Not a skoolie - Page 21

joeblack5 · 05-02-2018, 02:14 PM

Hi Bill. This is a factory 2.1 liter diesel turbo intercooler. Renault engine. Pretty rare.

We left lake Hartwell state park and are now back on I26 between Greenville and Columbia. Taking a break at the rest area. Hope to tech cedar island late tonight early morning.

Later j

joeblack5 · 05-02-2018, 03:50 PM

Hello JD. Did not have time to install tranny temp yet. The dash has an open space to put a gauge in but since it is computerized I am not sure how easy or hard it is to get it working...

Hi Ben Sorry to hear about your workload. I took a nap . back on the road.

ben2go · 05-02-2018, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Hello JD. Did not have time to install tranny temp yet. The dash has an open space to put a gauge in but since it is computerized I am not sure how easy or hard it is to get it working...

Hi Ben Sorry to hear about your workload. I took a nap . back on the road.

..........

cadillackid · 05-02-2018, 05:46 PM

awesome on taking dory on a trip!!!!

yeah those balancing beads can cause real issues if the tire shop doesnt install the special valve stems made for those..

I was all about those beads as on my big bus they seem to balance the wheels great.. but those 11R22.5 tires spin at maybe 500 RPM tops so I dont notice imbalance.

on my red bus with its small wheels.. they are spinning at well over 600 RPM going 65. and my front tires which are new bounce along at 65-70 MPH.. im going to take it to a shop and see if they even installed the beads like was supposed to have been done...

-Christopher

joeblack5 · 05-03-2018, 08:22 PM

We spend part of the night at a Walmart in Florence. Actually changed motor oil in the parking lot. The engine has a nice oil valve so it is easy to fill up an empty water jug and then change to the next one. So 6 water jugs later I was ready to change the oil filter cartridge. This was my first change on this engine and it was pleasantly easy.

Left at 4.30 AM and drove to the NC border welcome center. Another power nap and of to the waffle house at I40 & rte24.

We made it to the ferry at cedar island. We made a reservation online but I expected them to rejected Dory at arrival because of ground clearance. Did not happen. Captain even came over to check our handicapped ramp and did not see a problem. So during loading they arranged the vehicles so that Mom could get out with the wheel chair and ride around on the side of Dory and the front deck. Having had mixed experiences with the dot services this was a very pleasant surprise.

joeblack5 · 05-04-2018, 07:28 PM

This is a photo from our campsite at lake Hartwell. Had some time to install the vent for the kitchen exhaust . The flapper valve can be locked during driving.

o1marc · 05-04-2018, 07:34 PM

Perfect site for a bus. Looks relaxing.

joeblack5 · 05-13-2018, 09:07 PM

Thanks Marc. We sure had a nice time. Now back in State College. Finally got around to hook warewolffs Nexiq USB 2 scanner up to Dory. Dory is Mercedes and needed the Detroit software. Warewolff gave me a lot of help and i did a lot off software downloads. J1708 Communication was fine but I was unable to change the road speed limitation on Dory. The software and or my understanding of it was unable to read the bus parameters.

Later j

joeblack5 · 05-19-2018, 06:24 PM

Wanted to go to Barnes and Noble with Mom so I pulled Dory out. Had not calculated a MPG number yet from our Georgia / outer banks trip.
So I filled the tank up. We use the same tank for our heating with the webasto for two nights.
Start 412080 Stop 413527 Total full to full miles 1447 and 158.23 gallons.
We pulled our cherokee XJ jeep and the average turned out to be 9.147 MPG. It little lower the I expected but it is what it is

Later J

JDOnTheGo · 05-20-2018, 06:36 AM

That is fantastic mileage Johan!! What kind of speeds were you running?

joeblack5 · 05-20-2018, 10:09 AM

Hi JD, max speed

....slow..55mph limited by computer , about 1950RPM in 5th gear. After I came back i tried to up the speed to 65. Could not get it to work.
To be honest 55 is plenty fast for me. If one would need to come to a real emergency stop from 55 a lot of stuff would start flying.

later J

jonb8 · 05-20-2018, 10:26 AM

How did the xj do being flat towed? I'm also wanting to flat tow my xj and it's just something you don't see alot.. How does your tow bar mount to the unibody? Very nice setup, the bus looks awesome in the camping spot picture.

joeblack5 · 05-20-2018, 04:21 PM

Hi JonB. Not sure, never flat towed anything before. Not even sure if I did it right. The jeep came with a tow bar, The PO delivered it like that

.

I would have liked it a little higher for off roading. The PO had it original on the bumper seeing the holes but it came of i guess

Not sure about the way it is attached either but it did not come apart.

I locked the tires in straight forward and put the Manual 5 speed gear in neutral. Would have like to put the transfer case in neutral as well but it was rusted and I could not move the lever. In Ocracoke I worked on the transfer case because I needed, or expected to need 4x4 to get Mom on the beach.

and indeed I did

Met a new super fancy coach store bought RV with brand new jeep. Asked them about locking the steering but they were clueless and stuttered about that I would have to put it in neutral ??? Oh well.
Did not look that us simpletons were getting along so I did not bother any further.

I used one of the inside camera's and coax cable and mounted the camera on the rear to check if the jeep was still there

.
Replaced all the marker lights with LED and " forgot about the brake and direction lights"

. Dory is much wider and all could be seen from the rear. I figured having no marker lights would attract some undesired attention. The coppers did not even look at us.
When i have more time then I will make it right.....

later J

joeblack5 · 05-20-2018, 07:05 PM

Just a picture I ran into.

