One problem leads to another.....

[YamahaLarry]

Will try to make this as short as I can, but the week before Christmas, my wife calls me while I am at work and says she was outside and heard a lot of commotion coming from my garage. I have a 26 x 24 steel building garage with 2 bay doors. Both doors were closed and only had 1 of them locked. She said she thought someone was in there and was about to call the police. In my mind, a quick flash, and I remembered seeing my cabinets leaning slightly at the top. I have the back wall, from side to side, 24 feet, with 40" tall cabinets. I asked her to go out and look, I bet a cabinet fell off the wall. She insisted that the noise lasted too long for it to be a cabinet and was afraid someone was in there.

 

We hung up the phones. A few minutes later she built up courage to go check and called me back. I had all the cabinets fasted to the same staggered 2 x 4s that were attached to the metal tubes horizontally. Well, EVERY cabinet came loose from the top. The ones on the left were barely attached at the bottom and leaning close to 90 degrees from the wall while the ones on the right side were leaning more like 45 degrees. Needless to say, everything in the cabinets hit whatever was under it or the floor. I had a huge mess of tools, special tools, paints, electrical equipment, electrical components in the cabinets. On top, I had years of old paperwork in boxes, old parts from some old cars including a torque converter and lots of other stuff.

 

Well, it has been raining here, and I had no option other than to set up some tables and shelves outside the garage to start putting everything on just so I could get to the cabinets, so I put a popup tent over the tables and shelves and carried a lot of stuff out. Next I started taking the cabinets loose, 1 by 1 (they vary 36" to 48" wide) working from right to left.

 

My air compressor is a 60 gallon mounted on cement pad behind the garage with 3/4" black iron pipe coming thru the wall and welded to the vertical tubes down the back and right side of the wall with quick connects ever so often. When I got to the 2nd to last cabinet, and it came free, the 2 x 4s dropped on the right causing it to come loose from the cabinet to my left. I had hold of one cabinet, and the other one fell. As soon as it fell, I hear a PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. DANG!!!! So I threw cabinet down, grabbed the other and leaned it up to find the problem and it had broken my air gauge off of the air/water separator.

 

So, I run and turn off the compressor. Make a trip to Tractor Suppy and get a gauge and got it all fixed up and running. So now I work and get to the point of hanging my cabinets on a wood wall that I had build a few months ago, first putting a 1 x 2 strip to rest the cabinets upon.

 

Using my pneumatic finish nailer, I hear the compressor kick on and off as it should occasionally, and once I heard it make a dinging sound when it shut off. I wondered what that could be as I continued working. Compressor kicks on again, and there is this dang PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sound again. It's dark outside. So rush to find a flashlight in all my mess, compressor is running at a seemingly higher rpm than normal. I finally get out there to it and there is the plastic hose that air is spewing from. So I shut the compressor off with switch on top of the pressure switch and examine where this hose could possibly have detached from. I find a little black elbow under the pressure switch and the brass quick-coupler on it had broken.

 

Have no idea if the cabinets falling was responsible, and really doesn't matter. I need my compressor. I use it almost daily. So, after googling, I find out this is a UNLOADER VALVE. Make a trip the following day (yesterday) to Grainger (had a nice ride in the 73 vw convertible) to get a new valve. Got home and ended up having to remove the pressure switch to replace the valve, and then had to install it and wire it all back up. Got 'er fixed. Feeling pretty good and calling it a day. Still have lots of stuff under my tent outside.

 

So, this morning, my son drops off my grandkids and says "Hey, did you know your tent collapsed?".

 

Sure enough, it rained during the night and water must have built up on the top canvas and it collapsed. Everything WET. Had to deal with that.

 

They say it comes in threes. I hope I am done with my rounds:

1) Cabinets fall

2) Broken pressure gauge

3) Broken unloader valve

 

Still have tons of work to do to get it all back together. Just wanted to share my joyous holiday's with you guys. If you have overloaded cabinets, make sure they are secure or just don't have anything important under them.

 

And, until a couple days ago, I had never even heard of an unloader valve and I have been around air compressors just about my entire 59 year life.

 

Luckily, my RSV was a good 10 to 12 feet from the cabinets and no car was in the garage.

[cowpuc]

Well that sure sounds like a LOT of work just cause you wanted to go for a ride in the V-Dub Lar.. The old "Its easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" still works for me brother but hey,, mans gotta do what a mans gotta do and I can see where I would get all geeked out if I owned a cute little convertible Herbie like yours too - I would probably forget the golden rule at least once..

