Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Quonset Hut Garage Build

[dwysywd]

So, not much to update except that I got buried in a maintenance project on my Grand Cherokee that ate up ALL of my free time this weekend. So, I have a 2014 Grand Cherokee Diesel with 121000 miles, it was due for an oil change on the 10s and I decided to do the fuel filters on the 10s as well. Dealership wanted $190 for the LOF and $200 for the fuel filter service, I purchased the goods for around $105 total OTD, and net savings was $285. Then my rear brakes started squeaking, and called the dealership for a quote, $400. I was OTD on parts $100 again, minus the lube (LOL), paid for brake lube and some anti seize ($10), and another net savings of $300-ish. It felt great to get this work done myself. The LOF and Fuel Filter took me about 30 min b/c it was my first time with this Jeep (Just purchased it from my brother in Dec), and the brakes took about 2 hours, again b/c my first time and I was given the wrong parts when I initially purchased the rotors. So, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are shaping up to finish my trailer project and get back to the bike.

To explain "trailer project": so I purchased a nice 5x8 cargo trailer in great shape. I was mounting a wheel chock (HF special like the photo above) in the trailer. I had plans to insulate the trailer. It will serve triple service, motorcycle trailer, hunting trailer and temporary base camp in MT when I hunt this fall. So it is getting the whole outfit, insulation, shore power for generator, led light, 110v plugs, camper door and small air heater that runs on a cool timer (webasto heater). It should take me about 3 days, leaving me Saturday to start work below on the bike.


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[jbmatth]

Sounds like you will be a busy man, I know how those little projects go sometimes.

JB

 

[dwysywd]

Pulled all the panels off the wall. Tomorrow it gets Insullation, shore power and 110v 4 gang plug and a door up front. Friday it gets interior 12v LED lights with dimmer.


LED, rails and dimmer links below
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMHEGDM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M09PBYX/?tag=atomicindus08-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M09PBYX/?tag=atomicindus08-20



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[dwysywd]

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[dwysywd]

Have it wired and working led lights. Put them on a dimmer and 3-way switch.
Next items: small access door in front driver side, battery box, shore plug for generator, and fold down bed off wall.


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[jbmatth]

You are making good progress, looks like a fun little project. Are those tie-downs to the left?

JB

 

[dwysywd]

You are making good progress, looks like a fun little project. Are those tie-downs to the left?

JB

Yeah. Those are easy track. I get a little obsessive with mounting things. So I love easy track cause it’s cheap (relatively speaking) and flexible where and how to mount and what to mount with. So still figuring out where they are going but my best estimate is 3/4 way now the walls on either side if I can span the upright supports. Otherwise I will just mount them to the floor for rear anchors. The tire stand in the front is floor mounted and it has anchors on it for handlebar tiedowns.


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[dwysywd]

Progress is being made. Door cut in and set. All I have to do is tack some spots to keep the frame in place.






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[bunks-tj]

nice progress! do you have a plan to protect that window during travel? i would be afraid of road debris causing a blow out

 

[dwysywd]

nice progress! do you have a plan to protect that window during travel? i would be afraid of road debris causing a blow out

No plan yet. Never seen one break. There are RV’s with huge windows on the front which face the rear of vehicles. They don’t seem to have issues. I can’t say I am too worried about it. It I crack the glass then I guess I could put a piece of plexe glass in front of it and screw the plexe to the door over the window. When I get home later I’m going to check if it’s glass or is it already plexe.


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[bunks-tj]

No plan yet. Never seen one break. There are RV’s with huge windows on the front which face the rear of vehicles. They don’t seem to have issues. I can’t say I am too worried about it. It I crack the glass then I guess I could put a piece of plexe glass in front of it and screw the plexe to the door over the window. When I get home later I’m going to check if it’s glass or is it already plexe.


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cant say i have seen it either. I was just thinking out loud

 

[dwysywd]

I will keep an eye on it. Definitely worth noting. I did check and it is tempered glass. Not plexe.

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[dwysywd]

The window is 16x26. So I’m going to get a plexe cover for it that’s 18x28. I’m not worried about wind shear but I am worried about rocks.


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[Finallygotit]

Good call.

 

[davo727]

What does on the 10s mean? Yes im old.

 

[Bighead38]

What does on the 10s mean? Yes im old.

10,000
20,000
30,000
Etc.

My educated guess.

 

[dwysywd]

What does on the 10s mean? Yes im old.

