Gary Lewis

The ones with the loop work perfectly. I have one on Big Blue's driver's door. And on those, and most later strikers, a piece of 1/2" PEX is a push fit to replace the plastic. Just screw the bolt out of the washer/loop, push the PEX on, and reassemble.

I don't have a relay rated for 20A @ 120VAC, so can't test. But I ordered the (LOT of 2) Matsushita JH2a-DC12V Relay 20A, 250V AC from your links, above. Those are DPST relays so I could run them in parallel if I wanted to cut the load. And still have one relay as a backup. Or, run just one pair of contacts and have a built-in backup of the other pair of contacts. Looks like there's no mounting tab so I'll probably hot-melt glue it to the project box. Speaking of which, now I can downsize the box a bit. But I still need room for several DC power ports awa the AC outlet and a DC fuse. Oh, by the way, the same relay is available from Amazon for $30/ea + $45 shipping. Let's see, $8/ea vs $75/ea?

Ok, this is an official apology to Jim. I should have been listening to you rather than going with my limited understanding of electricity! I occurred to me last night that I might easily be able to answer the question of what it takes in the way of a switch or relay to control the compressor - just pull the cover and see what the switch that is on it is rated. Turns out it is rated at 16(16)A @ 250VAC and 18(16)A @ 125VAC. But that begs the question of what the two different #'s mean, and I found this explanation SOS Electronic: In the specification of the reference power using the bracket notation, e.g. 16 (4) A 250 V AC, the value in front of the brackets indicates the switch-off current and the value in brackets the nominal motor current. So that seems to say that I'd be fine with a relay of a 20A rating. Right?

These trucks are like onions. We peel off a problem/layer and cry. Then another layer/problem. But soon we have enough to have a mess of onion rings, or maybe even a Bloomin' Onion.

That sound great, John! You have my permission to use anything of mine you find, inc the pictures and writeup in the 2020 truck show. And, as agreed, I owe you some pics of Big Blue. But I want to get the interior done a bit more so it'll be a few days.

Mine was a brand new box. Used it to break in the cam on Big Blue. But the engine ran horribly and the tach was erratic. I had a spare mounted below it and after 25 minutes of running to break in the cam I turned it off and swapped boxes. The engine ran very well after that and the tach settled right down.

Yes, the winch looks great. Close to the bumper. And a writeup on how you did the receiver would be helpful, for sure. On the tach, mine recently went wonky and it turned out the DS-II box had failed. It was firing and the engine was running, but very poorly. Is yours running correctly?

You got the tent mounted! Wonderful! When do you go camping? And the plug wires look great! Well done!

Cool! Or maybe "warm"! Glad you got it fixed. So, what's the next layer of the onion to peel?

Thanks Gary. Yeah I was just teasin about not being missed. Jim had us all a little more than just concerned. The job is 1 hour away. Not a bad commute. This year I have worked from home about 5 or 6 months. This place is REALLY out in the boonies....but the county decided several year ago to invest in Fiber internet. So I called the local isp and they already replaced the copper lines with fiber at this place. Which is a faster connection than what I have now. A one hour commute was my limit. We moved several times and I always checked out the commute before we decided on where to live, and only once did we pick one with that much commute - London. But the saving grace was that it was on the train/tube so I had time to do other things. Still, I gave up two hours/day to travel. But if you can work from home some of the time that would, in my calculations, reduce the effective commute time. And having fiber for the connectivity would make the job lots easier as not only does the speed go up but so does the reliability. Anyway, enjoy! That sound like quite an adventure.

I think you two have done a good job answering the questions. The only thing I can add is that while I'm not running a stock bumper, I am running a bumper that bolts into the stock holes, and I'm pretty sure a stock bumper would bolt on.

Have you checked the driveshaft? I've seen worn splines in the shaft cause quite a bit of shaking with certain throttle settings. So does it matter if you are coasting or on the gas or off? As for checking the driveshaft, try to push the splined joint sideways. It shouldn't move, but if it does you may have a problem. And, how much did the headlight harness help?

Here's a rough draft of what I'm planning on the power box. The dotted line on the contactor means it is inside the box.

I can tell you for the top row of indicators I went with the LED's that only point straight out...does that make sense? Pretty sure they were bright white also. I might have some here that I could take pictures of, but I don't remember what brand they are. Ebay stuff, for sure. Pictures might help as I've thought about doing that as well and wondered what would work nicely in there.

Good to see from you, Ray! But you have been missed. The difference is that we knew you were busy as you said so to us. But Jim dropped off the radar literally over night. As for the move, that sounds like what you've said you've always wanted to do - be off the grid. But what about the job? And the garage sound great! Congrat's!!!

Yep, I have reflective insulation on the fuel lines, but supply and return, where they cross the exhaust - even though they are several inches away from it.

Which, the contactor or the box? The contactor is big 'cause the contacts need to come way apart to break the arc. But the box neatly fits above the inverter and, hopefully, has room for all the bits and pieces. Time for another, closely related, subject - how best to use the DPST contacts. Should I put the hot side of the AC through both contacts in series or parallel? In parallel it would cut the current each contact sees in half. But in series it might help break the arc. Thoughts?

