Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#721 Beitrag von carasophie » 2017-03-12 17:51:48

Thats wonderful what you have done... impressiv pictures - and good luck for the little cat and a big hug for you :)
Grüssle, Bärbel

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#722 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-12 23:44:15

Well... thanks, but you have to do what you have to do, and we were many people helping people and animals as well. Next weekend we will take another truck with hazepacks to the south. Now the feeding problem is worse for the poor animals as the external help has dramatically declined with time and other natural disasters that seem to have no end here; floods in the north.

Okay. The CTIS valve box and the manifold of the air suspension valves had to be fixed to the engine tunnel. I found the right place to put everything and it all seemed to fit within the space of the central console, considering that there was also need to place the rocker switches and air pressure gauges, the control unit for the CTIS, the stereo, the CB and the speakers.

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Some time was dedicated to clean the space below the heating in order to definitely close it. It was a pain in the ass to take all the rust from the confined corners of the damn little place and the fingers ached a lot after sanding for hours. I applied many hands of an industrial primer and let it dry for good. Meanwhile, I made a lot of marks for the holes that would allow the pipes of the AC go from the condenser and back to the radiator. It was also necessary to cut a hole, generous enough to allow the outside air to come into the central console, to feed both the AC and the heating. This time, though, a proper air filter would be installed, as easy to remove and replace as possible.

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Shifting from this and that, helping Edie when necessary, I fabricated some little though strong supports for fixing the lateral panels of the central console from a piece of discarded steel sheet, as usual.

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At some moment Edie said that it was time to address the ugly dent of the front of the cabin and we studied the best way to finish it. After giving some last retouches with the chisel there was no more to do and the only solution left was to model it by hand using plaster and so he started to go back and forth looking the right side, the healthy side, trying to match both sides up while applying layer after layer of plaster.

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On my turn, I used every tool at hand to clean the left side door frame more efficiently than we had done before using only sand paper. It came very good and took a quarter of the time, meaning a couple of hours. Then I went on and started to clean the front of the cabin. Some superficial rust had formed since I did the last cleaning a couple of years ago (Christ!) though nothing that a determined and angry guy with lots of sand paper, steel mesh, sanding discs and stuff could not handle.

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Edie did his best, but I was not satisfied with the result of the modelling. That aspect of the cabin is a capital carachteristic of the design of the truck so it had to be rebuilt perfectly. Hmm… seemed that I would have to do it myself. I have had some experience with sculpture in the past so my skills would be tested again.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#723 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-12 23:52:01

I remember that the morning of that particular Sunday was the first of many, many mornings that showed a blue sky, free from smoke from the fires of the south. The environmental temperature had descended a little, enough to allow the firefighting forces to control the fires after many weeks. It was a very nice run with the dogs.

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During the next week I spent the time available to continue with the cleaning of the front of the cabin. It was not fun but necessary and a few more dents covered with plaster showed up. It was still pretty hot at the workshop and a new wave of heat was announced. Give us a brake!... everybody shouted.

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After many hours of sweating and sanding the cabin looked pretty good, and I preserved the original primer where it looked healthy. I took off all the sealant and replaced it by Sikaflex 221, the rougher I could find. What’s the difference between the first picture of the cabin and the last as they look pretty the same? Well… at least three hours of sanding and cleaning all the myriad of corners and shitty places where rust and old sealant was hidden

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#724 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-13 0:07:50

Bored of sanding endlessly, I took the Africa Twin and rode to Santiago to look for the proper fittings for installing the air driven systems. The local offer was quiet limited so I went there and made a lot of kilometers trying to find the dealer which actually had the fittings offered in their catalogues. Fortunately half the city was out in holydays and the traffic was not as infernal as always and I could get many of the items needed. The mighty bike still had the problem with the carburetion that neither Eduardo nor me were able to fix despite all the tests and changes we had done so far. We have tried almost everything, even bypassing the fuel tank in case there was a minor problem with fuel flow to the pump.

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Anyway, I got the fittings and made the measurements and put everything in order to be ready to assemble. The air management unit for the suspension system would not fit in the central console so it would be installed on one side under the engine tunnel, in front of the radiators.

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I went on with the cleaning of the cabin. Another not-showing-off couple of hours of sanding and brushing in San Felipe’s heat and finally a couple of hands of washprimer to prevent the steel from rusting again. Ah… it looked good.

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However, it was just the beginning as it was necessary to clean the engine tunnel itself and the rest of the bottom of the cabin. I had already removed the majority of the cracked covering but a good cleaning was mandatory. Of course, there were also many bendings and blind spots pretty difficult to clean, as with the rest of the cabin. Hmm…

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Just to make something different and to have a little rest from sanding and brushing I got the rubber stoppers of the rear axles, neglected for long, and threaded them. Then I drank a big glass of Coke and finally primed the stoppers along with other pieces.

