November 2019 - Save Our Skills

Adding A Trailer Hitch

For those of us that cannot justify a pick-up truck, but still on occasion need to haul items famously labled as “Stuff” a small utility trailer can fill that need quite well. However to pull a trailer you need a hitch on your vehicle. Fortuntly most cars now have tapped holes in the frame for an easy install, provided you get a hitch designed for your car.

In my case I ordered a hitch and wiring harnes from etrailer.com

Opening up the box shows what $190 buys me

Since the holes were not protected from road dirt I needed to clean them out before the bolts would thread in. I spent more time looking for a brush in my garage then it ended up taking me to install it. Only 5 bolts in holes that were already tapped meant that once I actually started mounting it I was done in less than 15 minutes. The whole job including the wiring harness was only a bit over an hour. It did take 2 people as it needed to be held up while the bolts were started.

Over the years I have hauled all kinds of things in a small 4′ x 8′ utility trailer that I got from Harbor Freight. Everything from lumber to moving to compost. I have several projects planned for the next year and this will help me get the materials to get things done.

Change To LED Can Lights

A simple upgrade you can do is to convert your can lights to LED. In recent years LED lights have become widely available and very reasonably priced. I got the above light from Costco at about $15 for a two-pack. In my case, I have 10 of them on my front and back porches.

One problem I had with my old lights is they were open around the bulb and this allowed wasps to get up above the soffit and build nests. If you look at the picture you can see this problem and there really isn’t any way to fix it that I have found. With an incandescent bulb, there isn’t a cover that you can put over it due to the heat created.

Looking at the replacement LED you can see that it simply screws into the existing socket and has what is in effect two springs that hook into the can and draws the light up to be flush with the ceiling.

Installation could not be simpler:

Remove the old bulb and trim ring
Screw the plug into the socket
Hook the springs over the lugs in the can
Push the light up and it will snap up to the ceiling

Making Lumber With A Chainsaw

If you have a chainsaw and access to some trees that you are going to cut into firewood anyway, why not try your hand at cutting them into 2″ thick slabs.