We had a phenomenal time at the Bonney Lake Days this past weekend! What a showing of local business and community.
Our next event is in support of the Enumclaw Pro Rodeo; we will be in Buckley set up on the corner of SR 410 and Park Ave right across from Wally's White River Drive-In. For all of you local shoppers come grab a gourmet burger and shake across the street and then stop by and see us and the monster truck. We will be there with paracord products galore..we have been busy replenishing the inventory and filling custom orders.
OK! For all those who have seen the movie "PRIMAL FEAR" we have lost time. This weekend was spent at the Bonney Lake days and it was totally awesome!
DW, the main man in charge, has an excellent crew and this festival was run tight as anyone could imagine. Things were so clean and professional that you could almost eat off the grass. There was non stop entertainment and everything was right on que. This has been our best vending experience to date. Thanks to all the BLDs crew.
There were other things that made this outing fun as well. Soldier B got to drive V's truck in the parade that kicked off the festivities on Saturday and we all know how much she enjoys the heavy steel. V had to work but that meant we were all safe and he did get to have his truck in the car show. Ironically he was the only one smart enough to get pictures. Seems Soldier A thought Soldier B was taking photos and vice versa so we ended up with no pictures of our own.
At the end of the day that's OK because V, stud dog that he is, also got to hang with the Sea Gals on his bike. This was a great weekend and we really thank everyone that came out!
Well it had to happen at some point, as they say. They of course being the voices screaming inside soldier A's head. Alas we digress.
Today started the process of cleaning up all the parts that we will be using to bob the new business truck. This meant getting out the old needle scaler, also known as the tool of eternal damnation around the motor pool. This thing is noisy and boring to use, but it does take the rust and CARC coating off of everything.
We got a couple of spring perches cleaned up like new and primed before we had to go back to work on the inventory and special orders that we took over the weekend.
We will be getting the parts cleaned up a few at a time and then the engineering and construction can begin. It just seems to make more sense to start with as much of the truck and parts needed clean and like new to make the assembly easier.
As of late there has been a great deal of research and knowledge acquisition about the upcoming build of the new bobbed truck. We are now set on going with the technique of using 105 trailer frame sections and springs for the job. This method has been proven time and time again by many others like 100Dollarman in California. He has built plenty of trucks using this system.
We are going to take things to the next level and the Colonel may have to get involved in the engineering. We are looking for bomb-proof, safe and reliable. That's a tall order running 53's on a bobbed deuce, and we don't need 8 or 10 inches of lift; we are looking for the rat rod kinda look.
There seem to be a lot of advantages to using this type of setup. The springs end up outboard several inches on each side and this obviously creates a wider and more stable stance. We also get to use the overload springs in the event that if we ever need to load the bed we are covered in load capacity. Unloaded, the 105 springs have the same number of leaves but a different thickness of steel and different taper. That means a bit of a softer ride on a daily basis.
Probably the best part of this plan is the fact that we have almost everything we need to accomplish this mission, as soldier A never throws anything away.
There will be more engineering post to follow and all technical comments are welcome. We need all the help we can get.
Today was a chore day. Lots of maintenance around the motor pool grounds. We also needed to start getting the mini shop cleaned up and reorganized as it seems to have become a dumping ground for waste fuels and other things to the point of hardly being able to get a foot inside. Not really a standard setter by any means but at least we can walk in the shop again.
So friends, we are way overdue for posts and updating. Those who are following us will have to forgive us. Things have been moving very fast and it would suffice to say, in directions we never expected.
Today we had to make the ultimate decision. Are we adding a 5 ton truck to the family or is Hilda, the still 6x6 deuce, becoming a show/display truck? Without a doubt we are moving into new territory that we had not planned on but we, as many other Americans, want to survive our current situation and have a retirement that we can enjoy and survive. So, this little business we started seems to be worth pursuing.
Several other people/companies in the country have built awesome bobbed trucks to promote their businesses. so we want to follow suit. In the coming months we will be doing just that, and hope it will move along quickly as we have been asked to attend several events lately.
The hardest choice was to make the earth roamer truck into a bobbed job. We just couldn't get out of the multi fuel arena. Traveling from show location to show location on recycled fuels is as green as you can get and we don't want to get away from that.
There may be a little more involved in the monstering of a deuce but others have led the way and it seems to be worth it in the end. All opinions are welcome before we start to get busy out here in the back yard.
We will, of course, be seeking all the help and expertise we can get in this process, and then there will be the vending trailer build!!!
What a wonderful time we had at the Black Diamond Labor Days! We had the pleasure of setting up next to Auto Pompa Pizzeria, which is a wood-fired pizza vendor set up in a vintage Firetruck; how cool is that? They are a family owed and operated enterprise like you don't see anymore and the food was awesome!
It rained all day Saturday but Sunday and Monday were gorgeous and there were so many events and games going on, and the live music just kept on going. Thanks to Mrs H and Lady K for sharing their charm with us and the rest of the crowd, and Blonco was struttin' his team colors on the field.
