Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

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pairospam
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#871 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-02 4:51:28

Well… sorry guys for the delay in answering, thank you for all your thoughts and help, but it turns out that things tend to solve (or complicate) by themselves, and that is precisely what has been going on here. Let me tell the story.

Thinking on any possible emergency I installed the engine shut-off line though I was not able to set it up correctly and had to rely on the manual procedure to stop the engine if anything happened. So, I assembled everything back and cranked the engine again. Oh, great feeling to push the start button from the cabin! The mighty V8 started at once and remained at idle for a couple of minutes while I checked that the seal of the oil filler neck was perfect and that everything was allright and there was not smoke nor fire in the cabin.

And, suddenly, a pretty loud and acute noise was heard, a very known kind of noise, a loose V-belt noise. I run nervously under the cabin and cut off the fuel supply manually, disconnected the batteries and checked the V-belt. It was tight enough, though I tightened it a little bit more.

I cranked the engine again and the noise was always there. You can immmagine how uncomfortable it was to hear such a noise coming from under the cabin. I had these strange feeling that something I had forgotten or mistaken may cause the truck to break, explode and burn instantaneously.

Asked for help from Eduardo to check the belt while I started the engine again. He commanded to shut the engine off after a few seconds, because it was the alternator not to work. In fact, it was completely jammed and did not spin a single degree, stuck in itself as a rock. What?

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I took it out, always thinking that it was serviced “recently”, and inspected it for good. No way. It was dead.

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Speaking of a bigger power source for the electric system, the truck spoke for himself and asked for a new alternator. The old piece, of 55 Amp output, decided it was done with the project and with life itself. We started to look for a new alternator and, in the end, we ordered a bigger one suited for the Merkabah, the most powerful we could find.

Franz, the air conditioning man, showed up at some moment and reminded me that we would need to place the AC filter somewhere before thinking on putting all the hoses to make the system work. He inspected what I had done so far to install the compressor, lifted up an eyebrow and simply said: Good. Hmm…

I got my hands to it and fabricated an ad hoc support for the filter from material I found around, as always, and after a couple of hours, some bending, some drilling and cutting, it was ready and placed. It would need further finishing and painting but I was not in the mood at that moment so I moved on into something else.

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Finishing the front of the cabin was not a priority though I really wanted to do it. I did not like to have the thin and long pieces, ready and painted, leaning on the wall or lying on some boxes, susceptible of being damaged. I went out to get some meters of hose and of a rubber profile and routed the windshield washerwiper water supply from the “new” pump, after cleaning and painting the hose retainers, of course, and put on the long and narrow plate that covered the wiper support. But… the mighty and infamous “but”… the plate had a thin flange that had to go under the weatherstrip of the windshield.

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To make it short, after one hour and two broken old credit cards the cover was correctly placed and the weatherstrip was over it, not damaged at all. Good. My fingertips ached a little, though.

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Oh, as you see, the rubber profile for the edge of the cover was not the original one as there was no original weatherstrip available, not in San Felipe not at the official dealer in Santiago. A modified U profile would do the job for the moment.

I hung the bigger front cover from under the smaller one then, and the cabin looked a little bit more complete and pretty good to me. The central little hatch for the brake fluid reservoir was placed momentarily just to complete the view as I was not able to remember where the hell I kept the locking mechanism.

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And, suddenly, I remembered that I had another big front cover somewhere. I looked for it and found the rusted piece in the attic, almost sunken in dirt.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#872 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-02 4:59:33

The locking mechanism was dirty but in perfect state though the rubber profile was gone long ago, and there was no chance for resurrection.

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Profiting of a trip to Santiago I went to a pretty big though a little bit messy solar-power-stuff store and got the voltage divider we had been discussing earlier here. Yes… sometimes I learn, and of course I bought the 70A (80A max) version of the voltage divider. According to the maths it should be more than enough power. Ah… and it went far cheaper than buying it on eBay!

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I also looked for some rubber strips to seal the hatch of the roof and the little frontal hatch, but found none that was convincing enough. So, I had to think on recovering the old rubber seals and the next time I went to the shop I picked the best one from those available and carefully cleaned it from paint, rust and old glue. I did not like very much the result but it was better than putting a strange and harder material at its place.

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Once installed, there was not much to see and to complain about so I decided it was okay for good. Unless I found the original seal… of course.

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The next working sessions were devoted to electrics, and I found many ways of doing better what I had done until then. I re-routed some bundles of wires, made a little order, replaced some elements, put some thicker wires here and there, shorten and strenched this and that and rearranged or eliminated a few non-original arrangements.

