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RE: Continuous duty solenoid
I thought I could run one wire from the + post on my chassis battery thru the solenoid directly to the + posts on my deep cycle(coach) batteries and use a short wire from the - posts on the coach batteries directly to the frame nearby. Is my thinking flawed?
That was my original plan but after digging around a bit to see how the truck was wired I figured it was quite non-ideal. Remember charging power comes from the alternator, not the truck battery.
The wires to charge the battery are only #6 on my truck. The great big fat wires from the battery go to the starter, but only a small wire goes from the common power point to the battery. That adds extra drop. By going to the alternator output, I get more charge.
The wires from the frame to the block and the frame to battery negative are very small. The only large wire is from the block to the battery negative. A good return to the alternator is to connect to the block or the battery negative. Connecting to the frame adds the extra resistance of the puny ground wire. If you do want to use the frame as the return, add a fat jumper between the frame and the block.
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Matthew_B
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02/09/12 05:17pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Dot Cylinders To Asme Tank, legally done on a truck camper?
My camper has "trimmed" vertical cylinders. They have had about 1/2" of the bottom collar and about 3/4" of the top collar trimmed down from a regular 20 lb cylinder.
I assume the cylinders were custom made for Alpenlite. Replacements have to be cut down to fit.
If you're close, you might try that.
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Matthew_B
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02/07/12 06:25pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Remarkable Camp Stoves
I had something similar 20 years ago when I was in scouts. It had a little fan in it and made a whole lot of heat if I could find dry wood.
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Matthew_B
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02/06/12 10:23am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Shaking dually = normal?
only one side of the rear wheels were spinning
To be honest: this sounds more like limitLESS slip to me. :h
There is only a tiny bit of bias on the clutches without torque on the drive shaft. If one tire has very little traction it can let the one tire spin out. But a little bit of brake will get full torque to the one wheel with traction. I have spun my left tire on bare, dry pavement with the right tire high centered using a LSD.
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Matthew_B
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01/29/12 08:47pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Shaking dually = normal?
While we are on the subject of limited slip differentials---
Just in case you didnt know---
I have a 1999 F-350 Dually, 4X4, DANA 80.
The first year I had it I wanted to drive up the front lawn of my house to park my truck under a tree to put some wax on the paint,.
There was a steep incline and only one side of the rear wheels were spinning . I was told by the dealer when I bought the truck that I had limited slip. I was ready to take the truck back to the dealer because there HAD to be something wrong with the truck. Before I did, I read that if you have limited slip diff. and only one side of the truck drives, apply your brakes while giving the engine fuel, that puts resistance on the diff. and then both sides will engage, .
It works because there are wedges on the spider gear shaft that tighten the clutches up when you apply forward or rearward torque. Just a little brake will get it to grab and once it does the traction should keep enough torque on to keep if from slipping.
If you're slipping on the rear it helps to put on the parking brake. Using the service brake will apply the front brakes which is counter productive to getting moving.
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Matthew_B
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01/29/12 08:43pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
I know the BW1356 (and I think the older BW1345) in my truck, and used into the late 90's (off the top of my head) is also affected by a similar condition. In those, it doesn't usually wear a hole in the side of the T-case, but the pump will spin on the shaft, and stop lubricating the planetaries.
That happened to a buddy of mine on his F350. All of the bearings are lubricated by the pump so pretty much everything was wiped out when the pump failed. He had no warning, only a few miles and there was major damage inside the case.
He ended up fabricating a modification he found on the web that added a steel pin to the case.
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Matthew_B
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01/23/12 10:53pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Does anyone have any snow yet?
We have 1" right now. We usually get snow only every 2-3 years.
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Matthew_B
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01/15/12 11:14pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Towing behind 68" overhang?
So can the truck with a tag axle back up? It looks like there is a steer setup on the tag axle, so it would scrub backing up.
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Matthew_B
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01/15/12 07:58pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Towing behind 68" overhang?
A custom flat bed would need to be built to account for the 10" drop at the rear of the camper. That isn't a big deal, if you're building a new flat bed for a cab/chassis truck anyways. The front would sit a little higher than the normal pickup bed floor height and the rear would sit a little lower, if the flat bed is notched and dropped down for the rear 3 feet or so of bed length.
