Fabricating a wheel ditch filler part 2

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Heat up here.

[00:00:30]All right, guys. Welcome back. So, for the next phase on our wheel ditch filler farm implement, we've got to get the axles on. We've got to get all the components that are involved in the axles installed. That's really the next big thing. So, I've got my pieces of wreck tube here. These are the pivot arms that go on either side. The way this is made, there's a piece of DOM and a shaft that weld on the bottom side that goes through this. That way, this can pivot and rock back and forth. It really doesn't have any suspension. And this is the way that they're made. So, we've got to have a piece of DOM that welds through this, a pin that runs through this. These will mount on the outside here. We've got some work to do. Now, I've got this laid out. I ordered a bit. Goodness, are they expensive. I had to order a 2 and 3/4 bit because our axles are going to go through here. And I need to make sure that that hole is perfect. I don't have a fly cutter small enough to machine a 2 and 3/4 hole. And I don't have a bit big enough or I didn't. So, I had to order one. $400 later. The bits on the way. It should be here tomorrow. So, we should be able to get these drilled out tomorrow. Tonight, we're going to work on getting the DOM installed in the center of these. I had a brainstorm.

[00:01:58]I'll show you guys what I came up with, but I was trying to figure out a clever way to put this hole in here. At first, I was going to just torch a hole close and then put it in the mill and machine this the rest of the way out so that the DOM was square, but obviously you'd have to do that on top and bottom. And I just thought, man, there's still a chance that it could be off. And if there's a chance that it can be off, there's got to be an easier way. So, here's what I came up with. I ended up taking the tube. I marked center. I center punched it center this way and center this way.

[00:02:33]And then I took it over to the burnt table and I'll show you guys what we got. I'm going to show you guys the one I just burned first. Okay. So, you can see we got a nice pretty hole here that goes all the way through. Lined up pretty dang good. Pretty happy with that. It's not perfect. It is just a hair off, but it doesn't matter because I checked it with the DOM and it's a little bit tight. So, I'm gonna have to touch it up with a grinder to get it to slide all the way through. But that's okay. I want to make sure that this is square to the tube so that when I slide it through, I've got to weld it here and here. So, that's what we're going to go with. So, I'm going to go over to the burnt table and I'll show you guys how I've set this up. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. So, I brought the tube over here, set it on the slats on the table. Well, this is too high. The torch wouldn't fit over the top of this.

[00:03:28]It stuck up too much. So, I thought, well, maybe I can just pull one of these slats out, set the tube on. There's a lower cross slat here. So, that's what I did on the last one. So, it's just barely touching the water. The water in the table's a little bit low right now, which is okay. So, if I set that down, that gets it low enough that I can burn these circles. It's working great so far. So, what I'll do is I'll take the laser and I put it right on the center pop mark so that I know my circle's centered here.

[00:04:06]And then I just have the table burn it.

[00:04:09]Hopefully, this is going to end up saving us a bunch of time. It's working out so far. So, I'll get this other one lined up and then we'll show you guys how it goes. Okay, here we go.

[00:04:38]Okay, so that one is about perfect. So now I just need to roll this over and mark this side. Center pop it. And then same thing.

[00:05:07]So obviously they're not absolutely perfect. I can tell that we're just a hair lower on this hole than the other hole, but I can grind these out and I can tack those in place to where they're square to the tube. I'm not too worried about that. All right, so I think that's going to save us a bunch of time. I've got to clean them up with a grinder to get the DOM to slide through there, but I think it's going to work. Okay, next order of business, we got to figure out what the length of the DOM is. And then I had another brainstorm of how to eliminate just a silly thing that I've seen on a design from another manufacturer. Uh I think it's going to be a lot better, a lot stronger, and easier to fabricate. So, we'll go over and we'll see if we can get the length on the DOM figured out. When we get that figured out, we'll come back to you guys and show you guys where we're at. Okay, guys. Next order of business.

[00:06:05]So, I did get a couple pieces of DOM cut here. Hopefully, you can see that there's three grease grooves.

