All I Need Now is Gas !

Luckily I found a nice piece of my favourite Acetal plastic which was perfect for the job and even better it turned out that it wasn't going to take as long as I feared and even better it improved the rigidity and quietness of the motors.  Bonus all round . . .


















I finally got hold of the guy who did he original DC installation and he came around and checked out the changes I had made.  By some stroke of miraculous luck it was all connected where it was supposed to be and then he frightened the SH*T out of me by just sticking in the fuses and and slamming the switch shut.  I'm not quite sure what else you are supposed to do but I am glad it was him not me . . .
So with all the electrical working there was no reason not to take it for a drive and see if and/or how all the changes affected everything.

It drives better - but I have begun to notice that there is considerable movment in the tyres.  These, despite being only 65% profile, have because of the massive width quite high side walls which are surprisingly only a single steel ply!  Even though with the current weight they are pumped to 90psi/620kpa they are still quite flexible and are even beginning to show a slight bulge in the sidewall next to the ground contact point. The only way to overcome this is to use stiffer tyres (not really desirable) or go back to dual tyres (even less desirable) so I am just going to have to be careful but there is no point doing any further work on the chassis torsion effect for now.

I have been told the steering joints have arived but can't be done for another week yet!
I am hoping that this will make it at least feel better.

In the mean time I have managed to decide on how the steps will finally be implemented and so have been able to do a little more work on them as well.

They are supported by two of the lifting legs which stow conveniently in the cross tubes under the floor one either side of the door.  They are constructed such that if the ground is uneven in height near the door no matter where the bottom touches the ground or at what angle they finally settle the steps will always remain level.  Not that hard to do but stubbornness got the better of me so that instead of going inside and drawing it all up properly I thought I could do it on the fly in the workshop . . .
Have you ever heard of that "measure twice and cut once" saying?
My version is "draw it once or make it three times"!!
They also fold down quite flat so they will slide in under the rear end of the house and over the chassis where I can make some brackets to hold them nicely in place.
The next bit is to replace the ugly piece of chip board clamped onto the legs with some nice aluminium scaffold planking (three pieces side by side) which will make a nice 675mm wide by 1200mm long landing outside the door.  I have been using the temporary version for several days now and I must say it is nice to be able to just walk up and down the stairs and stand on the landing to open the door etc...  big improvement.


The steps came in very handy to carry up some of interior components such as the bathroom cupboard doors.  Nice white lacquer which needs only the door handles screwed on and the little bit of trim done and the drawer face screwed on and it will start to look quite neat.

Next were the items on the bathroom/kitchen wall ie the main door and the small panels covering the plumbing access points.

Cupboard doors and drawer fronts will just about finish off that area.  They will all be white except for the long horizontal opening about bench height.  This will be in polished beech again for contrast and will fold out like another bench for when meals are being prepared or can function as a desk if the main table area is in use (eg the bed down and someone asleep).
The beech timber window frame is temporarily in place in the kitchen area. 
This will just lift off and the laminate panel described in an earlier post will be glued in place and then the frame fixed permanently.

It's starting to look a little more finished up that end now.  

At the other end the polished beech window frames have been placed in position and will be fixed with screws first thing tomorrow.

All I need now is gas for the hot water system and it will just about be useable . . .
Oh, and the spare tyre mounted would be a "good thing". . .
And I suppose the motorbike mount would be "nice" . . .
And ...
And ...

Reunited . . .

Well the house is once more on the truck.
I decided while it was off this time that it was the perfect opportunity to paint the underside with a "bitumen" protective coating.  This has to be the messiest job on the planet!  I started around 9am in the morning and didn't finish until about 4pm after throwing away 3 brushes, 2 rollers, 2 trays, 14 pairs of surgical gloves and what had started as a perfectly good set of work clothes!  It doesn't matter how careful you are I defy you to do it without having to bathe in mineral turps afterward!  However it needed to be done for protection from the elements and I feel happier now.

