7pm at Asmbly 
Bring your vehicles, trials, and tribulations
I have extra tribulations if anyone forgets theirs : )
Unfortunately I’m not gonna be able to make it tonight. If turnout follows the trend the last couple meetups you may be there by yourself tonight Eric
That’s ok. More tribulations for me.
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It was great meeting you @Powderhorn Pete. I definitely love the Freightliner.
It has a great space inside with flat walls and square corners, perfect for modification and upgrades.
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Thank you Eric and Pete!
Wow! that’s an amazing truck for a conversion!
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crap. I really need to set some kind of alert for these topics or something.
I’m definitely going to have some tribulations to recount. It’s somewhat depressing that with the exception of the cabinet behind the driver’s seat, it looks exactly the same.
I’ll be at Asmbly as much of the weekend as possible if anyone wants to take a look at the lack of progress!
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Not pictured: The remaining 4’ of cargo area (that’s the front of the driver wheelbox at bottom left). It’s an embarrassment of space but will handle 1200W of solar with plenty of room to spare!
We made great progress on the Freightliner today. Ripped out the drawers in back and got a lot of the peg board off the walls to see what’s going on behind them.
Of course the Vanlife SIG is Tuesday at 7PM nice.
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Does anyone need an older, but still perfectly functioning (except for, I think, some seals) rooftop AC unit? Dometic 12,500 BTU. I’m upgrading both because of the seal problem and because 12,500 BTU does not cut it (IMHO) in TX heat in an Airstream thanks to aluminum being a horribly fabulous heat conductor.
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Dometic is a nice brand. What do you want for it?
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We managed to do a lot more work on Sunday. Still in demolition mode.
The back porch is very nice indeed.
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The most scary thing ever was found hidden beneath the diamond plate in the cab of Pete’s truck. He has not had a reliable engine start in the three months that he has owned his Freightliner despite much ‘professional’ help.
An auxiliary battery was wired in parallel with the two brand new main batteries and reeking havoc while trying to trouble shoot the engine problems. It had a weak cell and exploded at some point while charging.
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Fascinating. Theories on why this was done?
The busted cell could also be a result of the hot weather and insufficient venting.
What would be the purpose of this extra battery?
It seems as though the auxiliary battery was powering the lift and the other modifications made to the vehicle i.e… all the extra lights and stuff they had added in the back. A starter solenoid, top right, was energized all the time connecting the aux battery with the main bank of batteries. Even with the keys out it was powered acting as a parasitic drain. Think Dracula residing in the little shop of horrors hidden under the drivers side. I found the compartment by tracing the heavy copper cables from the main battery bank. There are no doors or access panels on the outside or underneath the vehicle and just an access panel in the floor of the cab. And there are also no vents for the fumes, hydrogen buildup. Scary but exciting. But mostly scary.
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