[00:06:16]They're kind of shallow, but there is three grease grooves down this DOM. I did have to machine it down just a hair.

[00:06:27]When I say just a hair, I mean I took it down about 8,000 of an inch. standard is 5 to 8,000. Um, that gives it just enough room to accept grease, but it still keeps things tight enough to where you don't get a whole lot of slop. So, 5 to 8,000. I went 8,000 because I'm worried that this is going to flex or warp a little bit when I weld it. And I don't want to have to machine the shaft down after I weld these in place. I am a little bit nervous about that, but it's just something we're going to have to deal with. So, what we're doing now is we're drilling these and tapping these for our grease xers. And I'll show you this one. So, I've already got one done.

[00:07:09]And you can see I put the 45 x on there.

[00:07:12]I got one on either side so that we can fill it up good. Um hopefully you can see the grease grooves in there. That should keep things from seizing up.

[00:07:22]Okay, so we're just drilling and tapping these. Pretty quick process. I'm using a 7/32 bit. The grease circs that I'm using are 1228 on the thread pitch. So, I'm just drilling a hole, power tapping these with the mill. I'm using some of this anchor lube. Pretty good stuff.

[00:07:40]This goes a lot faster now that I have this new DRRO. I can mark outside on my X and my Y. That gives me a center point, drill it, tap it, and I'm done.

[00:07:52]So, pretty quick. I'll walk through that process real quick with you guys. Okay.

[00:07:56]Okay. So, I'm going to leave the camera kind of kind of out right there where you can see both the table and the screen on the DRRO. Okay. So, the first thing I'm going to do is I'll take my edge finder here. If you haven't seen these, they're kind of they're spring loed and I'll show you how they work.

[00:08:16]Put this in my drill chuck here. Okay.

[00:08:18]So, I'm going to start this. You see how it wobbles? So, I'm going to go over mark my first first point, which will be my X on the right side. I just go to the end here, drop that down, come back, and then you just you keep moving this until it quits wobbling.

[00:08:47]Okay. So, then I'll mark X. Okay. Okay.

[00:08:50]So, I've got zero there. Now, I'm going to run this the other direction.

[00:08:55]And then I'll bump this so that it wobbles again.

[00:09:00]Okay. Lower that down.

[00:09:12]So, then when I want to find the center of two points, I hit half and then hit my X and it splits it. So it splits that measurement in half. So now we know where dead center is. Okay.

[00:09:23]So now I'm going to do my Y.

[00:09:29]Okay. So I'm going to go out here.

[00:09:32]I'll do the same thing.

[00:09:41]Mark Y. Now go the other direction.

[00:09:45]And then we'll go half. Hit Y.

[00:09:50]Boom. Okay. So, now I can put my center drill in. I can zero everything up on my X and my Y, and I know I've got a spot right dead center of this part. Saves a bunch of time. Just wanted to show you guys that.

[00:10:58]Okay, guys. We're back on our farm implement today. I did get some gussets burned and I wanted those as close to flush as possible.

[00:11:14]So, I got two for either side. Those are burned at a/ inch plate. We're going to see if we can get our DOM and these gusset plates and everything welded on today. Then we're we're kind of on to the next phase to where we got to start figuring out the slide gate on the bottom and the chute and things like that. So, let's see what we can get done today. We did get an order in the mail yesterday and I'll show you guys that right now. So, this pivot bar that the axles go through, the hole for the axles needs to be as close to perfect as possible. And I mentioned to you guys before, I didn't have a fly cutter that was small enough. I didn't have a bit that was the right size. I do have this for the mill, but the problem is is it's too big. That's 3 in. So, that wasn't going to work either because the holes for the axles need to be 2 and 3/4. My thought was the best route is going to be to use one of these steelhog bits. And if you've never used one, they're amazing, but they're also expensive. This bit alone was about $450.

