MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!

[VerMonsterRV]

Jeez, been a while since I have done an update. We have left Baja and are moving north towards Oregon/Idaho. April will be a bit busy with truck projects, one of the biggest is replacing our current plastic roof windows with some fancy new glass/aluminum ones from WideBird. Also the new windshield (due to a rock from a semi) with full clear "tint" to reduce the heat from the sun. And a bunch of other smaller things. So, we have been busy playing in anticipation of the upcoming work.

Near Anza Borega State Park, this artist made around 130 of these statutes and placed them in the desert. Pretty amazing.


"Hole in the Wall", should actually be "Holes in the Wall"


The "Ropes" trail, they also had a Ladder trail. Very fun wandering through these slot canyons.


And up on a rather large sand dune

 

[Backroad Explorer]

Hi; Jon & Heather
It's good to see things are going well on your trip.
On your way back North stop at The N.A.P.A. Store in McCall
and say Hello if you have time.

Brian

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Hi; Jon & Heather
It's good to see things are going well on your trip.
On your way back North stop at The N.A.P.A. Store in McCall
and say Hello if you have time.

Brian

Will do Brian, should be in McCall second week of April. With any luck a few of the projects will already be finished! The turbo has worked perfectly, a bit more pull in lower revs. Just need to screw up the courage to adjust the injection pump to get a bit more fuel.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Well we left snowy McCall (@Backroad Explorer , sorry stopped by a couple of times at Napa and you were not working those days, we'll be back in the fall) and headed to ever so slightly warmer eastern Oregon to continue on our project list.

Although with the typical speedbumps in projects (telescoping aluminum tube that doesn't actually fit, damaged roof window, delayed/cancelled shipping or needed parts and less than perfect weather) we are chipping away at them. After getting a ball joint separator that was a bit more powerful (likely a bit too big, 12t hydraulic one) than the typical auto one the steering drag arm ball joint popped right apart (unlike my failed first 2 attempts with lesser tools). Next was the front wheel bearings. The disassembly/assembly went really smoothly and they are now all greased up (which they really needed). You do need a couple of special tools and a couple of parts but other than that it is just about a days amount of labor (probably less in a garage).



So one of my concerns was that when I opened things up I would find a surprise and need to rush order some parts from Europe. Well I did find something that I don't really like. It seems our brake drums are "heat checked" (I am guessing from our trucks previous life as I drive a bit like an old lady and mainly use the exhaust brake). If they were available locally I would just ordered some in. I put things back together so the truck is drivable and am researching how soon I need to get new ones. Anyone have any thoughts? And I need to get back to finding a shop that may be able to reline our brake shoes.


As you can see in the first picture "Ewald" is also here with us. They have a few projects also, the biggest being replacing the front leaf springs with new parabolic ones (from the same company we got ours from). Of course with Pumpkin looking on...



And to help locate the leaf eyes and washers I ground out one of the old pins to act as a drift. Worked perfect.


And today will be an indoor day as the weather is windy/rainy so I will hopefully get the new furnace controller installed. I have pretty much got the software written for it. I need to do a bit of wiring to get the relay board hooked up to test before I disable the current thermostat. I will consider this revision 1 of the software/hardware. I plan on ordering up a complete spare setup and adding in another temp sensor for the coolant, plus cleaning up my code a bit. This kind of development is a bit different than what I previously did. So the new controller will work in 5 different modes
1.Heat the habitat with the Webasto, acting as a thermostat to regulate the temp
2.Heat the habitat with engine heat, acting as a thermostat to regulate the temp
3.Preheat the engine on a timer (this is where another temp sensor may be nice)
4.Heat domestic hot water with the Webasto on a timer (this is where another temp sensor may be nice)
5.Heat domestic hot water with the engine on a timer (this is where another temp sensor may be nice)

So far I am happy with the power and versatility of this unit. These ESP32 boards really are something, cheap as chips and have considerable support with software examples and with our slightly custom hardware (the seller did this all for me) it has great expandability (both 1-Wire and E2C ports). Who knows, maybe if I am bored I will enable the onboard Bluetooth, write an app and make the whole lot controllable from our phone, anyone want to jump in an program? I'll probably release the code on GitHub if there is any interest.