Jim - I wish I'd taken a screenshot of the calculator on my phone. It had exactly the same calculation you showed. And if you go back several posts I think I said "~9 amp" for the running current. But I think the 14 amps is the starting current. As for the current rating on the contactors, I believe they are for a purely resistance load. But a motor is an inductive load and it is much harder to break the arc of an inductive load than a resistance load. From what I've read the contacts have to go much farther apart, and rapidly, to do that effectively. Hence the "HP" rating, which is what I'm keying on. And while I would like "compact", I've found a box that will accept the TE Connectivity contactor. It this LeMotech Waterproof Dustproof IP67 Junction Box that is 9.8 x 3.1 x 3.3" outside but 9.6" x 2.8" x 3.2" inside. That will allow the 3.3 x 2.5 x 2.5" contactor to sit in sideways. And, the box fits in the envelope of the caddy pretty well. So now I'm laying out the contactor, AC outlet, fuse, and DC power ports to see if it'll all fit.

Scott - Good question. This morning I determined that I needed 6401-005E so I searched for them and the top two hits were: Amazon: Oh look, cool! Amazon has them. For $59.95 for a pack of 5, meaning $11.99 each!!!! Century Tool: Oh yes! That's where I bought them before. LOOK! They are $11.66 for 5! So, guess where I ordered from. But they wanted big bucks for the wire, so I went back to Great Lakes Skipper. I got tinned #2 for $2.50/foot.

Jim - I really thank you for looking! I appreciate you doing that! However, looking at those relays, two of them have 20A contact ratings and one has a 25A rating. But the TE Connectivity contactor I found has a 30A & 1.5 HP rating, and my compressor is rated at 1.5 HP. So I don't think the 20A units will work, and the 25A unit's coil is rated at 12 AC. Again, I appreciate your efforts. But I think I'm going with the TE Connectivity contactor - if I can figure out how to get it in a project box. Its size is shown as 3.3 x 2.5 x 2.5 (L" x W" x H"). That means that I need to find a project box that provides at least 2 1/2" inside. And my measurements say that a 3" tall x 3" wide box will fit down against the inverter and not hit the seatback. So if I can find a box that is maybe 3 x 3 x 6 - 11" long I'll have room for the contactor, AC outlet, DC fuse, and 2 or 3 DC power ports. And from my scribbled parts list the contactor and project box are the last of the things I need to order. I got 10' of red and 10' of black #2, 4' of black shrink tube with adhesive, 10 MagnaLugs, and 25' of split loom on order this morning. Oh, I forgot the DC fuse, AC outlet, and DC power ports.

I'll order a couple of the HMEG's as I also need to fuse the winch leads. But the winch can pull up to 330 amps, so it needs to be fused separately. As for the inverter power, you are right that I'm limiting things by not providing the full power the inverter is capable of pulling. But the aux battery relay isn't capable of handling that much power. I've looked for my post that specifies what I put in, but I want to say it is only capable of 200 amps. And it is new so I'm reluctant to replace it. Plus, the wiring that I already have installed for the positive and ground leads is #2, and that should be upgraded if I were to run larger wire from the aux battery relay to the inverter. And bending larger wire, like maybe 2/0, around the corners wouldn't be easy, if possible. In fact, getting that #2 in there was a challenge. But let me tell you about my confusion regarding wire sizing. First, there's the question of how much current the inverter can actually pull. It is rated at 3000 watts, as you know, and 3000 divided by 12 v give 250 amps. But that assumes 100% efficiency if the 3000 watts is the rating for the output. But the inverter won't be 100% efficient. And it has a surge rating of twice that. So, how much input current might it actually draw? I've guessed 300 amps, which assumes 80% efficiency. And I've guessed that the wiring would withstand the 100% overload for a brief period. But how big of wire is needed for a 300 amp load? I've found a whole BUNCH of web sites that purport to tell how large of wire I'd need for that, and they all have different answers. For the most part they say that for a 10' run I'd need larger than 2/0. And that's allowing for a 5% voltage drop, which is the max most of them allow for. I say all of that to say that #2 wire is known to work for supplying enough power to the inverter to run the compressor that I have. And it fits in with the overall wiring scheme in the truck as well as it physically fits in the truck. So, I'm just going to have to be happy with that.

The others have covered it pretty well. But the brake shoes will soak up some fluid, although if your leak is enough to require filling the master again then I doubt it is that. As was said, pulling the drums might be difficult, so check out the other things first.

Yes, wonderful job! Well done!

No, I don't. But MAPP gas is hot enough to bend a wrench, so I have a Craftsman 13mm box/open with a right angle near the boxed end. I forget what engine I was working on, but there was no room to get a wrench on the distributor's bolt so I made a wrench to fit. And I have another Craftsman boxed-end wrench seriously ground down to allow it to get on the header bolts w/o rubbing the exhaust tube on Big Blue. Plus a Craftsman open end wrench that is much thinner than it was originally and that let it slide into a really narrow spot. Don't remember what that was on, but it was the only way to get into that spot. Yes, Craftsman wrenches are expendable.

And Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, John! Looks like we have a beautiful day ahead of us here in Green Country. Enjoy it.