I concur. Most people don't realize that flat beds have quite tall spacers between the frame and the flat bed to make it high enough to clear the rear wheels.
A custom flatbed could be made to have a lower center section for the tube of the camper, even lower at back to clear the tanks (basically right on the frame) and then even higher on the sides to clear the wheels.
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Matthew_B
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01/15/12 07:54pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Going alone??
Before I go I always make sure that someone I trust knows exactly where I'm going. I text updates on my position. Even way out in the boonies, texts will go through if you go to a high point.
I make sure I have food and water so if I do get stuck I can wait out the 24 hours until someone should come looking for me.
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Matthew_B
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01/15/12 07:46pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Lockers for 4WD
I guess Chevy/GMC trucks must be blowing AAM 10.5" and 11.5" rear axles left and right, because GM has been putting the G80 locker in the rear axles of a large percentage of their 2500/3500 pickups for years now, with the torquey diesel engine too.... ;)
It is pretty common, but you can dismiss it as mis-operation. The G80 has a clutch pack and uses wedge action to lock it up. In spite of having a clutch pack, it does lock up solid because it puts so much side force on the clutch pack. It is the only locker that will let you wind up one tire and then grab. What you hear about is having one tire with good traction and then someone floors it. It will wind up and then grab, and when it does it can blow up, blow a U-joint or slip and axle tube.
I think the G80 is ingenious and it's too bad the other two brands can't have one. It is just not the appropriate locker to do burnouts with or you will pay.
A detroit locker won't ever let one tire wind up because it always is going to grab the slow moving tire. An ARB would just grind if you switched it in a one tire burnout. You can damage an E-locker the same way if you did a burnout and then hit the switch.
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Matthew_B
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01/15/12 07:40pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Lockers for 4WD
Something I noticed on the Truetrac is that it will both transfer torque and differentiate at the same time.
The Truetrac is derived from the Torsen design. It works by the shear drag in a high angle worm gear. They make two worm gears work against each other and it results in a gear box that is about 25% efficient at transferring the power from one side to the other. The result is that there is about 4 times the torque on the slower moving tire.
All lockers and clutch limited slip will attempt to rotate both axles at the same rotational speed. My Ford traction lock would easily spin one tire accelerating out of a curve then as it grabbed the other axle both would spin. That was with 3.55 gears. Now with even 4.10 gears I have a hard time getting any wheelspin in similar conditions. Truetrac seems to know exactly how much torque to transfer and yet still allow different wheel speeds. Otherwise it is hard to describe without seeing it in action.
Since the Torsen relies on fluid shear to generate the force it has no tendency to grab. The force on the good grabbing tire is always limited to 4 times the force on the slipping tire.
In a LSD they grab for two reasons: stiction and the way force is applied to the clutches. The amount of force on the clutch pack starts with a spring pack and then drive line torque adds more force by wedge action. When one tire grabs it can create a bump in the drive line force and then that will lock it tight. The clutches in a LSD have stiction because of the oil used. If you could run ATF in the differential, it wouldn't grab as much... but then your ring and pinion would gall because ATF isn't a high pressure lubricant.
In the sand etc all four of my tires will spin similar to a locker. Locker really has its place when one tire will be completely off the ground.
A LSD or Torsen can put a lot of force on one tire if you set up the parking brake on pretty hard. It will bind up the LSD. On my old truck I had LSD and one time I made the right rear tire burn out on dry pavement when the left rear tire was in the air. I was still stuck and had to be pulled out though...
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Matthew_B
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01/15/12 07:31pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
Other than that as compaired to my powerstroke Ford, the Cummins was a much stronger engine and up to whatever task I through at it.
You have to compare equivalent years before making those claims. All three brands have been in a diesel horsepower war for 15 years now.
My inlaws have a '94 and a '06 Dodge / Cummins truck. I can beat the '94 (except in noise). Forget it with the '06. 50% more power and it leaves me in the smoke cloud behind them.
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Matthew_B
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01/13/12 11:28pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
Your making Dodge look very attractive... :)
Looks like your a Ford guy though?
