Good friend of mine needed a place to work out of the cold and of course he would call here... Nice wood heated shop and all the tools you might need for basic repairs.

 

Being a mobile mechanic I work out side on the ground all year long. I just jack up the vehicle, put some cardboard down and slide under.  I do this at peoples' homes in their driveway, parking lots where they work or on the side of the road.   I've been doing this for over 21 years with almost no problems. 

Edited January 18, 20169 yr by IBMobile

Sorry no old car parts in this yard, just 50 years worth of farm junk and scrap, I am not hauling to make money just to clean up the area of hazards and eye sores.

11 hours ago, IBMobile said:

I was at the recycle yard on Thursday.  They're paying 2½¢ a pound for steel.  It's not worth hauling it in right now.

My guess is the prices will remain very low for at least the rest of the year.

The steel industry in this country is virtually dead right now due to foreign countries (but mostly China) illegally dumping cheap, low quality government subsidized steel here and our government turning a blind eye to it until it was to late. There has been some effort lately to slow down the steel dumping but to little to late if you ask me.

Thousands of iron ore miners are laid off in Minnesota (myself included) and steel mills across the US are shut down. I could go on and on about this but I'll quit de-railing this thread and boring you all with my ranting.

Buy American folks!

On 1/18/2016 at 11:00 PM, IBMobile said:

 

Being a mobile mechanic I work out side on the ground all year long. I just jack up the vehicle, put some cardboard down and slide under.  I do this at peoples' homes in their driveway, parking lots where they work or on the side of the road.   I've been doing this for over 21 years with almost no problems. 

I worked as a heavy equipment mobile service tech for a company who owned about 20 gravel pits. The busiest times for me were when pits got rained out and had to shut down. I was always crawling around in mud and clay, getting completely soaked, which was extra fun after a cold front had blown in. The worst was at the landfill. I wore Tyvek suits with the arms/legs taped up to my gloves/boots but still managed to itch for days from all of the fiberglass.

Sliding around under a vehicle on a piece of cardboard feels like a luxury to me now lol.  

I lucky here. It hardly ever rains, the weather is warm, yesterday it got down to a chilly 53°, and I refuse to work in the mud. When it does rain I stay in my home office and do paper work and filing.  

1 hour ago, The_Hammer said:

I worked as a heavy equipment mobile service tech for a company who owned about 20 gravel pits. The busiest times for me were when pits got rained out and had to shut down. I was always crawling around in mud and clay, getting completely soaked, which was extra fun after a cold front had blown in. The worst was at the landfill. I wore Tyvek suits with the arms/legs taped up to my gloves/boots but still managed to itch for days from all of the fiberglass.

Sliding around under a vehicle on a piece of cardboard feels like a luxury to me now lol.  

I had the pleasure "Sarcasm smiley inserted here" of working on backhoes that were customized to sit on top of rail cars that were usually full of derailment debris and rebar sticking out like a plate of spaghetti.  Those were not a fun days having to crawl up onto the rail cars to get to the backhoe and then have to worry about slipping and skewering ones self on a piece of iron or wood splinters.

Heck, for the tough job bring the beer out while a friend is over. Then start discussing about the tough stuff needing to be done. Enough beer will gain you helper.

Edited January 19, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

I need better friends haha.  Mine aren't capable of that... or willing.  

 

Hurry up and move, I do all sorts of stupid stuff for beer.

Come over to Idaho with enough beer and I'll do the stupid stuff for you!  Ask JAG1 about that... He ended up with VP44 install for free.

1 hour ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Come over to Idaho with enough beer and I'll do the stupid stuff for you!  Ask JAG1 about that... He ended up with VP44 install for free.

What kind and how much beer?  Is there a sliding scale on beer payment depending on the type of work and if someone helps.  

3 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

What kind and how much beer?  Is there a sliding scale on beer payment depending on the type of work and if someone helps.  

Hmmm... Depends on the work I might ask for a bottle of whiskey as well. Things like ball joints are for sure Whiskey bottle job and 12 pack of beer.

Edited January 20, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

3 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Come over to Idaho with enough beer and I'll do the stupid stuff for you!  Ask JAG1 about that... He ended up with VP44 install for free.

Yep, I made a special trip to the bank, make sure I could pay. Was laying down money until Mike told me to stop, could'a kept going but, he says put that away, whats in your frig? 

Finally getting the rest I need after the biggest 6 mo. long problem job ever done in 34 years of contracting. It was unbelievably tough. Now I got weekend help around here helping me clean up after 6 mos. of grab and go drop off  and go stuff laying around. So nice to get a long awaited rest, heal up and have a good buddy around to help out. Having fun finally.

3 hours ago, JAG1 said:

Finally getting the rest I need after the biggest 6 mo. long problem job ever done in 34 years of contracting. It was unbelievably tough. Now I got weekend help around here helping me clean up after 6 mos. of grab and go drop off  and go stuff laying around. So nice to get a long awaited rest, heal up and have a good buddy around to help out. Having fun finally.

Enjoy the well deserved rest. And while you are at it you can think about the next one.

I've got the opposite problem, I can't find any work. 

Heck I just landed a intake manifold job on a V6 Dodge Truck. Manifold is sucking oil from the cam valley. (Oil in the manifold) and has a good misfire from the vacuum leak too.

3 hours ago, dripley said:

Enjoy the well deserved rest. And while you are at it you can think about the next one.

After what has happened I'm only taking the best of the very best jobs from now on.

It seems these younger new contractors leave a lot to be desired.... tired of that so only fun jobs from now on.

2 hours ago, The_Hammer said:

I've got the opposite problem, I can't find any work. 

Start own biz but, beware you'll go crazy if you take on too much.

12 hours ago, JAG1 said:

After what has happened I'm only taking the best of the very best jobs from now on.

It seems these younger new contractors leave a lot to be desired.... tired of that so only fun jobs from now on.

Even with me building primarily for one customer, CFA, the jobs are never the same. Some go great some dont. Depends on my subs, amount of site work and primarily the location. Some places act like they are happy to have new business in town and others dont give damn. I am not usually lucky enough to cherry pick my jobs pretty much go where I am needed most. 

How long of a break do you see between jobs?  Ideally I would like to work 2 days on then a week off