I haven't yet managed to take it for a drive with the current arrangement, uprated springs and batteries moved, but I did have a little drive with just the batteries in the chassis.  (Just like it was when I first bought it with only a light tray.  I'd forgotten just how easy it was to drive like that - even if a little rough as it's so light.)  I must say it looks a lot better without the bum dragging on the ground . . . it's just touching the helper springs on the left and 10mm clear on the right (haven't figured out quite why it's heavier on the left yet) and it's about 50mm up from where it was on the old springs which makes it nice and level.  Hopefully the water, fuel and generator won't sit it down too much again.

Having bolted it all back together I was thinking about all the checking I was going to have to do in the first couple of hundred kilometers to make sure nothing comes loose when I had a bit of a "light bulb moment".  Some big trucks have small plastic indicators shaped like a teardrop which go over all the nuts on each wheel to make checking, which has to be done at very regular intervals, easier.  They clip over each wheel nut and all the pointy ends are lined up in a regular manner. It doesn't really matter which direction they point as long as they all point in a regular direction - a quick look is all that is necessary to see if anything has moved, it stands out immediately.  I was going to get some for my wheels but they turn out to be quite expensive so I have been using the tried and true check it with a wheel spanner technique.  It occurred to me that all that is necessary is the easy visual check that nothing has moved.  This can be done by cutting a narrow slit in a sheet of some throw away material (paper, sheet metal, whatever) and spraying some paint through the slit . . if anything moves after that the paint line will be out of line.  A quick slash with some scissors in a piece of crdboard and a handy can of yellow paint and it looks like it may work.

Some places were a bit more awkward to get at and didn't turn out quite as neat but the principle will work I'm sure.

and at least they will get checked now as it is so much easier than getting out the spanners.

Now that it is reassembled it's time to make all the new electrical connections.  These are all the power cables from the batteries going to the bulkhead connectors (mentioned previously) which end up in

here.

The fuses are not yet installed until I get a second opinion on everything!

With that hopefully out of the way I needed to turn my attention to a little problem with the bed lifting mechanism.  Way back I had a little trouble with the frames of the motors being live and not being to be able to be connected in opposite directions.  I thought I had solved that by making them both run the same way and mounting them driving one wheel through another.  That has all been working fine until I combined the whole new electronic system with the old switching system.  I had completely overlooked the fact that the chassis now becomes part of the system and while testing it with a separate battery works fine when the controller is hooked up to the new system it shorts out through the chassis and blows fuses.
DAMN!!
So I have had to pull the motors out (fortunately the batteries are no longer in the way or I'd be really cursing)

It looks like the problem can be solved by making a new insulating mount to replace the existing metal brackets I made before.   Going to waste half a day but at least I know now why the fuse kept blowing when it had all worked fine with the initial tests.

Crimping in Style !

The crimping (for which I was dreading having to pay a fortune) turned out to be reasonably easy.  A friend of mine loaned me some HEAVY DUTY cutters and a crimping tool to get the job done and the local EIW store supplied crimps. This is one half done . . . cut to length and slide on a bit of heat shrink tubing









Trim off the insulation and slide on a terminal (this is 70 mm^2 cable about 10mm diam.) with an 8mm bolt hole.

Slide the terminal fully on and crimp securely










Slide the heat shrink tube oven and heat to make a nice tidy join.

Finally cover with HD flexible insulation.









So after much crimping, terminating and insulating the battery banks looked like this.


















I'm told that it is not best practice to have different length cables to the bus bars as it may make a 10millivolt difference in charge rate when charging at 120amps.
DUH!   I think I can live with that!

At the other end of all that is the special voltage controlled connector to allow for charging of the house batteries when the starting batteries are "full" (this is not strictly true but it's how it's advertised and is too complicated to deal with otherwise . . .).  This is the second one of these (the other (directly underneath the new one) is for the auxiliary battery bank for truck 12Vdc). I'm now told that this is mounted upside down and will make a difference to the longevity of the device so I have to turn it over which is going to be a bit more awkward to mount but so be it.


















And right up the other end (in the house floor) are the "bulkhead connectors mentioned in a previous post.  These are upside down here as the long section is required to bring the top surface of the brass post up to the bus bar height (dictated by the shape of the component to which it is being connected) while the insulating part(s) go in from either side of the floor (to keep it insulated from everything) and a stainless stel bolt goes all the way through holding everything together and from falling out.

