Java's F450 'Rough Road' RV

[java230]

Misadventures in upholstery.... Oy. Not my forte.

Cut and pack in a bunch more insulation

definitely the correct stapler?

What am I doing?!

Spray glue?

Getting somewhere.....

Now the hard part..... Cant be tight as the truck moves, looks worse in the pics....More staples.
Those ribs on the back wall didnt help at all with no stretch fabric....

Switch panel and power by the bed came out ok though, no more wires hanging out of the wall.

 

[java230]

Passthrough trim done!

Attempted to bathe truck. Its marginally cleaner....

 

[java230]

Good times as always at the NWOR! Weather was great, got to see lots of old friends I don't get to see to often. Lots of drool worthy trucks and thanks to all the vendors!

Nightly raffle is always fun!

Snuck out and climbed Peshastin one morning.

Entered the cooking competition and won!

 

[WashingtonTaco]

Always fun hanging with you guys! Thanks for shooting the photos!

 

[java230]

Always fun hanging with you guys! Thanks for shooting the photos!

No worries! Hope I got something useful. The pullpal demo was aweosme. I want two.....


We should really get together more often.

 

[java230]

Foot powered weekend. Spent a few days far far away. It was nice. 15-18ish miles each way though, we powered through it in a day, kiddo did awesome!

 

[java230]

Lots of leg powered excursions lately, so we haven't used the truck in forever, but with thunderstorms predicted all weekend that sounds like a perfect reason to take the truck.

Spent Friday night up in the mountains. It rained so hard it sounded like golf balls being poured on the roof! Yep, glad I took the truck.

It cleared up in the AM and we did a quick hike. Then headed South Ish.

Had a lazy afternoon, climbed a few easy routes and just hung out. Made some skottle pizza's and watched thunderstorms in the distance. Its finally getting cold enough to break out the propane fire pit too.

Also saw one of these! Glad it was a ways away!

 

[java230]

Big truck little roads!

As stiff as the M608's are they still deform at street pressure under a heavy ass truck.

Not bad at all.

Climbed til it was too damn hot and went and jumped in the river for the rest of the afternoon. Beware of nude beach

Stopped for lunch at a lake, its SUPER low, we are literally parked 1/2 mile into the lake. Its good and solid where its dry.... Muddy areas not so much, I avoided those like the plague.

Now onto a serious topic. Coilovers (or other options....). I need to do something to get this thing to ride better on FS roads. If you may or may not remember I have kelderman air ride leveling kit. Its honestly marginally better than the OE coils. I have to run ~80psi in the bags to keep their suggest ride height. I think this is likely very close to the OE spring rate. Its at 6200lbs on the front axle.

Airing down helps, but honestly its a bitch for say 10 miles of gravel.

Running Bilstien 5100's in the front, perhaps a better shock would help? Not really sure, it doesn't seem bouncy, but harsh on any impacts.

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

[WashingtonTaco]

Seems to me airing down would be the least expensive option.

 

[java230]

Seems to me airing down would be the least expensive option.

I dont disagree, but time is $$ as they say.

But also, It cant be good for the truck to get beat to death. My thinking is disconnect the front shocks and see what that feels like, ignoring he bouncing, if its still harsh, its not the shocks.

 

[WashingtonTaco]

Guess you could try that?

 

[java230]

Well this happened! Only highway driving so far.

Fit well and the resi's tucked in nicely. Im at 4 clicks (12 total) up from full soft on the high speed compression, and full soft on the low speed.

 

[java230]

Begin ramble......

Spring rates. you need a minimum to hold the weight up. No two ways around that. BUT with the air bags, you have to add pressure to get the height. A spring can be made taller at the same spring rate correct? Where in the air bag the spring rate is increased with air pressure. However in theory the spring rate is as low as it can be to hold the weight at X height?

Zip ties on the shock shafts show I am not using the front suspension. Nearly NOT AT ALL. When I got to the start of gravel, I hopped out, three fingers of movement on the shaft, ~2.5" uptravel.... Thats not much (and not bottoming out on the bags)

Here is after a pretty decently rough section. A bit more movement, but still not much...