[00:12:28]And then you got to buy the arbor for it so that you can use it in your mill or a drill or whatever. So I had to get the arbor kit. So together these two parts were about $600. I think this is one of the things that people don't realize is with fabrication the tooling alone is extremely expensive. And that's part of the reason we have to charge per hour what we charge because the tooling is so expensive and and it's it's very specialized. You can't just go anywhere and get this kind of work done. You have to have the right machines. You have to have the right tooling if if you want it done right. Sure, somebody could just torch these holes, slide the axles through, try to level them up the best they could, and weld them out, but chances are they're not going to be straight. So, in our case, we want it to be right. We want this to be straight.

[00:13:22]We don't want the customer to have to have any complications or issues with this. I figured this was the best route.

[00:13:28]So, that's what we're going to do. So, today I'm going to try to get these holes drilled for the axles. We've got to cut our other pieces of DOM that slide through the center here. We've got to get our large pieces of DOM set on the frame, weld the gussets out.

[00:13:45]Then, we've got to get the axles installed on these pivot arms and weld it out as well. So, so my biggest item of stress today is heat. I'm really worried that when we weld the DOM in place, it's going to warp. I'm worried that these are going to warp. So, I'm just going to have to take my time, go slow, not put too much heat in anything, and just try to avoid that. It's always going to move a little bit, but we want to try to control that. So, so we're hoping that everything's going to go the way we want it to. That's enough talk.

[00:14:17]Let's get after it. All right, guys. We got our sleeves that weld in here all machined. Next order of business is we got to get these holes cut for the axles. And this part we have to get right. Here's what the bit looks like.

[00:14:32]It's a 2 and 3/4 bit. They ship them with this wax stuff on them to protect the carbide teeth on them. But if you've never used one of these bits, they are they make cutting steel seem like you're cutting butter. It's pretty dang amazing how smooth these cut. So, and there's our Oh, yeah.

[00:14:52]Look at that. And you can just go ahead and start cutting and this will all come off on its own, but that's not near as fun. Let's see if we can cut a hole. I'm going to get everything set up on the mill. We'll come back to you. Okay. So, I will show you guys how this goes together.

[00:15:10]So, here's the tool. It's got this rod and I believe the rod just kind of hits the side of the mill and lets this pivot. It'll make more sense, but there's a hose that hooks up to this that you can feed cutting lube through.

[00:15:25]There's the shank right there. And then you can see it's threaded on that end. Okay. So, I'm going to thread the bit on here.

[00:15:36]Okay. That'll tighten on its own. So, there's the setup. I'm just going to use one of my R8 collets for the mill and slide that over this and we'll see how that goes. Okay, guys. We got this all set up. It did come with a spray bottle piece of hose here and it hooks into this little nipple here. And then this thing swivels, but when it spins, it just kind of hits some of the components on the mill that keeps it from spinning in a circle. But there's some sort of a seal in there that allows the fluid to go down and feed the bit to keep it cool. We're gonna try it because it came with it and I'm just I'm interested to see how it works and if I like it. But I think you guys are about to have your minds blown on how smooth these bits cut through something like this. We've got to go straight through and we want it to be square. That's one of the reasons that we really want to do it this way is because we're able to drive the bit down through the first layer and then through the second layer and that will keep everything plum. It'll keep it square.

[00:16:45]All right, so here we go.

[00:16:49]I'm kind of interested to see how this spray bottle thing works myself.

[00:16:56]I do like to cut with this fairly slow.

[00:16:59]I'm running about 120 right now. I may go down to 100. Here we go.

[00:17:06]Oh, yeah. There's the fluid.

[00:17:15]Okay. So, if you start getting chatter like that, usually it means you're going too fast. So, we're going to slow it down to 80.

[00:17:25]See how it's just smoothed out? Took the chatter away. Then the other thing you want to make sure you do is keep keep your pressure on it. You want to make sure you keep a cut. Anytime you have chatter, it's not a good thing. It means you're not feeding fast enough or the speed's too high.

[00:17:43]But you can see the chips that are coming out of there. It's cutting just the way we want it to.

[00:17:52]I just love how smooth these bits cut.

[00:18:10]Oh. Uh-oh.