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At first I was a little worried about where to place the voltage divider, whose bulk was not negligeable, though I found the right spot for it right behind the fuse plate. It is not the best ventilated corner of the cabin but it should work. I glued it to the dashboard support and secured it with a plastic strip, and it turned to be a pretty solid bond.

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Inside the cabin was as messy as I criticized before the electronic store was, so I stopped working, looked at the horror I was into, and then put some stuff apart and went on.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#873 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-02 5:09:50

Following Eduardo’s advice, I got a big and powerful electric valve to connect to the alarm to empty the air circuit of the parking brake. If the alarm was activated, in addition to the scandal of the siren and the claxon and the electric immobilizer, there would be no available air to release the maxibrakes and the truck would not move. Furthermore, I would connect the solenoid valve to a hidden button in case I would choose -or need- to use it. You never know.

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I intervened the proper circuit and installed the valve at a special place under the frame, very difficult to reach. I also placed a long piece of tecalan to exhaust the compressed air to divert the attention from the location of the valve.

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Going on with the difficult task of putting order inside the cabin I rearranged and placed definitely the tecalan circuits for the CTIS and the air suspension control. The exhaust hoses barely fitted through the hole of the tunnel of the engine, though they did… fortunately.

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That day I worked until late and I had to make a few changes as the circuitry became more complex and, at the same time, more logical and easier to understand and to work with. It was a good feeling when I could make work the fan and the auxiliary work lights with the simple push of a button. Good.

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One day, a few days ago, the new alternator arrived from Eduardo’s supplier in Santiago. Of chinese brand, it was 40% cheaper than its BOSCH counterpart, and everyone, including Eduardo, recommended me it was not worth to buy the german one, built also in China. It was considerably bigger but fitted perfectly in the old V8 support. Rated for 90 Amp output with a max output of 110 Amp or some it was also more than enough power to supply the withdrawal of energy that all the new systems and lights the Merkabah would require. The original alternator gave only 55 Amp, as told before.

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Unfortunately the old alternator’s rear cover did not fit in the new one, and I did not like nor trusted the naked look of the rear face of the device.

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Anyway, I cranked the engine again and the new alternator worked perfectly. That problem was solved… at least for now.

I do not remember well but at some point I prepared and painted the AC filter support, simply, with three hands of black matt primer. I had not much time to work on the project so I stopped by the shop one hour or so and got it done. There were a few drops here and there but who cares.

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Always trying to make some progresses, even small ones, I focused on little tasks that could be performed briefly, allowing me to use the little time I had left besides my regular work, like sheathing the wires that had to be routed to and fro the cabin. I had some new circuits to take care of and sheathing a bundle of five or six meters of wires is not as easy as it sounds.

I redesigned the whole electric system, the new one, and made it more readable on six pages instead of one page diagram. Some connections changed and some relationships between different circuits also were modified but the basics remained unchanged. Added some relais here, eliminated some there, put under control of the ACC, left with continuous DC somewhere else, and so on, with every connection soldered and isolated with two or three heat shrinking tubing.

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But, even if it was pretty amusing to work with the wiring and the connections I had an uneasy feeling. It was a mess of wires and tubes and I really do not like messy places and messy situations. Something had to be done, at some point, but I decided to go on like that for the moment until all the systems were checked and proven.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#874 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-02 5:17:00

There was a little incident and the original key of the Merkabah broke. Fortunately I had the spare key but then the ignition cylinder began to fail, and also the start button did not work properly all the times. Christ, one after the other.

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To make a change I went up the attic and rescued the automatic towing hitch from its place in the oblivion. I had to wash it out from all sorts of pestilences it was covered by and then placed it conveniently where it belonged. The truck had no longer the brake circuit for any towing trailer and I have neither license to tow trailers, but it looked good and at any given moment in the future it could be useful to help someone or to be gotten out of trouble by someone else.

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Days were becoming slowly but consistently warmer, and that Sunday morning was particularly clear and shiny when I went out to run with the dogs after a recess of a couple of weeks. I had got cold so, instead of running, I went with the Montero the previous weekend, dressed like an eskimo, and cleaned by myself a couple more of kilometers of the same road. Of course there was already a lot of new garbage around. I cursed and continued running, feeling how the body complained about the recess of the work out.

