The fifty percent day

I have been waiting all week for Sunday as I'd set time aside to finally get a couple of small jobs done on my trailer; That is, mounting a tool box on the draw-bar and getting rid of the existing jockey-wheel, replacing it for a better, swing-up version which I finally bought last week.

The weather was a sunny twenty degrees Celcius, which is about my ideal operating temperature, and I was going to play with some tools, work with my hands and get some stuff done. I was looking forward to it.

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I pulled the trailer out from under my carport where it's stored out of the weather and started gathering the things I'd need: Angle grinder, power drill, drill-bits, ruler, marker pen, spanners (wrenches), hole-punch, black spray paint, steel mallet, nuts and bolts plus the two lengths of metal I'd purchased to do the job.

Because the tool box I'd bought wasn't wide enough to span the gap effectively between the draw bar, I just couldn't find a suitable one to do it, I needed to Dr. Frankenstein something to make it work. I'm no engineer, so for all of those who think you could do it better, go get your own trailer and tools and have at it.

I decided to go with a couple metal straps to support the box. The rear one was essential to allow me to bolt the box to something, the front one was just to level it up. Above you can see the measure-up process and how the two straps look after they have been cut to size. I had to angle-cut them to match the converging back to front angle of the draw-bar.

The cuts were marked then made using an angle grinder which is a very sexy, but dangerous, tool. You can see the cutting disk in the image below which is half covered by a guard. Get an angle grinder wrong and there'll be tears and probably a hospital visit also. This Ryobi tool is powered by 240v mains power rather than cordless...I like the extra power and running time mains power give it and...Well, I don't have a One+ cordless one.

Above my delectable mocha-coloured hand holds the angle grinder and yeah it felt good, the power of lightning and the ability to cut steel held like that...The heady feeling of great power is difficult to control, I'll admit.

Below is right before cut-time and the final cut. I had to do two cuts per piece and the grinder made short work of it. I wanted to get some mid-cut images for you but operating my phone camera and the angle grinder might have ended up badly. So I got to enjoy the sparks all on my own. So pleasing.

Once the metal was cut it was back to the draw-bar to measure up for holes which, quite obviously, is a critical phase. Get the measure wrong and there's problems. Have you ever drilled a hole in metal that is slightly wrong? It's incredibly difficult to rectify that; I've done it, trust me. So, I measured, check-measured and then marked it up.

A trick I learned a long time ago was to put a punch-hole as a guide for the drill bit prior to attempting to drill. It helps stop the drill walking around on the metal (or masonry and wood) allowing for a more precise hole.

You can see the right-side centre image below showing the punch and steel mallet used to make that guide hole - A couple quick hits and it's deep enough to locate the drill bit.

Hammers...Am I right? Come on folks! Who doesn't like wielding a hammer...Good enough for Thor, good enough for the G-dog I guess. And, one thing you may not notice here in the image above is my perfect trigger-discipline, the extended forefinger well off the drills' trigger. That's what over thirty years of being a shooter does...Trigger discipline follows a shooter everywhere.

Drilling the steel wasn't the easiest thing...It's hard you know. I got it done though, and the actual trailer also. I even measured up and got the two larger holes drilled through the tube-frame of the draw-bar so I could mount my new jockey wheel. Getting this done right is important of course. Holes at either side of the tube-frame need to marry up...It would be shoddy to drill on an angle and possibly cause fitment issues when bolting things up.

Here's my trusty Makita 240v doing the heavy lifting. I bought this drill back in 1988 and it's done some work...But keeps rockin', a little like the 51 year old operator.

Up to this point things went well, but it took a turn. Firstly I couldn't find a single plastic glove to wear whilst painting out the metal straps with black spray paint...So I'll have a black hand for a few days I guess.

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry up I thought I'd mount the jockey-wheel which should have been a very simple job. It was, but when mounted the whole thing just didn't work.

When I bought it there was a couple cable-ties holding it all together. It's one of those swing up and down ones that is supposed to stay on the trailer all the time, even throughout the actual towing of it.

The issue is that once those cable-ties were cut there is no way to retain the jockey-wheel to the bracket...It just falls off. You can see it below pre-cable-tie-cut. It's retarded. What's the point of a jockey wheel that doesn't actually attach to the bracket? By this time, considering I had already drilled the trailer, I was working up a pretty good rant.

I ended up calling the place I got it from, got onto the manager and tried to be really pleasant about it all...But I wasn't really happy about how he handled it...Sure, I'll get my $99 back but what if the one I have to buy instead doesn't use those same holes I drilled? More holes? It's a draw-bar y'all, holes weaken it.

It's just frustrating and especially so considering the manager went and got one off the shelf and agrees with me that it's retarded...But still handled it poorly. Typical for these days I guess; No customer service. I'll front-up tomorrow to sort it out and will keep my cool of course...Right now I'm just really annoyed.

So, it was back to the box which I ended up bolting in and completing. It came out ok. I mean, I'll not be seeking a patent on my method and looking for an industrial space to begin production...But it'll work for what I need. I used galvanised nuts and bolts so they will withstand the weather and during the week I'll apply some water-proofing foam inside the lid to add a little better water-resistance.

Below is the finished product with some of my ratchet straps and tie-down paraphernalia in there. I'll end up with a few tools in there also, a couple pairs of work-gloves, a box knife and so on. If you're wondering, those orange plastic things are load corners used to protect the load when ratcheting the straps up tight.

I had hoped to demonstrate my new swing-up jockey wheel but that'll have to wait. I'm glad I got the box on though, that was the main thing as I've got a jockey-wheel on it, a shit one, but it's there.

So that was Sunday...A little frustrating to be honest, but it is what it is. I mean I could have worse problems right? I got to play with some tools and achieved about fifty percent of what I wanted to. I'll deal with the jockey-wheel thing tomorrow and the worst-case scenario is I'll have a mate weld a plate over that section where those holes are, if they're not required for the next jockey-wheel fit...When I get one.

I hope y'all have a great Sunday. Most of you are just waking up to Sunday morning so I hope you have some bacon and eggs planned after your shower, a coffee or two and then something that makes your heart sing on the agenda.