And with any luck we will get a weather break this weekend and the new roof windows will get installed. I also have all the aluminum cut for our new entry ladder. Just waiting on some struts from Amazon (been a bit of a challenge getting these as they seem to be rare), then off to the local welder to stick all my parts together. Well better get back to work.

 

[RoamIt]

Awesome that you guys could work together. I'm curious how/where are you getting your parts shipped if you have no permanent address? Are you drop shipping to shops or ?

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Awesome that you guys could work together. I'm curious how/where are you getting your parts shipped if you have no permanent address? Are you drop shipping to shops or ?

For most things we order we are relying on friends and family. We're currently at my wife's sister's house/farm where we keep our heavy jack stands (which Karsten and Sandie needed to do their project) and heaps of space to park. We also just came from Idaho where one of our friends live. They have a nice well equipped shop so I could fabricate some aluminum parts for both our new entry steps (that project still needs to be welded and will happen early next week) and a mount for our motorcycle rack. We have also used both Amazon lockers and USPS general delivery. Our true "permanent" address has been a mail forwarding service in Florida for the last ~15 years. They will forward anything to anywhere for us. We started using it when we left to go cruising on our sailboat and continue now with the RV life. Getting things is one of the challenges of the mobile life and still being in the USA makes it relatively easy. Once we ship to South America things get a bit trickier and if it works out like when we were sailing it involves lugging multiple pieces of luggage back from the USA when you return to visit family. The UPS lady that delivers to my mother's house knows when we are coming for a visit .

 

[Geo.Lander]

For most things we order we are relying on friends and family. We're currently at my wife's sister's house/farm where we keep our heavy jack stands (which Karsten and Sandie needed to do their project) and heaps of space to park. We also just came from Idaho where one of our friends live. They have a nice well equipped shop so I could fabricate some aluminum parts for both our new entry steps (that project still needs to be welded and will happen early next week) and a mount for our motorcycle rack. We have also used both Amazon lockers and USPS general delivery. Our true "permanent" address has been a mail forwarding service in Florida for the last ~15 years. They will forward anything to anywhere for us. We started using it when we left to go cruising on our sailboat and continue now with the RV life. Getting things is one of the challenges of the mobile life and still being in the USA makes it relatively easy. Once we ship to South America things get a bit trickier and if it works out like when we were sailing it involves lugging multiple pieces of luggage back from the USA when you return to visit family. The UPS lady that delivers to my mother's house knows when we are coming for a visit .

I was going to ask the same question. We’re alsothinking about abandoning our house for the RV/boat life in the near future. My work makes things extremely easy to travel around..

 

[RoamIt]

Thanks! My current plan is to sell the house and go full time. Mail is one thing, but shipping heavy/large parts was what I am trying to problem solve. Especially, as you mentioned, when your out of the US and you don't have Amazon delivering the next day

 

[Joe917]

Having lived 6 years without a house, just the one on wheels, I will say forget about ordering on line outside North America. What for? Once the build is done there should be no need for heavy/large parts. If there is a need you will be stuck at a garage or camp site and can order it delivered there, and there will be locals that will know how best to procure the needed parts.
In the middle of nowhere in the Bolivian Amazon with a broken leaf spring bolt I got a 30km moto taxi ride to a shack in a 3 shack village that was the parts supplier for a local mine. Every bolt size you could wish for. You will find parts everywhere (although come to think of it, it was the Amazon)

 

[DiploStrat]

I agree with Joe917. There are always exceptions, but ...

I ran a Chevrolet Blazer in Africa for years and would offer some observations about exotic vehicles. And now, for my sins, I have an old Mercedes Benz that was never sold in the US

-- You have to stock your own filters/plugs/consumables. They are generally not available. That said, I can get all of the filters I need for my MB 917 at my local auto parts shop. Not by any MB number, but by the actual part number on the filter. They are all intended for tractors, etc., and they ain't cheap, but they are easy special orders. I buy a year's worth at a time. Plan ahead and don't wait.