The dogs were pretty happy and ignored the cans and the bottles, enjoying the run and the time to exercise and breathe the clean air. I did as they did, felt much better, and the anger subsided. You could almost, almost, smell the spring in the air.

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My father resumed his activities also after a quite delicate surgery and went on the mountains again. I always make fun of him when he sends me the pictures of the white R44 which he uses to go to make the snow thickness measurements. The less appropriate color for a helo that goes high on the snow. Anyway, he was happy to be back on the cockpit, and I was pretty happy for him too.

The big lagoons and damms showed no critical levels, but it was not enough water to be at ease for the dry season ad portas. Nothing new.

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The poor WR450 was also left in the oblivion and the front forks needed servicing as both seal and retainer were leaking. Initially I wanted to take the bike to a service center, but finally I decided to take there just the forks. This time I had to disassemble the bike on the patio, though, as there was no more space in the living room with the new center table. It was okay to me and to her, she is dirt bike after all.

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And, suddenly, the locking mechanism of the top case of the Africa Twin, my daily commuter, broke on the way to work. Ah? Is it possible? What else can brake?

I took it to my office and borrowed some tools from the maintenance crew. Collected some pieces among the garbage spread in the backyard and finally managed to conform a new spring for the mechanism. How long would it last? Who knows. It holds still, though.

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Back at the shop I resumed the work on electrics. It started to look pretty crowded down at the surroundings of the batteries. I would need hundreds of plastic ties when the moment of fixing it all came.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#875 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-02 5:29:28

I routed the new wires and they just contributed to the chaos in the central console place. It was really too much, so I decided to get some connector blocks to put some order before it got worse. Of course, I could not find in San Felipe the proper terminal blocks I needed. Hmm…

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Made a break and prepared a cup of tea for myself. I sipped it slowly contemplating the truck in his present state, thinking on all the effort, money and time spent on his restoration. Was it worth? Of course!!

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As it was really not necessary at that point to hang the cabin from the roof to tilt it nor to leave it suspended I took the hook and the stabilizing chains out. I then tried to clean the weatherstrip of the roof hatch from the old green paint. I tried hard to get rid of it by careful sanding and wiping, with no reward. So what I did was to paint the weatherstrip black and the problem was solved.

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I installed the weatherstrip back on the roof, with some difficulty because of the natural shrinking tendency of the rubber, but I had a doubt and did not install the roof hatch. Maybe I would need to go on the roof from the cabin at some point in the near future and leaving the pass open could be more convenient.

Well… at some given moment I addressed the hydraulic issue and emptied the circuits already filled with fluid. I then replaced all the pieces including the rubber boot of the clutch pump, with special care not to allow a single drop of hydraulic fluid to touch the paint. I even put a bib on the front not to allow the fluid to fall on the many surfaces and recesses. But, even if the bib worked well, it was not possible for me alone to bleed the circuits so I left the task inconcluded and continued with another issue.

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I had not checked how the winches worked, if they worked at all, until then. I looked for the box where the controls were and plugged the socket in the front winch. It came to life soundly under the soft touch of the button and I rewinded the loose cable. Unfortunately, with no apparent stress, the base plug broke when I pulled the socket out. WTF? Maybe it was too much time since I bought the winch and the plastic started to deteriorate by itself. Couldn’t buy the idea, though.

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I checked the rear winch and it also worked perfectly. I was very careful with the plug, for sure.

It was already time to go home and I did not want to touch anything that could possibly brake or malfunction so I looked for a purposedly destructive task to execute. Since a while I wanted to make a big gasket with the right shape of the hole for the fuel filler assembly to replace the bolted and abnormal system the big fuel tank had. I had postponed the labor because there were many other important things to consider, but at that precise moment I looked at the old and already sacrificed fuel tank of Spare and did not take me long to grab the power grinder and amputate the piece of the tank that contained the fenestration. Good, but it was already late when I finished. No more working on the Merkabah for that week.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#876 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-02 5:41:18

The next morning I felt particularly weak so I added a few kilometers to the usual running route. Pairoa is stronger!… I repeated to myself, like always. The dogs followed me to the usual belvedere on the mountains and together we enjoyed the moment. They pursued a couple of rabbits but their lack of hunting abilities was quite notorious. I swear I heard the rabbits laughing at them.

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Zulu, the lightest and more athletic of the pack, had a quite serious problem of dental tartar, and after arrival he, Amanda and Cachito were one by one sedated and treated by the veterinarians at home. Their teeth shone after the ultrasound cleaning session. Good for them, though it took a while for them to recover from the sedation effects.