 

Thanks for sharing the story, THAT was amazing!! I would score it at a 9,, shame you didnt think to grab a camera in the middle of all the commotion and snap us a picture or two of all the action!! THAT would have made it a PERFECT 10!

:scratchchin:Ok,, lets change it to a 9.5,, after all,, you DID protect your scoot!!:clap2:

[YamahaLarry]

Well that sure sounds like a LOT of work just cause you wanted to go for a ride in the V-Dub Lar.. The old "Its easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" still works for me brother but hey,, mans gotta do what a mans gotta do and I can see where I would get all geeked out if I owned a cute little convertible Herbie like yours too - I would probably forget the golden rule at least once..

 

Thanks for sharing the story, THAT was amazing!! I would score it at a 9,, shame you didnt think to grab a camera in the middle of all the commotion and snap us a picture or two of all the action!! THAT would have made it a PERFECT 10!

:scratchchin:Ok,, lets change it to a 9.5,, after all,, you DID protect your scoot!!:clap2:

 

Hey, I wish it was as simple as a well laid out plan to take a ride in the bug. And unlike you, I never can remember to grab the camera. FWIW, until I do the full restore on the bug, I am using it as a daily driver when I can't ride the RSV. Just haven't been able to put the top down very often due to all the rain we have been having.

 

The biggest mess that was created was the old 21" Computer CRT that was on top of the cabinets. When one of those fall from 9 or 10 feet, and land face first on concrete, it creates a huge mess of glass. I mean fine particles of glass. Luckily, my wife was out helping me when I got to that portion and she was kind enough to grab a broom and dust pan and get it all cleaned up. All I had to do was carefully remove the deceased.

[cowpuc]

 

The biggest mess that was created was the old 21" Computer CRT that was on top of the cabinets. When one of those fall from 9 or 10 feet, and land face first on concrete, it creates a huge mess of glass. I mean fine particles of glass. Luckily, my wife was out helping me when I got to that portion and she was kind enough to grab a broom and dust pan and get it all cleaned up. All I had to do was carefully remove the deceased.

 

OUCH ,, those suckers almost explode when that happens!! Seriously Lar, glad neither of you were injured through it all, kind of a pain in the neck to have to do the clean up but thank God your both ok!!

[YamahaLarry]

OUCH ,, those suckers almost explode when that happens!! Seriously Lar, glad neither of you were injured through it all, kind of a pain in the neck to have to do the clean up but thank God your both ok!!

[Larry1963]

I was waiting for the part of the story, and glad it did not happen, where the cabinets fell on the motorcycle knocking it over and other damage.

 

Remember all that is just stuff. If you haven't used it in years, maybe time to get rid of it.

[BratmanXj]

They say it comes in threes. I hope I am done with my rounds:

 

I'm with you on that one, but unfortunately with the year I've had around here I think I'm on my 3rd set of 3...

[Flyinfool]

Just think of all the goodies that you will rediscover while putting it all back together. Have you made any really good finds of so that where that went, or the old I forgot that I have one of those?

 

Good thing this year will be over in just a few more hours. It's been a rough one.

[YamahaLarry]

I was waiting for the part of the story, and glad it did not happen, where the cabinets fell on the motorcycle knocking it over and other damage.

 

Remember all that is just stuff. If you haven't used it in years, maybe time to get rid of it.

 

If that would have happened, there would have been no posts. I would still be in very deep eternal depression. While my bike has a value per NADA and Kelly, it is actually priceless to me due to the custom paint job in memory of a couple of children that have lost their lives to childhood cancer, as well as those that have battled and are battling this horrible monster.

 

The actual value of the paint job is in the 4k range. But, my wife and I were talking the other day, and as I explained to her, you can't put a value on it.

[YamahaLarry]

Just think of all the goodies that you will rediscover while putting it all back together. Have you made any really good finds of so that where that went, or the old I forgot that I have one of those?

 

Good thing this year will be over in just a few more hours. It's been a rough one.

 

Have found a few goodies, but haven't hit it big yet. In the process now of sorting all the stuff that was picked up off the floor and thrown into boxes, and placing them all in cabinets. Have rehung all the cabinets except one. Had to take a break and install my wife's Christmas gift, new flooring for the kitchen. Gotta keep the kitchen in shape, that is where the real goodies come from.

[Venture n Dixie]

Ouch! I come through Moody on my drive in and home. Need me to provide some extra grunt just let me know.

[Eck]

All I can say is I wish you a very happy NEW YEAR...!!!!!!!!!!! Hope things clear up in your world.