You don’t need two arms to be dangerous. I grew up around tools and spent my 20s experimenting in and creating a workshop. In 2010 I was in a motorcycle accident that left me armed in a different way, armed in determination to continue to enjoy tools with one arm. Let's step into the shop. Watch as we (my wife and I) are completing and demonstrating home improvement DIY projects we have done and are doing as a family. We are short one arm but we have the work ethic and life experience to make up for it. Almost daily I am working on a project or planning for the next project. From simple repairs to the end table to making myself a welding bench. We are on our third home, second one together, and we have two young children we are keeping entertained and teaching along the way. With financing and function in mind, we are picking away at projects to improve our home. Along the way, the kids are learning the basics of hand tools.
I use two Hot Dip Galvanized Carriage Bolts through the bed to secure my spare tire. As for securing my bed sides, I use wood t-nuts and Allen Bolts to secure the sides to the frame quickly.
Of caution on the carriage bolts: the first plywood deck I put on my last trailer I used carriage bolts to secure them. The threads on the nut underneath got full of gunk over the years, and when I tried to unscrew the bolts to replace the deck, the carriage had just spun in the wood instead. I ended up having to use an angle grinder and grind the heads off 18 carriage head bolts to remove the deck. It was kind of a nightmare. That’s why I switched to bolts that have a hex head so I can put a wrench on it someday to remove them from the soft wood. When I bought my original trailer, I went the cheap route and just use some bolts, but I drilled a hole through the threads and put a clip on it to hold them. That worked well, but I kept losing them and that’s why I went to the ones I have today where they’re attached to the trailer and don’t require any tools. Thanks for the comment and thank you for watching that!
We bought a refurbished (never again) XT1 from home depot 1 yr and 1 week ago. Yep, that ONE week got us on warranty 😢anyway, both belts are fine but it stopped moving? Is there anything we can check? Hubs says he doesn't see a way to check transmission fluid in the hydrostatic trans? But obviously its something bigger than the belts? Thoughts? Help???😊
To be honest, I’m kind of a lousy mechanic, but if I had to guess I’d say your transmission is low on hydraulic fluid. Maybe you have a leak? I did some investigation myself several years ago and you are right that it is a sealed unit. To be frank I’ve had nothing but trouble with mine as well considering it’s less than four years old. I’ll never buy another one of those that’s for sure. The only reason I bought it is most of the good tractors are too wide to fit between my cars in the garage. In a couple more years, I’ll dump this one and buy something of a higher quality from a dealer.
@@armedanddangerousdiy6096 well that's a super honest reply, thank you!! I actually found some redneck lady on here doing a super quick video on that sealed unit...apparently she got a neighbor with strong arms and some crazy tools to pop that plug out lol! She didn't go into detail (I wish she would have) but she said yr 1 she had to replace the trans and now another year later (after popping out the plug) she found out she was 1/2 tank low on fluid. I think we're about to start tearing it apart to see what we can see. Thanks for your honest input and no, we won't be buying another either. The worst part is that to me it wasn't cheap, 1899.00 plus tax for a supposedly 2 week old refurbished one ain't nothing to sneeze at!👺
@@armedanddangerousdiy6096 I just reached out to the repair center that Home Depot recommends and within 30 seconds he told me he has 7 or 8 of them, they're junk. Lol good to know NOW!🤣🤣🤣
Would suggest buying a heavier gauge fender and making a new fender bracket out of 1/4 hot rolled steel. The stock ones are legal and that’s about it. Thanks for watching!
Thank you! I got tired of people telling me that and then telling me I should start a RU-vid channel so I did just that during Covid. This particular video was one of the hardest ones I ever edited because the content is rather complex. I’m glad that you were able to get some good use out of it. Thank you for watching!
Please tell me how to make my intellipower run! New Carb, Clean Gas, Clean Air,Filter, Clean fuel filter, clean fuel tank. Carb was installed by certified servicer as was the fuel filter. The dealer also drained entire fuel system, tank included it starts but the only runs well when intellipower is cranked up all the was and blade is engaged. Has 40 hours on it, driven on level ground by a 87 year old man. PLEASE. Thank you.