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Next Monday I went to the shop early in the afternoon as I wanted to check a few things. The mighty V8 cranked once more at the push of the start button (that still failed a little) and soon after some strange clicking could be hear coming from the back of the engine. Initially I had thought it came from the clutch but it rather came from the air compressor as Eduardo and I soon confirmed, and the air pressure did not build up. Hmm…

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I checked the proximal connections and consulted the manuals again to be sure everything was right. I followed the circuit distally and soon I realized that the blockade was at the four circuit protection valve. No air passed through the entrance port to the exhaust ports. All the four circuits were rated for an opening pressure of 7 bar simultaneously. Maybe the compressor was not capable of reaching the opening pressure, or maybe the valve was jammed as I had bought it two years before and never used it until then. I had no idea for the moment so I took the valve out to bring it to a place where they could inspect and test it. Eduardo menaced with disassembly though I did not want to open it yet, even if the guarantee had expired quite long ago.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#877 Beitrag von tooFATtoDRIVE » 2018-09-29 9:30:58

Hello, what's the latest with your MB truck? It is a very exciting project and I am sure many on here are keen to hear the latest.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#878 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-09-30 4:55:51

Hi, tooFATtoDrive:

As always, I am working... I am working, but have nothing much interesting to show. Electrics is complex, sometimes boring and pretty disapointing, especially when dealing with old stuff.

Soon there will be more news.

Cheers.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#879 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-10 0:20:21

Well... it´s been a while.

Just a little time to work on the project, lots of things to do… and difficulties everywhere. Nothing new.

At some moment, unexpectedly, spring was here. The plum bossom that every year clearly marks the change of season showed up with all its splendor. Christ… time had passed so fast, and the truck still did not work.

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I checked the pressurized air distribution/security valve, and it worked perfectly, opening sequentially over 100 psi starting with port 22. Christ, it was the compressor. For some strange reason it could not reach 100 psi without making a hell of a noise, and that was the minimum threshold pressure for the entire system. When overhauling the engine I also overhauled the compressor so it was hard to understand. It was so bad news that I decided to neglect it for a while.

As I wrote before, the central console was a mess, and at this point you know that I cannot deal easily with any kind of mess, so I bought a few terminal strips to help me make some order.

I started with the connections for the alarm and I went on, slowly, with the rest. It went really slowly as I realized that I had some errors in the distribution and connection of some circuits, and the more I tried to keep things simple the more I found alternative ways to go and, of course, got life more complex. I could not get rid of all the stuff in the cabin and worked hardly in between many useless tools and stuff, until I needed them.

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I spent a lot of time in the cabin, when I had time to spend on the project, and my back started to complain a little again, but things worked out pretty well though slow, as first said.

I needed to place at least eight relays in the console and I did not like the idea of putting them loose so I thought that the original relay tray could help. Grabbed the grinder and cut from it what I needed. Unfortunately there was no place for more than six relays so there would be at least a couple of them loose no matter what. Made some bending and a few drills and that was it. I prepared and painted the plate and left. That week was particularly heavy at work, if I remember well.

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Anyway, next sunday I did what I needed to do: I assembled and fixed the WR450 suspension. Once she was ready she refused to start, though, no matter what trick I used, including pushing her back and forth the street. Could a bike be ruined just by not using it? But then, and only then, I checked the fuel tank and realized it was empty. Ops.

After dealing with that little embarrassing impasse the engine cranked at the first touch of the starter button, of course. I aimed to the mountain tracks and scaped there as soon as possible. It was great to ride the light and graceful dirt bike again, so different from the heavier and tricky but powerful GS1200. I profited to make some drone shooting and returned home only when the tank menaced to get empty again.

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You always think you are the one around when you are having a big time, but other guys, with more wheels than me, were also enjoying the view and the rough tracks.

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Next week, when I could, I installed the relay plate and some of the relays. I really like the look of the orderly placed stuff, and this way is much easier to follow the wires, every one carefully chosen and drawn on the big circuit chart.

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And the work on the circuitry proceeded, pretty slowly, with every connection soldered, every wire measured and cut at the appropriate length so not to have any left wire around. Mistake.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#880 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-10 0:28:39

Not the fastest electrician in the world, it took me ages to route, set, solder and prepare the circuitry, even if it looked pretty simple. I stayed late many afternoons, alone at the shop. Selfies are taken when I get pretty angry, bored or happy. Guess why it was this time.

