The Goat Coach

[jeffwho]

Moosey, my Jeep's down for a bit, so I will head over on my kid's BMX to tow Dopey home. At this rate, Dopey will have to PUSH my jeep. Remember how I was bragging about using the handcrank? Damn if I didn't have to use it ALL three times to start her up. Thing hit me twice on the backswing, same knuckle two different spots. In some way, I am sure I deserve that as much as I do Dopey getting nailed by that damn German vogelein. I'll pay you THRICE the agreed price for storage time ... without the trailer in the garage my wife kinda liked me for a day or two ... KINDA

[Deleted]

A few days ago, I was admiring the fantastic paint job I just did on the Goat Coach. Since detard has yet to retrieve his trailer, I was checking his out, too,...you know, looking for parts that I could easily remove and sell. I start to look at his landing leg and compare it mine. They are the same, but different! Different in that they are set up in the opposite manner.

Curiosity peaked, I begin to really look at them. It turns out, that sometime in the Coach's rough life, the cast piece that swivels up and down (the part that the actual leg gets bolted to) had broken off and was brazed back in place. The difference in it being that the brazer (lets call him Bubba, at this point) brazed it on BACKWARDS!

Now, I have two choices: the first and simple choice being to swap it with detard's and figure he will never notice. The second choice is that I remove the swivel (since it was mounted backwards, too) and rearrange the leg. To do this will mean that the leg will appear to be mounted backwards. If mounted correctly, the foot of the leg would be pointing to the rear of the trailer. However, when in the upright (travel position) the leg could not be raised high enough to lock. The foot bumps into the parking brake wire.

The three bolts I needed to remove to reverse everthing were seized beyond my ability to loosen them. Several days of penetrating oil, heat and 5' long breaker bars could not budge or break the bastages. I gave up and cut them off today.

Everything is bolted back into place, the leg works up and down. It is just backwards. I'm kind of fond of it...it is fitting for the Goat Coach. The floor is backwards, so the damn leg might as well be, too!

I just have to put the locking pin in and bend it, now. Has anyone ever done that? Heat it up and smack it with a hammer?

[jeffwho]

I've had success bending a round bar using only a heavier metal post with a just-larger opening by roughly guessing the place it would bend and just used my ever-expanding weight to bend it. I hired my Stanley workmate, bits of 2x4 and clamps to help. Granted, it may not be the same density metal, but it worked. Then again, I had to use my grinder to adjust the length, and ended up cutting myself up which led to the power tool ban, so .. you may want to find a better idea. /grin

P.s. Don't hork parts of Dopey eh!

[Haines Garage]

Jeff (Detard) ...Maybe you should choose a different user name because YOUR NOT!!! I thought of something. In the Army Navy Store on Rivers there is a flight jacket that was painted by Walt Disney Himself. It depicts Donald Duck if I am not mistaking. How cool would it be to have a Dopey character painted on the side of your trailer!! I can perhaps help. Unfortunately time is always an issue. We all have families and responsibilities that interfere with our real work. I also have an axe with your name on it on my shelf. A real WW2 one. Be patient with me. I want to help. We have a history that we have created ourselves. There is not enough hours in the day.....

[jeffwho]

ROR HG I thought the same thing - my wife is an artist, but as she likes to remind me a "REAL artist, not a cartoonist". I'm hemming and hawing about identifying the damned thing as "Dopey" officially anyway, so not sure. You know I am just busting your chops about the axe, brother.