The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

charging system problems are done with

I have been scratching my head over why the voltage would drop from 13.8 to 12 when the lights where turned on. Same issue with the fan. What the volt gauge was telling me was the lights where draining the battery. i had the same issue with my hotrod for several years. If I turned on the lights the battery would die. My eventual solution was to toss my fully polished motorola alternator and install a 187 amp G3. The alternator in the Carryall is a Delco 12SI. By rights it should charge just fine. After several hours of searching I found out how dumb single wire alternators are and a 3 wire will last longer and have many less problems. The Carryall does have a 3 wire alternator (actually 4) but the sensor wire was pig tailed into the alternator battery wire. It came that way from the wiring kit supplier. The cure to the problem was to run the sensor wire up to the fuse box. Most alternator builders recommend to tie into the horn relay but i found that difficult. I tied into a battery supply at the fuse box.
So when I fired up the Carryall the gauge read 13.8 volts, turned on the lights and the guage dropped a tiny bit and was back at 13.8 in less than a second. Same thing when I turned everything else on, tiny drop and back to 14 and change. Sure beats dropping to 12 volts.
Two gauges left to deal with, oil pressure and oil temp. Both read high.
Off to the inspection garage tomorrow for round two.

vvrrooommm rattle, rattle, clang, clang, knock, knock, rattle, rattle, clang, clang, knock, knock.

Bruce

edit: Four wires? = Battery, Ground, exciter, sensor.

[Bruce in BC]

Passed inspection today.

Lots and lots of things to dial in over the next few months and many little tweaks to perform as well.
Found a leak in the lower radiator connections, at least I hope it was a connection.
As the motor settles in to the motor mounts and cradle it is getting closer to my fan. Long term it will get moved but short term I am hoping to leave it alone but it is getting very close to touching.
The reaction from other drivers is hilarious and entertaining, I will do a synopsis at a later date.
Rear end gets warm but not too hot, I put 20 miles on the new gears today.
I am surprised at the ride. With 20 lbs of air in the rear bags the truck rides way better than I thought a vehicle on leaf springs could ride. The big XZLs are quiet and smooth. Even without a sway bar I am comfortable going through corners.
Brakes are fine but stopping those big tires takes more distance than normal. When I drive the carryall I can not tailgate.
The space between 3rd and 4th on the NV4500 is a bit annoying. I can see why a ZF 6spd would be the way to go.
Going hiking tomorrow, will take the truck. Not much off road but I will get about 2 miles in on the front axle and gears.

Take care out there
Bruce

Ok someone else has to have an update on their vehicle.

[Alxj64]

Dang Bruce! You are moving right along on this thing! So happy for ya to finally be driving yours around! I'm still waiting on my wiring parts. I've even made a few phone calls and its, "Next week it will ship", then the following week when it doesn't ship,... "Ohh, one little thing snagged it up, next week it will ship"... Uggh, so far I'm already starting to have a feeling in a pit of my stomach about this. Maybe its just a "good things take time, Rome wasn't built in a day", but at the same time I am now at 8 weeks with no shipment information for something that was supposedly going to be out the door in 3 weeks. Fun...

I could be installing the fuel tank, but thats a big project. I could finish routing my intercooler tubing, but my tubing bender is on loan and I need to bend a piece of 2" AL tube. I really would like to get my hands on this wiring stuff so that I can finish getting the firewall and bulkheaad fittings finalized. In the mean-time I've just been going through my Bridgeport and getting it setup with some tooling.

[Bob Thompson]

Perservere Alex, most vendors don't stock what they advertise. Their suppliers often let their inventory drop towards the end of the year. The modern business model can play he11 with customer service.
I've been waiting for a generic keyswitch with a Pollack key for three weeks now. it seems everyone is out of stock. They probably come from one U.S. supplier who didn't receive their shipment from China yet.
That I'm afraid is the face of commerce today.

[W_A_Watson_II]

... suppliers often let their inventory drop towards the end of the year. The modern business model can play he11 with customer service.

I'm not sure it's the modern business model as that is an old practice. I suspect it's the market uncertainty that has everyone reducing inventory across the board across the year.

But you are right, with all this great "technology" i wish places would better keep on-line inventories accurate as well as store hours.

[Alxj64]

I'm not sure it's the modern business model as that is an old practice. I suspect it's the market uncertainty that has everyone reducing inventory across the board across the year.

But you are right, with all this great "technology" i wish places would better keep on-line inventories accurate as well as store hours.

The computer is only as accurate as the guy putting the numbers into it. It will tell you there is 10 even though there is 3 because the last 7 were pulled and inventory never went in. I am guilty of it myself though. I have a few buds that I keep a spreadsheet tab of buy, trade, sell parts with because I typically do most of the ordering. So when they tag on for material or drill bits with mcmaster, etc, I tally them up a tab. Sometimes I forget to add their stuff but they never forget to pick it up... and then when the bill comes I am scratching my head and then it clicks... dang it, forget to charge paul for that deburring tool, etc. Oh well.

[Bruce in BC]

Got a hundred miles on the truck.

Rear diff gets warm but not hot, I have yet to engage the front diff. I rattled the nut off the electrical connection on the fuel pump solenoid. I am having trouble starting the truck when hot. I hope that is the issue. I read that hard hot starts are indicative of the injector pump failing.
Had two guys stop their truck in the middle of a street and start asking questions, another lady lean out of her apartment 2 stories up and ask for permission to take pictures and another group of oldsters ask what it was and what was done. The best one was the guy who stopped his car in the middle of the road and had his head turned around as I passed him going the other way. He sat there for quite awhile as I kept driving away and I could see him still sitting there as I drove at least a mile away.
I think I need either a drum of loctite or stock in the company. More than one thing has rattled lose and other solid mount stuff has moved around abit as it finds its happy place. How the rad got a 1/4 inch higher in the frame and is still solidly mounted is beyond me. The rad cap is higher and easier to take off than it was last week. Weird.
Spark plug wires can be tucked away in tight spots to keep exhaust pipes from rattling. Not a long term fix, but better than the alternative.
As I have said- this is not done, but I need a break and this is helping.