[00:18:22]So, you can see how fine those chips are. just cuts a big ribbon. Okay. So, it's nice and it's nice and wet in there. It's cool. It's not getting hot, but I think I think it was starting to slip in the collet. So, I might try to tighten the collet down just a little bit more. It's got flat spots on the shank, but I didn't really want to put it in the drill chuck just because that drops it down so much further.

[00:18:54]So, let's see what that does.

[00:18:56]Give it another jolt of lube there.

[00:19:01]And we're cutting again.

[00:19:12]Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:19:17]And I want to be careful cuz I don't want to chip the carbide teeth. There.

[00:19:22]There's our coupon. So, now we got to drop it down down through and start cutting on the other side. I purposely put the side with the seam on the top side because I didn't want to start on an interrupted cut on this bottom level.

[00:19:38]So, you want to try to think about things like that. It'll make your bits last a lot longer. So, here we go.

[00:19:48]Try to give you guys a better angle here.

[00:20:02]Ran out of reach.

[00:20:11]There we go.

[00:20:16]And where there's not a whole lot of room for the chips in there, I may have to stop midway and clear the chips. We'll see.

[00:20:31]If it starts to squeal just a little bit, then I usually got to give it a little bit more down pressure.

[00:20:59]Got to be getting close.

[00:21:17]Okay, same thing. Just try to pop our coupon out of there real gentle without touching the teeth.

[00:21:29]There we go.

[00:21:37]Okay, one hole down. All right. So, I'm going to pull this out and I want to put some calipers on this to show you guys how accurate these bits cut.

[00:21:47]Okay. So, this is really more of a machining process than a drilling process.

[00:21:54]It is 1,000th over. 2.751.

[00:22:00]It is 1,000th over. That's how accurate these bits are. And that's actually perfect because that gives me just enough room to slide that axle in there.

[00:22:12]And it's probably going to be like an interference fit getting it in there.

[00:22:17]But once I get it in there, it shouldn't have a lot of slop. It should be square because we leveled this, made sure that it was square to the machine, and drilled our hole. And we drilled it clear through. So, we should be good.

[00:22:32]All right. So, I got three more of these holes to machine. So, when I get those done, we'll come back to the table here.

[00:22:39]And when we get ready to start putting this together, we'll come back to you.

[00:22:44]All right, guys. We're over here at the lathe.

[00:22:47]We're getting our smaller pieces of DOM machined so that we can slide them into our 3x5x 38 wreck tube. The pivot pieces, we're getting these machined for that. So, we're getting ready to do that. I did get our gussets, our DOM that's mounted to the trailer, all welded out. It's cooling now. So, that's kind of where we're at. I'll give you guys a look at that.

[00:23:16]So, everything's welded 100%. I even welded up in here.

[00:23:22]So, everything's welded out. It doesn't look like it got too hot, but looks can be deceiving.

[00:23:32]So, we'll get these machined out.

[00:23:35]And the next thing to do while that's cooling is we'll start working on the pivot arms and see if we can get those holes drilled and ready to weld the axles on, get these pieces of DOM ready to weld inside of there as well. This is uh the next crucial step right here. So, we'll catch up to you guys once we get these done and ready to weld on there.

[00:24:08]Okay, guys.

[00:24:11]This is the next crucial scary part of this process. So, we've got to try to keep this center sleeve and the axles square with each other and square to the tube so that when we put them on, our wheels aren't skiwampus. There's a lot going on here. So, we got to make sure we get this right. So, my plan, I've machined the faces of all of these sleeves.

[00:24:42]So, this is a machine surface. I know it's perpendicular. So, I've put it on my table here, and I've made sure that that is on the table. I've got some shims underneath this that are the size that I need here.

[00:24:59]And then I've checked my measurement here. I needed to be an inch and 5/8 here. That'll give us 1 in clearance between the frame and our pivot arm here. So that's what the uh the one that we took the measurements off of. That's that's how it was. So I figure an inch clearance should be enough.

[00:25:22]So this is square to the table. If you check it with a square, it is right on the money. The problem is as soon as you start tacking things, they're going to start pulling. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to put two tacks here and here. And I'm going to just hit it and hit it real quick to try to keep it from pulling too much.