I find the fit of the Ford more comfortable, and with 3 kids having a bit more room in the back is good too.
Might you know if pre-'98 if I could get a 4x4 Diesel longbed extracab dually with a manual trans? ( I'll take the Auto trans though just as well )
Good luck finding a stick shift in either the Ford or Dodge. Most people with one don't let them go, and when they do they are on the market for hours.
A friend has a dually 4x4 extracab with a cummins. It think it is a '93 or '94, so they are made.
How do the Dodge auto trans hold up compared to the E-4OD?
I'm less up to speed on the Dodge transmissions.
The biggest problem with the E4OD was heat. Add a gauge and keep the temperature in check and change the fluid on the schedule and most of them go over 200k.
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Matthew_B
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01/13/12 11:23pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
I use 4X4 as little as possible, usually to help me get out of situation that 2WD got me into.
You should use it more often. Lack of use lets seals dry out and bearings get rust spots on the races.
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Matthew_B
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01/13/12 12:40am |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
If nothing else the dodge seems to make a shorter 4 door.
the back doors look narrower?
Maybe it just looks that way though I don't know?
The Cummins is suppose to be a great engine too.
The Dodge back seat is about 3 inches shorter. It looks like more of a difference because the front door is a bit bigger in the dodge, making the size difference more pronounced.
The truck is quite a bit shorter overall. Dodge made a firewall cutout for the engine and the last cylinder is tucked in under the dash. This shortens the hood by several inches compared to the Ford.
There are a couple of other nice items in that era Dodges. The rear axle is a Dana 80, a bit more stout that the Visteon 10.25" of the era. The transfer case is also an NP205, as stout as you can get.
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Matthew_B
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01/13/12 12:38am |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
I wonder whats cheaper to convert a SRW to Duals or a 4X2 to 4X4?
Converting to DRW on a OBS Ford is far easier.
The 2WD has a twin-I beam (TIB) suspension (criss-cross arms) with coil springs. The F250 4WD has the Dana 50 twin-traction beam (TTB) with leafs. The TTB and TIB mounts are different and located at different points on the frame so you can't just swap in the D50. The F350 has a solid D60 axle on leafs. To swap you basically have to rip out the coil sprung axle and weld up leaf mounts. The frame isn't even the same so there is quite a bit of welding to do forward of the front cross member.
The output shaft and tail housing of the 2WD is different from the 4WD. To change the output shaft, the transmission has to be completely disassembled as the output shaft is held in by a snap ring on the rear planetary set. Usually people just buy a junk 4x4 transmission and have it rebuilt.
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Matthew_B
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01/12/12 08:08pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Question for all Class A,C,B & TC people about towing
also be aware that with the overhang on a truck camper, you will likely need to use a hitch extender. I'm not sure if they reduce the towing capacity or not.
If you extend beyond 18" they GREATLY reduce the tow capacity on a stock hitch. Torquelift makes the superhitch system for this and with that hitch and extension you can tow up to the rear axle or gross combo rating.
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Matthew_B
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01/12/12 12:05pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Dual Alternator Plumbing, 12VDC Feedback Request
If you use the truck batteries for the connection of the new wiring don't forget to upgrade the charge wires from the alternators to the batteries .
I'd also suggest paying attention to the ground current path. If it is from the block or battery negative it will be ok. Anywhere else and you will need to upgade. The ground wires.
I ran a negative wire from the lift gate connector to the block (to one of the accesory mount bracket bolts).
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Matthew_B
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01/12/12 11:53am |
Truck Campers
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RE: How often have you needed or wished you had 4WD
I'm a FORD guy & want a pre-'98 diesel & around those years it seems I could not get a dually 4x4 from Ford. :(
What I want seems I cant get.
Ford did not make a 4x4 dually in the extended or crew cab. It was only available with the regular cab.
Manning truck body modified SRW tucks into DRW and I have seen a few around. Just make sure you find one done properly with a swapped rear axle and budd hubs on the front. You don't want one where they just put spacers on it.
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Matthew_B
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01/12/12 11:39am |
Truck Campers
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