I take them there later, the different soils confuse the coppers
Drovers new Rig - "Big Mal"
- Thread starter Drover
- Start date
Sorry to be On Topic fellas...........
...................Big Mal has seen some restorative work done on the hole caused by the log that speared it, removed the padded vinyl stone guard covering and while it didn't show any hits on the vinyl, there was a few dents in the tin underneath, not serious ones though and a nice bit of aluminium riveted over the hole, it will get covered this time in some rubber mat, as I can glue and fit it better than padded vinyl as I'm not taking the edge van strip off and alloy check is just more $$$ than I have and prone to flinging rocks back at me.......................want to hit the tar soon so need it sorted.
...................Big Mal has seen some restorative work done on the hole caused by the log that speared it, removed the padded vinyl stone guard covering and while it didn't show any hits on the vinyl, there was a few dents in the tin underneath, not serious ones though and a nice bit of aluminium riveted over the hole, it will get covered this time in some rubber mat, as I can glue and fit it better than padded vinyl as I'm not taking the edge van strip off and alloy check is just more $$$ than I have and prone to flinging rocks back at me.......................want to hit the tar soon so need it sorted.Back from its recent familiarization trip with its new horse Big Mal has had the red dust washed off and Huey gave it a good rinse later in the day just to make sure, its happy tucked in behind the Jeep and the after trip checks so far are good only one window screw came loose and one rivet needed replacing on a sail trak, the big expense so far was a new door catch it started to let go but some Super Glue applied did the trick to hold it together till we got back, mongrel things, $45 for the damn bit of plastic, I wonder if an alloy one could be easily tooled up ???Only the wheels outside to get a shake test and inside gets a scrub.
Since we may choof off again in a few weeks I've started on the mods already by redoing some wiring in the Power House since I will be fitting a new MPPT Controller next week hopefully, the old PWM controller will be going to the portable panel its a very good unit but a recent power audit showed I need more gammas into the batteries, I like to make enough power to charge up and run everything during the day so the batteries only have the load at night, so trusting the wise thoughts of Booties @Boots in Action I have bitten the bullet and upgraded to MPPT, I have even redone mu wiring so everything runs thru the load terminal, except for external power in/out and 240 charger................hopefully it will make up the extra 6 amps I would like if not tough another 160w will be chucked on the roof and when I win Lotto I will throw 400ah of lithium in the boot.................
The recent trip certainly endorsed the expense of the Diesel Heater again as a wise investment and in the next 2 weeks I may post my latest Mods to Big Mal being an internal Genny Cupboard and a redesign of the tail lights so I can fit 2 jerry can racks.....I have thought of replacing Big Mal as sometimes I think its too big but once we go away it just fits, the walls don't close in on big trips and we don't want for much if anything when camping off grid.....I am thinking of a Still though, now that will need the Genny.
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Since we may choof off again in a few weeks I've started on the mods already by redoing some wiring in the Power House since I will be fitting a new MPPT Controller next week hopefully, the old PWM controller will be going to the portable panel its a very good unit but a recent power audit showed I need more gammas into the batteries, I like to make enough power to charge up and run everything during the day so the batteries only have the load at night, so trusting the wise thoughts of Booties @Boots in Action I have bitten the bullet and upgraded to MPPT, I have even redone mu wiring so everything runs thru the load terminal, except for external power in/out and 240 charger................hopefully it will make up the extra 6 amps I would like if not tough another 160w will be chucked on the roof and when I win Lotto I will throw 400ah of lithium in the boot.................
The recent trip certainly endorsed the expense of the Diesel Heater again as a wise investment and in the next 2 weeks I may post my latest Mods to Big Mal being an internal Genny Cupboard and a redesign of the tail lights so I can fit 2 jerry can racks.....I have thought of replacing Big Mal as sometimes I think its too big but once we go away it just fits, the walls don't close in on big trips and we don't want for much if anything when camping off grid.....I am thinking of a Still though, now that will need the Genny.
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I'm hearing you Drover !!
Love the diesel heaters.....................
