offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 5, 2011 9:47:41 GMT -5
last night wasnt a set back but was almost a wash.... goal was to complete the screen door (which needs new screen and wood work around the frame inside so it has something to seal against) i bought oak strips that matched in color and grain to the birch the best it could. Proceeded to drill all my holes, notch for the edge of the stove etc etc. Went to put it in. Cut it about 1" too short on the top side of the stick (eye level). No way to fix it that i would have been happy with so back to the store for another set of wood..... frame is now done.
Then i moved onto the screen door itself. I knew the spline was about .22/.23. Store didnt have that so i bought .19 thinking it might work.... fail.... looked online and found that the local ACE is supposed to carry .25 and i suspect that will work just fine.
Got some interior trim work cut and put in. Also got the aluminum angle put back in place around the windows. Table is mounted. Dont know if the track is mounted too high or the leg is too short but there is a .75" difference. My simple solution to this will be to add a block of .75" thick wood under the leg mount. Shouldnt see it and should be level then.
Only have maybe 40-50 more working hours until were supposed to use it for the first time. Seems like along time but im sure it won't be enough. At some point ill have to quit so i have time to pack it etc. Most of the essentials are in place though
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Post by danknappdanny on Oct 5, 2011 20:16:36 GMT -5
Where did u find that ac/spare mount? I want one!!!
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 5, 2011 21:28:08 GMT -5
Where did u find that ac/spare mount? I want one!!! custom built of mostly scrap angle iron. the 2 uprights actually put all the weight on the bumper. we ended up bolting through the skin with 4 small bolts and now its rock solid. the tire mount itself was part of a rear swing away spare tire carrier from a 70s chevy van.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 6, 2011 8:14:59 GMT -5
got the screen door done. picked up some .23 thick spline from Ace Hardware. I find it odd that these doors used two types of spline. the cross rails around the sliders used .19 thick, while the frame used .23. Seems like they would have just made it all one size..... Oh well, i had both and now its done.....
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 13, 2011 13:43:14 GMT -5
been a while since i posted. was out of town from the 6th to 9th so those days were a wash. it was raining here sun, mon, tues so only interior work could be done. need to get the trailer ready for camping soon so the focus has shifted from resto to making it work. cabinet doors are back onto cabinets where there is no paneling, most the doors/drawers have not been redone either. I did replace the door under the oven. went with .75" birch. interested in seeing if this warps or holds its shape as it should. got the front cabinet over the stove repaneled and re-installed. Kept the vintage original light on this cabinet. looks great. got the table in and leveled out. In fact we ate lunch in the trailer monday listening to the rain. lots of other small things have been wrapped up on it. need to finish the rear window and seal around the wheel wells inside and out. seal a couple of other places. got the stove operational, the oven still doesnt work quite right but the stove works now. the lines must hae been open at some point in its life and dirt dobbers got inside and clogged the line. you could hardly get one burner to light, if you lit 2 they both went out. Once the line was cleaned out the pressure was good and now we could cook. with the wood not being sealed yet we are not planning to do so just yet. if we have good weather this week the front window will get pulled and be replaced. also have plans for a custom rock guard/awning for the front window. all aluminum of course. we got the curtains up on 3 of the windows, need to modify the curtain rods we are using for the front and rear windows. i have pictures to post but photobucket is blocked here.... more later.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 16, 2011 18:47:54 GMT -5
good news and bad news. good news is i got it buttoned up today. its officially "campable" though not totally done yet (missing paneling, or old paneling still on some walls/doors) everything looks pretty good. always looks better in my head before i finish but oh well. got too dark to take decent pictures so those will be coming.
bad news: lights no longer work..... i get hazards/brake but no running and no clearance, 12 volt dome is a no go either. fully tested the lighting before starting the paneling. everything worked great. i ran a ground line to each light and its still supposed to be grounded through the skin as well.... in any case. something has gone wrong. while ill only be traveling during the day for the first camping trip its still a bummer to not have everything working like it should (and was) working. hope its something simple. too tired to explore the problems tonight.... bummer....
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Gone Kayaking
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Post by Gone Kayaking on Oct 16, 2011 20:23:58 GMT -5
This is so familiar. It is probably a ground issue. Tighten all the screws, test the lights with a separate battery if you can to see if it's your truck or the trailer. You may have a blown fuse in your truck (this happened to me once). All the lights that you are talking about are on the same wire....(if you are using a 4 way flat connector)....so it's somewhere along that line. Good luck!
