Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Smokerbill]

Yeah, my truck is a 2011 and I consider a tool, not a fancy vehicle I need to keep shiny to impress others on the road. I try to give it a good washing and waxing once every year or two. I don't worry about the few dents and scratches in the body because it still does its job.

 

[gtaus]

sorry to hear it.

I wish we had cheap vehicles here. prices for second hand here are awfully high. not cars only, anything.

Used car prices have come down a lot in the last couple of years. They were very high during the COVID and post-COVID period, just like most stuff, but prices came down as inventory started returning to normal. If my old Explorer was worth some money, it would have changed my decision to repair or replace. But it just does not have any value at present, so one major repair job was all it took to end up in retirement.

 

[Molpet]

My truck is a 2008 and has a snow plow on it. Less than 40k miles on it. Has had the break lines, transmission lines, catalytic converter changed the last couple years. A few dents from the ground hog day blizzard in 2011.

 

[gtaus]

My truck is a 2008 and has a snow plow on it. Less than 40k miles on it. Has had the break lines, transmission lines, catalytic converter changed the last couple years. A few dents from the ground hog day blizzard in 2011.

Well, it makes sense to have repairs done on a "newer" car with less than 40K miles. Nothing on my old Ford Explorer was not repairable, but it was an estimated $1,500.00 repair job for a car that 32 years old and had 180,000+ miles on it. My mechanic recommended I not put that much money in it, given the overall state of the car and its low used car value.

For the past couple of years, it was only used for pallet pickups. It was great to take it into town for errands and on the way home pick up maybe 6 pallets to toss in the back. But my backyard is now stocked full of pallets to last me many years of my small projects. And I still have a small 4X8 foot utility trailer if I need to pick up stuff. I can hitch that up to any of my other cars.

Speaking of which, I drove past our local Bobcat dealer in town today and I see that they have a bunch of those pallets made up of only 2X4's. 2X4's for the stretchers, and 2X4's for the planks. Those kinds of pallets are great because the 2X4's tend to be in great shape, no notches, and some pallets are as long as 10 feet. Most are 4X6 feet. They are usually easy to take apart using a crowbar. Sometimes, they use deck screws on those 2X4 pallets and that really makes it easy to take them apart - plus I get a bunch of Torx head screws for reuse.

I might try to hitch up the utility trailer and work up some salvaged wood there one night. Because of the size and weight of those pallets made from 2X4's, I usually spend a few hours there breaking down the pallets and tossing the lumber into the trailer. They are just too heavy for me to lift up and put into the trailer. But they don't mind if I break down the pallets on site after working hours.

 

[gtaus]

I mentioned how much I liked to toss pallets in the back of the Explorer and not having to worry about scratching or ripping anything. Although that vehicle is gone, I was thinking about using my older Hyundai Santa Fe as a replacement for the Explorer.

The Santa Fe is almost as big as the old Explorer, but Dear Wife would NOT be happy if I messed up our/her backup car with my pallets.

This weekend, Harbor Freight is having FREE gifts for minimum purchases...

I was looking at those moving blankets and think I might be able to spread them out in the back of the Santa Fe and put pallets on blankets. I'll have to measure everything, because the pallets would have to fit. I am an Inside Track Club (ITC) member at Harbor Freight, so I only had to buy anything to get the FREE moving blankets...

Yesterday, I bought a pair yellow lens safety glasses for $1.00 and got my FREE gift. Today, I bought a smoke colored pair of safety glasses for $1.00 and got another blanket. Tomorrow, I plan on buying another pair of safety glasses, probably clear lens, and picking up that third moving blanket.

If it works out, I might be able to replace my old Explorer with the Santa Fe and use the moving blankets to protect the interior of the car. If not, I still have some nice moving blankets that I got for free.

The safety glasses I bought are normally $1.99 each, but they have a Dollar's Day sale going on right now and you can pick them up for $1.00 each with the coupon.

I wear safety glasses almost all the time when working with my tools. I value my eyesight. These $1.00 (on sale) safety glasses are rated for just about anything I will do around the house. They are very light weight, and they wrap around your eyes for side protection as well. They are much better than I expected.

EDIT: I must have forgotten to hit the submit button on this post. Although that weekend sale is over now, you can still get those safety glasses for $1.00 through 17 Aug 2025.