Escape From the Prison Planet

[DRIVEN]

Local color post.
This is a house in my little town. I can only assume the house was built around the trailer and not the trailer added to the house. Both have been around for decades.

I've mentioned that I'm backed up to the Owyhee mountains. Here is a shot I took yesterday coming south from my little town.

Zoomed in a bit to show where my house is for reference.

Standing next to my north fence showing the cows on the hill and some rain showers moving toward my little town. Lots of color in the clouds but my phone didn't really capture the moment. Taken at dusk yesterday, looking to the NW.


Still pretty brown here but the spring green is starting to pop out.

[wayno]

I mowed my lawn for the first time this year today as it is growing, changed the oil in it for the first time since buying it, should have done that years ago. (insert shaking head/face palm here), time sure goes by fast, I would have said I bought that lawn mower a couple years ago, it's likely been more than 5 years as the oil wasn't an oil color.
That house was built before they started saving us from ourselves, them were the good old days, the good old days are an endangered species.

[DRIVEN]

Agreed.
Up until a couple years ago the building codes were basically non-existent in this county. The city was only slightly more strict. It's gotten a bit more rigid but I'm outside the city limits so it's still not bad. The county inspector has been really easy so far. We've only had to change a couple minor things.

[DRIVEN]

I was going through my phone and found some pics I neglected to post about a month ago. My dad is about at a stopping point on his boat project. The mechanicals are ready for a water test but the closest lake doesn't open for another month. Electrical is cleaned up, engine is in and runs good on a hose, transmission shifts but needs to be load tested.

He also replaced the cutlass bearing, which is actually a rubber bushing, in the strut just ahead of the prop that the shaft passes through.

The other thing he did was detail the dash. The gauges were dingy, some of the switches weren't working, and the black gelcoat was heavily oxidized.

He also ran the buffer around the outside. It looks better but the age and abuse still shows through. Once he gets it in the water and the mechanicals are deemed fit he'll put in the new carpet and decide what to do about the seats.

The blue boat has been completely scuttled and the burnt hull went to the dump. Some of the parts are for sale and some will be saved for spares.

[DRIVEN]

What you will probably do is acquire a golf cart, or one of those little john deere 4x6 things, or just an ATV. Plus they help move things around easily.

Dammit, Jacob!

This was 90% impulse buy -- one of the pitfalls of a job with too much down-time. Saturday morning I was dredging CL when I ran across an ad with very little info and only this single photo. It was list as "project or part" so it was in my price range.


After doing some research and finally getting in touch with the seller, I made an appointment to go see it. I had already decided that unless it was on fire when I got there I was going to buy it. So, 10+ hours and 590 miles later I
was the proud owner of a rare (but in no way valuable) Yamaha Pro Hauler.

Here's the rough specs: 230cc, 2wd, manual 5spd with centrifugal clutch, hi/lo range, locking rear diff, aux thermostatic cooling fan, and the rad factory flatbed. It was made in 1989 for one year only. As near as I can tell it shares parts with the Big Bear, Terra Pro, and Moto-4. There is very little info floating around out there about these.
Unfortunately it's been working on a farm since '96 so there's plenty to set right. The good news is that the engine seems mechanically sound. No noise, leaks, or smoke. The carb is junk. It shifts through all the gears and ranges. Front and rear brakes are shot, king pins are loose, battery is missing, the lights don't work, and every piece of plastic on it is damaged.
Today I got it fired up and rode it around for a while. I also pressure washed it and replaced some missing hardware.
Then I made a list and hit Amazon and eBay. Tires will have to wait a while. Once I get the rest sorted I'll put it to work at the Winery and see how I like it. Might be a keeper or I might just pass it along. It won't be a full restoration but you guys will see more of it later.

[RedBanner]

10/10, would drive all day for!

[Taterhead]

That thing is pretty cool.