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 16, 2011 21:44:28 GMT -5
thats what i was thinking but i do get the flashers so part of it is working. ill check the truck fuses tomorrow. can test using my dads truck as well to verify if its the truck or not..... grrrrrr
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 17, 2011 12:09:00 GMT -5
cant wait to get home, did a little research online with another forum ( i have a Chevy Trailblazer so www.trailvoy.com is a GREAT resource for any of the GM trucks in the GMT360 line, GMC Envoy, Olds Bravada, Izuzu Asender, Saab 9-7X, Buick Rainier) in any case remembered reading about this issue before and did a quick search. quickly came up with a fuse for the running lights. went out to the truck and pulled this fuse, blown. put new fuse in. when i get home we will test again with the trailer and hope for good results and no blown fuses..... tentativly happy.....
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 18, 2011 13:48:24 GMT -5
well that wasnt the issue.... something in the trailer is blowing the fuse. unwired the dome light since it was added after i last tested and was never tested since thinking maybe that was it. no go. so my thought now is that maybe i have put a screw through a wire somewhere. thinking i will pull screws from around the areas that the wires run and see what happens, if i can get them working with all the screws out, start adding screws until the lights turn off.... then we know which screw did it and where to focus.
thats literally the only thing that has changed since they were last used. they were tested just prior to putting all the paneling in and looked great.....
grrrrrrrrr
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Post by tomamara on Oct 18, 2011 18:24:27 GMT -5
Make sure skin is grounded to frame. when the trailer is hooked up to hitch all should work. I had a similar issue. Maybe this will help. Good luck
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 18, 2011 21:30:58 GMT -5
thanks ill double check that tomorrow. pulled out screws around where wires are running but still no go. pulled off a back panel, we had a lot of rain today and i guess it was great timing, found a small leak behind the insulation along the horizontal seam of the skin. guess ill be running sealant around the entire trailer along the skin joints just to be safe
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 23, 2011 22:08:44 GMT -5
Our first trip was a success. Amazing trip. At least 8 other vintage campers at Stone Mountain this weekend. Only one other Shasta, couple of Scotties. There were a few members of "Sisters on the Fly" had there rigs at the Country Living Fair. This was our site on the lake Close up Put up the canopy and huge our lights The other Shasta in our loop Our travelocity gnome "Ron" who began his travels with us on the trip
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boandsusan
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Post by boandsusan on Oct 29, 2011 18:53:27 GMT -5
Really nice thread. I enjoyed it. Will you be posting some shots of your progress inside? Looks like a good time was had on your maiden flight. Love the pups! I was fortunate to have a wonderful Boston (Annie) for 13 yrs.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Oct 29, 2011 19:02:03 GMT -5
Really nice thread. I enjoyed it. Will you be posting some shots of your progress inside? Looks like a good time was had on your maiden flight. Love the pups! I was fortunate to have a wonderful Boston (Annie) for 13 yrs. Thank you. I post some once i get some good shots, maybe tomorrow, all the final touches are not done but..... have to have a nice sunny day for some good light pictures. Rushed to get it done for our first trip, worked on it at night a bunch, thats the reason for the lack of pictures. Then this week came down with a bug, stayed in bed a couple days. ugh. getting over that. we had a great time, the pups did too. We had another Boston we lost earlier this year, it was real hard so we didnt wait long to get another. Then we decided he needed a friend so about 3 months later we got another.... they are both rescues and great companions to us and each other.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Dec 27, 2011 9:39:41 GMT -5
So the resto-mod is pretty much on hold for the winter. Its not that its impossible to work on it. I'm really just not interested in doing it while cold.... in fact its pushing it if i need a jacket on. Spring/Fall is the best time for work so maybe come spring ill get the interior finished. The fact that its usable as is doesn't give me any incentive to get to work on it either.... right now working on its shastaport (carport) and that will protect it long term. We don't get much snow here in GA but i know it's heavy. I also know there really just isn't all that much support in the roof of these campers and i don't want to find out how much snow it takes to crush the roof.... aside from that having spent so much time fixing rot, like to have a covered place to store it from the rain.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 6, 2012 16:05:53 GMT -5
