What did you do to your SMB today?

[Mikerson]

Originally Posted by Beejmac

How difficult was this removal? Cutting tools? Where will you get a replacement, or are you rehabbing it? I have a similar situation.

Those interested in propane tank rehab may be interested in this nice thread by CDACamper.

https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...ort-25847.html

[Beejmac]

Originally Posted by Mikerson

Those interested in propane tank rehab may be interested in this nice thread by CDACamper.

https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...ort-25847.html

Thank you. I have terrible luck with this site’s search function.

[1der]

A great way to search "the site" if having difficulty w the imbedded search feature is to use your browser search engine.

In the browser enter "sportsmobileforum.com" w the quotes and then add the search words/subject for what you are looking for.

example:
"sportsmobileforum.com" propane tank refurb

copy and paste that into your browser search engine.

[unreng]

a l'il back-story first...

about a week ago we were pulled over for not having brake lights, which is really weird because we have two sets of brake lights - the OEM and some tecniq led strips attached to the top.

the turn signals worked, the brake lights didn't.

got home and browse the ford wiring manual for the brake light fuse - #11 - and it's not blown.
test the + lead for the brake pedal switch and it has 13v; we decide to replace the switch anyway since it's 16 years old and we'll keep the original as a spare.
remove the IPCW led tailights and notice some interesting electrical issues



the fuzziness on the plastic is havelock wool which is installed throughout the van for insulation and to reduce drafts - our van had a noticeable draft at the tailights.

turns out that the circuits on the back of the lights need airflow to stay "cool" and the wool was insulating the circuits.

we replaced the IPCW lights with junkyard lights and still no brake lights.

search the forum and the interweb for "no brake lights" and the multifunction switch might be bad, so we order one of those but it'll take a week to get here.

as a last resort, we break out ford volume 1, find the electrical troubleshooting section and see if there's something else that might cause the brake lights to not work.

first = is fuse 11 good? yes
second = is fuse 39 good? no

turns out that the fuse 11 circuit runs thru the fuse 39 circuit (multipurpose switch).

now we're waiting on new ford taillights to finish this "project."

as an aside, anyone with stock taillights that wants some really bright 3156 / 3157 LED's, check out Alla Lighting on amazon

these seem as bright or brighter than the IPCW taillights and they're interchangeable, so if a brake light goes out, we can swap with the reverse light in a pinch.

we're also replacing all fuses with easyid to make finding a dead fuse easier.

[jage]

Just a few van related 3D printer projects. First is a wire guide for camera wire hijacking the door wiring passthrough without interfering too much with the rubber sleeve. The material is PETG which melts at ~240ºF so fingers crossed the inside fender wells don't reach that temp (if it gets close that's fine it will just mold to shape!). I've had a black PETG gps mount in my tacoma dash for a year now and it lives in the sun, but I think the 6.0L might run slightly hotter than the actual sun.



While I had the PETG out (or rather loaded) I went ahead and FINALLY remade my avatal remote antenna which has been cracked at the base since I bought the van and missing for about 5 years.

[E-350]

Eventually replaced my Pelican box I received with my UJOR rear bumper with a DIY dual jerry holder!
Also ordered a blue plastic Wavian Jerry Can. I can just leave it on the holder and pour water via the spout :-)

[motovan_mn]

Originally Posted by E-350

Eventually replaced my Pelican box I received with my UJOR rear bumper with a DIY dual jerry holder!
Also ordered a blue plastic Wavian Jerry Can. I can just leave it on the holder and pour water via the spout :-)


Attachment 43498


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Nice, that's an awesome solution! I've been racking my brain how to best make use of the that Pelican case. Seems like you'd need to install some sort of shelf or something.

Did they drill holes into the Pelican case to mount it to the rack?

[DosMars]

Finally got around to swapping the hinge placement on my National Luna 65L Freezer. After quite a bit of research trying to find just the right freezer to fit the spot behind the driver's seat, settled on the NL-65. I was impressed with the efficiency and insulation ratings of the National Luna, along with the history of these being designed specifically to keep medicines within a tight temperature range while off-grid when servicing remote villages in Africa.

Anyway, it fits great, but the orientation of the opening meant you had to slide it out and lean the driver's seat forward to access.

The original hinges are bolted into a backing plate inside the skin of the freezer, so I decided to go with Sikaflex 252 polyurethane caulk so as not to put in any new holes. A few years back we ran into a couple from England down in Baja who had custom-built a 4x4 camper on a Mercedes fire truck chassis. They shipped it over to Canada, drove it across to the West Coast and were on their way to the end of South America. We got to talking about how he put it all together and he brought out a tube of caulk.

He said "You Americans are so in love with your nuts and bolts and screws! The French airforce uses this to glue the panels of their jet aircraft together. Run a length of piano wire through the seams if you need to take it apart and just glue it back up." He'd designed the exterior panels of the camper on CAD and had them fabbed up by a company that supplies refrigerated truck bodies. All his joints looked like they'd held up pretty well, so I figured the stuff would do the trick for the hinges.

Turned out great. Had to modify the latch as the handle was in the way but the extension turned out well.

Can't say enough for the freezer. I got it to keep Pacificos at the right temp on the way down, and be able to freeze fish fillets for the trip home.

On the last week-long trip, my beers were at a consistent -7 C while everyone else was watching their ice melt away. The solar keeps up nicely and it will chill fillets down to -30 for the trip home.

[E-350]

Originally Posted by motovan_mn

Nice, that's an awesome solution! I've been racking my brain how to best make use of the that Pelican case. Seems like you'd need to install some sort of shelf or something.

Did they drill holes into the Pelican case to mount it to the rack?

Yes, they did!

When ordering I asked to replace the box with 2 horizontal tubes going backwards (as base for anything I would built on top), but due to high order volumes he said he can‘t make any changes right now.
So I eventually asked to NOT drill it (so I can sell it as new or put it on my roof) and he confirmed.
Ended up getting the mounted box. I guess just fell off the table…

Then I started thinking how to get the carrier on. Online solutions were ~300+$ for dual.
But I had 5mm thick metal sheets [emoji23] so just some angle iron, proper screws, angle grinder to cut out some „weight savers“

All in all:
I only used existing holes and everything is attached using 6x 3/8 bolts to attach to the swing arm and then 5/16 for all the rest.

200lbs per arm are ok based on Chris feedback. ~40lbs for my steel, 50lbs each Jerry Can and I‘m good to go :-)

Next up:
Find a 2“ tube connector to add a kind of table/ storage over the cans. Just for trash or something…

[gcvt]

Got my new auxiliary condenser mounted up today...