Sojourner

[bansil]

a tractor... ...thats cheating!!


take bolts out with a floor jack under it, then knock floor jack away.....then drag tank out...thats the proper way to "drop" a tank

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by sojourner

What do you want to know? I'll help anywhere I can.

Do you ever use Pacu?

[sojourner]

take bolts out with a floor jack under it, then knock floor jack away.....then drag tank out...thats the proper way to "drop" a tank

There was a day when using a floor jack would have been cheating . I've done stuff like this using a 4x4 as a lever to lift and take out spacer blocks one at a time to let something heavy down (like shipping containers). I did block this up before unbolting and dropped the tank and frame on blocks first. The forks (homemade adapter on my tractor) sure make it nice to reach in and carry the whole thing away though. Not sure what I'd do without "The little Kubota that could" around here.

[sojourner]

Do you ever use Pacu?

Always wanted to but never had a source for them. I grow tilapia here by the 1000's so they have been my mainstay for years.

[TheLivingBusProject]

QUICK QUESTION FOR YOU

Have you ever designed anything smaller scale in a portable method?

In designing our conversion (The Living Bus Project) I have established several auxiliary "stub-outs" into (4) primary areas in which I will be used to garden as well as handle the rain/greywater systems. These are: (1.) Interior atrium in the living area raised upper loft; (2.) Exterior raised beds; (3.) Exterior window boxes running the full length of the vehicle; (4.) Fixed holding tank mounted in the lower extreme passenger side of the vehicle (where the generator is currently mounted).

Ideally, the greywater will be handled by (4.) and then initially stored in a relatively small (>25gal) attached tank for on-site/in-vehicle watering. Excess and/or deliverable water will then be transferred to an off-site holding tank for eventual storage/dispersal. I have both 24V & 120V power at my disposal, maximum head up to 50 meters, and maximum discharge up to 60 LPM. I have always grown in soil myself... creating it through composting, vermiculture and no-till methods (I understand microbial life well). Hydro/aquaponics is new to me... although I have done quite a bit of reasearch on the subject. I would greatly value your opinion and any input/advice would also be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

-William

BTW, Your aquaponics system(s) look incredible!

[sojourner]

Weight will be your nemesis with aquaponics in a portable situation as well as dealing with water sloshing. Not that proper design won't solve the issues but as with all things the more design and specialization needed increases cost. That being said, have you seen the retail product we have available? With light weight media it might work for you. You can see it at www.myaquafarm.com. It's a very durable and sturdy design that's made to last decades. The basic weight of components minus water and media is 235 lbs.

Hope this helps.

Trav.

[sojourner]

I spent yesterday building the starboard side fuel tank mount frames. I'm using the three holes holding one of the crossmembers to the frame for the forward attachment point. This will locate the fuel tanks as close forward as possible while clearing spring hangers and such and still allow mounting stabilizer jacks on the front of the fuel tank frames. Since the crossmember is held in place with 1/2" bolts and my fuel tank mounts are held in place with 3/4" the first thing to do was drill out the holes to accept the 3/4" bolts. As it turned out it wasn't as bad as thought it would be. A little cutting oil here and there and we made it through just fine. I tacked the down tubes to the angle brackets first and got them squared up, a longitudinal tube tacked in place and then an angle 6" above that to mount strap anchors to as well as add some strength to the overall frame. I'm dropping the skirts to 20" below the floor frames and with 1/2" clearance on top will give me a 17.5" deep tank. This still gives me 17" of ground clearance while filling up the space much better than the factory fuel tank mount that, while way overkill as far as strength, took up way too much empty space. I'm doing this on both sides with tie bars between the frames on bottom for added support. Each tank will be 80 gallons. I was hoping to build 100 gallon tanks but ran into too many other issues with understorage placement, side door location and such. This way the predrilled holes in the frame are used making life a lot simpler. The plan is, once the framework for everything under the floor is finished (understorage frames, LPG and battery compartments, etc...) I'll remove all of them, sandblast and have hot dipped galvanized. The fuel tanks will be made of aluminum with isolation straps (rubber) between the aluminum contact with the galvanized frames.

Here's a pic of the frame on the bench just after welding it together:



A front on shot:



I have a bunch of leftover mobile home strapping and anchor material from a previous project and am going to use them as the tiedowns to secure the tanks in the frames. In case anyone is interested, mobile home tiedown hardware is rated at around 3500 psi. I don't think I'll see 7000 lbs of uplift on the fuel tanks. If I ever do, that'll be the least of my problems (Gimel landed on it's top after falling off a cliff).

Here's a pic of the anchor mechanisms. A square shouldered bolt goes partially through the hole, strapping is fed through a slot in the bolt and the bolt is turned to tighten things up. When the proper tension is reached, the square shoulder is tapped into place and the nut tightened to secure it.



The other side of the frame basically has through bolts that will hold a strap loop:



This is what it looks like installed (and yes Bansil, I used my tractor ):





Next weekend, the port side!!

[sojourner]

Speaking of fuel tanks and such. Has anyone used PEX for diesel fuel systems? Or, does anyone know what the hard plastic fuel tubing is they use on these things?

[bansil]

looks great, nice and beefy

[sojourner]

Finally got the tank supports with tie-bars and stabilizer jacks bolted in. The pain on all of it is to keep rust down until I get all the undercarriage work done and then sandblast and hot dip galvanize. When I do the final install I'll drop the tanks in and strap em' down. Now to begin making the fresh water tank (55 gallon drum) hanger between the frame rails just behind the differential. I did find the frame rails are not totally mirrors of each other. I used the starboard side tank bracket as a pattern for the port side and the holes were about 1/4" off. Had to remove one of the air tanks and drill out the frame to match.