We (here in SA) are experiencing a real chill blast at the moment. It seems as if the global warming has melted the ice floe and allowed the south pole to drift closer to Australia and as a result, we are living through some near record cold weather.
I was visiting a mate who has a farm some way north of Adelaide and stayed in the van and did I ever love the diesel heater at night. We only have the cheap Chinese heater but hell, it works well and so economical to run. I only put a small 5 litre tank in and that lasts about 4 nights. Happy with that !
Love the diesel heaters.....................
We (here in SA) are experiencing a real chill blast at the moment. It seems as if the global warming has melted the ice floe and allowed the south pole to drift closer to Australia and as a result, we are living through some near record cold weather.
I was visiting a mate who has a farm some way north of Adelaide and stayed in the van and did I ever love the diesel heater at night. We only have the cheap Chinese heater but hell, it works well and so economical to run. I only put a small 5 litre tank in and that lasts about 4 nights. Happy with that !
Adjective, adjective, double adjective and some more adjectives............................ just did my wheel checks, bearings good 
, brakes good, tyres no marks BUT 
wait, 
showing wear on the inside tread on all 4 and with Knee suspension this means one thing new springs needed, hence the high use of adjectives, I had tried once before to get some specs for these springs, just in case I needed to get them reset but no luck, I should have tried harder me thinks.... a few emails have gone out so hope I get some informative replies............ In the meantime I will do some measuring to see what sort of camber they are at, might be able to get away with a 3 or 4mm shim on the slippers......................... at the old place I had some nice stainless shim material, not now though, bumm........ new springs will be about $700....... oh well no trip next month and my visit to my favourite shop might have to wait................ **it happens..
, brakes good, tyres no marks BUT wait, showing wear on the inside tread on all 4 and with Knee suspension this means one thing new springs needed, hence the high use of adjectives, I had tried once before to get some specs for these springs, just in case I needed to get them reset but no luck, I should have tried harder me thinks.... a few emails have gone out so hope I get some informative replies............ In the meantime I will do some measuring to see what sort of camber they are at, might be able to get away with a 3 or 4mm shim on the slippers......................... at the old place I had some nice stainless shim material, not now though, bumm........ new springs will be about $700....... oh well no trip next month and my visit to my favourite shop might have to wait................ **it happens..
Can you get the springs reset?Adjective, adjective, double adjective and some more adjectives............................ just did my wheel checks, bearings good
If I can find some specs on the springs it wouldn't be too hard to find a spring joint that does hot resetting, cold setting is no good though but I need the specs to get the right set otherwise it will just scrub on the outside....I'm going to make up a little jig to see what the angles are on the wheels at the moment that might give me an insight as to what the camber setting could be............just needs some diligent research.........Big Mal is the big version of its model so I need to know the info before I find a spring joint to be sure of the figures.
Adjective, adjective, double adjective and some more adjectives............................ just did my wheel checks, bearings good
Hey @Drover , as my knowledge of suspension geometry is rather basic, from what you are describing, the wheels now have NEGATIVE camber. This is "sometimes" caused by heavy loading which forces the wheels/tyres outward at the bottom and brings top of tyre inwards towards body. As a result INSIDE of tyre wears more than across whole face and less on outer edge. I know you probably know that, but have seen plenty of vans/trailers carrying heavy loads with wheels/tyres far from vertical .... like being squeezed outwards under the load. Or is that the stub axle bending up?? Just a thought?? I guess that as there is no camber bolt with off set washer, the only way to fix this is to shim up one side of spring on the axle to even out the tyre footprint that takes into account a normal load, and provides a camber setting to suit.
Its a unique suspension set up, a "Symonds Knee Suspension", each wheel is independant, non load share and no adjustments, basically each axle stub is welded to a tri anglular frame which pivots at the centre of van, the springs are slippers on both ends, when the tyres start to wear on the inside it means the springs have sagged, this usually happens at 50 to 80K km and guess where this van is in distance travelled, yep its in the area, not overloaded by any stretch in fact we have heaps of empty cupboards, it does about 10 to 12K km each year and its 9 yrs old and we've had it for nearly 5 I think.
