| On Thursday 30th, after several days of rain, it was finally dry enough to take the Dodge out for some photos of the completed crane. I started to get the Dodge and Jeep out of the garage at 9am and everything was out and assembled just before 10am, when Andy was due to arrive. He was coming along so there'd be more than just me in the pictures. I planned a local drive, a little over 14 miles, around some familiar stops and a few new places. | |||
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I assembled the crane at home. The A-Frame
was set resting on the tailgate with the chain hoist hook connected to the
Dodge tow hook. The chain hoist was tensioned and then the winch cable
tensioned in the other direction. This held the A-Frame rigidly in place. The
chain hoist chains were then looped over the hooks I welded on to the right
side bar.
The first stop wasn't far away, so if there were any issues with it rigged while moving, it wouldn't be long before reached a safe place to stop. All was well however, with the crane rock solid. At the first stop, the Jeep was brought up close behind and the crane lowered into position for a fake engine change. One day, this may happen for real, but I need to test it on increasing weights first. |
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At the next stop, our camping gear ammo boxes were the next items to swing from the chain. I'd found some parachute harness webbing which had been used to fit the very first child seat in the Dodge. It still had some steel hardware on the ends and it made an excellent strop around the two ammo crates. Doing some loading, unloading and transferring to different vehicles will be great for events like the Beamish show. |
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It was quite a mild day and we were lucky to see the sun after so much rain. My daughter spent some time in the Dodge before switching to the Jeep and then back to the Dodge again. I'd given her my little action-cam, hand held, shooting some video. From that video, I took several stills of the trip |
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Due to the days of rain, the ground was very wet and muddy under foot. Only a few of the stopping places had any kind on hard or gravel surface while the others did pose some challenges to stay on our feet. |
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It will be even better once I have a dummy propeller to hang from the crane, or perhaps even a Willys Go-Devil engine crate to set up an engine change diorama. After all the effort through December, it was great to see the crane finished and outdoors further than the garage door! |
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It had been a great morning, with us out for around 90 minutes to do the 14 miles covered. While it had been a mild day, a nice warm coffee was required before I considered putting the vehicles away. |
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Before I could pack away, I thought it best to give the vehicles a wash down. The gritters had been out just before Christmas and while I was hoping all the rain would have washed it away, I wanted to be sure they were salt free. |
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