I’m sorry but xt2 does not have that feature. It’s just an old skool throttle and choke cable. If it only runs well under load it sounds like it’s running rich. With only 40 hours…is it still under warranty? Mine had a 3 yr warranty.
I don’t use the deck wash because I don’t think the washout port does a good job of cleaning it. My last lawnmower, the mower deck, literally rusted out from the inside from the previous owner using the deck wash. In my opinion, all I did was get all the grass stuck to the inside of the lower deck wet, which held the moisture against the steel and eventually rest of the deck out. Typically whenever I pull the mower deck off for whatever reason, that’s when I power wash it. I usually wash it at the end of the summer and midway through the summer. Then I leave it laying upside down in the sun for several hours until it’s fully dry.
@@armedanddangerousdiy6096 but i ltx 1045 where the spring go for forward an reverse peadal there on the right an brake in left side it came off while mowing i wad just hanging there
You better take care of what u have the new Cub cadet is really gone down hill in quality, I bought a new LT enduro 50” the battery is AGM, which is weak, i replaced it in less than a year, selinoied went out in 20 hours, transmission went out in 66 hours, MTD is gone to crap , the engine is good but the rest of is trash or cheap
I’ve had several repairs on this tractor and it’s only three years old. I fully agree with your assessment. The issue for me is no one makes a good quality mower. That’s small enough that I can fit between the cars in my garage. My plan is to own it another three or four years and go buy something else. But your comment is well founded. Cub cadet is not what it used to be. I think I’m going to go back to John Deere, a good one from the dealership, not a cheap junkie one from the local builder supply.
I wonder if your choice of paint color for the deck was driven by the same thought process as mine. mis-tinted paint marked real cheap at Lowe’s. Yours is coincidentally the same color as mine. 😂
That’s a very good observation, but unfortunately, in this particular case you are wrong. In college, I was in a fraternity and purple red and gold were our colors. I always have those colors laying around the house and when I just need something, I just go grab whatever I have laying around in this case purple.
No, I restore them to add to my tool collection. I’m always looking to upgrade the tools I have. I also give tools away all the time to people that have none.
Lil trailer is perfect for 90% of non rural truck owners. Considering getting a tiny trailer like this for my 4 cylinder picup to carry a 700# commercial walk behind mower to mow lawns as a side hustle. I have a 2k# 16ft deck landscape trailer from my now defunct business but its overkill to cut 5or 10 lawns 2x month. Id weld a few things but seems like a good lil unit for light use.
I have hurt myself before and had limited use of my left arm..... your creativity to overcome a missing limb is cleaver. Nice job involving your kids in the project. I have a hard time with having my kids "helping" because it always seems my projects at home are in a time crunch....
Most of my projects are severely premeditated. I often think them completely through before I start them. And you are right that sometimes management help isn’t always the best, but there’s no better way to teach your kids right? Thanks for watching!
"Just take it apart and paint it". That's exactly what I did, right after I built it. We decided the color was a little dull, and would likely turn mauve over time like our red hand truck (even though it's kept in the garage). I also made some modifications, including a more permanent tongue jack mount, but the new paint didn't quite match. Taking the trailer apart was far less trouble than one might imagine, and it's much easier than trying to mask everything. I left the axle, wheels, and springs assembled and rolled it out from under the trailer. I only painted the front and rear Cross-members since the others would be hidden by the deck. I also took the opportunity to paint the leaf spring saddles, tow bar brackets, and taillight brackets black since the sport rack and sheet material stops I fabricated are black. We have a patio integrated into the house behind the garage, so I cut a furring strip in half, installed metal cup hooks, and screwed the two pieces to the underside of the rafters, in the middle of the eave. I hung all the parts using bare copper wire from scrap Romex. After giving the paint a day to dry I hung the parts inside the garage and left them hanging for two weeks to thoroughly dry and cure, then I applied a polymer coating (like wax but vastly superior) before re-assembly. I used Ace Rust Stop paint. It comes in a 15oz can yet is cheaper than popular brand 12oz spray cans. It also seems to be very good paint. It dries to touch and to handle much faster than Rustoleum, and almost as fast as Krylon. The main color is International Red Gloss and the black is Gloss. The red is similar but much richer than the original. Of course they can be painted any color.