I full timed in this bus for 4 years with my then girl friend. Right in Amsterdam at the Gaaspercamping in Amsterdam South East. The camp ground is still there.
This is a pre conversion photo. We took the rear doors out and blocked of the first two and last two windows. On the drivers side the middle 3. We insulated the windows and the floor. The windows we took out were placed in front of the other windows. We had my grandmothers coal stove and an eberspacher hot air diesel heater.
In the winter we came back from work in Amsterdam and hit up a couple of dumpsters to "steal" wooden pallets, we cut them and used the wood for heating. We used to joke that we were trice warm, one time from the stealing, one time from the cutting and one time from the burning. My grandmother stove is now here in the USA as well.
It had a 6 cylinder DAF turbo diesel 5 speed manual with granny first gear.
When I moved to the USA the bus got scrapped and used in the field as storage / chicken coop. The engine ended up as a water pump drive.

We had no running water and were parked next to the toilet / shower building. Water came in with a 2 gallon jerry can. Still have that one as well.
Time seemed to be much easier in those days

.

Later J

jonb8 · 05-21-2018, 05:00 AM

Thanks, I built this bumper for my xj last year. I'm hoping I can modify a tow bar to mount to the 2 front mounting points for shackles.. They go all the way back both unibody rails... I've never flat towed anything so I have a big learning curve in front of me....

ben2go · 05-21-2018, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Hi JonB. Not sure, never flat towed anything before. Not even sure if I did it right. The jeep came with a tow bar, The PO delivered it like that

.

I would have liked it a little higher for off roading. The PO had it original on the bumper seeing the holes but it came of i guess

Not sure about the way it is attached either but it did not come apart.

I locked the tires in straight forward and put the Manual 5 speed gear in neutral. Would have like to put the transfer case in neutral as well but it was rusted and I could not move the lever. In Ocracoke I worked on the transfer case because I needed, or expected to need 4x4 to get Mom on the beach.

and indeed I did

Met a new super fancy coach store bought RV with brand new jeep. Asked them about locking the steering but they were clueless and stuttered about that I would have to put it in neutral ??? Oh well.
Did not look that us simpletons were getting along so I did not bother any further.

I used one of the inside camera's and coax cable and mounted the camera on the rear to check if the jeep was still there

.
Replaced all the marker lights with LED and " forgot about the brake and direction lights"

. Dory is much wider and all could be seen from the rear. I figured having no marker lights would attract some undesired attention. The coppers did not even look at us.
When i have more time then I will make it right.....

later J

The Jeeps front wheels don't need to be locked straight. They need to be able to turn and follow your bus. With the wheels locked straight, you are drag the Jeep around curves and during turns. That can lead to tire blowouts, front axle failure, and suspension damage.

JDOnTheGo · 05-21-2018, 10:58 AM

Right on with the front wheels unlocked. Some models (Jeep) have a steering wheel lock, some do not. If a manual tranny, it should be in gear (not sure about auto trans). In all cases, the transfer case must be in neutral.

In my case (2010 Wrangler JK, manual trans), there is no steering wheel lock. Hooking it up with a Ready Brute Elite tow bar is super easy. Slip transfer case in neutral, tranny in gear, and go (no key in ignition).

My entire setup: Jeep Towing - Part 1 - JdFinley.com

cadillackid · 05-21-2018, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDOnTheGo

Right on with the front wheels unlocked. Some models (Jeep) have a steering wheel lock, some do not. If a manual tranny, it should be in gear (not sure about auto trans). In all cases, the transfer case must be in neutral.

In my case (2010 Wrangler JK, manual trans), there is no steering wheel lock. Hooking it up with a Ready Brute Elite tow bar is super easy. Slip transfer case in neutral, tranny in gear, and go (no key in ignition).

My entire setup: Jeep Towing - Part 1 - JdFinley.com

in 2010 the manual JK's didnt have wheel lock but the autos did. my 2009 manual didnt have a lock, my 10 auto did, and my 13 manual didnt..

the "workaround" I did when I towed my 10 behind the friends' of mine prevost was to put it in 'N', turn the jeep off to accessory and then pull the battery cable. (we used a light strip on it like the tow truck guys have for rear lights).. then of course Transfer case in 'N'. it never seemed to hurt it, other than it screwed up the Navi for some reason to lose signal and power for 1000 miles.. took it awhile to find itself again when you plugged the power in.
-Christopher

joeblack5 · 05-21-2018, 12:00 PM

Thanks for the feedback

I did not research it to well, no time, but and found people with pro and cons. It is the internet after all.. decided to use the seat belt to tie it in the center. Full aware that I would drag tires. But if for whatever unknown reason , a flat for instance, the steering would lock into one of the extremes and I would not immediately notice that. The result would be two blown tires and some other nasty stuff.

With the amount of overhang a bus has the front end of the car has to do some pretty funny stuff to track.

Bottom line I was not sure or confident in the self centering ability of a jeep. Will read more about it and see if I change the approach.

Later J

ben2go · 05-21-2018, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDOnTheGo

Right on with the front wheels unlocked. Some models (Jeep) have a steering wheel lock, some do not. If a manual tranny, it should be in gear (not sure about auto trans). In all cases, the transfer case must be in neutral.

In my case (2010 Wrangler JK, manual trans), there is no steering wheel lock. Hooking it up with a Ready Brute Elite tow bar is super easy. Slip transfer case in neutral, tranny in gear, and go (no key in ignition).

My entire setup: Jeep Towing - Part 1 - JdFinley.com

.........

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