70 C10 resto-mod (was Chevy culture shock)

guero_gordo said:
actually it's starting to seem legit, but at #350 it seems like a lot of weight sitting on the end of a 1/2T
They do have outriggers, or pockets for Holland jacks, so you can lift things without riding on the springs. Better than the Harbor Fraught hoists a lot of folks bolt into their beds by a mile.
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Hey now, my (slightly modified) HF crane does yeoman duty.


But I do have to say that mule is pretty slick. $400 looks like a deal, I wonder what retail is.
 
I'd say retail is over $2500, it's probably on Grainger. As part of our confined space program, we needed to come up with a way to recover an unconscious worker from lift stations. I did some research on the truck mounted hoists, OSHA gives them a green light. Organization bought a few and it's part of the protocol now. That kind of kit is not cheaply made.
 
pontiac428 said:
I'd say retail is over $2500, it's probably on Grainger. As part of our confined space program, we needed to come up with a way to recover an unconscious worker from lift stations. I did some research on the truck mounted hoists, OSHA gives them a green light. Organization bought a few and it's part of the protocol now. That kind of kit is not cheaply made.
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Any safety gear which is certified is expensive. We deal with BSEE and USCG, the offshore version of OSHA which places some interesting requirements on our gear and procedures. Since we have many enclosed spaces which are horizontal the lift gear is just the start and also requires such things as a personal gas meter worn by each individual while in the hole among other things.
 
All this confined spaces stuff reminds me of my days in the Navy. We were required to inspect all spaces periodically. That included the balest tanks. It was part of my job. The sides of the carrier had 5 layers of tanks as protection from torpedoes or gun fire. They were also used to balance the ship to compensate for changes in aircraft positions. Entrance was though covers on the 2nd deck. There were D holes in the baffles that served as ladders. The outer tanks just had the skin of the ship separating to the sea. That surface was curved so by the time I got to the bottom there was no flat to walk on. There were holes thru the baffles just big enough to climb thru, to allow fore & aft travel There was a big hydraulicly operated sea valve that could be operated from controls on the 2nd deck. An eductor (like a jet pump) used the firefighting pumps to drain the tanks. I carried a Navy battery lantern for light. Once down and one baffle over there was no other light. The bottom was at about the 8th deck down. Below the water line there were all sorts of strange noises. There was always some seawater sloshing about in the bottom. Eerie!! I always had a trusted seaman stand by the flood controls. Required a shower after! And of course a signed report verifying the condition.
 
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I tried 30% vinegar and faux TSP to get the rust stains off my driveway, no joy
Went looking for some CLR under the sink....Instead I found a gallon of Zep Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner.
Being cheap, pragmatic, and lazy, I thought, "It's thick, it's acidic, it's eco-safe enough to go in the drain"
Stuff worked fine on the rust.
Now I have the minty-freshest driveway in town, and the foamiest gutter
 
When I was a kid, we had a motorhome with some big-@ss Dodge V8 on it.
One time, after it had been sitting in front of the house, it got really hard to start and the needle would stick randomly. My Dad, of course, was convinced the neighbor kids had put rubber bands in his tank, and will tell you so to this day

....So my Dad, in his wisdom, decided the best thing to do was take the motor cover and air cleaner off and drive it to a mechanic in rush hour traffic while I banged on the carburetor.
The tool he gave me for this task was a pair of kitchen scissors, the kind with a screwdriver, bottle opener, nutcracker, etc. and made out of pot metal. Not a hammer, not a mallet, not even a wrench, but a sh1ttv pair of scissors.
So here I am crouched over the engine, afraid I’ll fall into it, and when it starts sputtering, I’m banging away like a windup monkey until the float comes free and a fireball the size of a basketball comes blowing past my face, then we’re good for another few minutes until this repeats itself for what seems like hours, but probably took 30m to get to Whittier.
By this point, I’ve broken the finger loops off both sides of the scissors.

I just spent 10m starting the Chevy and had a considerably smaller fireball come up through the carb.
I know this isn't really going to hurt me, but I still get that same prickly feeling every time it happens, just like I did back then ;-)
 
guero_gordo said:
When I was a kid, we had a motorhome with some big-@ss Dodge V8 on it.
One time, after it had been sitting in front of the house, it got really hard to start and the needle would stick randomly. My Dad, of course, was convinced the neighbor kids had put rubber bands in his tank, and will tell you so to this day

....So my Dad, in his wisdom, decided the best thing to do was take the motor cover and air cleaner off and drive it to a mechanic in rush hour traffic while I banged on the carburetor.
The tool he gave me for this task was a pair of kitchen scissors, the kind with a screwdriver, bottle opener, nutcracker, etc. and made out of pot metal. Not a hammer, not a mallet, not even a wrench, but a sh1ttv pair of scissors.
So here I am crouched over the engine, afraid I’ll fall into it, and when it starts sputtering, I’m banging away like a windup monkey until the float comes free and a fireball the size of a basketball comes blowing past my face, then we’re good for another few minutes until this repeats itself for what seems like hours, but probably took 30m to get to Whittier.
By this point, I’ve broken the finger loops off both sides of the scissors.

I just spent 10m starting the Chevy and had a considerably smaller fireball come up through the carb.
I know this isn't really going to hurt me, but I still get that same prickly feeling every time it happens, just like I did back then ;-)
Click to expand...
We use to refer to those fireballs as power valve killers....
 
My kingdom for an Adel clamp.
Can't find the 1/4" ones locally. I was this close to finishing something for once ;-)
 
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