Brilliant! Cant wait to do some of these myself. About to buy one in a week or 2. You've truly transformed this trailer to look beautiful and be way more practical/have more uses. Appreciate the video!
I’ve taken this trailer on road trips in excess of 1000 miles without issue. As long as you stay under the weight rating, which in this case is 1600ish pounds you’ll be fine. Every couple years I do take the axles apart and wash the bearings out and repack them with fresh grease and reset the preload but Beyond that it’s pretty much fool proof. I put over 50,000 miles on the first trailer I owned. I probably have 5000 on this one with no incident. It’s pretty basic and that’s why it holds up so well I think.
Go Pack Go!!!! Good idea on the license plate bracket and moreso with thesafety bar. Im going to definitely make one. For the sides, I drilled out location for the pin and instead of your clips, I hammered in a t-nut then used a normal bolt. Tightens up the sides as well. Love how your kids aren't helping as you do all the work! 😂😂😂
Yeah, my kids are not that interested in playing with tools, because it actually requires real effort. It’s been a year since I made this video, and my son has definitely taken an interest in playing in the shop with me now. As he gets older, I’m sure that will increase. Thanks for watching!
@sigung01 0 seconds ago I really thought all of your ideas were great EXCEPT mounting the spare under the trailer. Have you given any thought to how difficult it might be to get up under a fully loaded trailer with a flat tire on the side of a busy highway and get that spare off and out from under the trailer?
That is an excellent point. That’s why I originally had mounted on the tongue, and then a different way on the tongue, and then in the trunk when I go on long road trips. The bottom line is the only time I’ve ever blown a tire is when I overloaded the trailer and broke the leaf spring. So is it important to carry a spare tire? Absolutely. Does it have to be easy to get to? No. At least that was my experience. Therefore it’s on the trailer and available, probably going to be a total suck job if I ever have to get it off, but frankly, the odds of me needing the tire are pretty much slimto none. From my perspective, though, I think it’s foolish to go on a long road trip without one because honestly who carries these size tires, they’re not common unless you go to a tractor supply store. The bottom line is it is a compromise between availability and easibility. I aired on the side of it there if I ever need it and I’ll be cussing up a storm if I have to get it off. :-) Thank you for watching, I do appreciate your comment!
And not to harp on the subject, but understand I’ve had this trailer for over 23 years now, and I’ve only blown once tire so my perspective is a bit warped. Depending on how you use the trailer, you might want to locate it in a different spot. 90% of my trips are less than 15 miles, but occasionally, I do take it on 1000 mile road trip
I'm moving at the end of the month and was looking to reinforce mine on day 1 in the new place. This is a perfect guide and most likely how i'll be going. Thanks!
Save yourself the agony, and build the rolling cart for it as well. Recently did a video on that too. Some thing I wished I had done from the get-go this way every time you need to rearrange the room, it’s not such a chore.
Looking at buying one of these to hitch to an older IH Cub Lowboy for yard cleanup/hauling. Also looking at the 4’ square one for a fuel caddy if I can find a 1/2 pet tank, need to find the tank first so..
@@armedanddangerousdiy6096 I have one with a single point and 2 with the draw bar so. Just need to find the right sized ball and get an adapter made with a longer shoe on it for the single point
Just bought one of these and I have to say I like some of your mods. Yeah I'll probably incorporate some in mine and also hit most of the corner joints and any crucial ones with the mig welder. Seems like a decent trailer for the money and my biggest draw was the ability of storage for it. 👍
When I bought my first one in 2002, it was just going to be used for moving two states away. It was so handy, I just couldn’t part with it. Over the years I found out it’s pretty rare for a normal person to haul much more than 500 lbs. the price was right and it stays nice being stored in the garage. Thanks for watching!
Ground wire is a great technique but you should protect wires with wire loom or conduit. Don’t need full conduit. Even open end straight runs provide drainage and protection.