Little update... If you have read my other thread on the Shastaport you know of the issues we had with that. Phase one is completed and fully approved by the county. It has done its job nicely with all the rain we have had recently. I have been busy readying the camper and tow truck for this springs season. If you were at Mckinney you may have expereinced the super thunder storm that moved through. It POURED rain. We learned that the camper itself was mostly waterproof but the AC unit on the rack in the back window was not. It was supposed to have been built with a backwards tilt but the final product left it flat (or maybe a slight forward tilt) funneling rain INTO the camper. We made it through the storm and bought a cheapo window ac cover from walmart. Thats how its been stored since then. Done the trick great. Now its come time to take a look at it again. I did some reasearch on the unit itself and it turns out its a lemon. Found only horrible reviews online and i knew from experience it only worked when it wanted too, and was super loud. I had to pull it (and my entire window assembly.... not happy about that) back out of the camper to get the unit out. I sure wasnt going to fix up the rack to work for this bad unit SO..... .... i pulled the ac unit from the old pop up i bought last year. This unit i know to be less than or close to a year old. Its much smaller, lighter, and quieter. The poor pop up never saw it coming... but I did..... We will have to redesign the rack a little and my window parts will have to be redone but i think this will look much better in the longrun. That being said my camper is without a back window at the moment...... now its got true "air" conditioning again. the donor ac unit had some soft of greasy food spilled into it. It smelled of a dumpster... so i had to take it mostly apart and clean it out. Washed parts i could in hot water inside and cleaned what i couldnt take apart easy outside. Seems good to go now, just have to put it all back together. In other news i was able to procure a vintage steel camp table from my folks. They dont really use it that much any more and i really dreaded buying a new aluminum table to sit in front of the camper. They picked it up from a garage sale years ago for $2 As far as the truck goes its been having some weird issues recently and i have been working through those as well. Its coming up quick on 200K miles and was in need of some tune up things. Injection cleaning, trans flush. I also installed all new spark plugs, air filter, and cleaned a totally gummed up throttle body. Greased up all the ball joints and sway bar end links. Followed that by looking into the vibration in the front end. Thought to be warped rotors (they were original) and i think they were part of the reason. While installing new rotors i realized that one of the wheels (with about 18 month old hub assembly) had failed again. Only had a 1 year warranty.... cheap china crap. Put the bad rotor back on that wheel to keep from messing up the good rotor with a bad hub. Ordering another one thats got a 3 year warranty. Looked at OEM parts and it was double the price of the 3 year one soooo.... well just take a shot at that. On top of all this the main power wires to the hatch broke recently. I reconnected everything but lost my rear wiper, and the rear door locks are constantly acting up. We traced this back to what i believe to be a bad BCM (body control module). Ill try replacing that, its got to be re-programmed at the dealer... joy..... Installed a trans cooler, its mounted but not hooked up yet. Need to get a little more hose to get it to attached without kinking or rubbing on anything under the truck. Other things to get done is repacking the bearings on the trailer, new tires for the trailer. A big one that would be nice to get done is to fix the running lights. Still have not fully looked into that. Have only run once after dark and ran with my flashers on. I have turn signals and brake lights but no clearance/running lights. Still need to finish off trim work and some detail paneling inside (around the drawers/closets etc) as well. Anyway. i have been busy, this is all on top of yardwork (including racking all the oak leaves from around the trailer/yard) i have been putting off, still need to paint the house this year. Take a huge pile of stuff to goodwill. Spring clean the guest room and office. (i hate to admit it but the christmas decorations are still up inside the living room, we never use it so it doesnt really both us. just not top of the list right now......)
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Post by risgett on Feb 6, 2012 16:51:41 GMT -5
It's looking really good. I too had almost a 3 month hiatus from working on our airflyte. I just got back onto it a few weeks ago and just posted my progress. Check it out when you get time. I'm like you, I have so many other things going on it's hard to get time to work on the camper. BTW, how do you post multiple pics under one reply? It only lets me post one...if I try to add another, the first pic dissappears out the attachment field.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Feb 8, 2012 15:18:51 GMT -5
lots of progress this weekend. only bad thing was my dremel died... bought it 10 yrs ago, pretty good run, its had some abuse. So i got to break in the new Dremel today..... Haha, my Shasta killed my Dremel too, fried it good, sparks, smoke, everything.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 8, 2012 16:24:47 GMT -5
to be fair.... and i didnt read back to see if i said why it died. I was cutting down the aluminum tracks that run the width of the trailer and hold the roof panels in. Im sure in the instruction book it said let cool 10 minutes for each 10 minutes of use. (guessing) but we didnt, at some point it got to hot to hold and we stopped using it. we never heard it run again.