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Regarding the inner coverings of the cabin I finally decided to close the rear windows with sheet panels and to make a flat wooden lining to cover the whole back wall, leaving just the place for the passthrough. I needed some neo-supports so, profiting of the creative mood, I got the famous piece of steel tubing from the garbage and made the supports from it. I put some primer on it also, made order and went home.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#725 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-13 0:35:27

RunRun, the new cat, grew and grew and had a very active and near relationship with the dogs and the rest of the cats at home. Carmen was really in love with him and he enlightened our lives those days.

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One good day, and after a lot of waiting, the shock absorbers arrived from the dealer of Santiago. They looked pretty good in yellow though I am not a quiet colorful guy. I must admit that the contrast with the grey frame gave the truck some exotic touch without being too tropical.

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But, and there is always a “but”, the double shock arrangement of the front axle showed misalignement and, despite all the previous measures, the frontmost shock touched the rubber air belly. I would have to do mayor intervention to correct the situation but I was not on the mood to do it right at the moment so I checked if there were other problems with the shock installation.

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And there were indeed; the bushings of the shocks of the rear axle were too large and I had to play with the powergrinder to get them the proper measure. It took me some time but the worst part was that the powergrinder coughed twice and died, again, from burnt out brushes. I continued with Chaleco’s grinder and after a while the rear shocks were at their place. The central axle shocks installation was uneventful, as expected, so I should have to think on how to handle the situation of the front shocks in a near future, but it was already late.

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I forgot to mention that one of those days I went to Santiago to get the elastomeric membrane I had bought for the insulation of the cabin. Had to go by car because of the volume of the roll. I hate to drive the car in Santiago. Ten square meters of 25 mm width membrane would be enough to insulate the engine bay, the rear wall and the roof.

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We went all to the beach that Saturday: Eduardo’s family, Carmen, RunRun and I. No working on the Merkabah that weekend. But, right at the departure, the alternator warning light of my Montero lit up. In less than fifteen minutes Eduardo and I swapped the alternator at the workshop and we continued our trip to the ocean. We made a brief stop mid way to have breakfast. There was no cloud at sight, as it had been the whole summer. Down at the beach it was a mess, full of people fighting for a place near the water. I was not happy in the beginning, but gradually accepted the situation. It was holydays for almost everyone in Chile, so be it.

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I bet the ozone layer actually do not exist because we all had sun burnings even if we used heavy UV blockers. My leg burnings still ached after ten days and I looked like a skin-changing snake for quiet long time as well.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#726 Beitrag von a90 » 2017-03-19 22:53:20

Thanks again Pairo for your update !

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#727 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-24 5:03:25

@ a90: glad you are reading!

Back to the reality I replaced the brushes and serviced the alternator of the Montero, put it in its place and gave the borrowed one back to Eduardo. I made no big progresses on the Merkabah that day, actually, I made no progresses at all for quiet a few days because I had to replace my colleague in his holydays. Double shift is no big fun, guys.

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And, after many thoughts, I finally decided to get another bike, newer and more powerfull. The AT would remain the daily commuter and the new one would be used for longer and rougher trips. It was time for the old Honda to have some rest and I definitely wanted more power trying to keep simplicity and trustability at the same time. After many considerations, flirtings with a few models and a lot of research, the choice was a Yamaha Super Teneré, and I found one from 2013 with few kilometers, pretty well preserved and equipped. Though not as fun and easy to ride as the AT it was a real delight to drive it and the extra power was gladly welcome. The more I rode her the more I liked her. Good. Carmen gave her a quiet cold reception but soon got used to the new sitting position and the nervous touch of the throtle. She was worried about the feelings of the beloved Africa and she strongly warned me about selling her. I had to repeat twice that I would never sell her.

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When I had the time, I commited with the servicing of the heating. As the fans of the AC would take over it was not necessary to keep the old and deteriorated fan of the original heating of the truck. I disassembled firstly the heating of Spare to see how it was made and to get eventual useful spares. There was a lot of leaves and stuff and even a mouse nest inside the box, and the radiator was almost blocked with dust. The heating from the Merkabah was in better shape but the valve for the hot water was fiercely stuck.

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I removed the fan and its motor and cleaned it all the best I could. I finally disassembled the hot water valve of Spare’s heating and found out that rust was the only reason for it to be stuck too so I repeated the procedure and disassembled the one from the Merkabah, cleaned and lubricated it. Reassembling what is not supposed to be disassembled was not easy and I hoped that it would not leak once in its place. Just crossed fingers.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#728 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-24 5:10:55

Well, it was useless to have all those isolating products there if someone did not finish the cleaning of the bottom of the cabin, so I got myself to the task of preparing the engine bay and the inferior aspect of the floor for treating and painting. It was not a delight to be there, alternating sand paper, powergrinder, metallic mesh and so on, putting my back and my neck under stress for hours.

