Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

[PelicanPines]

Yea... I was up from 2:30 to 5am... then napped another 2 hours... giving me a total of 7. Five hours is my minimum to be functional. By functional... I mean able to stay up while sitting in a recliner or at my desk.

 

[Strouty]

I don’t like coffee, I don’t drink soda much, I just move forward.

Second Cascadia may get delivered today, will be good to have the full rears and suspension for OMO. I plan on looking at the trailer on Friday if it isn’t sold.

Speaking of sold, the last propane truck was sold, not to me!

 

[Orionrising]

No snow for you. Lucky we get another foot or so.

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[Strouty]

Sorry, but I like it that way.

 

[harley jim]

Strouty
Glad to see that you recovered. I have a bad problem with staying up past 10:00 I just dont function at all.
Its 55 deg here and falling the news says it is going to snow so I need to go to the store and stock up on pizza and beer.

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[Strouty]

Been messing with Perk since about 1PM, we are lost and getting more confused. Been chasing grounds, lights, relays, wires, every time we think we have gotten somewhere, it does something stupid again. We have had as much as 12.4 volts from the negative post of the battery to the cab???? Then it goes to zero, then it goes to 2.15 volts. Some of the lights have 12 volts on one pin and 9 on the other, both when going to ground. Some lights are dim, some are bright.

This all started with the key wouldn't turn the truck on, it would kill everything, now we have made so many attempts at tracing the problem, I honestly can't remember what has been done. This stinks.

 

[jakemac]

Might be time to hire a wiring guru.
Someone with a magic touch might figure it out faster. The saved time will be worth the money and let you move on to the next thing on the list.

 

[Strouty]

I have the wiring guru, problem is there is no true wiring diagram, just generic ones due to the fact that the truck was a glider kit. This is where we are leaving it tonight, we are chasing relays, also found a few more ground distribution areas that we can clean up.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I hate electrical work. Good luck.

 

[PelicanPines]

Pretty sure its the yellow wire giving you the problem.

 

[Strouty]

Yup, it is either the yellow one or the white one for sure. That is how they do it with the big trucks, you can usually find the numbers printed on them, but sometimes, it is really tough to gain enough room to see them.

 

[gilr]

If you measure any voltage from the negative battery to the cab or chassis, the bond cable from the battery negative post to the engine and chassis is broken or missing. try taking a scrap of cable and connecting between the negative post and the frame and or the engine block, then try again.

 

[Strouty]

That was where we started first, the draw sucked my batteries down to 0.0 volts, to be fair they were 14 years old. The frame has a stud that the negative cable goes to, we cleaned everything up, but I suppose we can check continuity of the cables, the truck will start, just not with the key, so I have to have decent connections for that portion. It does have two ground cables going to the disconnect switch, that seemed odd, but everything was working until a couple weeks ago. We eliminated the disconnect with no change, so I don’t think that is our issue either. There are a lot of variables at this point, we figured grounds, so today we are going to start systematically checking things and making notes.

 

[gilr]

OK, but did you remove and clean both battery terminals? Corrosion can create the symptoms you are seeing as well. In no way should you see voltage between the negative post and the chassis or engine block on a negative ground system. Could also be a bad battery, but that would not cause the voltage you see between the chassis and the negative battery post.

 

[gilr]

One other point. When measuring the drop from the battery, be sure to place the voltmeter probe on the battery post itself, not the terminal. That will help determine if the terminal is corroded or if there is a break in the cable itself. Measure between the battery post and the terminal when trying to start the truck. IF there is corrosion, the voltage will rise between the post and terminal.

 

[Strouty]

All terminals were cleaned with roloc wheel and put back together, this is the second set of batteries that does the same thing, we can't find how they grounded the cab to the frame, so we are running a direct wire now to make sure we have good ground. Also need to see if there is 12 volts just to the cab or if it is too the frame as well, would assume that if the frame has no voltage, then that would isolate our issue to the cab portion. Yesterday we were in freak out mode, like when you start looking for your keys in all the normal places, then next thing you know, you are checking the freezer.

 

[PelicanPines]

Hey... if you find Buffett's sausages in your freezer... let us know... there is a huge search for them.

I hate chasing electrical whatifs… it's like I want to rewire everything as I go... making sure each "portion" works. If you can't get something to work direct wired... you may have bigger issues.

 

[harley jim]

Strouty
Your on the right track. Only way I know how to find an open ground is doing a voltage drop test like you are doing.
I have spent many hours on those wires, back in my day they were all black with gray numbers. It's a ***** but the only way.
Had sausage for breakfast it was good

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[ttpete]

Strouty
Your on the right track. Only way I know how to find an open ground is doing a voltage drop test like you are doing.
I have spent many hours on those wires, back in my day they were all black with gray numbers. It's a ***** but the only way.
Had sausage for breakfast it was good

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It helps to have a long lead connected to a known good ground, preferably the battery ground post. That way, it's easier to chase ground problems anywhere on the vehicle.

 

[harley jim]

It helps to have a long lead connected to a known good ground, preferably the battery ground post. That way, it's easier to chase ground problems anywhere on the vehicle.