but again... it was 10yrs old sooooo.... time for it to die i guess
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 11, 2012 19:15:46 GMT -5
So we certainly don't live in the north and its not snowing here but the wind today was off the charts!!! low 30s and wind is showing at 22mph gusting to 35mph.... brrrrr....... As an update to my last post about work on the truck, i picked up a new hub on Monday or Tuesday and installed it. With the new rotor and new hub the truck is braking like new, such a smooth ride again. Onwards to today's adventures. i started my day super early for a Saturday (up at 7) and went to the GM dealership to have a body control module installed in the truck. Has to be programmed by the dealer or you would not have seen me there. First time my truck has been serviced by a mechanic since i bought it (about 120K ago). I do all my own work. Anyway, was there for 3 hours... what a way to start the day. Grabbed lunch and ate at my wifes work and then headed home to work on the trailer (as long as i could stand it) Pulled the tires and hubs off. Looks like the bearings were in fact repacked recently but the seals were not replaced. The seal on one side was a little bent up, and the rubber seal part itself had a gash/hole in it. Wasn't sealing much. The seal on the other side was just wrong. It fit the hub but didn't seal on the spindle at all though it was in decent shape. No numbers on either one. Headed up to the local parts store (we have our pickings here but we 95% of the time choose O'Reillys). Lady at the counter was super helpful and said she didn't need numbers she would just go through all the seals one by one. We had measured the spindle before going with the calipers and knew the inside dimension, and had taken the seal there that fit the hub best. She spent a good 20 minutes going through seals. We were browsing the store. Found an entire replacement hub assembly with the seal in it. Standard 5 bolt hub. Happened to match ours pretty close and what do you know, same size seal. On the back of the package it showed was was included and next to the seals it had the part number. She looked them up and discovered they had 2 in stock in two different brands. I bought the 2 cheaper ones (because honestly they looked the same to me) and ordered 2 more (so that i have spares in my possession either the next time i repack or if on the road in Bucksnort County and Goober the mechanic "aint got that seal". This is the seal and seal box w/part number for the ones that fit our trailer (1970 from SC with what appears to be all original gear) if this helps anyone Here is the naked cleaned off spindle So the bearings were in good shape, all back together. Waiting for their new tires to be mounted (that may be next weekend or sometime this week) Since i mentioned the tires ill update real quick here. I have been shopping around for those, settled on the Maxxis M8008 ( i think) in the same size i currently have. radials, i don't find a ton of bad reviews as i have on other model tires and the cost isn't insane. Discount tire told me those would be 330 or so out the door price. I had emailed Kauffman tire (where i buy my truck tires) and the guy got back with me, told me he could order them and have me out the door at 220. My other option there was the Gladiator brand (my spare is this one) its the cheapest tire they offer for my size trailer tire. He said he didn't stock those, would have to get it shipped, and they would run me about 185 out the door. Told him i would think about it over the weekend. I have thought about it and im going with the Maxxis (crosses fingers its the right choice) Other news. My wife has finished our new canopy. She is anxious to see it on the trailer but parked under the carport with no wheels means it cannot be moved for a test fit. SO she will have to wait. It came out great. ill post up pics once we have them. Likely chime in on an awning thread too. I don't know that she will be taking any orders any time soon Last but not least, work has begun on our welcome sign for the camper. I don't want to give too much away. Its mostly her project, though i did lend an assist with getting materials cut and finished etc. Ill make a new post for this when its done, its looking like its going to be great too. Alot going on but things are getting crossed off the list slowly....
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Post by Redwings on Feb 12, 2012 1:44:09 GMT -5
Good for you! I can't wait to see your wife's awning. And the welcome sign!
It's looking real good.
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Post by 65callie on Feb 12, 2012 11:34:43 GMT -5
You are a tease! Can't wait to see the awning and welcome sign. Thanks for all the posts and great photos, I always learn stuff from your info.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 12, 2012 13:25:38 GMT -5
Thanks Redwings feels good to get some progress done on the trailer. She has wanted to get these two things done for a while but various reasons has postponed it. She said she felt like i did all the trailer work when we got it (and for the most part that's true, she did lend a hand with some things, cutting insulation, or helping hand with things that need 2 folks but for the most part it was me. She did the curtains but now said she felt like she needed to do more work for it but in a "cute" way i was told...... As far as you Mrs. 65callie i presume..... a tease? a tease? i have been called many things and that's one of them too.... Here is a photo of the sign in progress and of the completed canopy, i hope this fills your thirst for photos if it doesn't just wait longer..... yours truly Senior Tease
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Post by 65callie on Feb 12, 2012 14:43:33 GMT -5
LOL. It is the Mrs. Don't think Jim would call you a tease . These "peek" photos make it worse! Can't wait to see the finished products in person in April. From what I can see, the awning is awesome! Tell J I said great job!!