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Those days we had quiet a bad time; RunRun got sick and died from a fulminant lung infection despite all the efforts and procedures of the vets at the pet’s hospital. Carmen was devastated and I also suffered a lot. It is incredible how this little furry things stick to your heart and leave so deep marks in it. Seven dogs and other four cats helped us to overcome the pain, though.

When the weekend came, after one month without working on Saturdays with Edie because of several reasons, we put back the front pieces of the mask to make easier to match the curves of the design. He spent the whole day at sculpturing with plaster and I checked (and sanded as well) from time to time until we both were satisfied.

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While Edie worked on the front, I went on with the bottom of the cabin. Christ! It was really boring and hard, especially for my shoulders. When I was done with it, at least for that working day, I drilled a couple of holes on the right side of the front and flattened the dent that had been carelessly covered by plaster at some moment in history. Then I closed the holes with a little welding and Edie would do the rest using his magic.

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The ecuadorian old man did a very good job and the modelling was pretty fine. Just needed a good line to follow.

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After swipping, cleaning and making order I went home, tired as a cow and covered by dust from hair to toes, just wanting to make a good shower. On arrival I found Jinx, the laziest cat on earth, frolicking on my bedside. He didn’t even notice my presence. Ah… this is the right Saturday’s life, Pairoa! He seemed to tell me. I laughed out loud and went for that shower.

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Next sunday I woke up early and ran with the dogs in the first fresh morning since the beginning of the summer. Usually the change of season is pretty dramatic in San Felipe, and the first trees to loose their leaves had already began to show their nude branches. Autumn was ad portas.

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I made a lot of delayed domestic homework and then invited Carmen to have lunch by the sea. We went there on the Super Teneré. The beach season was officially over but still there were lots of people playing with the waves and sunbathing. The day was spectacular and we returned pretty late. As usual, a very good ride.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#729 Beitrag von lura » 2017-03-24 6:29:57

Oh yeah, the yellow shock absorber are really an eyecatcher. :D
Do you apply the waterprimer with water on the cabin? Or do you wash the primer after drying from the cabin? I like that green color.of primer.
Gruß
Bernd

Gewinne Zeit durch Langsamkeit

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Frank_404s
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#730 Beitrag von Frank_404s » 2017-03-24 9:11:32

Hi Sir,
Great what you are doing there.

I own also a NG (a bit smaller as yours - a 1222AF) :D

I have a question regarding the hot water valve.
Mine is not closing 100%. That means I would have always a lottle bit heating - even if I turned the "heatercontrol" to off.

To avoid that I made a "quick and dirty" solution. I installed an additional shut off valve in the engine compartment - so that I can completely close the flow to the cab heater during summer days.

Now my question:
What do you estimate: How much work is it to dissasemble the hot water valve from the cab heater device?
For sure I will have to drain a little bit coolant - not an issue.
But the rest??? Do I need to dissasamble the half of the dashboard?

Many thanks in advance,
Frank

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#731 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-24 15:12:39

Dear Frank_404s:

Mine is always bigger than yours... he, he. But, seriously, it is very difficult to weight what the expression "too much work" might mean to anyone.

To clean the valve - this is, in final terms, what you have to do- you must take the heating out, and to do that the Mercedes guys have thought to put it as easy as possible to you.

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Disconnect the hoses from the front and do not mind too much because you will loose only a few cubic centimeters of coolant, then remove the front panels of the middle of the dashboard to expose the heating pretty straightforward. Don't have to deal with wiring. Remove the heating box unplugging first the three or four wires that go from the controls to it and you will access the control valve.

The valve is sealed and you have to remove the metallic cap very carefully unbending the edges that hold it to the plastic body. Do not try to force the mechanism before disassembling it. Once you clean all the garbage you, even more carefully, have to bend again the edges of the cap so it all fit again. Apply gelly vaseline to the rubber components inside the valve at reassembling and make sure it all moves smoothly.

Of course, you will find probably a lot of dust inside the box and it will be a good occasion for powerblowing and washing the radiator.

Hope you have fun.

Best regards.


Pairoa

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#732 Beitrag von Frank_404s » 2017-03-24 16:03:29

Hallo Pairoa,
THANKS a lot for this infos.

Seems not to be toooo difficult!

Best regards,
Frank

PS: It is not only the size that matters. :joke: :joke: :joke: :joke: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#733 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-31 4:06:20

@Frank_404s: glad to help.

@lura: sorry for the delayed answer. The washprimer is used when there is still some superficial rust and/or where you want to increase the adherence of the primer and the paint to the steel. It is catalized and not diluted with water. I did not use inside the cabin, just lightly sanded the paint, cleaned and applied a couple of hands of new primer, the light grey one. On the outside, the primer is to be sanded with waterproof sand paper for good prior to painting. You will see.