Take care
Bruce

[AK3936]

Awesome to hear you are driving yours now, Bruce!

Are you still planning an Alaska trip in the summer?

[Bruce in BC]

Alaska - either this summer or next

2017 would make the most sense. 75th opening of the highway. Might be a few Army trucks on the highway in 2017. I need to take the truck out for a long run, get it hot and see if it will not start again. May need to get a check done on the lift pump too. Not sure what the best way would be to T off or tie in to the metric line after the transfer pump and run a pressure guage. Would be good to know if the lift pump was working and have a warning tool for if or when it fails.
Just took the wife out for a walk, took the carryall and she got her first ride.
Off to SAR practice

Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

Took the carryall out again and

The reaction was wonderful. I was washing off the undercarriage and a young man I know ( world class big wall climber) had turned his truck around just to give me a great big hug and tell me how happy he was to see the truck on the road. Then there was the guy with the huge smile on his face who beeped and gave me a long thumbs up. And the best one, the most amazing reaction I have ever seen, was the guy who flagged me down in the parking lot. This guy was shaking he was so excited, " my, my, my wife does not understand this, this is the best looking truck I have ever seen, its wonderful " he said a lot more but I was a bit shocked at how excited he was, and I was blocking the lane. It was not until afterwards that I thought I should have parked the truck and given him a walk around or taken his number and offered him a ride. Honestly I thought I had seen it all in my hot rod. People rear ending a car while looking at the car or driving off the road, but I have never seen the reaction that fellow had today. I am still smiling over that one.
One thing I did not anticipate was the number of folks who dig the paint. A couple of stupid comments but " I really like the paint" is not something I was expecting.
No repeat of the no start when hot issue, although I swear it stumbled after one fire up when facing down hill. I put my foot in it to pick up the revs but should have left it alone and watched if it was going to idle or not. Got home and tried again 3 times and it fired up an idled fine. Other weird thing is the engine runs quieter when it is up to running temp. Water temp gets to 180 and stays there. Electric fan has not come on yet.
I am trying to learn about GPS trackers for vehicles. There are some out there that are cheap but take SIM chip. Up here that looks costly, monthly fee of 10 bucks plus other fees. There are Sat GPS tracking units but I have yet to figure out what they would cost, or the difficulty in using them. I want old **** easy access.
Alec have your parts arrived yet? You must be grinding your teeth.

[Bruce in BC]

Engaged the front axle today

Got about 20 kilometres on the front axle today. I did not get hot, just mildly warm. The snow was 10 to 14 inches deep. The carryall went forward fine with no wheel hop at any point, but there was wheel hop when I attempted to back up. There is an issue with the ARBs and leaks, the compressor was coming on every 7 minutes. I guess I need to break out the soapy water.

[Desoto61]

The reactions are fun! I've only run around my neighborhood but lots of looks. It's a great feeling.

One of these days I want to get lo-jack installed. Doesn't require any sort of cell plan and it's passive and according to the site my local police have the tracking equipment.

I really wish we had gotten some actual snow, I want a reason to run the front axle. There's an empty lot nearby but pretty sure the owner doesn't want me running around in it.

[Bruce in BC]

By it pays to have a dial in period

I was looking under the truck and saw some antifreeze. This is the second time the truck has sprung a leak. Turned out to be my upper hose. The hose is a two piece unit and I honestly do not understand why it did not pop open and dump the full load of coolant. The centre coupling unit had worked its way to less than 1/8 engagement and the clamp was not doing anything. It was an easy fix.
My second fix was to open up the clearance on the front transfer case shifter. On occasion the shifter would rub on the edge of the cover and create one heck of a racket. That was easy enough. But I also spotted a jam nut on the shifter that has backed off. I need to pull both front floors and the transmission cover to get at that one nut. It can wait awhile.
I have a lot of house work to catch up on. So the Carryall gets a look and a tweak as time permits but there is not much of that available. I will advance the timing on the injector pump at some point, and chase down squeaks and rattles over the next month.

Take care
Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

Got the truck stuck

Six thousand pound trucks do not float on snow. Even aired down to 10 lbs the XZLs do not get very squishy or create much of a foot print. I had a friend driving his first gen Bronco in front on over 3 feet of snow. His big tires kept him on top and made a path for me. This worked great until I was climbing out of a wash out and spun a tire. Blurp down I went. Could not rock it back and forth, could not go anywhere but down. I was poorly repaired but I did bring a shovel. I am still finding things to tighten or adjust. I must say the ride is darn comfortable at 10 psi and I am not sure what my milage is but I like it
IMG_0099.jpgIMG_0100.jpg

Yes this is accurate, sunk right to the running board and the axle is fully burried.

[Doc Dave]

With the last big snow we had two weeks ago here on the eastern seaboard,
I noticed that without chains I was not doing very well, even with the very "luggy" Power Kings on the Power Wagon. Lots of spinning in place, even with going up only a 5% grade, unless I got a running start.
With chains on, it was a totally different story.
But, I don't have a locker(s).
I found this to be true with my farm tractor too, chains make a huge difference in snow or ice.