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 12, 2012 21:22:08 GMT -5
good things come to those that wait! we have not seen the canopy on the trailer yet either. and at the moment its sitting on 4 jack stands with no wheels (getting new tires this week so didn't bother putting the old ones back on after the hubs). so it wont be all that soon that we see it ourselves.
today found me outside in the cold wind again. we changed up the ac rack and made it smaller to accommodate the new ac unit. Its better in some ways and just different in other ways. Ill have to get the rack all painted up again, then measure to figure out how to make all the new aluminum parts ill need to seal the windows in again (hopefully this time keeping the rain out)
that's about all that got done today on it. good enough for me though.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 23, 2012 13:30:09 GMT -5
Been getting in late and have had some other things going on but really need to kick it in gear to get this trailer done. Yesterday it was getting dark again so i slapped on the new reproduction tag from VTS Looks great! I also stuck the air unit back on its rack just to get measurments for the replacement windows and trim i now have to make (since the old stuff was custom made to fit the old larger unit) Looks a little odd with the spare tire off but the new unit is smaller and doesnt stand out as much, oh and it seems to work as well.... a plus of course. i did get my new tires this past weekend. dont have a picture but they look like tires black wall, pretty much the same as my old tires. Have those mounted back on the camper and the camper back on the ground. Cut some 2x10 boards for the trailer to sit on (instead of the dirt). Have not put the mooneyes back on yet because i want to drive the camper a couple of miles and tighten the lugs again just to be certain, then pop those back on. More work will happen, hope to get the window/ac back in place this weekend.
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Post by lopo on Feb 23, 2012 18:20:25 GMT -5
Offspringin, I just picked up my '72 Compact last night and I don't know where to start or what I'm doing but am about to learn - and learn I have from your fantastic posts and photos, but is this the end of your postings? It's now February and I'm dying to see the finished project!
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 23, 2012 22:38:10 GMT -5
no end, just nothing changed on the interior. i do intend to post some interior soon though the panel trim work around the kitchen isnt done yet.
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offspringin
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Post by offspringin on Feb 28, 2012 13:33:55 GMT -5
A/C is back in, windows are in place, sealed etc etc. Have to slap the spare tire back on and that back side is done. Truck is mostly squared away. Got the transmission cooler hooked up yesterday then noticed today that my outdoor air sensor was reading in the high 80s and low 90s and would fluxuate when stopped/moving. Turns out the sensor is RIGHT behind the tranny cooler and was picking up the heat from that. Now, if it was just showing me outside temp i would have been ok with that. However... the truck uses this temperature reading to decide how its going to run heat/ac. So if it reads warm it opens up dampers etc and pulls heat from outside, if it reads cold (in this case it never would, but if it did) then the ac would not turn on. So i located this sensor and very craftily removed it from its location and electrical taped it more towards the front of the truck.. not a permanent solution but good enough for now. Its in front of the trans cooler and appears to be reading much more reasonable now. The lights have not worked correctly since i put the paneling in. Tested them pre-paneling and never tried them again until entire trailer was done.... if you have not kept up with this, my blinkers and brake lights worked but i have no running lights including my clearance lights. So we pulled the rear paneling inside (what a treat that was) and isolated some lines and determined that the issue is in the clearance lights. This is good and bad news. The good news is we just disconnected those lights for the time being leaving my brake, running and turn signals to work correctly. I will not have clearance lights oh well, at least they look good during the day The bad news is we need to pull more paneling in the future to determine where one of the wires is messed up. We should be able to isolate rear or front by pulling one panel (this is the plan anyway) and from there pull more panels where we need to get to wires and find the culprit.... another good news i guess is its not going to cost actual $$$ just gonna cost more time.... wait, maybe thats worse. I forgot to mention the sign that 65Callie is just dieing to see. Its pretty much done. I need to drill some holes and attach the wood part of the sign to the metal post. May get that done tonight and if i do ill post pictures (probably both here and maybe a new thread to give her the proper credit she deserves it really came out amazing)
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