for it at home so I backed the truck up next to the hill by Odie's house and rolled it onto his truck.

Of course, we ate a few times this week as well.😍

A Word For Wednesday was concerning upcoming tent revivals.

Wednesday, KJo mowed while I tackled the first tent trailer project.

My main task for that day was to change the two deep cycle batteries in the tent trailer. They had been charged three weeks before we came home, but were dead when we arrived. I charged them for two days and two days later, they were dead again. Time for a change.

These two batteries are Group 27DC-2 Deep Cycle batteries that I purchased and installed on August 18, 2014. I replaced them on August 10, 2022. That means they went 8 days short of 8 years between replacement. Not too shabby at all, I say. Much better than my normal "luck" with batteries.

The tent trailer goes months between uses at times and we always try to have it plugged in for two-three days each month. Maybe that helps. Maybe I just happened onto some good batteries in 2014.

The batteries are not super easy to access in the tent trailer, but they are not super difficult either. Inevitably, several things need to be moved from in front of the big panel, but then you remove the panel and the doors for the battery compartments are right there.

The batteries were not a special brand of batteries. They were AutoCraft brand that I purchased at Advanced Auto. I think they were about $125 a piece in 2014.

Advanced Auto is the second closest parts store to us. The only reason I bought them there was that the closest store, O'Reilly had none that day in 2014.

In the last 8 years, Advanced Auto quit selling AutoCraft and began selling DieHard, the old Sears brand. They were made in the same factories as AutoCraft for years and I imagine they still are. They were $172 each minus $22 for each old battery so $150 each.

The compartments did not need much attention, because the doors stay closed all the time.

It did not take long to put them in, hook them up and test them out. The lift went right up!

I have also been sorting things in the tent trailer. Some trips require certain things and do not require other things. The trick is figuring out what you need and making sure it is in the trailer, while not carrying everything in the world.😁

You will hear more about the tent trailer as we get closer to departing.

My sister in law, Karen, is in Ohio for a few days working and she came by with JoJo for a visit one afternoon. It was good to see both of them!

Drawing Jo on the sidewalk with chalk.

Thursday, we went to lunch with Dad and Mom! The food was excellent and it was wonderful to spend time with them. We enjoyed it so much. Hopefully, we will be able to do that again in the few days we have left at home.

Thursday night we went to church and that ended this part of our week.

Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

First Few Days Home

We pulled into the Lazy OD Ranch before noon on Monday last week. We should have hit the ground running, but the first thing I did was take a nap. I did not even unhook the Jeep until the next day.

Then it was time to get to work!

Although we hired a friend to mow the grass, the weeds never stop growing in the gravel drive and parking area. We put the area in top shape when we were home a few days in the spring, but it looked like the weeds had never been treated. Ugh!

We took time for a visit with my parents and Frisch's Monday and visits with my parents and KJo's parents Tuesday with a trip to Acapulco thrown in.

Thursday we mowed and sprayed weeds. KJo and I mixed and sprayed eight gallons of weed killer on the gravel areas that day. Friday, after we moved the bus out of the way, we sprayed two more gallons for a total of ten gallons. 

We used two quarts of concentrate. One quart of concentrate cost a few dollars less than ten quarts of concentrate used to cost. One quart was $40 and ten quarts cost $42-$45 only 18 months ago! 

How in the world are they figuring 9% inflation? Wow! Someone in the gov'ment is using new math and it does not compute.

By Sunday, the weed killer seemed to be taking effect! Yay! Can you see the brown grass?

We have a water hydrant next to the barn that we hook to for the bus and various other uses. When I turned it on Monday, it was leaking. Ugh!

Friday morning I had a chance to look at it and decided it might be the packing nut. I figured out how to tighten it and 1/4 turn with a 19 metric open ended wrench took care of it! Yay Again!

Thursday evening we preached at Dryden Rd and Friday we drove the bus to Hamilton for Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning revival. You can read about that in yesterday's post.

Thank you for dropping in today.

Davy