The "bus bars" are made from 3mm thick copper plate (have you ever noticed how hard it is to drill a nice hole in copper sheet?) and are more than adequate to carry the current.  As with all things in this installation it's all about current, heat and voltage drop!





















As a further aside and harking back to an earlier post when I had the truck weighed and the oil and filter changed. . . when I took the body off I had to get underneath to take all the bolts out and happened to look at the oil filter housing.  There are TWO canisters attached to it and neither of them seemed to be particularly clean.  In fact they looked like they had never been touched . . . a thought confirmed by several reasonably mechanical friends who had a look.    It still baffled me as to how they were able to clean and change them internally without cleaning off a little of the outside dirt.  A visit to the local branch of the dealer confirmed that one was a centrifugal filter and the other was a cartridge and the outside was normally cleaned during a filter change operation. In fact the local foreman said it was their practice to change the clamp and seal on the centrifugal filter each time it was removed as it was a critical part of the engine oil supply.
Time to go visit the main depot where the job was done.

"Excuse me can you have a look at my truck oil filter for me?"
  
"Jeez!  Pretty dirty mate. When'd you last get it changed?"

"It was done here last week!"

"Hmmm. I'll go talk to the foreman . . ."
.
.
.
"Yes. It was definitely changed."

"I know the oil was changed but I am concerned the mechanic was distracted and the filter was missed."

"No way mate.  See it says on the invoice change oil and filter."

"Yes I see that.  Right next to the charge for weighing the truck.  That was stuffed up too, and I can see the charge for the oil but I can't see the charge for the filter" 

"Shit!  Don't know how I missed charging for that!  Better bring the truck into the workshop and we'll have another look."

.
.
(some little time later)
.

"Yair.  It was an apprentice who did the job and he didn't know the other filter was a centrifugal one and needed cleaning too but we've done that now and the cartridge filter was definitely changed and we've topped up the oil and there is no further charge."

"Thank you.  And fuck you too!!"

Mild Depression . . .

The forward carrier for eight of the batteries was welded and painted, but it occurred to me that I didn't want to try and position each battery individually in the frame after mounting in the chassis as this involved too much lifting and carrying so a couple of lifting eye bolts were also fitted so that the batteries could be fitted on the ground and then the whole "kit and caboodle" lifted into place.

You my have noticed in the previous post that somehow I had the mudguard mounts slightly out of line (which would explain why only one was touching the new spring and the other didn't) which could be seen from the pipes inserted in one not lining up with the other.
It was only a small amount but it was enough to stop the battery carrier mounts lining up as well so it was off with the mudguard mount

for a bit of cutting and welding.


















After which the batteries were loaded into the carrier and some retaining bars made from aluminium angle (you can see I am becoming weight concious all of a sudden) with some blocks made from a hard foam pressing down on the batteries and lifted (with a bit of finger crossing as it weighed about 400kg) into position.


















The rear set of mounts for the remaining 4 could also now be positioned.  These are slightly different from the front set which were just bolted into place using existing bolt hole positions which were convenient enough that the carrier could be designed to make use of them. However the rear set had no convenient holes nearby and I was not about to drill any (it's not a good idea to drill holes in a chassis anyway) especially as they would need to be right in front of the main rear house mounts and therefor load on the chassis - a recipe for disaster!  Fortunately I had some extra U-bolts made at an earlier stage it the project which I ended up not using and they were perfect for the job.  You win some - you lose some.



















The carrier frame and the chassis mount end up having a 15mm thick disk of urethane (from a shock absorber mount) sandwiched between them

and a through sleeve which is extra long goes right through all that.  This allows the carrier to sit on the pad and when the chassis twists the carrier will stay straight while the sleeve moves up and down (to the limit of the washer) and thus cannot bounce out.

Next a rear carrier was manufactured, loaded ready to go

and also lifted into position.

All the inter-battery links are in position but now I need to couple up the main positive and negative links to the inverter/charger which is still in it's original position inside the house.  It's tempting to think about moving that outside onto the main chassis, there is a nice spot for it, but it would mean that a really waterproof container would be needed to think about any creek crossings!!  I think this part falls under the "If it ain't broke - don't fix it" category.

