Thing 1 and I spent the better part of this afternoon installing a trailer hitch on the Beluga. I aspire to schlep multiple bicycles to places that don't require my very wobbly Thing 2 to interact with traffic. I found a nice bike carrier, but it wants a trailer hitch.
Why is it that guy stuff, trailer hitches and the like, are so damn heavy? There are only three parts to this thing, and together they weighed more than Thing 1. Ugh. I used the challenge to point out an interesting thing I've learned over the years. When doing typically "guy" stuff, a girl has to be smart, since she's missing the testosteronepoisoning that makes guys strong. Leverage and imagination. The best, cheapest tools.
Between the two of us, we managed to get the two mounting brackets attached to the frame. I hoisted, he positioned the jack stand so I wouldn't have to hold the weight of the entire thing up in the most awkward position possible. (Lift? Who needs a lift? Weenies, that's who.) Thing 1 started the bolts for me, and we got to have a lovely discussion about righty tighty and lefty loosy, and what the threads were and how NOT to strip them. Slow and steady wins the race laddy. After that came some good times with various configurations of socket sets, with a long discussion about english vs. metric and why the hell Daddy can't store them in the same place...but I digress. We cobbled together a workable solution using english sockets on the metric bolts, which are GIGANTIC, by the way.
Thing 1 tightened them up, and then I explained about the torque wrench, which was lots of fun. Although, I think its the least successful part of the whole operation, since ours only goes up to foot inches, and the bolts were supposed to be tightened to foot pounds (Superdad?). Naturally, after we get the brackets all tightened up, that's when I realize, "oh. the reason they didn't want them tight before you put the hitch piece on is that its NOT. GOING. TO. FIT. unless you have them loose and HIT IT WITH A HAMMER LOTS OF TIMES FROM LOTS OF DIRECTIONS."
See, this is the sort of thing that is somehow just obvious to guys. Naturally, even though you've got tons of bolts and things holding this up, a little friction connection never hurt, and! you get to use a hammer! (Imagine dark thought cloud over my head here.) So, Thing 1 jauntily loosened the brackets up for me again, and then tried to abandon me because it was getting boring!! We didn't even know about the hammer part yet!!
The actual hitch, which is a steel beam with a square hole thing in it and plates with bolt holes at the end, is tooooooo heavy to just hold up, but it managed to fit just perfectly on top of the jack stands laid sideways. I put the packing foam on my legs and hoisted the sucker up and whacked at it, while Thing 1 stuffed the bolts through the second the two holes meshed. There was a fair amount of loudish fine-tuning, but we got'er done.
Thing 1 took a picture of my best side finishing up the probably not correct but good enough for today torque. Also, the beluga is not jacked up, the camera is crooked. Isn't that a lovely hitch? You want one now, don't you.
Why is it that guy stuff, trailer hitches and the like, are so damn heavy? There are only three parts to this thing, and together they weighed more than Thing 1. Ugh. I used the challenge to point out an interesting thing I've learned over the years. When doing typically "guy" stuff, a girl has to be smart, since she's missing the testosterone
Between the two of us, we managed to get the two mounting brackets attached to the frame. I hoisted, he positioned the jack stand so I wouldn't have to hold the weight of the entire thing up in the most awkward position possible. (Lift? Who needs a lift? Weenies, that's who.) Thing 1 started the bolts for me, and we got to have a lovely discussion about righty tighty and lefty loosy, and what the threads were and how NOT to strip them. Slow and steady wins the race laddy. After that came some good times with various configurations of socket sets, with a long discussion about english vs. metric and why the hell Daddy can't store them in the same place...but I digress. We cobbled together a workable solution using english sockets on the metric bolts, which are GIGANTIC, by the way.
Thing 1 tightened them up, and then I explained about the torque wrench, which was lots of fun. Although, I think its the least successful part of the whole operation, since ours only goes up to foot inches, and the bolts were supposed to be tightened to foot pounds (Superdad?). Naturally, after we get the brackets all tightened up, that's when I realize, "oh. the reason they didn't want them tight before you put the hitch piece on is that its NOT. GOING. TO. FIT. unless you have them loose and HIT IT WITH A HAMMER LOTS OF TIMES FROM LOTS OF DIRECTIONS."
See, this is the sort of thing that is somehow just obvious to guys. Naturally, even though you've got tons of bolts and things holding this up, a little friction connection never hurt, and! you get to use a hammer! (Imagine dark thought cloud over my head here.) So, Thing 1 jauntily loosened the brackets up for me again, and then tried to abandon me because it was getting boring!! We didn't even know about the hammer part yet!!
The actual hitch, which is a steel beam with a square hole thing in it and plates with bolt holes at the end, is tooooooo heavy to just hold up, but it managed to fit just perfectly on top of the jack stands laid sideways. I put the packing foam on my legs and hoisted the sucker up and whacked at it, while Thing 1 stuffed the bolts through the second the two holes meshed. There was a fair amount of loudish fine-tuning, but we got'er done.
Thing 1 took a picture of my best side finishing up the probably not correct but good enough for today torque. Also, the beluga is not jacked up, the camera is crooked. Isn't that a lovely hitch? You want one now, don't you.
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