My story...1000+ miles in 25 hours....

[thrashingcows]

Not sure if I have mentioned this to you all or not, or not in detail at least? But we have made the decision to pull up roots and move to Prince George BC. We have wanted to do this for a couple years, but with the housing market being so crazy here in the lower mainland of BC we figured we would never have a better opportunity to make this move.

I have found work up in PG, but thankfully their main branch is here locally, so I am getting trained and will work for about a month locally before transferring up to PG. We have sold the house....for way more then we could have ever hoped for in a regular realestate market. We have since purchased a house up in PG...nice new'er house (built in 07) and needs nothing (yeah no major reno's!) on 4 acres outside of town about 15 min up in the hills. Absolutely gorgeous out there!

Now to my trip....we have packed most of the house away, but now I have to deal with the old vehicle sickness most of us succumb to... parts hoarding! I have 3 vehicles, and thousands of parts and tools to get up to PG. So this is the first of probably at least 4 trips I will have to make up there to bring most of my stuff up.

So borrowed a small utility trailer from a friend and loaded up most of the big heavy stuff. Complete 89 Cummins motor, 4wd A518 and Np205, a dismantled 440 and tons of other parts, and tools etc.

 

[thrashingcows]

Trailer all loaded up....



And a couple pics up in the mountains...love this spot!

 

[thrashingcows]

I had reserved a storage unit...8x12...and was under the impression that it was on ashphalt or concrete...well it was not, and it was raised up about 10" off the ground.

I was on a tight time line as well, so now had to get a friggin 1000lb cummins motor out of my truck and into the storage unit. Thankfully there was a pile of used posts near by, so I was able to build up a quick block set-up to help hold the hoist.







Was a lot of muscle required to finally drag the motor into the unit. But got it done with minutes to spare.

 

[thrashingcows]

Ohhh and I only had 4 hours of sleep before I headed out on this adventure!

I was finishing up the loading process here at the house, and was locking up the truck...rolled up the windows and the drivers window went crunch and ping and then dropped halfway down into the door...NOOOOO!

I figured the motor had stripped. So i wrestled the regulator out of the door...what a PITA! and swapped in a spare motor.



Re-installed everything...and yes the older large motors will fit fine. and the motor would turn, but the window would not move. So out everything came again.

This time I had to figure out why the regulator was not working. Turned out the pin that holds the big spring in place, also secure the arm tight to the cresent moon set of gears. My pin had snapped. Well the simple fix would have been to just weld the arm in place, but my neighbour had borrowed my welder, and it was now about 10:30pm....so couldn't be waking them up for that.

So I managed to get the old pin out of the way, find a bolt with a head thin enough to clear the regulator body, and then use a couple stover nuts and washers to hold the spring in place.



Well it worked...at least for now. Got to bed about 1am, and had planned on leaving at 4am, but needed at least 4 hours. So left at 5:30am.

So I left at 5:30 am...drove the 500+ miles one way, unloaded all the stuff, then came back. Only stopped for a 2 hour nap, arrived back home at 6:30am the next morning.

 

[Stretch]

That's a lot of work and windshield time! I'm glad you found the place you wanted and sold your old place so quickly. Now for the most important question, Does the new place have a shop/ big garage?

 

[thrashingcows]

That's a lot of work and windshield time! I'm glad you found the place you wanted and sold your old place so quickly. Now for the most important question, Does the new place have a shop/ big garage?

Sadly no shop at all, but a very large 2 bay garage. But that was never a deal breaker for me...I can always build one, and will....house/property and area were the highest on the list of wants!

Will probably build a 30x40 shop...and it will be the way I want it.

 

[71dusterman]

S!!! always happens when there is a timeline. When do you have to officially move out of your house? Do the girls get to finish school first? Glad the sale and purchase are happening so well for you.

 

[thrashingcows]

S!!! always happens when there is a timeline. When do you have to officially move out of your house? Do the girls get to finish school first? Glad the sale and purchase are happening so well for you.

We move the first week of July. So yes my daughters finish school here locally.

Hope to be able to get all my crap up to PG before the move date. If not then my brother might be swamped with my guff in his barn.... He will probably be getting my cars for a few weeks until I can bring them up.

 

[68R/T]

Will probably build a 30x40 shop...

Never big enough. :doh: It will be filled before it's even finished.

Ask me how I know.

 

[69.5CUDA]

yeah umm..30x40 will NOT be enuf...youll have room to work on 2 cars and a little bit of stuff... ...at this point i would call 30x60 a MINIMUM..youll feel like you have room to actualy comfortably work..and should you need to pull something in to put on snow tires, do an oil change etc you wont have to uproot a project to make space

 

[68R/T]

I think 40' x 60' would work much better. That's the size my brother built, and he only parks 3 vehicles inside. :hmmm:

30' x 40' = 1200 sq. ft.
30' x 60' = 1800 sq. ft.
40' x 60' = 2400 sq. ft.

I built two 1000 sq. ft. garages and one of them has 2 cars in it and I can't even walk all the way around either car.

 

[restoman]

You guys are picky...
My little shithole of a garage measures 12 x 24 and there's room for a Beetle, XR80, both my roll cabinets, my MIG welder, oxy/acetylene set-up, a small freezer, a Bradley smoker, upright compressor, my sons mountain bike (hanging from the rafters) and a full bank of shelves against the back wall. My anvil, a rack of garden tools, three 40" x 10' sheets of 19 gauge sheet metal, floor jack, stands, etc. also fit in there.
Until just a few weekends ago, there was a complete 1600 VW flat four in there, along with a Volvo flat hood, grill, headlamps, and my portable forge.
I still had room to easily get to my tool boxes, the freezer, the engine on the Beetle, anything on the back shelves and the garden tools.