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I found many problems doing the electric labor, like when the original ignition barrel lock started malfunctioning in the middle of some tests. Among all the electric stuff I had Spare´s barrel so I swapped it with not big trouble, just to discover that it had the same problems. I made a little search and found a new one on eBay, though, so it was just a matter of waiting for it to arrive. Lucky me, finding the 40 years old piece.

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At some point I considered that the major part of the job was done, but every time I looked at the setup I found that something was missing or that it could be done in a better way. And so time passed by.

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I accidentaly struck my left knee pretty hard twice so I could not run for a couple of weeks. When I could resume the sunday runs, profiting the good and fresh early spring mornings, I went to the mountains again with the silent but confident company of the dogs. Did I tell before that I really like the place I live in? The blossomed peachtrees on the orchards showed off and the smell of spring filled the air, maybe a little too much for my hypersensitive and big nose, but it was great.

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The Merkabah, though, was still lying there, immobile, impassible, unchanged, hmm… The mighty V8 roared from time to time to charge the batteries but it was still both a great and uncomfortable vision. I really wanted to get things done and take her for a little tour, but the truth was that the end was not even near.

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One day, I connected the battery terminals and there were plenty of sparks. WTF? I checked it all and found out that the new voltage divider had blown out. Both fuses were fried and even if I replaced them the thing did not work. Of course I thought it was my fault and probably I had made a wrong connection that short-circuited it to death.

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Looked everywhere to find where was the error and found some terminals hidden in some incredible places that were clearly not right, but they had nothing to do with the circuits at test. In the end, I could not find anything wrong.

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The next time I went to Santiago I took the device with me, just for the fun of it as I was convinced that I had killed it. Traffic was not so messy that day as you may see, which is quite strange in the big city. Instead, it was almost friendly.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#881 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-10 0:36:01

I went to the store and made the divider be checked by the sellers. The old man who tested it, that did not care too much of his neck’s health, surprisingly concluded that there may have been something wrong with the divider itself so they would check further and give me a call. Oh? Great.

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Problems did not end there, naturally, and when I checked the windshield wiper circuit there was a shortcut and I could not identify the origin of it. I disassembled the motor, that got really hot even if it seemed to work properly, and its guts looked like new. Actually, it was almost new. I checked the relay but could not find any problem so I ordered a new relay, just in case and to have a spare part. I also checked the combined switch lever on the column and searched everywhere for a new one that I finally found on Aliexpress. I also ordered it new. Hmm…

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A few days later I received a brand new voltage divider. At the store, the technicians found out that there was an intrinsic problem so they decided to replace it. I was the lucky guy that picked the only failed one. It is an actual trend, right? Good anyway.

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And so, the second voltage divider went to its place and I could go on with the tests… and the problems.

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At some moment I said enough with the wiring and the ghostly short-circuits and decided to do something different for a change. I got a piece of cardboard and made a mockup of the instrument panel for the central console to check for the distribution of the gauges, the stereo and the control switches in vivo.

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The original layout proved to be aesthetically right though quite impractical because of some conflicts between some of the instruments and the stuff in the bottom of the console so I had to modify the distribution a little. Originally I wanted to order the panel be made by some laser, water, protoplasm or kryptonite cutter, but I liked the idea of doing it myself, only as a challenge. How difficult may it be? How long could it take? At this point it really didn’t matter and I wanted to do something different than cutting and soldering wires.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#882 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-10 0:42:28

And so I did. After some hours, including last Saturday morning, working with the power grinder, the power drill and the limes I finished the instrument panel. I almost forgot to put the heater-fan knob, and there was not enough place for the 12V and the 24V circuits meters.

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Just as a funny-bitter detail, I had to bend the new little panel for the relays to make enough room for the stereo to enter, though the wires were so fit in their lenght that there was no possibility for all of them to cope with the new position of the panel. Mistake. I knew.

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Next, I began with the connections of the rocker switches. I had ordered ad hoc switches for the air conditioning, the washer-wiper and other stuff, but they never arrived nor there was room for them, so I started with the switches for the lights. They looked pretty elegant, the switches, but time came to go home and that’s what I did. We had a special appointment that afternoon.

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This is Sooky. Carmen and a partner of her rescued the little dog from a nightmare of living. She suffered a lot from mistreatment and she was pretty near to death. Carmen took her and cared for her for a couple of weeks, our house as her temporary home while a new family prepared to receive her.