However it does mean repositioning the master switch (this is a temporary routing while setting out and conduit will be added for the final installation).

Some bulkhead conectors were also required to get the power from the outside to the inside.  The 12volt Shop had some but they were not the right size (200 amp required), would take some time for the correct size to arrive and as they were made by the Blue Sea Company would be prohibitively expensive.  Fortunately I had some 3mm copper sheet, 20m diam. brass bar and 50mm diam acetal; with that and an hour or so I can achieve the same thing.

















Now all I need is to get some more 70mm^2 cable cut to length and terminated with the proper lugs and I can hook it all back together.

It was so close before, in fact all the electrical systems were working, it was just that the weight distribution was so bad that any improvement was worth it.
All it takes is time and more money . . .
I think that mild depression is getting an upgrade . . .

If It's Broke - FIx It ...

After having the new springs installed it was back to Sich's place to continue with the fit out, and while driving back and forth to assess the effect of the new springs.
First impression was quite favourable.  The height had been restored and there was some added resistance to roll.  I know the three point mounting system is to remove torsional stress from the "house cabin" but having the pivot in the middle means that only the rear springs resist the entire mass moving from side to side. Normally a rigid chassis would transfer some of that force to the front wheels as well.  Not in this case.  Exacerbating this problem are the steering issues mentioned in the last post.  When turning into a corner the the house starts to roll from the rear end of the truck until finally some of the forces begin to take effect at the front at which point the weight begins to come off the inside front tyre and onto the outside one which then takes up the play in the steering system by trying to continue straight on.  It means you have to turn the wheel quite a bit more to make it go around the corner.  This is normally a recipe for a rollover.  While the "yet to be fixed" steering will improve that a lot it is still a very uncomfortable feeling!!
So while continuing with the fit out all sorts of ideas for improved stability are being contemplated in the background.

 Meanwhile . . .
The window frames are made and test fitted

















on both sides

These will now be pulled out and "polished" before final fitting.
Also the door for the narrow cupboard above the air con. return duct has been made and hung and a lock fitted.






















It will also be taken out again and lacquered white to match the rest of the cupboard doors.

 While this has been going on I have finally decided to fix something which should have been addressed much earlier.  Along with the idea of being able to fit the house and truck into a sea container, which dictated many design decisions, was another idea of being able to lift the house off and use it while the truck did something else.  Perhaps if it was going to take a long time to get something repaired on the truck it might be possible to live in the house unit nearby.  For this reason it was desirable to be as self contained as possible: so the batteries were to be stored in the house unit.  However when the actual batteries were chosen it was impossible to store them in the original position it was intended.  A snap decision was made to store them in the compartment under the table as it was a little higher inside and could fit them all in the one place.  Unfortunately this was right at the rear of the house and therefore well behind the rear axle of the truck.  Probably the worst possible place to store anything heavy, and the batteries weigh about half a tonne!!
On thinking more about this it has become obvious that solar panels and either mains power or the generator can be used in this situation and the batteries can be mounted on the truck itself further forward and a lot lower down.  A much better arrangement with regard to dynamic stability!
So, although nothing is broken, I'm going to fix the battery location problem now before too much else is fixed in place.
Off with the house.
This was not quite as simple as last time as the weight of the house is now about 3 tonnes, until all the batteries are removed anyway.  Not wishing to stress things too much it was deemed advisable to have two more lifting legs to make a total of 6.  As 6 airbags are available anyway it "just" required two more lifting legs.  There's that "just" word again.  This time it equated to two days!  Never the less the house now came off easily and with a lower "pucker factor".

This large empty space between the chassis rails, right over the rear axle will fit 8 batteries nicely and the smaller space behind will hold the other 4.


















The only consideration now is how to carry all that weight in a frame that will not be distorted when the chassis twists and possibly damage the battery cases.
That took about a day to try a few options and tests and decide which of the 6 different possible ideas was going to be easiest to construct.  Sometimes it's easier when there is only one possible way!
At the moment it seems to involve quite a bit of "angle iron" so it's off to the local supplier again and start cutting.

Tomorrow I guess will be all welding . . .

Unanticipated Letdown . . .

