25 January 2011

One Man's TRASH...Is MY TREASURE..!!






Found a craigslist ad where a feller was wanting to get rid of some old lumber he had scavenged out of an old garage/shop being torn down somewhere. He was selling his place and moving to FLA (he's a Yankee, so he'll be in good company down there).
Lotta decent, even if weathered gray and a few nails to be pulled, but good solid 2x6 - 2x10's...up to 18' long pcs....AND 5 each 4x4 redwood posts that are a tad over 9' long...that have been stored inside....still red in color.
The old Diesel pickup pulled this load fine...only about a 40 mile round trip tho. Luckily I was able to round up Joe, my nephew...I let him do the driving and we loaded the trailer. First time I've used the 18' trailer in a long time, but it did fine with some air in the tires.
NOW...I'll need to set up a little work area to unload & sort the boards...pull nails and cut off any rotted/split ends to make it 100% usable again.
If I can get it down to the TR desert land....it will make a good shed/carport/outdoor kitchen area/rain tank cover....and most importantly a rain catcher roof.
Still tinkering with the idea of making the next trip down in the old F250....does great around town here. Taking it to a front end shop nearby tomorrow for a checkup...not acting up...just checking for old age & sitting up for 5 years issues. Need to repack the front bearings I'm sure.
Checked the MPG's today....getting about 11-12mpg....and that's pretty sad with diesel at $3.40 around here....(It'll be damn near $4 in Alpine and that much in Study Butte) But I have a 55 gallon (legal) transport tank I can haul down in the bed ($250 fill-up.??)...with a 12V pump on it. Damn near enough for a round trip with BOTH factory tanks. Problem is the rear 18 gallon truck tank has a bent shut intake nozzle neck thanks to a back tire the throwing a tread about 10 years ago and whipped the rear tank neck 1/2 pinched down. (never did replace/fix it)
With the 3.56 rear end on this truck....and around 60mph is probably best MPG speed (tad less than 2000 rpm is optimum..but no tac here)....it would be a LOOONG SLOOW painful 500 mile oneway trip....cruise control - no workie nowadays. Damn...and no satellite radio either..!!
okay.....enough...blah blah about the truck/trip..(boring to those that don't care I'm certain)
hope all is well with y'all..!!!
Bigfoot

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sure looks like there is some good wood in it...SCORE!

tffnguy said...

Bigfoot, just get that old sucker down here. 12 MPG ain't a lot worse than what the falcon gets.