The fan I was referring to is on the right side, under the pro hauler decal. Couldn't tell it had a screen over it in the original pic. And obviously with the pics you posted, the bed doesn't fold down.

[DRIVEN]

Yeah, what you are seeing is the aux cooling fan. Its supposed to come on automatically but I haven't run it long enough or hot enough yet to see if it works. The front of the bed lays down but it's not a dump bed. I may change that if I come to find that that would be handy.

I sent a picture of it to my buddy, Marc, who immediately dubbed it the Bro Hauler in refence to our trip a couple years ago when I was having tire trouble and rode around on the back of Jerod's Grizzly for a day. For some reason Marc thought it was the most hilarious thing to ever happen.

[Taterhead]

Brat seat on a gimbal.

[DRIVEN]

Genius!

[DRIVEN]

Got the new battery in and the new carb swapped. I got the AGM battery from batterystuff.com as I've always had great luck with those guys. The carb was a $40 Chinese Mikuni knockoff from Amazon. Once I fixed about a dozen things with that POS the quad fired up and ran good. Rode it around a little but couldn't get too wild since I've still got zero brakes. Hoping to see those parts tomorrow or Saturday. This weirdo semi-auto transmission will take some getting used to.

[DRIVEN]

More astounding progress on the Bro Hauler. Got the front brake cables replaced. Unfortunately, in the process I discovered that it needs front shoes as well. Also found the front bearings were a bit loose. They're sealed so I peeled the dust seal out of the way and forced some grease in. Time will tell if they survive.

Also got my shiny new tail light lense installed.

Aside from that all I accomplished was straightening out some bent items, replaced some more missing hardware, and ride it a little more. I can't get over how well it runs.

[DRIVEN]

House is losing momentum. Siding guys are the current holdup. Less than half done. They were supposed to be finished last week.


Came this close to a fist fight with one of the roofing chimps who had decided it would be cool to use my hill for some 4x4 shenanigans. He's going to find that adventure to be pretty expensive when his boss has to pay to have the excavator come back out and regroom that bank...if he still has a job.



Also, Friday afternoon mountain cows.

The field just to the north of me is just for grazing but the farmers are running cattle in the corn fields to get some stubble before they plow and plant for the year. You can see them in the distance beyond the red barn and across the highway.

[Ni10]

Came this close to a fist fight with one of the roofing chimps who had decided it would be cool to use my hill for some 4x4 shenanigans. He's going to find that adventure to be pretty expensive when his boss has to pay to have the excavator come back out and regroom that bank...if he still has a job.


got a pic of the DH's dumb move ?

[DRIVEN]

It may not look like a big deal but that "tracked" finish was spcifically called for by the guy who did the soil engineering to control erosion. The engineering was expensive. The excavation was expensive. The finish prep was expensive. The funny (I guess) thing is, the little dozer that the excavation guy used to do all that work has been stored here for weeks. He just hauled it out on Wednesday. Two days later it was torn up.

[wayno]

Wow, some people don't have any common sense, why would anyone do anything like that at a customers place, let alone a place that they were still working at, some people need to have it cost them dearly to learn anything.

[DRIVEN]

23 years old and toothless. You do the math.

[flatcat19]

Yay, meth.

[RedBanner]

Man hope they kick it into gear, my brother, a friend, and I used to do a 3,000 foot house in hardy plank, trimmed and caulked in one day. It's the only way we could make any money, show up at 6 and pack up by 6 or so. I wonder how they can make money dragging it out like that, the market was very competitive when I was doing it every day, 2004-2010 or so.
We really sided my mom's 1,800s/f house during a bbq, with a few extra hands.

[Ni10]

SOB. thats phuced up chit. It surely is going to be needed re-groomed soon so grass can get established on the slope. smh

Hope the siding owner has insurance other wise he's going to be paying out of his own pocket. Total loss of profit on this job & more.

Just shows no respect or smarts on the meth head actions.

not sure how you held back but glad you did.