Escape From the Prison Planet
- Thread starter DRIVEN
- Start date
- Status
I spent about 10 hours yesterday doing landscaping work at the old homesite and I guess the sun really taxed me harder than I thought. I was basically useless today. Spent a couple hours in the office prepping for an upcoming assignment then waited for some deliveries.
I've been prepping the Chief for a ride with Jerod next month and a passenger backrest and luggage rack are the last missing items. The factory Indian stuff is rare, expensive, and thanks to my aftermarket bags and mounts, wouldn't even fit anyway. I spent a bunch of time researching and came up with this unit for a Suzuki C90 that was NIB for $99 delivered.
I trimmed the ends off the mount plates and drilled a new hole in each one.
It mounted to the middle two eyebrow bolts and it's rock solid. Done deal.
One thing I like about this method is that the backrest/rack are independent of the saddlebags. The factory Indian backrest mounts to the bags.
I also put my windshield back on so I'm officially in old man touring mode. Brown dog, as usual, was no help at all.
Final touch is a cheapo temp gauge to satisfy my curiosity.
I've been prepping the Chief for a ride with Jerod next month and a passenger backrest and luggage rack are the last missing items. The factory Indian stuff is rare, expensive, and thanks to my aftermarket bags and mounts, wouldn't even fit anyway. I spent a bunch of time researching and came up with this unit for a Suzuki C90 that was NIB for $99 delivered.
I trimmed the ends off the mount plates and drilled a new hole in each one.
It mounted to the middle two eyebrow bolts and it's rock solid. Done deal.
One thing I like about this method is that the backrest/rack are independent of the saddlebags. The factory Indian backrest mounts to the bags.
I also put my windshield back on so I'm officially in old man touring mode. Brown dog, as usual, was no help at all.
Final touch is a cheapo temp gauge to satisfy my curiosity.
At least Brown Dog doesn't point and laugh....
Over this past week I chipped away at some landscaping work at the bottom of the hill. This was working toward the goal of setting it up for occasional RV usage. The weeds were completely out of control and some were taller than me. Also, you might make out the railroad ties that were used to terrace some flower beds in front of the old house. Those got yarded out with the ol' 8N and the help of my dad, the choke setter.
Around the perimeter of the old "foundation" was a pretty pronounced edge where we dragged the railroad ties. By foundation, I mean a crude footing with about 20 of these tornado straps buried in the concrete.
My dad used a cutoff wheel to weaken the rebar and I broke them off with a sledge. Then we placed the ties around the perimeter.
Then it was weedeater time. I had to dig out and haul off the pavers from the old steps up to the porch.
After that, more mower work then dragged the blade around with the tractor to try to re-contour and smooth everything. And that's pretty much where I left off.
I ran 3 short on the railroad ties as some were really rotten. I probably had about 20 hours in this week. Seems like a lot for what I got done but there was a lot of digging and picking and hauling and dumping. There was a lot of junk under the porch. Plus it was pretty warm this week and I wasn't smart enough to start early and quit before it got into the 90s.
Next phase is to round up 3 more railroad ties, bring in some gravel for the RV pad, slightly relocate the water, power, and septic dump. Then dig up about 70' of old paver walkway, fill that void with dirt, and plant a bunch of grass. Have a couple stumps to remove and a sickly willow to drop as well. Never ends.
And while I was typing all this, brown dog picked a fly off the window and ate it. Weirdo.
Around the perimeter of the old "foundation" was a pretty pronounced edge where we dragged the railroad ties. By foundation, I mean a crude footing with about 20 of these tornado straps buried in the concrete.
My dad used a cutoff wheel to weaken the rebar and I broke them off with a sledge. Then we placed the ties around the perimeter.
Then it was weedeater time. I had to dig out and haul off the pavers from the old steps up to the porch.
After that, more mower work then dragged the blade around with the tractor to try to re-contour and smooth everything. And that's pretty much where I left off.
I ran 3 short on the railroad ties as some were really rotten. I probably had about 20 hours in this week. Seems like a lot for what I got done but there was a lot of digging and picking and hauling and dumping. There was a lot of junk under the porch. Plus it was pretty warm this week and I wasn't smart enough to start early and quit before it got into the 90s.
