Where have you been all my life, Gladys?

[Moriarty]

Had some fun taking photos of Gladys in the Little Cedar River in the U. P. At my buddy's land near Carney, Michigan.

Looking good!

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[steffen707]

I may have been called a perfectionist a few times. I kinda believe in Its not worth doing unless you do it right ( i thought there is a saying like that, lol).

So this was my journey to make the 2x4 bed supports better.

I measured the indent on the wheel wells, they're actually 4" wide. So I used my Festool track saw to rip down a 2x6 to 4".

Next I wanted the edges to hug the slope better, so I set the miter saw to max 60deg, and cut both sides slightly bigger on purpose.

Now I put on the truck, there's a gap...good!

Now I'm doing what my finish carpenter friend calls "walking it in". Its a process of slicing tiny bits off a miter saw to slowly make something fit perfectly. I'm sure most of you are like, ITS A 2X4, WHO CARES. I'll explain why it matters in a bit.

To walk it in, put piece of wood on fence, sowly push cut edge of board into the saw blade. This will cause the blade to deflect (bend). The more pressure, the more bend. Don't over do it. Now pull the miter saw up, the blade will fling back to straight. Come down with the saw and slice a tiny bit off the board.
When you need to take more off just cut the kerf of the blade. Trust me, this takes patience. When doing this with a 2x4 for a bed of a truck if you take too much off, oh well. When you're working with an expensive piece of crown moulding, you may think hey, I can take more off. Then BOOM, you took too much off. PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE. LOL

Still gap

Keep cutting it. Over and over. Took maybe 5-6 cut and checks until it was perfect., well KINDA.

Unfortunately the angle is more than 60deg, so there's a gap on each side because my miter saw can't cut greater than 60deg., LOL So much for perfection. Here's where I will mention why I went to such lengths. As i hoped, the piece sits nicely in the indentation of the wheel well. So well in fact that when you push a piece of plywood over it, it doesn't slide out, or when you pull the last piece of plywood off the truck, the board still doesn't slide out. I was actually going to bevel cut the long edges to make it fit PERFECTLY, but I wanted to get going to the UP and walking in a compound cut like that is hard to do. Typically I would need to make a test piece for the one miter, and a test piece for the bevel, then combine the 2 on a final board. Even for me, that was a bit overkill.

Next, the 7" tall board. Jeep suggests 2, 2x4s. I'd rather have 1 piece, so i'm starting with an 8" wide board.
Too wide.

Still too wide.

Walk it in

Measure with a straight edge for perfect height.

Set my track saw depth gauges to 6 and 28/32. CORRECTION: I RE-checked this with a metal straight edge and got 6 and 7/32". So.... with the 14/32" bed mat, that would mean a 6 and 5/8" board I think would be the right height if I didn't have a bed mat......So much for perfect, lol.

Rip

Check with straight edge, yep, it touches both boards and tailgate simultaneously. YAY!

Go to menards and get 2 sheets of 3/4 plywood.

Stop for a nice plywood shot with Gladys.

Pulling sheets off the bed onto saw horses is easy. Throw my track saw on there to rip the boards down to 34" to make a plywood door for my deer stand.

Loaded up......DAMN I NEED A TOPPER. If you are carrying sheet goods, there's only like 10" or so of space above plywood to store tools before the tonneau cover. This isn't enough space and I had to put my milwaukee toolbox in the child seat.......oh well. Trip to U.P. was a success. Deer stand has new door. Gladys got to play in the stream a bit and get her first mud on her fenders, lol.

And now I have a new Avatar!

 

[Jake]

Hey @steffen707 you are right. My grandfather had a similar saying. He always told me: If you are going back do a job then do it right or don’t do it at all.

I think you need some more bed matting material so you can have the bed floor covered all the way to the front of the bed. Yes I know, it’s a work in progress.

 

[steffen707]

Hey @steffen707 you are right. My grandfather had a similar saying. He always told me: If you are going back do a job then do it right or don’t do it at all.