Starboard fuel tank bracket.


Starboard stabilizer (7000 lb. square tube drop leg jacks).


Port side stabilizer (7000 lb. square tube drop leg jacks).


Port side (drivers side) fuel tank bracket.



From under with stabilizers down.



A little lower to see the cross-bars (tie the whole thing together).

[Ponyracer]

VERY nice! Love the design, how the tank frames push on each other. Great work!

[bansil]

how do the jacks work? I didnt see a handle for cranking?

[sojourner]

Bansil wrote

how do the jacks work? I didn't see a handle for cranking?

I took the crank handles out when I shortened the jacks up. I cross drilled a 1/2" bolt to make a new crank shaft. The jacks will be behind a door in the side panels when I get through skinning the under storage. When I want to set them up I'll reach (crawl) under and release the drop leg pin and lower the leg. Re-install the pin and open the door to that jack and use a cordless drill (modified with a 12VDC cord supplied by an accessory plug just inside each door) with a 3/4" socket and extension to lower them down. I'll do the final adjustment with a hand crank. Lori and I want as much mechanical on this project so we can operate and repair as needed without all that fancy stuff nowadays.

[sojourner]

Got the water tank bracket made and hung this week. I don't have the straps installed. I'll wait until the final assembly to strap everything in. As with the fuel tanks I'm using mobile home straps and anchors to retain the 55 gallon drum I'm using as the main water tank. I'll have 4 straps holding up (they're rated at around 3500 lbs. each) the tank with 2 holding down. I positioned the tank just aft of the differential as this seemed like the logical location. The differential (still trying to find a 4.10 ratio ) and axle will protect the tank from impact damage and I can use the weight to soften the ride a bit (hope springs eternal ).









Next to work on the rear stabilizer jack mounts.

[r_w]

Pumpkin as your skid plate, makes sense to me.

I would have though a barrel would sit higher than that. That space seems so much bigger until you try to fill it.

[sojourner]

A 55 gallon drum is 22.5" across and 34" long. The frame rails are 10" and there's a 1/2" thick pad the body sits on top of on the frame rails. I'm building understorage that will hang down 20" from the bottom of the body frames. The water tank will hang just below that about 2" when done. I was gonna put 2 barrel back there but will angle part of the undertorage to meet the bumper. Didn't want Gimel to look like it was giving birth to a blue barrel so we're going with only one..

[WinslowtheBluebird]

Hello fellow busser!

I love your barrel-ponics systems. I have been playing with ideas to have a portable greenhouse on my bus, particularly in the back portion which has been sectioned off for storage. I think a couple barrels would allow for productivity with transportability! I just miss my yard-grown tomatoes while herbs haven't been a issue since they are so small... Thanks for the inspiration! Im gonna give it a try, perhaps while trying to recycle some of my grey water….

I look forward to seeing how your bus unfolds.

Have fun!

(p.s. I went to Clemson if that gives me any SC cred hahaha)

[sojourner]

Hey WinslowtheBluebird,
Thanks for the comments. Sure wish Clemson would get a hold of aquaponics. They've been to my place on a couple occasions and just can't seem to get their head around the combination of aquaculture and agriculture. Strange. Anyhow, you might check out the other system I have as well. It has a lot more production in about the same footprint with less power usage. You can see it at http://www.myaquafarm.com.

So where's home these days? Do you ever come to SC?

Trav.

[Dragonpop]

Sorry I'm so late on this info but according to my information you shouldn't run a diesel engine at an rpm lower than max torque rpm. The cummins people say that you get your best fuel economy at about 200 rpm over max torque. Instead of changing the rear end gears you might look at going to say a Allison 3060 transmission which has two overdrives in a six speed transmission .75 and .65 which should give the speed and economy your looking for plus it is a lockup transmission which also contributes to better economy. The trans is found in various buses and fire trucks but does require a computer which is programmable
to lock out 6th gear which is usually the way you find it in a school bus.

[Tango]

The computer issue has stalled many projects where a 6-speed Allison was involved. Getting the right harness alone can be a bear and Allison will not reprogram a 5 speed into 6 without written authorization from the builder of the unit it is in or going in.

The new generation 2000 series have exactly the same double OD gearing but do NOT require a computer or exotic harness. They ain't cheap, but I have spoken with a couple of guys who have much more than the $9500 bucks Allison gets for the new units invested in trying to match an older Allison to various engines. The new units have a single, built in processor and only require a TPS (throttle position sensor) to talk to any motor. The unit then figures out (learns) when to shift, lock up, etc.

I am only familiar with this because an Allison 6 speed, double OD was what I wanted (make that.."needed") behind my Cummins 4bt and spent a year or so doing homework. Got lucky in that the new trans just came out as I was about to give up. My Cummins is the older "two-wire" motor that is sans any form of computer whatsoever and based on what I read following numerous threads on the topic, it would have been a nightmare to pull off going the 645 or 3060 route.

I'm not saying that every engine will pose these issues when paired with an older Allison 5/6 speed but you definitely need to chase down all the components and confirm the "programability" before jumping in. I wound up with a custom built 2200MH through Stewart & Stevenson and was very impressed at the amount of work they put in before even starting on building it. I still have the 15 page analysis they did to determine every parameter.

Best of luck, hope this helps a bit (Love them Allisons).