Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

[pairospam]

To check if the locks worked properly Carmen and I went to the mountains north of San Felipe. We took with us Deva, Amanda and Cachito.

The Montero climbed up like a spider and the locks did not jam. Good. Deva and the little dogs had a very good time exploring the dry lands. It was a good short trip.




My back had been giving me some trouble again and I had to diminish the rhythm and the load of work, which only added more frustration to those days.

When I felt a little better I connected the air and electric circuits of the air suspension system.



Soon as the circuit for the 40 liter air tank for the suspension was connected and the pressure started to build up a hissing was heard and the gauge hand stopped moving up.

To make it short, the tank leaked. Plop. The rust was worse than estimated. I took the tank out and checked it flat. There was a couple of holes that were clearly identifiable at 100 psi, but when pressure topped up at 120 psi there was another leak some centimeters away.





I needed another tank or get this repaired. Followed Eduardo’s advice and asked it to be done by Maestro Chaleco.

Well, I wanted to go on so I connected the suspension control circuit directly from the rear four circuits valve and connected the solenoid valve block to the 24V supply.

It worked, strangely but it worked. The air bellies inflated under command though I had some trouble deflating them. There was surely something wrong with the connections but nonetheless I could do some measurements and checkings that put a smile in my face.





In the back I could lift the frame seven centimeters from the stand point without any load on it. After putting on the Box and the bike, the water, the fuel, the strange rocks collection and half a dozen dogs this distance should increase.

The main purpose of the system is to make the ride more comfortable so the levelling will be of use only when parking, to allow us to cook and sleep horizontally.

[pairospam]

In the front I had forgotten to tighten the air tubes to the air shocks so I had to do it before having any effect, of course. Once ready, the bellies inflated when the proper button was pushed and the frame and the cabin lifted and tilted a few centimeters, not too much though noticeable.




I had to be careful not to touch the steel beam of the ceiling. Probably the complete range was nearly the same as in the back of the truck. Good.



Unfortunately, the left air shock, when inflated, touched the regular front shock absorber. There was only contact, not pressure, but there would surely be wear with time and motion. I would have to do something about it.



All in all, I was happy to see the system work and the Merkabah move, even if up and down only.

The new bike had some minor problems and the odometer was near to the 20.000 km, time to make a major service.

I found out, though, that she was out of warranty because of the original time of purchase, more than two years, for only just one month. No point, then, to take the bike to the official dealer.

So, next weekend, after an opiparus lunch at Carmen’s aunt in the country, Eduardo and I serviced the bike ourselves, right there on the street, saving almost 500 euros.



That sunday morning, after one month of zero activity, I went out for the classical run with the dogs. The body treated me pretty bad, but still reached the end point on the slope of the hill, some kilometers away from home.

The dogs also noted the effort, and their tongues hung out a little more than usual.



The magnificent colours of the autumn had already started to paint the trees and the vineyards, and quiet a few dead leaves lay down at the foot of the poplars.

I really like autumn.



The next week I contacted the young guy that helped me with the choice of the solenoid block for the suspension to find out what the problem with the valves was.

After watching the layout of the connections he suggested to plug the ports I had taken for deflating the air bellys. Actually, and I did not know that, the solenoid valves had two ports precisely for two actuators, and no need for a port to allow the air scape from the air shocks to the atmosphere. Ops.

Naturally, there were no decent plugs in San Felipe, so I had to go to Santiago to get the proper ones directly from the importer of the valves. It was the purchase of the year. Some 5 euros.



Back in San Felipe, the plugs were cut to the proper length, with the proper instrument, and firmly pushed in place after struggling with all the stuff that crowded the confined space under the dashboard.



Cranked the engine and waited a few minutes to let the air pressure build up and then checked all the circuits for inflating and deflating each individual air belly, and they all worked great, as planned long before.

Good… for once.

[pairospam]

In the meantime, there were no news about the brake cylinder quest. I had just to wait.

What to do next? Well, I went to the shop some day and got the control panel for the CTIS from its box and added a little chaos to the already messy central console installing it in the middle of the wiring.



This time the connection between the control panel and the valve block was pretty straight as there was an ad hoc military plug that made life quiet easy.

I connected the right power circuitry, checked the pressure control valve, that was actually closed, ops, and waited the regular twelve minutes to let the air pressure build up. The system worked properly, delivering 110-115 psi from the tank number three to each tire through the 6 mm tecalan tubes across the frame.



The CTIS was programmed to work between inflation pressures of 25 and 100 psi so I hoped there would be no problems, even if reaching 100 psi would take its time, especially when trying to get it on all the tires simultaneously.

Deflation would also be quiet slow, but… what the hek.

Well, the Frenchs had done their job, and I needed to do mine to make the whole thing functional. The rotors had to be installed, and it seemed the proper time to do it.

Originally, I wanted the supports made by some CNC cutting shop, but I felt on the mood to fabricate them myself.

Got a piece of metal sheet and cut a template from it. I wanted something quiet simple, but I beveled one side of the support, just a little, enough to give it a little asimetrical look, just for the fun of it.





I then looked around, as usual, to find the piece of material to work with and, after some dusty research, I found the right plate of steel which I knew I was going to use at some point in the future, a few years in the past.



It felt good to grab the powergrinder and throw some sparks around again. Fabricating things, even small pieces and supports, gives me a big sense of satisfaction. Yes… I know.



The attitude when cutting, though, did not pass inadverted and my back protested a little that night.