-- Sometimes ya gotta have the real deal - see my starter saga. But you would be amazed what can be cobbled up in the bush. Exhausts, brake linings, clutch surfaces, etc. Third Word mechanics are used to improvising. The quality varies, but my friends the Howes got their computer controlled Duramax diesel through over 50 countries.

The killers can be windscreens, tires, and a few similars. You will also become a believer in preventive maintenance when in a country where your vehicle IS supported.

Bottom line, it can be hit or miss, but the big parts of a truck don't fail that often. And, when they do, they are often rather brand agnostic.

And, by the way - with an expedition camper you are just as likely to have failures of the camper/habitat systems!

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Thanks! My current plan is to sell the house and go full time. Mail is one thing, but shipping heavy/large parts was what I am trying to problem solve. Especially, as you mentioned, when your out of the US and you don't have Amazon delivering the next day

In the USA (and likely other countries) you can ship larger items to the local office of the shipping company. I have shipped our front leaf springs into a UPS service center for pickup. I have also had things shipped into a DHL office. Usually you just need to call ahead and make sure it is ok and to verify how to address the package.

Well I got a bit of success today with my new furnace controller. It is all installed and currently in the domestic water heating timer mode.

Got a little problem though that I will have to fix. I wanted it to be as integrated as possible so for the temperature sensor I got one that was mounted on a small circuit board that I could mount inside the case. I inquired about how much heat that the CPU produced and was told it was negligible. Well, not really as I am seeing warmer temps that what is in the habitat. I have an external sensor I can wire up instead, I'll try it once things settle a bit. I can run the sensor just below the counter top edge so won't really be very visible.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

The new SideWay roof windows are in! I have to say I think they look pretty good. I modified them a bit and added the LED light strips and the grey trim ring (needed to cover some screw holes from the Tern windows). We're pretty pleased with them and are glad they are finally in.



And I think our in cabin water filtration system is now complete. When we built the truck I wanted a .5 micron filter and UV sterilized plumbed to a separate tap. At the time I couldn't find an LED UVC sterilizer so I went with the standard UV sterilizer. What I didn't realize was that these needed time to warm up and you really need to leave them on drawing power. So we never used it. Well technology moves on and I was now able to find a 10" filter housing with a LED UVC filter with a flow switch. So today that was installed. So now we have a Pentek 5 micron carbon filter for all water, then a .5 Doulton Ceramic filter with the UVC plumbed to a separate tap.

I have also had on my TODO list to flush the clutch fluid, there was a bit of grey crud in the bottom of the reservoir. So with Heather's help we ran some fresh fluid through while I drained it from the slave cylinder.

We have also gotten the second generation entry steps done. I ran into issues with the pneumatic struts so fell back to the old hinges. I will likely work on that when we return in the fall from Alaska. The bottom step looks a bit low in this picture, but we are on a bit of a slope. Now we don't need our little step ladder.


And tomorrow I will likely install the new 200amp JDB BMS. It has more safety features than our current one, one being a temperature sensor which ours currently lacks (not to charge when below freezing, which if all is running shouldn't happen, but you never know).

After a few bugs in my software the new ESP32 based touchscreen furnace controller is working well. This is sort of my first generation and plan on adding a couple more temp sensors, one in the engine coolant and one at the domestic water heater. With those I can run things a bit more efficiently. I probably won't get to it until fall though as I need to order a couple small bits to get it going.

Oh, and this is for the LN2 owners. A fellow LN2 owner in the UK generously photocopied his English owner's manual so I can finally read it. He said it was ok to share so if anyone wants is just let me know.

 

[DiploStrat]

Bravo Zulu on all of the above and yes, would LUV an owner's manual!

Is the JDB BMS the same as used by Overkill Solar? If so, the 120A units have worked well for us.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Hi Jon!
Can you share some details of the filtration setup you have? Is it just connected to a separate drinking tap or runs through the whole freshwater output?

I would love a copy of the manual! You have my email

BR Dimitri

 

[wfv56]

I second being interested in your new water filter details. I apparently missed what went wrong with the Tern ceiling window?