During the next week I continued to take rust and old covering out of the bottom of the cabin, and it was as hard as slow. After a lot of work there still was dirt and stuff to clean. Unfortunately, I had some extra work, regular type of work, and had to go to Santiago twice for other reasons and found not much time to go on with the cleaning.

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Life is strange... and fantastic, and there are no coincidences, you know. Someone came to Carmen looking for help, with a little white cat found on the street in her hands. It was pretty much similar to RunRun and… you know… Carmen kept it without even thinking of it.

Let me introduce Gotye, the new arrived. She was an albin female, one month old, completely deaf and adorable. She had also an ocular infection though she healed quiet fast with the proper treatment, and the gang at home gave her a warm welcome.

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Next Saturday Edie gave the last retouches to the front of the cabin while I struggled against the uneasy positions under it. At some moment the front was ready and then we primed it and the interior of the cabin as well. We left the floor for later, though. It looked really good, but the primer enhanced a few imperfections that claimed Edie’s care a little more.

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Edie went under the cabin too and helped me a little once he finished with the plaster work. He is pretty short so he had not too much problems to go down there and remove some of the remaining old covering.

Sunday morning I was really exhausted, but the dogs were pünktlich waiting for the run, so Carmen kicked me off the bed mercylessly, again. Seems they are all against me.

I reached to finish the cleaning of the engine tunnel that Saturday, but the rest still needed a lot of attention, as you can see. Working the whole Monday afternoon I only got to clean under the driver’s side, partially. And the fingers ached like hell, again. Hmm…

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And, finally, we reached the top of our possibilities, and the eighth -and the last- dog came to us from the last brood of Eduardo’s german sheperds. Yes… I know what you guys are thinking. Ecco would be, together with Deva, the guardians of our new house in the country. Of course… we have to build it yet, but the guy was already here, the biggest among his brothers, so… he came in, one ear up and the other still down and with many pointy teeth ready to chew everything. He would slowly find his place among the gang.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#734 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-03-31 4:15:04

At some point it would be necessary to replace the original hinges of the cabin for those from Spare, so I put it on jacks and secured it the best I could. Unfortunately, crawling under the cabin became even more difficult and working to clean it very, very uncomfortable.

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Despite the problems and the aching of the cervical spine that menaced to become something serious, I went on with the cleaning and unrusting of the bottom of the cabin, a few square centimeters at a time during the week.

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When a new Saturday came, Edie got to finish the micro-imperfections of the priming and complete some repairs of the cabin while I continued with the never-ending cleaning. He started also with the fine sanding of the primer on the roof, aiming to paint as soon as possible.

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For hours I worked sanding and brushing but it seemed that every time I looked again it was like I had never touched the metal. Slowly, though, the progress showed off and the time for priming was coming closer.

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There were some spots where the rust and the dirt were pretty difficult to reach, especially where it was more uncomfortable to work on. Hmm…

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At some moment, bored and trully tired of working upwards, I started to clean the floor of the passenger side of the cabin, and found that there were a few spots where the rust was so bad to perforate the steel sheet. Tiny holes, but they needed to be patched properly so… more welding work to come.

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Edie, on his side, had made fine retouches that would need the ash-plaster to dry up before the last sanding and the last hand of primer. But it was already time to go so I dismissed him, made order and cleaned a little before going home.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#735 Beitrag von Iain_U1250 » 2017-04-22 1:53:08

You never cease to amaze me with your attention to detail. Your truck will be better than new
Iain

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Unimog U1250
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKPlQW ... KTQ/videos

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#736 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-04-23 23:48:32

@ Iain: Well... it is hard for me to do otherwise. I am a little bit obsessive... you know. Hope I will not be too old when this thing is ready!

As I did not like the sound of the Super Téneré, too loud for my taste, at some given moment I replaced the custom muffler for the original one that was included in the trade. The living room welcomed the Yamaha, used to have the Africa Twin and the dogs as the usual guests. Sounded pretty much civilized after the swap and did not disturb the riding.

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After a few more efforts during the week the cabin was ready for some hands of washprimer. I went to it knowing it was going to be tough, as crawling under the cabin trying to make the gravity-driven paintgun work upwards was very, very difficult. Later, half destroyed, I finished the job and went to work.

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Saturday morning Edie and I gathered and started to work as soon as possible. We both wanted to finish and paint the cabin for good, but soon we realized that the amount of work still left to do was too big to even think of it.

