Put the floor in on my fish house..

[hovermn]

One more question for ya. What size rod/tube did you use for your pivot? That one little answer will save me a heck of a lot of time at the steel yard :-)

The current house trailer uses some scrap I found and the tube is a little larger then it should be causing some slop.

Believe me, if you saw my first house, you'd forget about any "flaws" that you've made. The first design utilized my own design for a pivot...YIKES! that was bad! lol I pivoted the wheels on a 1/2" pin. The pin held fine, but wheels turned in and oblonged the holes through the arm pretty bad. Man, what was I thinking! lol I think it's on my HSOforum still which is my username with the usual internet stuff after it.

[Kylersk]

The pivot arm is made out of 2" round steel each 16" long.

[hovermn]

Sorry, that wasn't explained very well. What I meant is the pivot rod dia. and the sleave tube that the pivot arm is welded to that goes over the pivot rod (welded to the trailer) Hmm, not very clear either.

Here's a quick drawing

[Kylersk]

The pivot rod is made out of 2" diameter steel, 16" long.

The arm is made out of 2.5" square tubing, 1/4" thick.

The sleeve is made out of 2.375" OD, 2" ID steel tubing (It's actually left over Axle tubing that I got with my Springs/hubs). I had the sleeve OD turned down to 2.25" OD, just to slide through the 2.5" square tubing. Between the Pivot arm and house frame, I left it the full 2.375" OD. So, the sleeve acts as a bushing in the pivot arm and a spacer, between arm and main trailer frame.

Does that make sense?

[hovermn]

Perfect sense! Thanks! So you're running a 2" od rod into a 2" tube? Any binding issues there? I would imagine that grease grease and more grease is needed to keep those tolerances working together. I didn't even think about using 2 and 2 because I was worried about that(without trying it that is), but finding a tube ID just above it is no simple task.

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the confusion!

[Kylersk]

Actually, Now that I think about it more, I also had the inside of the sleeve milled little bit. I cant remember how much, couple 1000ths? but there is some room for it to move. That was last winter when I had all these parts done, so I'm trying to remember everything.

[Kylersk]

After thinking about it a little more, I ended up using 2.375" OD, 1.875 ID, and had it milled out for the 2" tubing w/clearance.

I was confused, because a friend mentioned using axle tubing, and we have a piece lying around, that is 2.375 OD, and 2" ID.

[hovermn]

I was actually just thinking about having a machine shop turn down the round bar a couple 1000ths. This is stuff that I hadn't thought about doing before, so the current fish house frame has quite a bit of slop in it because I went to the next size up. However, I'm going to do some mods to it just to get it going for this year. It's in Chisago so there are plenty of lakes around the area to fish on without worrying too much about the thing failing on me.

Over the summer, I through together a few designs and plan on putting something together over the next couple of months, maybe. Anyway, I've looked over the pics on your site many times and they have given me plenty of ideas. So again, thanks for sharing your project with us. It's been great watching it go together

You know, with the spring pinning design that you have, you could use a single winch at the front to winch your house up and down. Heck, a 12v winch would be the ticket!! Hmmm, maybe...

[Kylersk]

Just remember, if any of my designs do not work well, I assume no responsibilty. I'm worried about the spring sliding on the pin, and how the pin will hold up. My friend uses the exact same setup, and he has no concerns. I tend to overthink alot though. =)

[hovermn]

What you have is no different then a slipper spring arrangement. When the spring deflects, it wants to flatten out, making it longer on a flat plane. So, it'll actually push towards the back instead of pulling on the pin. Of course, on the neg. rebound, it'll hit it, but those pins can take a LOT of abuse! Trust me, we towed our house all over the place a couple of years ago, red lake, around the metro, all over central MN without any trouble, and the house was pivoting on two 1/2" pins. lol, pretty dumb I know, but they showed no sign of wear.

I've racked my brain trying to figure out a good way of using a single winch to raise/lower the house. I've even thought about going with torsion axles to do away with the springs to set the pivot tube down in the same spot every time to pin it. When using 1 main cable winching 2 pivots, they'll never stop at the exact spot. However, if one stops, the other will continue to move until it hits the stopper. Your rig does that perfectly.