Pete
Yes you are right. I have 30' double ought jumper cables and a field piece meter for that job. In the 80s I built and serviced emergency and police vehicles it's a wonder I have any brain cells left. It was always a ground in the deepest corner you cant reach.

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[Strouty]

Turned out that the cab had no ground at all, we can’t even see where there was one installed, ever??? As soon as we grounded the backer plate to our main ground on the frame, everything worked again. This sounds like a simple thing, but when you have a truck that has been fully functional for a while, it would seem like there had to be a chaffed wire or something like that. I honestly do not know how the truck worked at all, it would have been pulling all the grounds (minus engine) from the small grounds off the alternator and tail lights, no wonder it had issues, I am very glad that this all reared its ugly head in my yard rather than hundreds of miles away.

 

[PelicanPines]

LOL.. you probably accidentally removed the one zip screw somewhere going from the cab to the frame that had the ground crossing over. Or... you bounced the truck and the paperclip they put in place fell out.

Glad you found it. Fix it right... put a label somewhere.

 

[ttpete]

Pete
Yes you are right. I have 30' double ought jumper cables and a field piece meter for that job. In the 80s I built and serviced emergency and police vehicles it's a wonder I have any brain cells left. It was always a ground in the deepest corner you cant reach.

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The back-feeding from bad grounds can confuse those who have never dealt with them. 50 years ago, I worked in an automotive electric shop, and bad grounds and hot connections on cars of that time were quite common because harness connectors weren't sealed. Typical ground connections were sheet metal screws in sheet metal that wasn't really bonded to anything. A little rust and bingo, another bad ground.

 

[Strouty]

I am sourcing some wire and hardware now, it will be done right when I am finished.

I think it may have been pulling ground through the disconnect switch somehow, whenever there was a little issue, wiggling things made it better.

 

[PelicanPines]

That works with the Mrs as well. Issue... put a wiggle in it... all better. For a bit anyway.

 

[harley jim]

Glad that was all it was.
Remember the ford wiggle test. In the book it called out to wiggle the connections.
The techs would stand out in the isle and wiggle there ****.

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[xtremek]

That was a wild shot, but as stated, something we used to see all the time......years ago.

 

[Strouty]

We are getting things figured out to do the final mounting for the knuckle boom, should have it mounted on Saturday, still need to make some stainless steel spacers and adjust the frame spacers too. Then we need to figure out the hydraulic tank mount and the cooler location.

We also messed with the battery box tonight, it needs tweaking too, it sticks out past the front wheel and looks like ****, someone also hooked it on something and bent the aluminum.

 

[Strouty]

Picking up some brass hardware for the solenoids and switches, the old ones look like *** and I figured brass would be better anyways.

I think the steering column will be in and the dash will be back together, once that is done and we get the boom bolted down, then I am taking it for a drive, I want to know if the column makes a difference.

 

[jakemac]

Make sure the brakes are working reliably before you take it down the hill.

If not, can you use the employee’s house as an emergency stop ?


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[mybigwarwagon]

Make sure the brakes are working reliably before you take it down the hill.

If not, can you use the employee’s house as an emergency stop ?


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If not, can you use the employee as an emergency stop ? FIFY

 

[Strouty]

I would prefer to not stop, just use the employee as a road.

Dash is all back together, tilt column is in, truck functions properly with the key, still have a few grounds to reattach and need to put the clearance lights back together.

 

[xtremek]

THat should be a huge relief. Glad to see you're almost done with this fix.

 

[Strouty]

As of last night, it looked like a truck again and that felt good for sure. I still need to decide on a new radio for some tunes. We also need to figure out what we are doing with the battery box, it needs to be reworked, it is also the steps and it just looks wrong.

 

[Strouty]

We actually decided to unbolt a bunch of stuff to clean the frame up and paint it before it is too late to do it. We also are going to plug welds some holes since they are only part way through the frame rails, also a couple holes that are figure 8s due to the proximity of the original holes from the factory. The original owner was able to hide them behind the mounts to the boom that used to be in the truck, now they are exposed and will be an issue in the future if we don’t do something now.

 

[Strouty]

I bought a couple tape measures.

 

[jakemac]

I know I misplace a lot of tape measures, but Damn !
Even I don’t go through that many.


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[Strouty]

They were on clearance at Lowe’s, $9.06 for the two, I bought a couple last week and they are pretty decent and that is a great price. Even made in USA with global materials.

We got holes welded up and bolts installed so the frame no longer looks like Swiss cheese, also got the spacers fabricated and test fit them, two need to be sand blasted and painted, so I need to go to the SG to do that. I have some brackets for the battery boxes that need attention too, so I will get it all done when I go over there tomorrow. I need to get some more bolts on Monday, I also have some parts and tools that will be arriving early next week, should help move things along a bit faster.

 

[Strouty]

Pics

 

[F451]

I know I misplace a lot of tape measures, but Damn !
Even I don’t go through that many.


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You know how many 25' tape measures it takes to measure those cell towers? Lots, Lol.

Strouty you are one busy dude, holy cow. Making all kinds of progress, keep up the good work.