I think you need some more bed matting material so you can have the bed floor covered all the way to the front of the bed. Yes I know, it’s a work in progress.

I actually have those pieces cut as well, took them out the other day to trim them. They're back in now.

 

[Slapping_Rabbits]

I used to be on the perfectionist bandwagon, but then i realized i could get 90% of the way there in 1/4 of the time. With a kid, i now have a very limited amount of free time so this works out.

 

[attworth]

I used to be on the perfectionist bandwagon, but then i realized i could get 90% of the way there in 1/4 of the time. With a kid, i now have a very limited amount of free time so this works out.

In line with this mentality, I’m on the Fail Fast bandwagon. Too much to do and not enough time.

 

[steffen707]

In line with this mentality, I’m on the Fail Fast bandwagon. Too much to do and not enough time.

i'm still fighting against this, but i hear ya. 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 small business I should give up on perfection, but I haven't yet.

 

[SleepyJeep]

i'm still fighting against this, but i hear ya. 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 small business I should give up on perfection, but I haven't yet.

Perfection doesn't exist, it's a Utopian concept. If you can freeze time and space, sure something can be perfect at that time but again is subjective and is perfect to that particular individual (what's perfect to you might not be perfect to me) at that space/time location. That doesn't mean you do a sloppy job, but you do the best you can and a lil wabi-sabi gives it character. I work in tech and anytime I hear anyone say they are a perfectionist (In my mind, I hear it as douche-bag LOL) , it just puts unreasonable expectations on the people working on it when everything around you changes and since perfection is so temporal it is rather just an arrogant ideology imposed on to others and to oneself unknowingly mostly. You do the best work possible for the best ROI. That's my philosophy

 

[steffen707]

Perfection doesn't exist, it's a Utopian concept. If you can freeze time and space, sure something can be perfect at that time but again is subjective and is perfect to that particular individual (what's perfect to you might not be perfect to me) at that space/time location. That doesn't mean you do a sloppy job, but you do the best you can and a lil wabi-sabi gives it character. I work in tech and anytime I hear anyone say they are a perfectionist (In my mind, I hear it as douche-bag LOL) , it just puts unreasonable expectations on the people working on it when everything around you changes and since perfection is so temporal it is rather just an arrogant ideology imposed on to others and to oneself unknowingly mostly. You do the best work possible for the best ROI. That's my philosophy

lmao. Well I do like your insight even if i'm a douche-bag.

 

[JT614]

In line with this mentality, I’m on the Fail Fast bandwagon. Too much to do and not enough time.

I'm with you. It's all about time and allowable tollerences.

 

[SleepyJeep]

lmao. Well I do like your insight even if i'm a douche-bag.

LOL hahaha well, I wasn't calling you a DB. But, you know what I meant :P

 

[Slapping_Rabbits]

There's actually a double standard when I hear "i'm a perfectionist" depending on the situation. When you are building something and say it then I think you are going to do a really good job. At my job when i hear a team member say it, I think they are going to take forever, be a complete bottle neck and then the end result isn't going to be worth it anyways.

 

[steffen707]

There's actually a double standard when I hear "i'm a perfectionist" depending on the situation. When you are building something and say it then I think you are going to do a really good job. At my job when i hear a team member say it, I think they are going to take forever, be a complete bottle neck and then the end result isn't going to be worth it anyways.

I dig your interpretation.

 

[steffen707]

In case anybody buys a 67 design jl/JT dash mount and it's wobbly, taking the screws out will screw up the 3M pad.
Also, there was what looks like red locktite on the screws.

So I believe my wobbly one was just not torqued properly from factory.

If you want to drill the two "optional holes" and don't want to lower the windshield, I suggest buying the Milwaukee Shockwave right angle adapter, then a 1/4" HEX chuck drill bit. Can't wait to use this thing.

 

[furrymurray]

Video please?? I would love to see that thing in action! Im sorry you have an issue with your 67 designs mount, I know you will get it right though.

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