The story behind my innovation

The film company that we work with - called "Image" - has just finished our latest video about my innovation - the Bannerbow.

This video is about how I got the idea for this product. You can check it out here:

Cut down my Hi-Lift a bit

As you all know by now I'm really pleased with that Hi-Lift farm jack. Works great whenever I need to lift my truck. Really impressed. But I guess you need to have an older truck, like mine, to have real use for it. It doesn't work well with modern cars with plastic bumpers and such.

Anyways, I've had it for a while now and I have come to the conclusion that I think it would suit me even better if I trimmed it down a bit.
I searched the forums to hear about any experiences with cutting down a Hi-Lift. Some people seemed to think it was a bit tricky and even risky to do that.
So, let's do this!

Before the surgery. Standing 60" tall.

My latest find - a vintage roof rack

I've spent a lot of time looking for a roof rack that would fit my Daihatsu. Seen a few that would have been almost what I wanted. Not the perfect style, size or price. I was just about to give up, thinking I would have to try and build it myself. Then I found it, the perfect roof rack. And it was orange - my fave color! One problem though, it was located way down south, in Kalmar and that's a 5 hour drive with a modern car. That means something like 6 hours for me.

So I hesitated for a couple of days. But it was quite obvious that this was it, the perfect roof rack! So I spent more than 11 hours in my little bumpy and noisy truck to bring it home.
Was it worth the trouble? OH YES!!! It's just perfect. Love it!

Interestingly it had never been used and the brackets where wrapped in newspaper dating from 1965!
It's quite possible that it was originally made for the national telephone agency here in Sweden - "Televerket". All their vehicles had that bright orange color.

Spacers - Getting a wider stance

B E F O R E                                                    A F T E R

It's been way to quiet on this blog for a while now but here's something new.
My wheels have what you call a "high ET". That means that the center of the rim is not placed in the centerline of the wheel, it's placed a bit outward. This has caused some problems. The rear tires have been real close to the leaf springs and during hard turns it actually rubbed against them - not good.
Also, the front wheels has been rubbing the inside of the tires against the top mount of the shock absorbers.

Finally got me a Hi-Lift jack

In case you didn't know, a Hi-Lift is a super clever tool for lifting, tightening and pulling all sorts of things but it's mostly used to lift tall vehicles, like off road trucks and tractors and such.

The Hi-Lift's predecessor was invented as early as 1905 and it was called the Automatic Combination Tool. The original jack was commonly known as the Handyman or Sheepherder's Jack, and years later it was renamed the Hi-Lift Jack.
The design has pretty much remained the same since 1921 since there's no need to change it - now that's good engineering!
You can read all about it here: www.hi-lift.com/company/

I've been wanting a Hi-Lift jack for some time now since my standard hydraulic jack just doesn't match the height of my Daihatsu Taft. I used to build a stack of bricks and stumps of wood to get a proper reach - rather frustrating (and plain stupid).

I wasn't to keen on getting a brand new Hi-Lift since they're not cheap over here in Sweden and I didn't want it all new and shiny. I bought this second hand from a nice guy in Sigtuna. I got a good deal on it and he even threw in a restoration kit and a brand new mounting bracket - Thanks!

It's real tall so there's no way I can keep it inside the truck. One idea was to clamp it to my front bumper, horizontally. But the jack is taller than my truck is wide!
I decided to mount it on the rear left door instead.

I thought I would have to drill new holes but I soon found out that it would work just fine if I used the bolts on the hinges.

Daihatsu F50 Taft in Costa Rica

Now this is really cool!
As you might know I offered a taillight to anybody out there who might need it and here is where it goes, on Brians yellow F50 in Costa Rica. That light gets to travel! First from the factory in Japan, onward to Australia, half way around the globe to the northern part of Sweden and now way off to Costa Rica - Wow!

Brian was kind enough to send some pics of his ride.
I think it looks real solid. Those mirrors are nice - from a Land Cruiser perhaps..?
I'm sure the four wheel drive gets to good use on the rough roads over there.

In the LAND of ROVER

Greetings from Oxford, England!

We're visiting our daughters here in Oxford.
Lots to see around here. Visited one of the best designed skateparks I ever seen.

There's also a lot of cool and interesting 4x4's, mostly Land Rover Defender.

Here's a vintage ride that I spotted the other day. Looks to me like a Land Rover Series II 88 inch. Now there's a project for someone with a lot of time and enthusiasm.
Looks like it had been standing there for some time. There was even moss growing on it.
Quite charming. I'd really like one just like it but in a slightly better state.