While Edie applied his skills finishing the many little details on the cabin, including some defects that initially would be left untouched behind the front grille, I got the tube of Sikaflex and started to apply silicone where I precisely had took it out so hardly a few weeks before. Edie also sanded with water a lot the primer to obtain a smooth surface to paint on, and obviously he had to clean the surface after that. On the edges, especially, at some spots, the washprimer and even the metal showed up, so… another hand of primer, let it dry and more sanding. It was never ending.

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I used a big amount of Sikaflex, but the grip was so hard that my hands ached a lot, a little more than the neck and the back, but I thought I did a good job in the end. It is unbelievable how many places had this stuff stuck on.

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When the silicone job was over I went straight through the priming. I prepared a lot of catalized primer, thinking it was more than enough, but Edie smiled at the comment.

After a couple of hours, and a little more primer, the cabin was, at last, completely primed. Was it the last thing to do before painting? Absolutely no. It was still necessary to apply the new covering, and also to prepare and prime and then paint the inside aspect of the engine tunnel and the floor of the cabin. But it was a big step anyway, and it looked pretty good under the late sunrays.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#737 Beitrag von Rumpelstielzchen » 2017-04-24 15:09:07

WOW, that looks amazing. What a job, well done!
Gruß Alex!

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Joe
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#738 Beitrag von Joe » 2017-04-24 21:43:42

Hi Pairoa,

great work as always! Just had a look at the first page of your thread:
The end date for the project is December 2012.
.

With all the efforts and accuracy you spent no wonder at all that you didn't manage to keep that.

Good luck and please keep us updated.
Mit lieben Grüßen von der Nahe
Joe

Die "private" Seite ist unter www.gertenbach.mobi zu finden.

Veho Ergo Sum // Feinstaub ist doch Kinderkram - Grobstaub!!

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#739 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-04-25 17:27:08

@ Alex: Thanks!

@ Joe: yes… that was quiet a naïve perspective. I had no idea of what kind of mess I was going into.

Waiting for me to finish the priming, Edie got the long front piece and started to clean it up, and soon he discovered that he was not the first to be there as there were several layers of paint, primer and even plaster. I thought it was just a little rusted, but actually it had been repaired who knows how many times before. We both hoped that this would be the definitive one.

When the priming was over he went on with the sanding of the primer on the cabin and I dedicated myself to finish Edie´s initial work on the front piece. I sanded a lot to get rid of the rust, but it was hard, as usual. Fortunately I could be able to work standing on my feet instead of lying on the floor under the cabin, and that made a big difference.

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Anyway, soon after, Edie and I said goodbye and I went home, not half but absolutely destroyed instead. But I was really happy as you may guess.

We wanted to paint the cabin as soon as possible, at all costs, but… the terrible “but”; we had forgotten to close the window frames. Ops. I went to my friend Verardo’s machineshop and got a couple of sheets of the right measures and cut the two pieces needed to close definitely the windows that once were thought to be preserved.

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Unfortunately, those days were very busy days and I had to make lots of other things related to life and real work and rarely stepped on the workshop.

Saturday morning was another story, and Edie and I gathered again pretty early to try to make some more progresses. Spark and Dakar were already up and they were festing on Dakar´s bed/cushion. Carmen would not be happy.

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Edie worked with the front piece and I masked the cabin not to allow the covering get the rest of the surfaces. Once ready I applied the water-based covering in many, many hands, to the inferior face of the cabin, struggling again with uncomfortable positions, aching shoulders and neck and the heat of last warm days of the season.

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The result was not brilliant but at least good enough. I should have waited a little more between each hand of covering but, anyway, it was not too bad.

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pairospam
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#740 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-04-25 17:34:31

We did some other things though nothing too important and we reached to apply washprimer to the sheets and the front wide piece. Edie found some perforations due to rust during the preparation and so I will have to repair it before going on with the priming and the plaster work. Hmm…

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Eduardo and his wife invited us to have dinner at some nice hotel on the hills pretty close to the city so we rode there before sunset and took a little tour at the facilities recently renewed. It was a very nice end of the day, though I was a little tired, as usual.

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The next weeks I had no time to work on the project like I would have liked, not even on Saturdays. I had to service the Super Téneré, though, and check out some strange noises coming from the engine that drove me pretty nervous. I washed and cleaned her for good, like never cleaned a bike before, as hardly reccomended by the workshop manual, and took her to the shop. She is very pretty… don’t you agree? I mean Gotye, the little cat looking through the window.

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The mechanicians could not believe that I had stripped her, yet after so few kilometers. It is my nature! - I replied, half joking half crying. Note the poor quality work of the connections of the fog lights and the horn.

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I changed whatever she needed to be changed and checked what the manual told to be checked. Fortunately, before going deeper, I asked some friends, old owners of the same model, that convinced me not to touch the engine more than recommended. I’ts noisy as hell, but it will never let you down no matter how hard you treat it! - were their reassuring words. Okay, I said, got the bike back together and made a short tour at full revs, including some kilometers on tarmac.