Your right about the camber, as the springs sag the axle stub profile changes so add some shims under the slippers or replace springs....... I'm trying to get some measurements for the original springs so I can pull an old one off and compare the sizes and go from there, getting them hot reset is my preferred option then they are all the same..........
Here's a pic from a mag showing the frame for each axle.....
Your right about the camber, as the springs sag the axle stub profile changes so add some shims under the slippers or replace springs....... I'm trying to get some measurements for the original springs so I can pull an old one off and compare the sizes and go from there, getting them hot reset is my preferred option then they are all the same..........
Here's a pic from a mag showing the frame for each axle.....
Some solid axles may initially have some positive prebend to compensate for the load.I would place a straight edge across the axle first to check what if any bend in the axles has taken place.or maybe get some positive prebend put in them.If all tyres are wearing the same on the inside maybe tyre pressures too low as well.Watch what tandem caravan tyres do when turning on hard surfaces huge stress on both axle and tyres.The dual wheel Jtech suspension on mine is giving me headaches!Fine layer of rubber on mudflap and inner guard even with new tyres fitted a week ago.I think tyres squirming around too much in conjuction with shocks that may need updating.But there again it may also be the beautifull Qld roads I have been on.! just seen your suspension soo not a solid axle bending
@poor but proud , unfortunately for @Drover , that is not his own suspension...only a picture from a mag still virgin!!
Not wrong Booties, hasn't been like that under Big Mal for many years...... I think numerous cattle grids and the Surat Developement Road gave it a hurry up.
Here's a better mag pic of the Symons knee suspension, this is from a single but its the same for each wheel.......no axle to bend, pins don't wear the only thing to flex is the springs........ If you get toe in/out your have some serious problems.... Van stability is vastly improved as the pivot point is in the centre but the wheels are not load sharing so care has to be taken when stopping and chocks are needed so load isn't thrown to other wheels too much...not that hard to do really.
Here's a better mag pic of the Symons knee suspension, this is from a single but its the same for each wheel.......no axle to bend, pins don't wear the only thing to flex is the springs........ If you get toe in/out your have some serious problems.... Van stability is vastly improved as the pivot point is in the centre but the wheels are not load sharing so care has to be taken when stopping and chocks are needed so load isn't thrown to other wheels too much...not that hard to do really.
Seems everyone is putting in these diesel heaters. Everyone seems to love them.
Okay youv'e seen the show ponies underskirts now see between the legs of Big Mal, its not pretty..............
Today I dropped one of the springs off to do some measurements and comparisons, tomorrow its a little run to Caboolture (2 hrs) to a handy shop that has just what I want, so I can run my tape measure over the things before I buy, it will certainly bring tears to my wallet, $768 smackers for 4 springs, 8 U bolts, 4 fish plates and nuts and washers.......... I'm hoping that once I have the measurements of the new ones I can take the old jiggers to a spring joint in Toowoomba one day and get them to reset them in a fire add another leaf and bingo spares if I don't sell them, certainly not going in the bin. Might give things a bit of a paint while there's room, thats might...... my hope for a new Bunny disperser is put off once more but I live in hope, maybe next year...........
view of the individual axle set up, pivot from middle of van....
The twin slipper springs, they take the weight but slide on their chassis mount..................
Today I dropped one of the springs off to do some measurements and comparisons, tomorrow its a little run to Caboolture (2 hrs) to a handy shop that has just what I want, so I can run my tape measure over the things before I buy, it will certainly bring tears to my wallet, $768 smackers for 4 springs, 8 U bolts, 4 fish plates and nuts and washers.......... I'm hoping that once I have the measurements of the new ones I can take the old jiggers to a spring joint in Toowoomba one day and get them to reset them in a fire add another leaf and bingo spares if I don't sell them, certainly not going in the bin. Might give things a bit of a paint while there's room, thats might...... my hope for a new Bunny disperser is put off once more but I live in hope, maybe next year...........
view of the individual axle set up, pivot from middle of van....The twin slipper springs, they take the weight but slide on their chassis mount..................
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