I change it every 10k miles so I just changed it at 120 and next LOF is at 130


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[dwysywd]

So my buddy gave me (2) 8’ pieces of black easy track. I plan to re-skin the floor with some “left over” 1/4” plywood I had lying around. But I’m going to cut it and recess the easy track. This way the easy track is level with the floor height. Then I’m going to paint the floor with some kind of floor epoxy or garage floor coating. Something that will take a beating. Next I think I’m going to glue RFP board on the walls for nice clean easy to wipe and maintenance free walls. (I have the RFP left over from another project too). Pictures to come.


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[dwysywd]

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[dwysywd]

So yesterday finished up the trailer. It’s not “finished” but my buddy bought a motorcycle and asked if he could borrow it for a week. So I cleaned it up and let him have it for a while. It’s out of my hair for the next week. But see the next post to see what I did today.




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[dwysywd]

So after I spent all day at the armory doing my civic duty with the guard...

QBT=5 hours of pretty much uninterrupted quality barn time! Got a lot done on the bike today.

1) got the motor finally into the frame...whoa! That was a PITA! I have mock bolts holding it in not actuals. I need to do an extensive inventory on where the actual brackets and bolts really are!

2) “mocked” up the rear sets just for fun but also to start the idea of where I’d like them. Long way to go there still




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[dwysywd]

In honor of st patty’s day, I repurposed my Guinness box as a paint booth. LoL. [emoji481]


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[dwysywd]

Put some old pistons to use...
Counter sunk them in my shop table. Make for a great cigar ashtray.




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[dwysywd]

Stepped away from my bike project all last week for this...


More to come on this story, boy is it a doozy!


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[Phreak480]

Stepped away from my bike project all last week for this...


More to come on this story, boy is it a doozy!


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Nice, I too am a RAM guy.

 

[dwysywd]

So...”the story”

It all started a week ago when I found the truck on fleabay. I don’t normally buy vehicles there because I’ve had problems in the past with people properly disclosing information. This is important later on in the story.

So I decide to pull the trigger and I make an offer. They counter offer and I agree to the terms. I’m very specific about the idea that I’m going to fly down and drive the truck back so if it won’t make the trip just tell me now I say and I will arrange for transportation. It was no problem because I was going to spend probably $1000 to go down and get it and shipping it back to Michigan was probably going to be $1200. So the cost is relative but the road trip sounded like a lot of fun and this guy assured me multiple times that the truck was ready for a road trip.

Let’s just say, that was not the case! Period

I bought the truck for the right type of price knowing that it was going to need several thousand dollars worth of work to get it up to my standards and I’m OK with that, I didn’t expect it was all going to need that work before it left Florida but whatever. I’m still very happy with the truck very excited to get it up to my road trip standards!

It’s nearly complete. But it’s been a distraction that’s for sure. I’ve repaired the following:
2 new AC Delco 850 CCA batteries
New alternator
New water pump

Ordered:
New transmission shift solenoid and pressure transducer (along with filter and gaskets to flush)

Smarty touch screen s2g with egt probe

New shocks


Needs:
Rebuild steering box
Driver seat repaired (torn leather and foam)
2 latches in center console need attention
Rear sliding window cable repaired


All fluids changed:
Oil - done and every 10k
Fuel filter- done and every 10k
Transmission - will be done with solenoid replacement
Pumpkins and Transfer case - needs to be done


Long term upgrades:
New moog frontend parts: tierods, ball joints and track bar

Brakes inspection to establish replacement cycle

Undercoated and bed liner done again soon


Cool upgrades already done:
17” Dodge Power Wagon Wheels with brand new BFG AT 285-70-17
Firestone air bags for rear
Goose neck installed
Undercoated and bed liner done before



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[86turbodsl]

Glad you came out alright on the fleabay truck. I've had exactly ONE fleabay vehicle purchase and it went down in flames. Never again. Truck looks great!

 

[Bears Fan]

Love your style on the bike

 

[dwysywd]

Love your style on the bike

Thanks, got a couple other things I’m working on with it but keep plugging away, I should have some photos this week to show some of the updates


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[dwysywd]

Fuel rail is in tomorrow. GM shift solenoid is ordered for the transmission, hopefully that and a new cable solve the OD shift issue. And if it does, time to move onto other items on the list.

Ordered a smarty touch s2g with the egt probe. And I’m picking up a matching cap on Sunday. I like to run cap in the fall and winter and tonneau in the summer. But I found a matching flame red cap for a deal so I’m on it like white on rice.




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[dwysywd]

Fuel rail has been fixed, replacement installed. It took about 2.5 hours, I estimated 2 hours. So not too bad for a couple of amateur mechanics. LoL. Only 1 bolt lost, easy repair, held the dip stick in place. So nbd, found a replacement bolt and washer in my pile Of scrap bolts. And 1 crows foot 3/4”. Got dropped on the last fuel line removal and couldn’t find it. So not too bad. We were able to reassemble with out using it.


