ARMYMAN30YearsPlus said:
Keep the pictures coming! Is that the shop you built at home with the forklift in it? If you can post some picts of the garage you built I may be doing the same when I get home, Thanks
No, unfortunately it's not. The garage I built at home is the 40' long industrial canvas and steel building that I had to do all the excavating to put up. I live on a .27 acre lot in a nice quite (at least when my trucks aren't running) neighborhood. I did the best I could with what I had for room.
Because of the grade profile of my backyard I was very limited, and because my property is shaped like a pie, with the point being my street access I had to put the garage in the back, and because of my septic system layout I couldn't put up a framed building because of building codes and setback requirements.
I went the industrial shelter route, and it's been pretty good so far. The only complaint I have is I need to improve the ventilation, because I am getting a bit of condensation forming inside the roof that won't do when the hemtt comes home.
Here's a thread I am sure you've seen already with pics of what I have at home and will house the hemtt.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=15687&highlight=
The shop in the pics with the forklift is the business that is doing the "heavy lifting" for me on this restoration. Their role is to - construct the cargo box from two 5-ton ISO beds, install the transmission (done), fabricate the fenders (done), remove and repair the cab, and then store the chassis of the truck while I go through the cab details, and fabricate a bunch of other stuff I am missing such as footpads for the outriggers, rear fenders, a new skidplate, sides for the cargo bed, respool the crane with new synthetic cable, etc...
This is a very custom-job oriented fabrication/heavy truck shop. Put it this way - when I asked about a particular metal brake they had they said that they were bending brackets out of 10' long pieces of 1.5" steel yeterday! 1.5" THICK STEEL BENDS?!?!?! The hydraulic rams alone are at leat 2' feet in diameter!
They are equiped to handle just about ANYTHING I ask them to do. And they get it right the first time. You don't go in and say "don't worry about the tolerance, 1/8" either way is fine...." They will ask you to leave... The job is done precise or it's not done. The first shop I checked out I wouldn't trust with my riding lawnmower let alone a truck that I can't replace. It's definitely about trust when you leave your baby with them like this.
What started out as a simple job to construct 2 front fenders for the truck turned into me contracting them to do all the heavy work that I didn't have the time/knowledge/experience/ability to do, so I can focus more on the stuff I can do, like wiring in infrared backup and sideview cameras onto this thing so I don't run anyone or anything over with it backing up at night, or installing aviation-grade intercoms so I can rock out to my ipod while I cruise town in this beast..... Stuff like that....