The bike did not fall apart, as promised by my friends, and, moreover, she came back less noisy and with a cleaner response to the throttle. She survived the resilience test, and I was satisfied. Good.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#741 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-04-25 17:44:07

After minor progresses on the project during that week the time came to get more help to the people affected by the fires in the south. There were some very poor towns that were neglected and received no help at all when the situation was in the first page of the newspapers and on the TV. Now they were trully in trouble as the land was washed away by the first rains and there was no new grass on the hills, so we got there with another truck loaded with food for their cattle. This time Eduardo, from whom the initiative was born in the first place, could not go.

Again, we gathered and collected money from many people, hired the truck as no one was keen on borrow a truck this time, bought the hazepacks (at a higher price also) and got to a place in between two communities from where the people came to get the number of hazepacks that had been previously assigned according to their needs.

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It was very hard to hear their stories and to know how bad the time they and their animals were having really was. We accompanied one of the families with their load of food -that almost cracked their truck- to their property and watched, and felt, the combination of poverty and burnt out hills. Pretty sad… really, though they were so grateful and so kind to let us help that we could hold and didn’t brake. But we got very close.

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Nothing was left of the load, and the truck was completely clean after the last hazepack was unloaded and left aside for further distribution. The driver departed soon as he had other appointments and we shared a few more moments with the people. Carmen, Alejandro, and Luis Hernán, Carmen’s cousin, drank a couple of glasses of local chicha (low alcohol drink), received a gift of a few kilos of locally grown giant raspberries and we left. Some goodbye hugs and handshakes were almost bone-cracking.

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Luis Hernán departed back to Santiago and I drove further west, to the coast. We were pretty aware that our contribution would not last pretty long, but at least we had made our best effort. We ate a few pastries at the restaurant of a known hotel as the kitchen was already closed and contemplated the sunset, with the heart trully touched by the events and the emotional charge of the day. We returned a few minutes before midnight to San Felipe, exhausted but happy.

Quoting the wise words of a pretty good friend: “Being confronted with poverty makes you aware of your own status and how much potential there is to be happy with what we have and who we are”.

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Pirx
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#742 Beitrag von Pirx » 2017-04-25 20:26:55

pairospam hat geschrieben:I’ts noisy as hell, but it will never let you down no matter how hard you treat it!
These words are also true for any of our old trucks! :)

Pairoa, you have my deepest respect for your initiatives of helping the farmers to survive!

Greetings to Carmen and you,

Pirx
Der mit der Zweigangachse: 15 Vorwärtsgänge, 3 Rückwärtsgänge, Split, Schnellgang, Differentialsperre
---
"Immer bedenken: Hilfe ist keine Einbahnstrasse, Geholfen-Werden ist kein Recht und es liegt an jedem selbst, inwieweit er sich hier in der Gemeinschaft (die im Extremfall so einiges gemeinsam schafft) involviert und einbringt."
Ein Unimog-Fahrer.

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Joe
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#743 Beitrag von Joe » 2017-04-26 16:10:41

Pirx, you are right! Thumbs up!! :rock:
Mit lieben Grüßen von der Nahe
Joe

Die "private" Seite ist unter www.gertenbach.mobi zu finden.

Veho Ergo Sum // Feinstaub ist doch Kinderkram - Grobstaub!!

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#744 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-05-03 4:48:58

@ Pirx and Joe: Thanks, guys. I know you would have done the same. Carmen sends a lot of greetings in return.

Well, the day after, Carmen and I went to have lunch out, and then we drove around to profit of the beautiful afternoon. We went up the mountain range that encloses San Felipe from the south instead of going through the tunnel that crosses through it, and it was a pretty nice trip indeed. From up there, looking far south, you can see a grey cloud of dust and smog; that´s Santiago, the capital city.

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At some moment, Eduardo needed to go to repair the car of a friend/customer that was in trouble at some place 180 km from San Felipe, and he was going on the BMW 650. I offered myself to accompany him and Carmen joined us as soon as she heard about the trip. Then, Emilia, Eduardo´s second oldest daughter, joined us also. It was in the middle of a long weekend so there were lots of cars on the highway, though we managed to get there quickly, solved the problem, made a short tour of a not previously known place and then returned home before it was too late, after a quick but opiparus dinner at the restaurant of the gas station. We had a lot of fun.

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And still I had not much time to get on the project. So, profiting of the mood, I took the WR450 to the shop and serviced her. I had not made lots of kilometers but I changed, lubricated and cleaned everything. It was in my plans to use her a lot during the autumn so I needed her in good health.