Next phase is to round up 3 more railroad ties, bring in some gravel for the RV pad, slightly relocate the water, power, and septic dump. Then dig up about 70' of old paver walkway, fill that void with dirt, and plant a bunch of grass. Have a couple stumps to remove and a sickly willow to drop as well. Never ends.
And while I was typing all this, brown dog picked a fly off the window and ate it. Weirdo.
Did a 120 mile test and recreation ride today. I wanted to double check the pushrod tube leak and see how it travels with all the touring gear on it. Good news is the tube leak appears to be fixed. Bad news is that the windshield lets me hear a lot more noises. There's a rattle up front I need to sort out. Also, I think I'm going to back the timing off just a bit. I can hear it rattle momentarily when I roll on.
I tip-topped the tanks at the beginning and end of the ride. 60mpg averaging about 60mph. That's outstanding! My old Goldwing never did better than 50 and was down to 35 after I did the spoke conversion and regeared it.
I tip-topped the tanks at the beginning and end of the ride. 60mpg averaging about 60mph. That's outstanding! My old Goldwing never did better than 50 and was down to 35 after I did the spoke conversion and regeared it.
I've said it before, I'm not much into bikes but I will drool all over an Indian.
Dude, it's the fenders. All in the fenders. I really prefer the way it looks all stripped down.
Blew off my chore list this morning for a test-em-out-N-sight-em-in trip. Spent about 3 hours at the range. The 100 yard bay was occupied but the one next to it was about 80.
The Creedmoor is awesome! Almost no recoil and immediately started stacking divots on the plate. I think with some practice, even I could place some good hits.
I took my 82 year old out and fed her some 60 year old MREs. It's been in this ridiculous configuration for about 2 1/2 years and I still haven't made time to stretch her out yet.
This thing is a stupid, ridiculous money pit, but dammit, I love to shoot it.
Remember this thing?
You know what it wants to do? It wants to knock your ****ing teeth out. Another exercise in ridiculousness.
I also retested and sighted this AR. It's seen a lot of configurations over the years and most recently it got switched out to the skinny fore end and fixed stock. This is as bread N butter as it gets. Rock solid reliable and i was able to put 90 rounds in a row on a 1' gong with only 4 strays using the crappy iron sights. And I'm not a good shot. There are several ARs at my house but this one has always been a favorite. It's simple and it just plain works.
I also played with some pistols. A couple unreliable .380s that I had hoped I'd fixed (I hadn't) and this AR. First time out since I installed the Law folder. Sighted in the Sparc and rang the gong over and over like it was a rifle. Pretty impressive for a 7" barrel pistol.
I still love it here.
Blew off my chore list this morning for a test-em-out-N-sight-em-in trip. Spent about 3 hours at the range. The 100 yard bay was occupied but the one next to it was about 80.
The Creedmoor is awesome! Almost no recoil and immediately started stacking divots on the plate. I think with some practice, even I could place some good hits.
I took my 82 year old out and fed her some 60 year old MREs. It's been in this ridiculous configuration for about 2 1/2 years and I still haven't made time to stretch her out yet.
This thing is a stupid, ridiculous money pit, but dammit, I love to shoot it.
Remember this thing?
You know what it wants to do? It wants to knock your ****ing teeth out. Another exercise in ridiculousness.
I also retested and sighted this AR. It's seen a lot of configurations over the years and most recently it got switched out to the skinny fore end and fixed stock. This is as bread N butter as it gets. Rock solid reliable and i was able to put 90 rounds in a row on a 1' gong with only 4 strays using the crappy iron sights. And I'm not a good shot. There are several ARs at my house but this one has always been a favorite. It's simple and it just plain works.
I also played with some pistols. A couple unreliable .380s that I had hoped I'd fixed (I hadn't) and this AR. First time out since I installed the Law folder. Sighted in the Sparc and rang the gong over and over like it was a rifle. Pretty impressive for a 7" barrel pistol.
I still love it here.
- Status