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We went to another city 100 km away to deliver Sooky, though Carmen wanted to keep her, I know. Under her eyes and loving care the little dog was reborn, and she was happy, and liked to play with the other dogs. But her new mom had already adopted two dogs, pretty much like Sooky, and after a brief and quite cautious introduction she found herself running and playing with them as if they had been friends for their whole life. She was so happy and busy playing that she didn’t even note when we left, leaving no place for tears. It was such a happy moment.

When I went to run with the dogs next morning the poplars surprised me with their renewed foliage. In a matter of just one week they were covered by tiny green leaves. Life goes on, indifferent to our little fights, our little problems, our little joys. It rained that afternoon, though. Weather is crazy.

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Oschi
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#883 Beitrag von Oschi » 2018-10-10 20:24:46

How many years have you been working on the merkabah now? I guess (and hope) you will never go hardcore offroad since you are putting so much effort in this, year after year. The merkabah will end up way to valuable for profane offroad driving.

By the way, I absolutely hate wiring and electricity in general from the bottom of my heart. So, usually my wife has to deal with all the electric bullshit. ;-)

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Slarti
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#884 Beitrag von Slarti » 2018-10-14 13:46:41

Hi there Pairoa,

I for my turn wish that you will go hardcore offroad where you want to and that with the trust in your meticulous work done in every detail.

I also enjoy to read about your progress and hope without the cabin your truck will soon be able to be driven the first rounds outside the garage :spiel:

All the best and keep on building and writing...

Cheers, Hans-Joachim

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#885 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-18 3:53:07

Well, Oschi... it´s been eight years since that particular moment when I found the Merkabah. A lot, we agree.

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But, despite all that has been done, and all that´s still to be done, I only wish to take the truck to the dunes, to the mountains, to the muddy planes and to the rocky tracks here and everywhere.

Slarti is right. That´s what all these efforts are about. I want to feel the pain and the joy to get stuck in the middle of nowhere and be able to get free by myself or with the aid of some good samaritan with a caterpillar.

Just hope to finish the project when I am still in shape and able to change a tire.

Many greetings and thanks for your words to you both.


Pairoa


BTW: I try not to hate anything, electrics included. When I do, usually it is what I have to work on the most. Life is hard...

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carasophie
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#886 Beitrag von carasophie » 2018-10-18 17:21:26

Yes, Pairoa, that are the thoughts, that we have also sometimes. But life must go on and there will be a solution to coming problems - we have to live in the moment. Not thinking of the future or be scared. Life changes so quickly. That are the philosophic parts and experiences of our hobby - we only get mentally stronger ...

good luck for the smart little dog and greetings to Carmen :)
Grüssle, Bärbel

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pairospam
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#887 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-24 4:23:32

Dear Bärbel: Thanks. Carmen appreciates a lot your greetings and sends back a lot of hugs in return, to you, to Klaus and to Heiner. Keep the good work on your truck and life.

As usual, little things done and a lot of expectations from everybody that passes by the Merkabah. She already draws a lot of attention.

The new ignition barrel lock arrived and it was a relief. I did not want anything to burn, as you may understand, and the new mechanism worked perfectly as expected. I was so confident on all the work done that I even left the batteries connected for good.

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I kept on trying to make things look and work better, even looking for electric components from the discarded elements of the workshop. There were always connectors, switches and supports that could be of use, who knows where or when. Yes… I know.

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The central console panel was filled, sanded and prepared for painting, with a few hands of primer to get it perfect… but something was missing. I did not like it that way, and I had no clear idea of why. Suddenly, I saw a thick wire on the floor of the paint section of the shop, and then I realized what was I looking for: handles.

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I always liked the look of the avionics on the instrument panels of the aircrafts I flew with my father, many of them with clear and solid handles to push and pull from. So… I grabbed the wire, cut a couple of pieces and shaped them to make up the handles I wanted.

Yes, they made it look better and, moreover, they added some stiffness to the panel that, in the end, turned to be a little weak for the job. I should have used a thicker metallic sheet, but it was stiff enough.

But, as nothing comes that easy, I inadvertently made the welding stitches on the wrong side. Ops. I forgot to mark the sides of the panel before welding.

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Nothing too severe, actually, but that meant that there was a double welding and the preparation of the panel, and the plaster and the primer and the sanding went to hell with the heating. Not too bad, though, so I shrugged and went on. It doesn’t have to be all that perfect, I said to myself, and covered it all with matt black paint, three hands, and that was it… or so I thought.