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I was really annoyed because of the lack of time to work peacefully on the Merkabah and, during one of my watches, I felt I was wasting my time pretty uselessly. Boredom pushed me up the roof to contemplate the wonderful sunset and inadvertently kneeled on a wasp nest, again. A furibund herd of tiny black wasps showed me it was a pretty stupid thing to do while watching the last sunrays and I got a couple of painful warning stings. I got the message and left them alone, of course.

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When I could, I finished the cleaning of the heating and replaced the worn out foam strips, then wrapped the whole thing and left it on any available surface to wait for installation.

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Little things, one at a time, like the cleaning of the bolts and nuts of the hinges of the cabin. They would be reused for the springed hinges of Spare. After a couple of hours I had to leave, again.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#745 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-05-03 4:55:55

As the time for re-installing the cabin was approaching, I got the box where the rear locking-suspension system of the cabin was lying since the beginning of times. The pieces were pretty rusted so I sighed and got to the cleaning job with a forced smile.

The first strokes of the metallic brush sent clouds of rust to the air and filled the place. Not nice, especially when there was no wind at all. Hmm…

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I went on with the power mesh but the results were not very satistactory. Okay!- I said to myself, grabbed the power grinder, locked since a couple of months in its box, disassembled it for the eleventh time, got the worn out brushes, went out to buy the spares, installed them, reassembled the machine and finished the cleaning job properly. Yes… I was lazy.

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All I wanted was to paint the bottom of the cabin, and to do so I masked it not to allow the paint to go out of the prepared surfaces as there still was a lot to do to the exterior of the cabin. But Edie warned me against the masking tape to remain stuck too much time as it would become difficult to take it out cleanly as days were passing by. In the end I took all the thing out, sighed again, and drank a cup of tea, nicely offered by my lovely wife.

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Every second week I had to go to Santiago, fortunately not at the rush hours which made the trips less stressfull. Some avenues are quiet pretty, if you can get there harmless. I profited the trip to buy a new toy I was introduced to last weekend at the first meeting of my schoolmates: a dron. It was very easy to fly compared with my old RC helicopter and the features were extraordinary, or at least good enough for a newbee like me.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#746 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-05-03 5:04:32

Guess what: we were back on the world news because a lot of earthquakes that occurred during the lapse of one week, the last one 6,8 in the Richter scale. For us this is not too much, as we begin to get nervous when they reach at least 7,5. Not me, actuallly, because I love the earth to move, but in general Chilean are most used to earthquakes.

Anyway, I did not want the Merkabah to get out of the jackstands so I decided to put at least one tire per axle, to be sure not get too much damage if the earthquakes became too heavy to handle by the stands themselves. You never know…

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And a new Saturday came and, after a few moves to take an ambulance out of the way, Edie and I put our hands on the cabin in order to get it painted for the end of the day. First things first: to close the window frames. I took the MIG welder aside the cabin, connected the ground forceps, regulated the Amps and the speed of the electrode, and then made the first shots. Christ… the gas was over.

I called the guys but it was again a long weekend and they were closed for good. It was not the moment for being too picky so I shrugged and went on with the soldering gun, sticking the flat sheet to the edges of the frame of the window with tiny pricks of welding.

There were more noise and smoke than usual and the aspect of the welding sticks was not pretty clean, but it would work. I cleaned it all and powergrinded the weldings and Edie covered them all with a new coat of washprimer, both from the inside and the outside.

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I did not like the closing, though, because the many layers of washprimer and primer that burned with the welding left umbilicated spots that looked pretty bad to my feelings. Edie grumbled a little but prepared more plaster to deal with the defects and applied it in generous amounts. We spent a while after the plaster dried up to flatten them down with more sanding. Boring stuff.

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But, while the plaster was drying on the external side, I profited to apply Sikaflex 221 to seal the inner aspect of the closing. I bought a tube of black thing instead of a white one, don’t know why, and did not like it too much, but… you know… a little more primer and that was it.

Edie applied another hand of primer on the external side and it was also -and finally- ready for the silicone sealing.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#747 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-05-03 5:11:23

We had just one hour left before going home, too little time according to me, but Edie encouraged me to paint the underside of the cabin. I enthousiastically agreed and while he prepared the catalized paint I prepared the place and cushioned the best I could the trolley for painting, again, upwards from the floor.

My calculations were wrong for almost 20 cc of paint; pretty close, though. Well, I did cover it all, but I sprayed many hands and just got out of paint for the third coat under the feet of the driver’s side. Naturally, I would apply another hand while painting the rest of the cabin.

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It looked pretty good, yes, and thanks to Edie’s help with the light, the hose, the preparation of the paint and the refilling of the paintgun I could finish within the hour we had left. This time it was Edie to clean the paintgun and I chose to make order and drove the ambulance back in the shop in front of the Merkabah. It was like nothing ever happened, though the closed rear windows let everybody know that another step had been taken and the so long waited painting of the cabin was ad portas. Good.