I did try inflating the bags to 9" tall. No difference, a bit worse even perhaps (more spring rate...). And they sit funky on the bases like that, not happy looking.

Frustrated.

Should I go back to coils? Just try to find taller softer ones?! Anyone have an idea of spring rate needed? 6200lbs on the front axle.


Went and played on the rocks.

And to finish off the weekend..... My oil leak is getting worse.... Thought i smelled oil a little on the way home, and noticed the spots on the back doors were a bit worse this weekend.... Underside is good and oiled down now. No idea where its coming from. Its mostly at the trans/block connection it seems, upper pan (usual leak spot) looks good. could possibly be the lower pan, but it appears to be coming from higher. But perhaps its just running around the lip of the oil pan and hitting there at speed?

Shoved my phone in and took a bunch of pictures.... This one caught my eye once it was on the computer. Looks like possibly the dipstick (or whatever that tube is..)? There is no "gunk" stuck there, high flow spot?

 

[WashingtonTaco]

I think you need a good cleaning to find that leak.

 

[java230]

I think you need a good cleaning to find that leak.

No kidding.... Its a mess under there right now. I was almost 2 quarts low.....

Took the truck to the store, hit a couple big hills and got oil to 200 degrees.

Half a roll of paper towels and a can of brake clean later we have this. Clean ish.

Idled in the driveway for 10 mins, now look at the bolt holding the dipstick!

Going to try to just replace the Oring on the dipstick tube. I can feel a slight bit of movement when I try to pull back and fourth.

 

[java230]

Well I think I may have found the oil leak.... Whats left of the Oring if there ever was one.... Nothing in the bore.

I didnt have one that felt quite "fat" enough.... Doubled up on one that felt ok and hope it works. I need the truck Thursday.... If I need to pop it again I know how it all goes together now.

All has to be done via feel/camera.... I can see up there!

McMaster order for ping tank fittings has been placed. I have two dead 1 gallon compressors to steal the tanks off of. Just need to figure out how and where mount them.

 

[java230]

Front still sucks. Haven't had time for ping tanks yet.

But we got the first snow of the season! (which apparently does not show up in night pics )

Nearly no one around, nice morning hike.

Remember the random stereo static I get? Welllll the electrical gremlins are coming out..... My turn signal indicator on the dash dimly lights up (not flashing) randomly....

But the dipstick tube area is dry!

 

[java230]

Another fun weekend!

Some hiking, some climbing.

Old counterweight house for a removed chairlift. Wont be standing much longer.

Sign was tucked in the bushes, chair was last in service in 1994 it appears.

Maxxfan started making all kinds of floppy noises on the freeway..... Ugh.

And a quick little project. Uhhhh yeah my truck does not have reverse sensors any more. Goodbye button.

Perfect little hole....

A little file action and wala. It fits a standard 1 1/8" gauge. Temp gauge coming soon! I have wanted an outdoor temp forever.... Handy for knowing ice etc in the winter. This is a little Blue Sea Gauge, ill probably throw the prob in the door jamb. Need to get it wired up now. Hoping I can steal power from that switch I pulled out. That is TBD...

 

[java230]

Been wanting an outdoor temp gauge for awhile. Ford had one in the rear view in some pickup models, but it appeared from my google research that it was not a standard part included in the wire harness/build in the 450's. I also dont have a rear view any longer.

Finally got the Blue Sea one wired up last night and its a nice little unit! Oled screen and daylight readable. The docs says it has a "snowflake" that appears under freezing too.

Tied to the light leads for the old switch. This way it turns on any time running or headlights are on (I always have running on....).

Sensor is in the drivers door jamb, should get good reading, be protected form wind and not get much engine heat there.

 

[java230]

Fantastic weekend playing in the snow.

Headed up, just starting to snow

Getting better

Parked! Right at the top of the ridge.

It started dumping!

Pretty spot.

A couple wheelers went by in the morning

Forecast was calling for up to another 12", we decided to bail out to a bit lower elevation. Glad we did, got another few inches, and it was about half the snow where we stopped as up above.

My temp sensor location failed..... Reads way warm!