I spent the workday at my design desk dreaming up new projects. Those drawings are still tightly under wraps for now. But I can say it is looking to be a very busy fall and winter in the shop with some very fun projects.
After supper I went back out to the shop for some fun. I love making fresh parts with the MultiCam plasma cutter and then welding them in place. Tonight I found enough time to fabricate the disc brake bracket and then hook it all up and adjust it to work perfectly. I still had just enough time to design, cut, fabricate and install the throttle control assembly. In the picture below the lever nearest the pickup box controls the throttle. The long Johnson bar on the running board controls the direction and speed of the variable speed hydrostatic transmission. The top, front, ratcheted lever is the brake and handbrake. That means the controls for the truck are complete. On the other side of the cab are the noise controls. We can now go, whoa and make lots of noise along the way.
With the controls all finished it's time to do some necessary plumbing. In the next few days I'll be designing the brackets for the instrument cluster and the whistle... then hooking them up to the shiny new air tank that is to be mounted under the seat.
The goal is to have all of the fabricating and grinding done buy this weekend so the truck can leave the shop to make more room for all those new projects due to start very soon. Phoebe, Juniper and Mason (and I) are all anxious to go for another test drive too!