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I was awake before the dogs tapped the window the next morning, ready and happy to take them to the classic Sunday run. The poplars were all yellow and thousands of fallen leaves covered the sides of the road. The ocre colors of the vineyards were truly pleasing at sight. It was not too early but it was pretty cold. Yes, I really like autumn!

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Carmen and I went later to the country with our three older dogs and inspected the place where the future house would be built. It looked pretty good though it was not nice to know that a lot of old peachtrees were cut for that purpose. Well, they would have been replaced anyway for younger plants… life is hard for everyone.

I tried to fly the dron for the first time since I bought it, but soon I discovered that dogs and drons do not go well together. After cleaning the mud, accidentally thrown against the camera of the dron by Deva, the german shepherd, I folded the toy and put it back into its bag and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon playing with her, Cachito and Amanda.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#748 Beitrag von bandulu » 2017-05-03 23:21:34

Everytime a plessure to have a report like yours. Its so fantastic to see and read your perfect work and anyway your amazing pictures from chile ..bikes..nature..dogs and and and......i hope you still need many years for your project....so i would have many" good night lectures" in the future.. :lol:

Best regars to chile


christoph
the only good system is a soundsystem
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#749 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-05-13 22:21:17

[quote="......i hope you still need many years for your project....so i would have many" good night lectures" in the future.. :lol:

[/quote]

@Christoph: still thinking on this comment. Hmm... Thanks, anyway... hmm...

During the week I collected, when I could, more pieces which were near for use, like the blocks for the springs leaves of the front suspension of the cabin. Had no idea of their last location though I found them, as usual, in the last box of the pile covered by the thickest layer of dust and dog hair. I also prepared the rest of the pieces of the rear suspension and locking system of the cabin for the washpriming and the priming.

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The whole week passed and these little tasks were the only I could accomplish. Another Saturday arrived and Edie was the most interested in finishing with the paint issue for good, but the weather was not with us, it was pretty cold and the humidity was very high. The forecast menaced with rain at midday and so the future was trully dark.

Before anything I finished the sealing of the rear windows with Sikaflex 221 while Edie prepared his own business. We then began to sand the cabin with a very fine sand paper to smooth the primer and take out all the impurities and crap that stuck on it during the drying process that, in the actual conditions of the shop, were more than I wanted.

Sanding very carefully not to take the primer out, especially on the edges, we covered the whole surface inside and out. Of course Edie worked in as he, if he wanted, could easily stand in it.

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Near midday the air warmed up a little so we dared to paint the inside aspect of the cabin where the finish was not a critical consideration. Edie covered even his eyes and got to it. There was a little tension in the air as we both were worried about what we were doing. Was it too cold, or too much moisty?

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As the little big Ecuadorian painter proceeded with the spraying of the paint the tension relaxed, and the fact of seeing how the sandy color covered the interior of the cabin with its carachteristic glow brang a less serious mood to the job. When he finished I went on from the outside painting the angles and corners he could not reach the inside. The paint looked pretty good even if it had that little pinkish tone that eventually would subside with time.

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The sun finally showed up through the cloudy skies and we profited to expose the cabin to its rays to let the metal warm up and so enhance the conditions for the paint to dry up.

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In the meantime I took the paintgun and sprayed the prepared pieces with washprimer while Edie amused himself finishing some details on the roof that he had struggled so hard with to prepare.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#750 Beitrag von pairospam » 2017-05-13 22:29:16

Spark, on his side, limited himself to sunbathing and observed our efforts with not too much interest. The chassis of the Merkabah, half finished, half covered, half wedged, accompanied him in silence, waiting for the supermegaterribleearthquake that finally never came.

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The obstinated sun finally won and kept on shining up there so the paint was hard and dry quicker than predicted. Encouraged by these unexpected events Edie went in the cabin again and, stepping on a log, he gave a first hand of paint to the roof sticking out through the hatch hole. Then, following the precise instructions of the senior painter, I painted the sides, the front and the back.

With only one hand the cabin looked already spectacular to my eyes. Finally! It was an actual event, and Eduardo and Jaime, the guy next door, joined us as spectators, encouragers and critics.

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After a while, and a little more paint, we gave the cabin a second hand following the same pattern, making great attention to the details this time. Initially, the front middle aspect that would remain behind the front grille would be only painted in black, but as there was enough prepared I covered it all with a couple of hands of finition paint too. I still had to drill a couple of hole for the AC hoses so the black paint would be the last to be applied to protect it all once finished.

When exposed to plain late sunrays the paint looked pretty brownish but in the light shadow the camera sensor is less tricky and the color looks more real. I was not in the mood of manipulating and editing the pictures so I uploaded them like they were. The cabin looked pretty good, no matter what.

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