A Balanced Lifestyle!

[SASSY]

I was gonna show you'll what i built with the help of some club members for our Fall carshow.
it is a teetertotter-balance beam for autos
It is mostly salvage material from the local saw mill so it didn't cost that much to build
but for you welders I pushed almost 3 boxes of 7014 -1/8 rod into it,SO IT TOOK SOME TIME!!
I have a 1950 Linclon AC welder that I enjoy using, yes I have a mig, but I learned on stick in
high school and i still enjoy using it for this type of thing, probably a memory lane thing.
The unit went over very well and we had lots of people try it.
I got a couple of sponsors for the day so we had a little competition.
The sponsors were at opposite ends of the spectrum!
I got a $50 gift certificate from a health food store.
Sold them on "Living a balanced lifestyle"
And a local winery,The Skimmerhorn Winery,one of their reps is the wife of a member
dusted off a couple old bottles that haddened sold,,,,.
And Comfort Welding supplied the expanded metal decking for it.
The little wheels on the unit remove and you balance on a 2" wide bar.
the deck is 16' off the ground at the center and we had everything from a C6 vette
early Type E Jag to a Cobra AC repica to the 2 in the pics with no problems.
i never did balance it, someone got my pic on the way from one ramp to the other
The winner was a friend and club member with a 68 chevelle SS big block.
He spent some money on the motor! He said it's from NY state I think 582 ci
700 + hp on pump gas, took me for a ride,, GEEZ,, broke the tires loose at like 100 mph.
I was holdin on tryin to kiss it good bye
He just iddled up the ramp and stopped and that big anchor up front setteled the beam with 1 end off the
ground about 3 inches in 17 seconds!!.

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

You should have sampled the wine before trying the balance beam!!!!!! I would have put money on the "Abone",to make it!! ROY.

[tweaked]

Very cool Fred, could you get me dimensions?
Roger

[SASSY]

Ya the Guy with A did do it, just took some time.
Roy, he has about 20 years on you. We call him Dirt!
There was also a 1932 Model B unrestored stock
that sat ther balanced for a while!

Roger
Wide enough for a 1/2 ton, long enough to get the whole vehcile
wheelbase on the unit before it goes over the center, 16" deck height
about 30" span in the center. the beavertails on each end
allow low cars to get on and off without rubbin anything.
Bottoms of the beavertails are level with ground so there is
lots of support for any harder landings
if you use expanded have the grippy edges face each other.
The car suspension absorbs the landings easily.
We had 0 complaints about it.

[Jim Clayton]

What will our friends from the frozen north think of next ??? Looks like a lot of fun at the car shows. Great idea Freddy

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

Being lock inside all winter must really get the brain rolling!!!! ROY.

[SASSY]

I can't take any credit for the idea.
I was on one of these things years ago back home
at the Pike Lake Fun Run hosted by the
Coachmen Car Club. They also have a Burnout contest,
on the grass in a Provincial (state) Park!
They have a steel plate chain down deal.
My buddy Kel who i lost this summer had a 55 Chev truck
It was origanally a farm truck ,customed it into a Dually
Still had the 6 with the truck 4 speed. They hosed down the tires so he
could get them spinning,,,well,,turning. There he was
standing on the running board withthe throttle pulled out looking at the back of the truck,,,,,,,,,,
took about a minute to get a wisp of smoke,everybody laughing!!!
Think I have that pic somewhere, I'll look.
I don't have the burnout but this is the truck
farm truck to this in 6 months! I helped some.
The camper behind it he did in 10 days to go to a Bolerrama