[00:25:45]Um, I can't really push it this way, but I can push it the other way. So, if I know that I'm square here, I'm going to tack this one first and then bounce over here. So, here we go.

[00:26:15]Okay, that's right on the money levelwise.

[00:26:22]Oh, son of a gun. We've done it. We have done it.

[00:26:28]Okay, now I'm going to gently try to gently and it is good now. So, I'm going to do the same thing. Try and be quick.

[00:26:42]Let's see what kind of pull we're getting here.

[00:26:50]Looks good.

[00:26:52]Okay.

[00:26:55]Now, if if we can get the shaft in there, we can slide this on, too, and just check our measurement to make sure that we're good and we've got enough clearance both directions. I kind of want to do that before I get tax on this other side.

[00:27:10]So, I'm going to see if that's cool. And it might be the moment of truth. All right. So, I've got my DOM set in place here, and I've got my gusset plates roughly where I want them. A little bit complicated. We're going to try to square everything up and level it up.

[00:27:27]So, I'm going to start by tacking up my gusset plates. We're welding everything with 045 dual shield. Okay. So, I'm going to try to get some tacks on the bottom corner here.

[00:27:44]I need to mark that. So, I think if I pull a measurement off the back of the trailer to the edge of my gusset plate, if I do the math and figure out what center of the gusset plate is, deduct this half of that measurement, make a mark here. It's not it's not as important that we're perfectly centered over the support as it is that we're square. So, we need to make sure we're the same distance on both sides from the rear of the trailer. So, I got to cut these tacks, clean those up. Then I got to do some math and mark where these go.

[00:28:20]Lovely. Okay. So, hopefully you can see that I got my marks on there. This is where the center of the DOM needs to go.

[00:28:28]So, we're just going to plan on squaring off of the tube frame.

[00:28:34]So, I'm putting this gusset center of the frame. And this one I want to be kind of towards the outside. The reason I'm doing that, we have to have clearance as much as possible right here for the chute that comes down.

[00:28:55]I do want to make sure this one's centered. And we need to make sure that we're square this way.

[00:29:09]I want it sticking out about 38ighs of an inch here just so I can get some good weld around this the whole way. I am going to put a level on these and just check those with a level as well. But everything looks pretty good. So, I'm going to grab a level, check those, and then we'll get some more TS on this.

[00:29:27]Trying to hold this center.

[00:29:41]This is a timeconsuming process, but it should pay off in the end. So, I'm going to get a whole bunch of tax on this.

[00:30:03]Now that this is tacked up, I'm going to go do the same thing to the other side.

[00:30:07]When I get that one all tacked up and we're ready to weld it, we'll come back to you. So, we're going to have to keep checking it with the shafts. Make sure that it'll slide in. If it doesn't, if it warps bad enough, I can take the shaft and I can machine it down just a little bit. I just don't want to have to. The shaft that I ordered is what's called TGP, turn, ground, and polished, and it's it's like right on the money with with the measurement with spec. So, I really don't want to have to machine it. I was hoping I could do all the machining to this. Um, and I'm hoping I gave it enough clearance. So, the only way we're going to know is if we start welding it and then we'll just have to keep trying it with the shaft. Make sure that it slides. Okay. I'm going to I'm going to try to distribute the heat.

[00:30:59]Bounce around. So, I'm going to fit that other side and when I get it to the point where I feel like we're good, then I'll come back to you.

[00:31:08]All right. Tell them what we're doing.

[00:31:12]We're going to weld this thing.

[00:31:14]>> Lift this up.

[00:31:15]>> We're going to weld this thing.

[00:31:16]>> We're going to weld this thing >> and then we're going to like take it to my mom.

[00:31:21]>> Oh yeah. So she can see. Huh? How old are you?

[00:31:25]>> Four.

[00:31:26]>> Let's tighten this. You're four. That means you struck your first arc about 13 years before I did. I think I was I might have been 18. I think I was 18 when I struck my first arc. He's four.

[00:31:41]So, you got a little bit of a head start, don't you? Okay. So, we got his gloves on. We got an FR shirt on him.

