What did you do to your SMB today?

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by deminimis

I could feeling it through the steering wheel. When checked, hub was hot. Know how hard it is to buy good wheel bearing grease in Baja on Jan 1? Yea, you can't where we were. Shortened up the trip.

If you can't find wheel bearing grease in Baja, there's plenty of lard available.


Herb

[daveb]

Originally Posted by deminimis

I could feeling it through the steering wheel. When checked, hub was hot.

OK what are you feeling. I'm still having some wierd front end problems. When I turn hard in an uphill climb (on hard pavement) it seems like I can feel the lugs on the tires and almost seems like I'm in four wheel drive. Normal?
Dave.

[JoeyNick]

I did this a few weeks ago but didn't have the chance to post it -- finally replaced my Flat Plate Heat Exchanger with the improved double wall model. And while I was cutting into the plumbing, I added an anti-scald valve.

The new heat exchanger is physically different than the original and comes with no means to mount it, requiring the fabrication of mounts. The old exchanger has bolts for mounting while the new exchanger has nothing.

Two aluminum straps were cut to length and bent around the new heat exchanger (brute strength and a little persuasion with a mallet on a block of wood got the straps in shape.) Since I wasn't sure what reaction there would be between the aluminum straps and whatever metal the heat exchanger is made from, I used some gooey gasket material (yes, that's the technical term for it when I can't recall the name) between the heat exchanger and mounting straps. You can see some of it in the iPhone pic, below.



An additional drain valve was installed under the anti-scald device, too. Everything is plumbed and tucked nicely up above the bottom of the frame and I'm happy to report the PEX tubing is very easy to work with. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of the completed install yet.

[LenS]

Added elbow room....

We have taken our van on a one and two week trips after getting the penthouse bed installed. It is tight up there for two adults. To make it more comfortable I have covered the penthouse steel lifting mechanism with 1/4" of plywood and thick carpeting. This will make a friendlier area to sprawl on while in the bed.

Penthouse bed w/o foam pads and bedding showing the new wings.



Also added simular feature at front for more shelf space for stuff. The plywood provides a flatter table for things.

[LenS]

When we installed the penthouse top in March we lost the aluminum bars we used as drying racks for towels and things while on trips.

I made some small new ones that can hold at least two wash cloths and hand towels. We can hang them there over night to dry (maybe point one of our 1 watt fans at the towels) or while we drive down the road. The rods are out of the ways but also can be stowed when not needed.





While on 1-2 month trips we normally plan on 2 weeks of cloths so that a laundry only comes once every two weeks. While on a two month trip to Alaska we stopped at Junction 37 to do two weeks of laundry. Two weeks into the trip. Junction 37 is where the Cassiar Hwy (37) tees into the Alaska Hwy (1). It consists of a gas station, campground and laundry mat. We washed clothes. We dried clothes, we fed more quarters and dried clothes, fed more quarters and "dried" clothes. Finally gave up on the driers and hit the road. B's are nice to travel in but what to do with damp clothes in a B's confined space.

The below pic is what motivates me to supply out of the way places to dry things. Design it in.

[jage]

I can top that:



Unfortunately I have nothing on topic since I haven't even been out to the garage in six weeks!

[saabman]

Hi all
Little while I haven't posted as summer has been all outside!

Done a couple of jobs last weekend: lower my bench seat at the rear and laid a rug...

Check out My Project

Also projects listed:
Improved "Galley" and suspended kids bed

[LenS]

Spent a lot of $$$$$$$$$$$

Had the 100k service done on my van. Ready for the next 100K.

[Sierrasclimber]

We replaced our rear speakers this weekend. Back in December I upgraded the front speakers to Infiniaty component speakers. What a difference to move the tweeter from way down in the door to elbow level. Previously we could not listen to books on CD, now we can. For the rear, we just did a simple replacement of the old 6x9 speakers with new MBQuarts 6x9. When we removed the interior covering we found the whole door was empty and had a lot of space. I really wanted to spend the time to covert this space to some usable storage but that would require cutting the sheet metal and making new interior so we settled on just filling the door with insullation and installing the speakers. We considered using reflectix but it seemed like fiberglass insulation would be effective given all the space. However behind the speakers we were not going to be able to put insulation in so we found some duct insulation matterial at home depot. Real easy to work with, R value of 3, and only about $1.20/sq ft. The speakers should great and the door is definately solid with that insulation added.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... =100028603

The install space:


The install:

[bluedog225]

At the risk of telling you too much about myself. Here's my ladder project:

Buy black ladder (el cheapo).
Figure out I cant mount it the way I want.
Buy another ladder (el cheapo-only available in silver with the over the door mounts)
Sand shiney new ladder.
Paint ladder flat black.
Paint ladder with truck bed liner.
Dip mounting surfaces in liquid rubber to get gasket between van and ladder.
Paint ladder mounting hardware and screws with cold galvanizing compound.
Paint screw heads with black bed liner.
Bake all in 100 F. sun for a couple of days.
Apply two coats of wax on rear door where ladder will be mounted
Drill holes in rear door.
Coat each screw with gun grease to prevent rust.
Mount ladder.

Step back and realize that the steps in the ladder are not equally spaced. Some are crooked; some are straight. No way to adjust-pinned somehow at factory.

Looks like hell.

*%*^(&!!##&*#

Third times a charm....