I'd get lost in a 30' x 40' space...

 

[69.5CUDA]

its easier to think like this..1 car= 10x20 with ZERO room to work..just enuf to enter/exit the rig...if you use that calculation for thinking about shop size/space you start realizing how much space you truely need....the "real" size of most cars is 7x17...obviously a big wagon being longer or something like lifted truck will be closer to the 8 foot wide mark while one of my lloyds will squeek out at 6x11...so thinking 10x20 as a "no working space" really opens your eyes

calculating on SQF is useless and even if you think of a car as x sqf...youll think you have more space than you do..just lots of useless squares

no doubts a 40x60 would be better..but around here all of the pole barn kits seem to come in 15, 20, 30 x 15, 30, 40, 60, 80, 120...so getting a 30x40 or 40x60 costs extra as a "custom" kit

something else to consider is where the door is..a "end" open makes everything a pain and you find yourself doign the tetris shuffle....double end opening is better imo..while side opening makes for great accesability but you lose alot of wall space

 

[68R/T]

This is how I laid mine out, (not exactly to scale :doh
I wanted ample room on all 4 sides to walk around, open doors, etc.
After installing benches you do lose a lot of space but I still have room to keep my 48" John Deere "zero-turn" between the cars.


Keep in mind that I have 2​ of these, plus another that's 18' x 24'

 

[TheIronSausage]

Cows, you will definitely grow to whatever size your fishbowl is in a hurry.. I've drafted out my space repeatedly to try and squeeze all my shit in my garage closet, and all my parts, and separate workshop in my basement.. You can either build a huge space, which you will inevitably fill, or build a smaller space, and be forced to edit yourself.. I'm torn myself..
Here's my closet, as it were. And the "garage"I have shit stashed in every corner.. It has no garage door, and the OSB sheets come down in the warmer months, so everything of obvious value has to be locked up every night. My point is, if I had a 40x60 pole barn.. It would be just as full, and I'd still have cars outside.. Do with that what you will.

 

[TheIronSausage]

While I'm at it.. Here's the basement.. I can't stand up in it due to the ducts and plumbing, oh.. And I'm 6'6".. Everything heavy gets lowered in through this little door with a ramp, and the winch on my truck. It's kind of ridiculous. That's most of it.. But the kicker is, I only moved in to this house just under five years ago.. When I moved in, all of my junk, parts and tools included fit into a 10x20 garage that I rented, with enough room for a center aisle. I've been busy. Congratulations on your move, the area looks beautiful. Beware your fishbowl!

My goal is to spend an hour a day organizing. I've also got a lean to behind the garage that houses the compressor, gas tanks, radiator, and tire stash. A solid 20% of it is junk. I've been hauling it from place to place in boxes, forgetting what's in half of them.. But every now and then, you open up a box and find that 90 degree oil filter adaptor that you need for an early A v8 swap.. That's $40-$70 saved buying one, and you justify the whole mess over again.

 

[Stretch]

I wish I had a basement!

 

[TheIronSausage]

Me too, Stretch..

 

[thrashingcows]

hat's most of it.. But the kicker is, I only moved in to this house just under five years ago.. When I moved in, all of my junk, parts and tools included fit into a 10x20 garage that I rented, with enough room for a center aisle. I've been busy. Congratulations on your move, the area looks beautiful. Beware your fishbowl!

My goal is to spend an hour a day organizing. I've also got a lean to behind the garage that houses the compressor, gas tanks, radiator, and tire stash. A solid 20% of it is junk. I've been hauling it from place to place in boxes, forgetting what's in half of them.. But every now and then, you open up a box and find that 90 degree oil filter adapter that you need for an early A v8 swap.. That's $40-$70 saved buying one, and you justify the whole mess over again.

Ain't that the truth.... My wife hates it when my parts hoard ends up saving the day on a repair, or just saves me large amounts of money!!

Right now my single car garage is probably about 14 x30 and it is/was crammed to the gills with stuff. small roof that protrudes over the front of the house is full of car related crap. Then there is the 14 x 16 shed that I custom built...it's is/was full as well. Then there was the room behind the shed, beside the house, behind the house....all full of more crap. So it appears that we all have the same sickness and ills....

All great advice, comments and opinions...Thanks you! I will possibly look into a larger garage...or perhaps a two story barn that I can store more parts above, and have a more open work area below?

Subjects on the new house should be removed by tomorrow and it will "officially" be ours! :felant: I am also going to be buying a Back hoe for working on the property, and clearing snow etc. You just can't beat the versatility of that kind of machine.

 

[71dusterman]

Ain't that the truth.... My wife hates it when my parts hoard ends up saving the day on a repair, or just saves me large amounts of money!!

Right now my single car garage is probably about 14 x30 and it is/was crammed to the gills with stuff. small roof that protrudes over the front of the house is full of car related crap. Then there is the 14 x 16 shed that I custom built...it's is/was full as well. Then there was the room behind the shed, beside the house, behind the house....all full of more crap. So it appears that we all have the same sickness and ills....

All great advice, comments and opinions...Thanks you! I will possibly look into a larger garage...or perhaps a two story barn that I can store more parts above, and have a more open work area below?



Subjects on the new house should be removed by tomorrow and it will "officially" be ours! :felant: I am also going to be buying a Back hoe for working on the property, and clearing snow etc. You just can't beat the versatility of that kind of machine.

If you build it with a second story have it set up that you have a hoist to the second floor so you can have a workshop set up to do things in a peaceful environment. Make sure of strong upper floor support so your stored stuff doesn't fall on your head. You have a lot of people on here with a lot of envy for what you are about to get into.