Once the door frame and door have been constructed the hinge rebates can be cut























and the door mounted temporarily























and the door handle fitted























before dismantling it all and taking it off to be "polished" as my cabinet making friends refer to it. In another age it would have been "varnished" but the new 2 pack urethane finishes are much more durable and look like glass when done properly.























While waiting for all that to dry so it can be reassembled the window trims are machined and mitred


















and test fitted to the window


















before removing them for "polishing" also.























I think I may have mentioned that the back end of the truck has had that sinking feeling of late. At the risk of repetition it is worth observing that trucks are built to carry moderate loads most of the time and their maximum load for only very short periods. If they are made to carry this load for extended periods the springs can be stressed so that they settle lower than normal. In my case the truck will be quite close to its' maximum capability for most of the time and appears to be suffering that condition. To be truthful I didn't think I would have to pay too much attention to the weight I would be loading on but it is proving just how careful you have to be when approaching the maximum load. So some uprated springs were ordered in. These are stronger and designed to return the truck to its' original height and carry the load continuously without sagging.

These were supplied by "Westralia Spring Works". I had originally enquired of these springs, it turns out, in late 2008!!!! These people were recommended by everybody of whom I enquired where to go to get HD springs - they seemed to know exactly what was required and even agreed to supply them at the original 2008 price. Recommended!
My truck however was just a bit to big for them to handle so they recommended "Big Wheels" to install them. I had originally heard of these people way back in the big tyre saga and had intended to visit them sometime to have the steering checked and aligned before any big trips so now was a good time.
So here is the truck jacked up and the original springs removed.


















and here are the new springs ready to go in.























You may notice just how neat and tidy the workshop is !!
Makes me feel a bit embarrassed about mine . . .
However, the guy who did the job on my truck was certainly one of the best mechanics I have ever seen working. He was neat and tidy, methodical and never used more force than necessary to do the job. In fact I never heard him swear the whole time I was there. I think he must have been in a senior position as he seemed to direct the work of a couple of other guys as well. He was never awkward about explaining anything I asked about and was polite and friendly. Highly recommended.
My only complaint was, given the hourly rate they were charging ($120), they were a bit pedantic about charging for the couple of new bolts which were required at one point. Total bill just over $2000.
So new springs, pins, bushes and U-bolts installed and truck back on the level I got them to test the steering while I was there.
I already knew it was going to involve more pain in the wallet but better to be safe.
Sure enough - new tie rod and drag link ends are required so another visit is being scheduled.
An interesting aside occurred during all this. I finally had found that Major Motors who are the Isuzu distributors were only half a kilometer down the road and had as part of their brake testing machine the ability to weigh each wheel independently (ie the actual weight of the truck on each wheel). I had the feeling for some time that the truck was more loaded on one side than the other from the way it drove but I wanted to know by how much so I could make some changes to compensate. So I booked it in for an oil and filter change which were due and had them weigh it at the same time ($60 extra). It turned out that it was the opposite from what I had expected. I thought the truck was heavy on the left - the machine said it was 600kg heavier on the right. 600kg !! Now when the mechanic jacked the truck up to start changing the springs he put the jack right in the middle of the rear differential and lo-and-behold the truck tipped to the left.
"Why so heavy on the left?" he enquired?
"The scales said heavy on the right . . ." I replied.
"Yeah! Right."

So back to Major Motors . . .
"Excuse me. Any chance of your guy having the truck the wrong way round from normal when weighing my truck the other day or perhaps the scales being slightly wrong?"
"No way mate. We have that thing checked regularly to make sure the brake tests are OK."
"Well we have a problem because (insert list of all the reasons here). Any chance we can quickly do it again?"
"Sure. Just run it in here."
"Hhmmm. It still says to the right but now each wheel has a different weight from last time. Any chance of turning it round and doing it from the other direction?"
"Sure. Turn it around. . . Well bugga me. Now all the weights are different and it says heavy on the left. The damn machine must be US!"
"Hhmmm. Any chance of getting my money back?"
"Sure mate. Just as soon as we figure out how to do that. We've never done a refund before."

If any of the people who have had their truck weighed there ever read this I think they better set up a standard procedure!