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Later on, when I tried to install the switches for the air suspension, they were so tight that they did not even work, and I was also having big trouble to take the switches out. I was pretty upset for such an irritating inconvenient, until Eduardo and Carmen approached to see what was I cursing at. They laughed at my reaction with open jaws, and what did I do?… I laughed with them too. Sometimes I feel pretty stupid.

I took the limes, worked hard for half an hour, sanded and finally repainted it all, making sure that the switches fitted perfectly before painting. And that was it.

Next: to finish with the diesel tank issue. The base for the sending unit, taken previously from the donor tank of Spare, was shaped as to fit exactly in position and cleaned from all the rust and old paint. Then, I drilled as needed to allow it to be bolted in position on the main tank. That way the sending unit could be locked in place the way it should be. At first I planned to weld the base to the tank but then I decided to glue and seal it with gasket silicone and secure it with the existing nuts.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#888 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-24 4:35:19

But… what about the fuel sending unit itself? It was left in the oblivion inside a big box somewhere, like everything else. Actually I had two units, one from the Merkabah, which float and wiper were more or less okay but the rest was in really bad condition, and the one from Spare, which was in good shape, already painted, but lacked the float mechanism. The variable resistor of the level sending unit was working on Spare’s unit, and the Merkabah’s was broken. So, what did I do? Swapping, of course. At the moment of installation I would deal with the leveling of the float to adjust it to the new tank.

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The new implant piece for the diesel tank needed some work so I used a little plaster and sanding and the rest was a paint job. As I did not want to prepare any primer or paint to spray just one piece I got my hands on some other parts to profit to paint more stuff at once. The hinges for the doors had been repaired ages ago and they were waiting for some love since then, so I cleaned them for good and left them ready for priming and painting.

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There was also another piece that eventually would need repainting, and that was the drag link. It was something I had postponed for many reasons, none of them a good one, and it was time to address the issue. The thing is that there was a clear conflict between the drag link and the new front chock absorber. It shouldn’t be there, of course, so I would have to bend the drag link if I ever wanted to steer the Merkabah… and the time was coming.

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Well, it was the perfect kick in the ass to get things done, and the reason for the fastest build of an extractor ever.

Following the well stablished rule of making, I looked around for some ad hoc piece of steel garbage and started to cut, shape and weld until a new tool showed up.

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Still warm after all the welding, the extractor did its job and the old drag link soundly fell and stood on the floor after hanging uselessly for so many years. It would be used again, though, and bent on the press as a test before bending the all-new drag link, carefully painted and stored at some place in the attic. Maestro Chaleco was charged with the job as he knows better how to deal with steel, pressure and temperature.

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pairospam
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#889 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-24 4:41:50

After a few days waiting for the paint to dry up, the console panel was ready. I fitted the gauges, the switches and the guiding rack for the CTIS in place and it looked very good as an ensemble.

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It looked even better when I took it to its place on the engine tunnel, in front of the dashboard, in the middle of the mess. It all seemed to fit correctly and there was place for all the circuitry, air and electric, behind the panel. Good.

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Took a few pictures here and there, made order, cranked the engine that started pretty smoothly and left it at idle for a long time, accelerating it from time to time to make sure the V8 worked properly under pressure. All the lectures were nominal. Ahh… pretty nice sound. But it was already late so I made a little order, waited for the diesel smoke to dissipate, closed and went home.

That sunday morning run was a bit different. The dogs and I were surprised on our way back home by a hundred people or more participating on a family cycling tour near San Felipe. Among all the concurrents I lost sight of Zulu, and at some moment I could not find him.

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I went back over my tracks for three kilometers but found no trace of him. As an original street dog, I was confident that, in the worst case, he would find the way home so, with a tingle in my stomach, I resumed the run with Deva and Chico by my side.

At some moment, after calling him out loud a lot, the little black dog showed up as if nothing had happened. We were near home already.

Carmen was pretty happy to know that I had found him, naturally. When we fed the dogs, some time after the arrival, though, I noted that Zulu had a quite long but superficial wound along the back of one of his thights. That was it: someone came over him on a bicycle and he ran away from the road, probably ahead of me and the other dogs. The wound would heal easily, but we had a really bad time thinking on loosing him.

Next Monday afternoon, I had a huntch and decided to verify that all the differential lock sensors and warning lights were functioning properly. I had repaired the main electric harness long ago though I had doubts about the distribution of the wires for the sensors. The first I tested was the front axle differential lock sensor and… surprise! the PTO warning lighted up. Ops.

