We'll life's been getting in the way less and I have been picking away at this project again; it’s been nice to get back to the project as I wasn't intending to let it stall out so bad.
Testing out the finished jeep TJ project:
In the last few weeks / months I have been acquainting myself with the Rambulance and replacing parts / picking away at small projects and trying to get two or three things done per weekend. Mix that in with a few steps forward and a few steps back and here is what I have been up to.
I started out by having the pleasure of replacing all three batteries since the truck likes to drain the starting batteries if it’s not left on a tender. I chose to purchase Napa Commercial Group 31 batteries since they are manufactured by East Penn Manufacturing, who also produce Deka batteries, come with a 3 year warranty, and cost me a little over $100 each with my discount at the off-road shop. I have mixed feelings on Napa parts, heck most Aftermarket or non OEM parts for that matter, I usually only purchase Orbital batteries for my personal Auto's, but I figured I would go with these batteries knowing it won't be a problem getting them warrantied should the situation call for it.
Group 31 Battery Specs>>>
NAPA AUTO PARTS
So with three new batteries, a new
Noco G7200 battery tender that I ordered off of Amazon to keep the bank happy I was getting ready to get the beast moved over to the shop to start working on the list of things I want to get accomplished. While doing a quick walk around I checked the tires and noticed one of the rear duels had gone flat and fallen off the rim. So I got to practice re-beading tires in the 0° temperatures.
Re-beading tires is not to bad if you have a little luck, a tire blaster, a small portable compressor, and a lot of practice. Once the tire was blasted back on the rim and filled back up to whatever the small compressor would muster, I lucked out once again when the alternator locked up and broke the serpentine belt. That was a very disheartening event, since knowing that my Alternator is a 270 amp unit, is the size of a milk pail, and with a manufacture like Leece Neville, it sure smells a lot like money. I was sure that it was not going to be a cheap repair and after doing some checking around for Model # A0014864jbI my fears were confirmed as remand units were looking to be in the $550-1000 price range.
Prestolite - Leece Neville
With the serpentine belt broken it meant no accessory drives, which left me pulling the unit outdoors in the -20° temperatures we were having at the time. Serves me right for letting the truck sit so long, so I got to removing the alternator in snot in your nose freezing temperatures and I sent it to a local shop that rebuilds units for us at the Off-road shop. I chose to roll the Dice and have the alternator rebuilt and I finally lucked out, total job ran $75, and only took around a week to get back. The following weekend it was back out in the cold to install the alternator. The install went rather quick but I ended up fighting with the belt for an hour and a half, I don't know I'm an idiot. Then after unthawing back inside it was time to blast the tire back on the truck for the second time.
Upon remounting the tire, and quick once over, it was time to get the truck over to the shop so the real work could begin. Or at least some work that didn't include freezing my balls off. I started off by cleaning out the truck compartments and removing the shelf's and dividers that were separating things. It’s amazing how much stuff you can clutter up one of these boxes with without the intention of even using it for storage. It’s kind of like having a self-propelled shed with lights and sirens.
The next task that I decided to pursue was attacking the squad bench and rear drug cabinet in the #5 compartment on the passenger rear side. I'll sure give it to Horton, those guys sure never intended for that stuff to come out easily. Upon getting everything but the rear cabinet wall cut out I called it a night and headed home for the night. Upon returning to the shop the following day I was welcomed back with a large puddle of brake fluid under the driver side. upon seeing that I inspected the backlines where they came out of the master. Finding rusty crusty brittle lines it confirmed what I was expecting to have to do later but was only hoping to put off for a while, I needed to redo all of the brake lines, awesome. Having enough for the weekend I packed up all of the stuff I had torn out and parked the truck back outside.
The following weekend I brought the truck inside and started crawling around underneath to see how big of a job it was going to be to replace all of the lines. Let’s just say there are about 6 lines on the truck so its really not that complicated of a task, but let’s just also say that those six lines total about 65 feet that not only have to come off but they also have to be replaced with new stuff. All in all it took me about two and a half days to get through it, and I am very glad to have that job behind me. I'm also very thankful to have had a hoist that could get the truck up in the air at least far enough to me to stand underneath the truck as that was truly a blessing. One of the snags I ran into while replacing lines was a small electrical sensor that snapped off of the master cylinder. My guess was it was already broke and the rust was just holding the plastic on until I touched it and it came apart. $13 later at freightliner and that problem was solved.
The other snag that I had was getting the rear wheels off as it requires a 33mm socket for the lug nuts and our 3/4" Gun wasn't even interested in breaking them free. That's even running on a 3/4" air hose. Not sure what that was about, but a few broken adaptors later, one broken extension, an 8 foot pipe on my breaker bar and I was able to get the wheels off. The Torque spec tag on the passenger frame rail says 500ft/lbs but it sure took a hell of a lot more than that to get them to break free.
I also chose to replace the valve stem extensions for the inside rims since the ones that were on there decided to self-destruct.
With that task done I moved on to replacing a leaky airbag that was on the rear passenger side, I found the part I needed online on at
Leaf Springs, Air Springs and Suspension Parts and Service. My freightliner FL50 has the Hendrickson Low Leaf Air Ride Suspension in the rear and after cross referencing Hendrickson / Firestone part numbers I was able to find the new air spring needed and since I was at it, I decided to order new shocks as well. Those were finished installing those last Saturday along with a battery kill switch on top of the batter box since I am tired of the truck sucking the batteries dead when it sits off the tender for a few days.
Next up on my list is changing the Engine oil and all of my fuel filters, Steering filter, typical maintenance stuff.
After that on the short list
Front Tow points (had to pull the truck out once already after digging holes with the 1 wheel wonder)
Build a rear receiver hitch
7 wire trailer plug & trailer brake controller
Rear View back up Camera
Strip the vinyl lettering
I'm going to try and keep it to a short list of things and that way I can try to keep myself motivated.