Don't worry, I assume responsibility for my mistakes, copied or own design

[Augusta]

I've been reading these recent posts about the axle system.I don't mean to butt in on your thread, but I have a question that I just have to ask. Mine is pretty much the same set up and I've had no problems. I do have one concern though that is really bothering me. The person who built my trailer used 1 1/2 inch pivot axels. My house is 6.5 x 14, I have never weighed the house, but I suspect I'm in the 2,500 lb range. My question to you guys is this. Are my pivot axles strong enough for that heavy of a house? If not, can anyone recommend someone who can re do my axle system? Thanks.

[hovermn]

I'd say that you'll be just fine. As long as your pivot arm has some sort of suspension to absorb harsh impacts, it'll hold strong. My house weighs around 2000 lbs and we used it a whole year using those tiny pins. The pins didn't bend, the steel pivot arm did because I just drilled holes and stuck the pins through. There was no sleeve welded in so the thin walls had to deflect all of the weight causing them to oblong.

I believe that the new pivot is 1 1/2" and I have no worries about bending it.

Here's what I'd do. Before you do anything, fish it a year and see what happens. It's not going to break on you, but if you find that the wheels are starting to angle in towards the house, you'll need a larger pivot bar. However, I don't think that you'll have a problem.

Oh yeah, this is everyone's thread. You didn't butt in, you added to it

[nytelyter]

Quote:

---

I plan on attending the gathering, but without my house.

---

dude why not bring the shack up with you?

call me and i will meet you and show you the back way there. you have us all on a roll here about your nice house and i am sure all of those attending want to give you a big head about its progress and fine work. wont have to hit any freeways i used to travel to rogers a few times a week and know a very easy route. e-mail me if ya forgot the number and we will chat. [email protected] . ... paul

[Kylersk]

I know a back way there as well, but I dont plan on insuring it till October or a little closer to ice season. I dont want to tow it with out insurance.

[deepportage01]

Your home insurance should cover it I would call them, Kylersk, your shack has been all over this site for a long time dude you gota let us see it on the 23rd

[Kylersk]

I have called them, and I need to carry a seperate policy on it.

[deepportage01]

Sorry, I just had to twist your arm a little

[LaZyDayZ]

I have been watching this post from the beginning and I really have enjoyed it. You have done an amazing job on the house. I really like the lighting!

I too would love to see it at the event. When I added mine to my insurance policy it was only an additional $20 for the entire year.

[Kylersk]

If anyone plans on using Vinyl siding, make sure everything has enough clearance from the siding. I *thought* I had everything clear.. But I found out that the bolt holding my Spring into the pivot arm hit the very edges of the siding when lowering the house. So, for now, I've just cut a V into the siding, where the bolt hits, and silicon it shut. Not sure what to do for long term.

[hovermn]

I've run into that problem as well. It's tough trying to get everything tucked into such a tight package to keep it under 102" AND avoid ripping the siding off. I've been seriously thinking about going to a 6'4" frame to give me that extra 1" on both sides.

Dunno about the long term. What about using a cariage bolt instead. The round head may help. You could always cut a slot into it for tightening/loosening purposes.

[Kylersk]

I bet a carriage bolt would work, I dont hink it would have anything to grab onto the siding with.

Anyways, it stinks that I ripped 4 holes (on each side) into the siding. Ah well.. Live and learn

[hanson]

Don't worry Kylersk, thats a part of owning a shack.

My shack is on skids with pole barn siding on horizontally. When I move it, I jack the house up with my Hi-Lift jack to put blocking back under the skids. The very first time I did this, I learned that one of my horizontal ribs was at the exact same height of the top of the beam on the Hi-Lift jack. When I started to lower the house, it went crunch and put a nice hole right through the rib of the siding. Now I know I have to use a folded up towel to cushion the house siding from the Hi-Lift jack.

Can you believe that even though I learned this lesson once, it has happened a couple times since?

Doh!

[Gordie]

you could cut out the siding and put a piece of sheet steel or aluminum light gauge then J-channel around the piece of alum or steel.

[KidWalleye]

Diamond plate would dress it up. Plus doesn't the front have it? Nice house though. Kid

[nytelyter]

thats right it is covered (in most cases) under your homeowners policy. oops didnt read ahead. my bad but i know that mine is totally covered in my policy. i have had many discussions with my agent.weather in storage at home or in a lot and on ice total coverage. oh welll i do hope we get to see it anyways.