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[dwysywd]

Got a few more parts in this week. But been busy putting cabinets up in my garage. I have 3 more to put up. 6 in total. They take about 15 min to assemble. This had to be done so I can park the MC in the garage. Everyone has been a critic saying, “why do you need to park in the garage so bad?” LoL. Seriously? Because I can! I made the garage just big enough to be able to park this truck in it or Ford Superduty 8’ crew cab. So now that I have a MC that will be my DD, I want to park in the garage. Tonight is designated day to finish hanging the remaining 3 cabinets on the wife’s side where she parks. My goal is to clean up the messy look a little bit by putting anything in the garage away, in a cabinet.







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[bdbecker]

Those are going to look sharp! I'm definitely on the "cabinets are better than open shelves" bandwagon these days after having nothing but open storage in my space.

 

[dwysywd]

You can see how cluttered up the wall looks in the last and first photos. The good news is the slat board was a about $5 a sheet (4x4) so that is about 1/4 the cost new for the (4x8) sheets which were $38 I think at Lowes. Either way, the slat looks nice when NOTHING is hanging on it [emoji2957]

My point is that I’m going to keep the slat and finish what’s not covered yet with slat board but for the most prat I will only hang something minimal like a broom or shovel on the wall. The slat was cheaper than OSB was why I originally went with it. Got it all at a salvage reclamation company when they buy large quantities of overstocked or surplus items


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[dwysywd]

Got the remaining 3 cabinets hung. So I have a total of 6 hung.




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[dwysywd]

Got the red devil back from the transmission shop on Friday. The great news is that the gm solenoid went in fine, fluid looked good and no shavings on the magnet. Further, he said someone spent some serious money on the trans because it had a newer valve body in it. Also, he installed a new neutral safety switch and the cable was fine not stretched. So that was a nice easy repair. That fixed both the over drive issue not shifting and ecm alarm/theft control spazzing out.

Next apparently the pitman arm was only hand tight. So while he had it on the lift he fixed that, new nut and cotter pin, and the steering tightened right up. I still need ball joints but all the other front end parts looked replaced recently. Again, nice!

After watch some videos on the different types of ball joints, Carli, EMF and Dynatrac seemed the best. I had a connection at Syngery but was advised to go with one of these 3 because they are rebuildable.

I start my injectors tonight. Got all my tools laid out yesterday and my light setup. So I’m going to replace all 6 injectors and the valve cover gasket has electrical embedded. So I have a new one because one of the error codes I was getting was shorting or grounding of fuel injector. Also because I had to remove the fuel supply tubes I am just replacing all 6 of them.

Finally, the Smarty Touch will be installed along with a new radio. If all goes well, it will be done this week.


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[dwysywd]

Finished all 6 injectors install, triple checked all my torque specs, reassembled the valve cover and then had to go out of town. Back at it tomorrow. Hopefully fire in the hole!



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[dwysywd]

Update: there was a loose and I use that word carefully, loose is 1/16 of a turn! Anyhow a loose feed line and under pressure is was leaking. So at fuel pressure was 5000 psi at idle and 21000 u see load. That’s when it started to leak back. Just put 300 miles on it since yesterday and runs like a champ. No leaks.

I’m still smelling strong diesel smell not normal amount which I’m used to, like it isn’t burning the fuel and it’s dumping fuel. And I’m only getting about 11.5-12mpg not even the 13.6 the evic is suggests.

Installed the smarty touch and Cody (@cpitock) provided me with a custom tune. So working through the data logs with him starting weekly. This should help me fine tune the 5.9L.

Moving my daughter to new apt at college and back at it tonight to figure out some of the bugs.

Check list of bugs and projects:

> Mpg is still not correct even after new electronic harness and new injectors with fuel tubes.
> brake pedal is loose which is weird.
> install new apple car play radio with PAC wire harness
> install 1000w inverter
> swap out factory speakers with pioneer 6x9’s
> fix drivers seat
> hook up amber dogs and led backup lights
> tint front windows
> trouble shoot passenger side power mirror
> trouble shoot heated seats buttons
> replace latch for lower compartment in center consol



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[dwysywd]

Just got back from a trip and drove 172 gps miles from one gas station to the next and got 12.2 mpg. That’s a small improvement of the gps miles going out this morning of 11.95. I calculated my tires are 5% larger. So I can now keep better track of the fuel economy with the tire size adjusted.



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[jbmatth]

I'm by no means a Cummins expert but on my Duramax I was getting terrible mileage and it was smoking a lot. The problem ended up being a stuck open EGR valve, an idea worth investigating at least. Even with the issues you have had with the truck I think you will like it in the end.

JB