Weekend Project

["John Hofstetter" <hofs@domain.elided>]

Digesters,
Yesterday, I took my Terra into my son's shop where we worked on a
variety of projects. 
I can't remember whether or not I mentioned on the digest that I
finally had abused my 33 gallon tank/skidplate from Northwest to the
point where a seam was leaking. 
We took the tank down, steamcleaned it for a long time, and then MIG
welded the leaky seam. While we were at it, we added 4 five inch
straps of 1/4 inch stock to the bottom to the tank to assist in its
skidplating role. 
I want to repeat again that I can't criticize the original tank at
all, as I have abused it almost beyond belief. The fact that it took
this long to finally spring a leak is of great credit to the tank
maker. 
One big advantage of doing the job in my son's shop was that he had
the car hoists and a huge transmission jack that sat 4 feet off the
ground, so it made things a heck of a lot easier than lying on the
cold cement on your back. Another advantage of doing the job there was
that he did most of the work, and being able to see over his head
(damn trifocals) and the fact that he's not falling apart physically
made the job go well. 

Anyway, being an old stick welder, I was very much impressed with the
quality of the welds that he did on my almost broken out front spring
perches with his MIG welder.  WOW, I'M GLAD HE FOUND THOSE CRACKS,
before I found them in the canyons of the Panamint Mountains.  Hmmmm,
I had just attributed the broken out spring perches that you guys have
experienced to the fact that you don't drive as well as I.  (g)  Maybe
I need some new glasses and a MIG welder. Nah, it's easier to just
take the Scout over there. Besides to be really useful, the new MIG
welder would need to be runnable off the Scout engine up high in the
canyons.  Or if the Scout wasn't runnable, the MIG would need to be
powered from a small Pelton Wheel that I could insert into the stream.
(just kidding)

For John L., Steve S. , Bill T., and whomever else has discussed the
fuel pickup point from the gas tank with me, we ended up putting the
pickup hose back up on the top to the conventional pickup point,
rather than continuing with using the converted drain plug. In
examining the tank with it out of the vehicle, it was apparent that
coming out of the top of the tank required about 3 " more lift than
picking it up at the drain and bringing the supply hose up along the
frame where the frame is bent to conform to the axle. But I decided to
go back to the conventional pickup anyway since it obviously works for
everybody else.  The problem with the pickup at the drain was that on
a steep side hill or with the Scout on a steep uphill slope, the gas
in the tank would not cover the pickup in the front right bottom
corner of the tank. 

John Hofstetter, whose Terra is now 40 lbs.. heavier than it was
before we reinforced the tank.