[00:31:50]He's standing on a bucket so he can reach.

[00:31:54]We're going to be welding dual shield because if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly.

[00:32:01]So, you're going to take this. This is the trigger. So, you're going to hold this.

[00:32:07]And when I tell you to pull the trigger, you pull the trigger. And and and first we just want to tack it. Okay. So when you tack it, you just want to just pull the trigger just for a second. We're gonna put a little dot right there.

[00:32:19]Okay.

[00:32:20]>> Okay. So now flip your hood down. Okay.

[00:32:24]Now hang on.

[00:32:26]Let's get you a fresh Okay. Can you feel the trigger?

[00:32:30]>> Yeah.

[00:32:31]>> Okay. Now go ahead. Okay. Let go. Good job. Wow.

[00:32:36]That was a good tack.

[00:32:37]>> Yeah.

[00:32:39]>> Okay. Okay, now we're going to do it on the other side right here. Can you see?

[00:32:43]>> Is it Let me make sure this hood's working.

[00:32:48]You You step down for a minute and go look at the wall. Okay, just stay right there.

[00:32:56]Okay, it's good. It's good.

[00:32:59]>> Okay.

[00:33:01]Did you Did you see the fire when you pulled the trigger?

[00:33:03]>> Yes.

[00:33:04]>> Yeah. Cool, huh?

[00:33:05]>> Yeah.

[00:33:06]>> Okay. up up there.

[00:33:10]Okay.

[00:33:13]All right. So, you got a tack there. Got a tack there. Let's put two more tacks on it just for good practice.

[00:33:20]Okay. Get your hood on. Can you see through that hole?

[00:33:24]>> Yeah.

[00:33:24]>> Or do you need to pull this down more?

[00:33:26]Is that good?

[00:33:27]>> Yeah.

[00:33:27]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:33:31]Okay. Ready?

[00:33:32]>> Yeah.

[00:33:33]>> Go ahead. Pull the trigger. Little little more. Good job. Okay, now we're going to do it again.

[00:33:43]You need help?

[00:33:47]>> Let's get that on your head. Get There we go. Is that okay?

[00:33:51]>> Yes.

[00:33:52]>> Can you see?

[00:33:53]>> Or is your Is your cap getting in the way?

[00:33:56]>> Yeah.

[00:33:56]>> It's a little big for you, isn't it? We need Grandma Elaine to make you one that'll fit you.

[00:34:04]How's that? Good.

[00:34:05]>> That better?

[00:34:06]>> Yeah.

[00:34:08]>> Okay. Now, we'll put another tack.

[00:34:12]>> Okay. Can you see it? Look at the metal.

[00:34:16]>> Yeah.

[00:34:17]>> Okay. Now, pull the trigger.

[00:34:20]Okay. Good job. All right. Now, let's turn that around. We're going to run a bead right here. Okay. Now, I'm going to help you. Oh.

[00:34:40]How's that? Can you see better now?

[00:34:41]>> Yeah.

[00:34:42]>> Okay. Okay. First weld.

[00:34:46]Here we go. Okay.

[00:34:49]Now, I'm going to help you. Okay.

[00:34:51]>> Okay.

[00:34:52]>> Okay. You watching?

[00:34:53]>> Yeah.

[00:34:54]>> Watch right here. Can you see it?

[00:34:56]>> Um, >> look through the Look through the hood.

[00:35:01]Can you see it right there? Um, >> right here. You can't see this. Why can't you see it?

[00:35:07]>> Because it's like dark.

[00:35:09]>> Let me see.

[00:35:14]Oh, why is it dark? It is dark. Okay, hang on.

[00:35:19]>> I can't wait to watch the video without you.

[00:35:23]>> Me, too.

[00:35:28]>> Okay.

[00:35:29]Okay. You good?

[00:35:30]>> Yeah. Can you see now?

[00:35:32]>> Yeah.

[00:35:33]>> Okay. Okay. Now, we're going to Let's put this on this side. Okay. We're going to hold that there. Mhm.

[00:35:42]>> All right.

