Nice job! Why is it when I borrow something I end up fixing it, when someone else barrows from me I end up fixing it, seems to be a viscous circle.
That just proves the old adage for tradesmen of all hues and cries of " Neither a lender nor a borrower be " .
A few years ago I had need of a small 6 x 6 trailer to cart stable muck over nine mile round trips .. At the time I hadn't got a trailer . However on a visit to a smallholding I spied this wreck of a trailer full of rubbish that needed new light new tyres and a lot of metal bashing & welding .
I approached the guy who owned , it offered him a £200 ( $300 USD ) cash deposit to borrow & return it with a small hire charge deducted . He was gobsmacked .....no one had ever come up with such an offer before .
I towed the trailer back home in broad day light , with lengths of rope holding it together . A quick visit to a pal who owns a tyre fitting company and a few pieces of silver in his grubby hand saw me with a pair of used but in good condition tyres fitted to the wheel rims.
I tipped the trailer on its back then set to work strengthening the tipping mechanism and the tow bar , as well as pop riveting things back together where some spot welds had failed .
Getting it back right ways up after a bit of metal bashing and pop riveting on some reinforced plates it I did the lights , repaired the number plate carrier & fixed the badly fitted rear opening tail flap . Finally I cleaned out the hubs and wheel bearings then repacked them with new high speed grease.
Once the muck carting was done , I power washed it clean , and oiled it where needed . On taking it back I also took a bottle of reasonable quality red wine ( I'd noticed a few dead injuns by his recycle bin area ) .
He was lost for words when I handed the trailer over , gave him the bottle of wine & told him what I'd done.
His eventual comment was " Well I've never ever had something returned that was better than the day I first got it ".
He returned the deposit in full , telling me I could borrow the trailer whenever I needed it so long as I rang him first to see if it was available . I was also told I could have as much well rotted stable much as I could ever want .
Many loads of manure over the next couple of years later I got my own trailer & because of his contacts I went on to other local farms for different types of free manures .. my fame had spread .
I now have a set of fantastic well manured fruit , flower & veg gardens contained in 36 inch high raised brick walled beds that give a total of 220 or so square feet of raised garden and two smashing sown from seed green grass lawns that are the envy of nearly every gardener in the area .
My time and effort spent doing the trailer up has proved to be one of the best investments I've made for a long , long time.
This was somewhat of a "had to" repair. I had to borrow use of a friends sand blast cabinet and as sometimes happens, I broke it. What broke was the water trap drain valve on a cheap air pressure regulator of unknown make. As shown with the pieces laid out. A plastic washer shaped piece broke off (last picture). This piece trapped the oring that sealed the valve when you closed it. What I did was drill and tap the plactic cover for 1/2 thread (2nd picture). The threads came out perfectly with plenty of meat left for strength. Then I drilled and tapped a 1/2" bolt for 1/8th pipe thread on the lathe (1st picture). To further beef it, I will use epoxy on the bolt threads before I thread it into the plastic cup. I still have to scrounge a drain valve. Sorry about the pictures. The order is bass ackwords.