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I then checked all the circuits and the warning lights bulbs and it turned out that half of them did not work. One of the bulbs was put upside down and there were two bulbs missing in the dashboard panel. Many circuits did nothing at all even if I replaced the bulbs so I began to explore, untie and check each terminal in search of the problem. It was really boring and challenging as it was pretty crowded everywhere. Why didn’t I check it before? Life is hard.
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Joe
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#890 Beitrag von Joe » 2018-10-24 19:09:47

Hi Pairo,

your truck will look better than new - and you will leave the old symbols in??? :angel: :D

OK, this was unfair but as soon as you have found a source for the symbols it would be of interest for me as well. :unwuerdig:

I do not know what you want to do but I modified one of them to indicate the status of my slide-out-stair- so there is an orange warning light on the Dashboard if the stair is reaching out (I painted a kind of "Z" onto the orange symbol - the original Symbol of a turning warning light a polished off).
And I do not like any items which do not have a function - e.g. the symbol for the lifted cargo will be obsolete for your truck in his new function as a RV.

Cheers and good luck!! :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

#891 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-10-25 15:12:58

Hi, Joe:

Always nice to hear from you.

Well, I agree with you about useless lights and symbols and any other superfluous gadget. I think that it is not worth to search for new or customized symbol pads, though. I have gotten some from other trucks and I want to polish them off as you did and paint the ad hoc symbols on.

As you may see from the pictures, all the symbols must be restored and re-painted too.

It is indeed a pretty clever idea to have a warning light for the slide-out stairs, and I plan another light for the status of the pivoting rear bumper, basically to avoid getting a fine when not in off-road driving.

Still not sure if it is necessary to have another warning light for when the Merkabah gets airborne. Hmm… I will think about it.

Cheers to you and thanks.


Pairoa

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Iain_U1250
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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#892 Beitrag von Iain_U1250 » 2018-11-03 1:23:14

Hi Pairo, you can still buy new warning light cover from MB, I bought new one from our MB truck dealer in Australia, they were in stock. If you have a truck dealer over there, ask them. Bild

If you need any help, drop me an email, I have a couple of spares.
Iain

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

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#893 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-11-03 19:59:05

Hi, Iain: Many thanks for your help. I will email you soon.

And, unfortunately, bad news. Yesterday our friend Rene Larraguibel passed away.

More than ten years living on a liver transplant, taking the most of life he could get, at his own path.

He was the owner of Terral, the Atego overland truck well known on these pages. He built his truck, smashed it down, rebuilt it, tougher, heavier... drove it around, drowned it in the Atlantic, repaired it, many times not in the best or more elegant way, though he enjoyed and travelled by far much more than anyone of us did.

We met many years ago, when he came with Karen to see the Merkabah in her early stages. It was a pretty good moment, the first from many other memorable moments we had altogether.

He was planning a new trip in December, longer, wilder, and he was full of life. He had this quite absurd accident at a sand-buggy competition, just doing what he liked the most.

We will miss him.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#894 Beitrag von DäddyHärry » 2018-11-05 9:56:30

Sad to hear that!
R.I.P.
Any info 'bout that accident?

Regards, Haerry
If you want to leave footprints in the sand of times, wear Work shoes.
(Tom Zupancic)

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#895 Beitrag von MaartenNL » 2018-11-06 12:36:03

Pairoa,

what very sad news, i wish all of you strenght in this time of loss.

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#896 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-11-07 15:03:02

Thank you, guys. Pretty appreciated.

Pairoa

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#897 Beitrag von tooFATtoDRIVE » 2018-12-02 23:48:04

Pairoa,
It has been long time since you posted on your project. What are the latest updates?

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#898 Beitrag von pairospam » 2018-12-04 16:53:13

Hello, tooFATtoDRIVE:

Well, unfortunately not too many things to update for the truck project. I recently came back from some brief holydays; I drove 8.000 km in two weeks by the most beautiful places of southern Chile and Argentina. It was great, as always.

Soon some pictures of the trip.

Hope you and all around here are okay.

Pairoa

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#899 Beitrag von a90 » 2019-01-02 22:09:31

Hello Pairoa,

A very happy New Year for you all !!

Will 2019 be the year the Merkabah will drive her first miles ?

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Re: Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

#900 Beitrag von pairospam » 2019-01-04 4:58:57

Happy New Year to you too, a90! And the same for all the women and guys here.

I hope to be able to make the Merkabah run by the end of january, half completed but moving at least.

We will see.


Cheers.


Pairoa

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