[00:35:43]Now, put your other hand right here.

[00:35:46]Okay. Now, we're going to weld right here. Okay.

[00:35:48]>> And I'm going to help you. You ready?

[00:35:49]When I tell you to stop, stop. But you can pull the trigger and don't let go until I tell you.

[00:35:55]>> Okay.

[00:35:56]>> Okay. Ready?

[00:35:57]>> Yeah. Go.

[00:35:59]They go nice and slow.

[00:36:10]Woo!

[00:36:13]Look at that weld.

[00:36:17]>> Holy.

[00:36:18]>> Pretty cool, huh?

[00:36:20]>> How do we cool it down?

[00:36:22]>> We just let it cool. Good job. You're a natural.

[00:36:29]>> Let's show the crew.

[00:36:32]There's Gray's first weld. That's got slag on it, so we'll clean it up and show you guys. But it's pretty good.

[00:36:40]I like it. First time welding.

[00:36:44]Pretty cool, huh?

[00:36:46]>> Yep.

[00:36:48]All right, we'll get back to work. He come over and said he wanted to try welding.

[00:36:55]He's had enough running the grinder, so he wanted to try welding. Huh.

[00:37:00]Okay. Well, that was fun. Let's get back to work. All right, guys. So, here's what we got going. I got the other side tacked on and lined up, leveled, squared, all the above. One of the things that I decided to do, and it was quite time consuming, but I think it's going to be worth it in the long run, is I slid the piece of shaft through here and checked to see if it was lined up with that one.

[00:37:25]and it was off a little bit. I ended up having to grind these tacks off just off of the DOM so that I had some movement. And then I slid the shaft back through there to where I could move it just a whisker to get it in line with that piece of DOM. And then I could slide the shaft the whole the whole way with no issues. I ended up getting that piece tacked into place while the shaft was in place.

[00:37:53]And it's all tacked out now. And then I got this piece of angle on here and I've tacked it to every one of these gussets to try to keep everything from moving while I weld on these. So the first thing I'm going to do is weld the gussets on. I want to try to get these welded out 100%. And I'm going to do the DOM last. And I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to stand the trailer up and I'll weld these flat.

[00:38:20]and I'll be able to weld one, two, three, four, and then flip it and weld the other four and and then I should be good. That's kind of the plan. I'm hoping that with this reinforced, it'll keep everything from moving. By the time I get these welded out, it's probably going to be lunchtime, so I'll probably go in the house for lunch, let the gussets cool, and then I'll come back out, stand it up, and weld the DOM.

[00:38:46]We're just going to do the best we can.

[00:38:48]Here we go. I'm going to start welding these out. All right, so we've got one side welded out here. I didn't really hear any flexing, popping, anything like that. I think it stayed put pretty good.

[00:38:59]I'm going to go ahead and weld that other side, just the gussets.

[00:39:04]And then when I get those all welded out, like I said, I'll go in for lunch, let them cool, come back out, and then it'll be time to weld on the DOM and see how we do. Moment of truth. So, we'll catch up to you guys at that point.

[00:39:25]Oh boy.

[00:39:28]It's not good.

[00:39:31]That's what I was afraid of.

[00:39:37]So, I took a measurement and it's saying it's 5 to 7 thou over, which I know the pin is right at 3 in.

[00:39:47]I'm going to try and grab a flapper on my die grinder and just maybe ream that out.

[00:39:55]Maybe there's just some spatter from the welding that is hanging it up. I don't know. We're going to show it some love and see if we can get it to go. Here we go.

[00:40:06]Try this.

[00:40:09]Huh?

[00:40:11]Come on. you really.

[00:40:19]It's hanging up on something.

[00:40:49]All right guys, welcome back. So for the next phase of our wheel ditch filler farm imp increment.

[00:40:59]All right guys, welcome back. So, for the next phase, stuck up to my And then once we get that figured out, we can come back to you guys when we're getting ready to weld some of this stuff up. We'll show you what we Okay. So, I've got my DOM set in place.

[00:41:22]Got my gussets.

[00:41:26]Try to keep treat