It was late when I cut the last of the supports from the 5 mm steel sheet. Maybe it was a little too thick, but I liked it. I had to drill the holes for the rotors and for the bolts to fix them to the wheel hubs but it was time to go and I was really tired because I had worked overnight that same morning.



Made a little order, swept the whole floor from steel dust and dog’s hair and invited Carmen and Eduardo and wife to take a coffee out. I went to bed pretty early that night, for a change.

[tooFATtoDRIVE]

Great to hear from you again. We were missing your updates. Keep it on with your project!!!

[pairospam]

Hello, and greetings to you and to your project, tooFATtoDRIVE.

Just a few words to keep this thread as alive as I can. It has been quite strange times, pretty busy, as usual, and a little bitter too.

I’ve done only minor things, always waiting for the brake cylinder to arrive from somewhere in the world. The bloody thing ended up being a pretty hard to track bastard.

The supports for the rotary valves, which were supposed to be a simple job, required a little more development and work and I devoted to it the few hours available, seems a long time ago.




Going on with the CTIS installation, I started to work out the support for the delivery of compressed air to the rotary valves on the wheels.

I had seen a few options, and I wanted to have a steel tube that followed the front wheel motion in travel and rotation, not touching the steering nor the traction mechanisms for fixing it, though, and a fitting that came out from the side of the fender was not my idea as it was good for the rear wheels but not for the front ones.

So, I decided to use the support for the air brake as a base for the support of the air tube and made a very rude template with which I could work to make up a serious piece. Naturally, there were a few scrap pieces of steel ready to work with.






That Sunday morning run with the dogs, many weeks ago, led me to explore some trails that crossed a few irrigation ditches dug in the slope of the mountains near San Felipe. Zulu went down and could not get out by his own. I ended up covered with mud and dust trying to take him out. It was a good run.




Back at the shop, a few days later, the tube I was going to use needed also some craft so I wandered a little by the workshop and found something I could use to make a mold: a discarded garden chair.



Then, after a little powergrinder cuts and a little welding the air tube mold was ready.

I put in the fender to get the right measures and clearances and placed the tube six centimeters over the tyre. There were some comments about the risk of getting the tube hit by mud and stones when offroading. I was clearly aware, but I really wanted to put the tube in that position.

[pairospam]

Probably I was going to have problems if the mud was too deep or sticky, or both, but if that was the case my problem would not be strictly the clearance of the tube. Anyway, the way I was going to fabricate and display the air tube would make it easy to take out and repair if needed. Or so I thought.

I followed the same method for the rear air tube. One single metal tube would feed both the second and the third axles wheels from inner parallel tecalan tubes, and the installation would be pretty much easier.



After having what I thought was the convenient design I went out to get the ad hoc tube to build it, but I could not find a metal tube strong enough at any shop in San Felipe. Hmm…

When I was welding the pieces of chair, at some moment the automatic shading screen of the welding mask stopped working. It was the batteries, but the damn thing was sealed. I hate this crazy trend to make disposable tools, disposable cars, disposable phones and disposable whatevers just to get the business going, despite of the amount of trash left behind. I really hate it.

I opened it, carefully, made my way through to change the batteries that powered the shading screen and glued the thing back together. Doing so I gave the mask at least a couple of years more of use.



Unbelievable, the amount of plastic and electronic components on that one little disposable device. We humans are very sick.

Well, I went to pick the spacers for the supports of the rotary air valves to Verardo’s workshop. They failed the first time and left the central hole excentrical. This time they had done right and they looked perfect. How difficult could it be?



As mentioned before, I have had tons of extra work the last couple of months and no time, nor the right mood, neither. I had planned to take the Merkabah out the last days of February, but the brakes issue told otherwise. It was very frustrating, and still is, forgetting to make plans.

Anyway, at least I could resume the regular Sunday runs with the dogs. The poplars were patched in green and ocre and the fallen leaves created the yellow carpets I love on both sides of the road. I like autumn, didn’t I tell that before?



It was not easy to find a suitable solution for the connection between the rotary air valve and the inflation valve of the tyre itself. It had to be detachable with ease to allow the replacement of the tyre if needed, though not prone to get struck by a rock or manipulated by other people, and it should work without the valve core to speed up the deflation/inflation time.



I tried a few ways, and finally opted for modificating the existing caps and give a chance to the simplest design, with fast tecalan connectors. As everything in this project, and everything in life, it was a compromise between many options.

The damned inflation valves had a quite complicated thread on their own, though, and there were no available fittings to deal with them. Franz, the air conditioning man, former turner and pretty skilled welder guy, would help with the connectors.

Some day, the replacements for the 3/2 valves arrived. They were made in Germany, good quality brand, as requested, but they were new design, non serviceable or repairable. Again, the trash/economic culture.



The same week, the spare for the indicator column switch was also delivered. The original one was still functional, but when used it sounded and felt as if something was going to brake at the next touch, and it would be clearly difficult to repair in the middle of a trip. Better safe than sorry… trash culture.



And the weeks passed, and still no news about the brake cylinder, and no time for working on the Merkabah.

We had a pretty sad time, quite recently, because one of our dogs, Ecco, the big, young and gentle german shepperd, died from peritonitis after a struggle of many days despite operations, ICU care and all the resources at hand.

It was a big strike. Pets become a part of the family, and no matter if you have a dozen dogs and cats, the absence of one of them is deeply felt in your heart. Carmen was devastated at first, though the pain slowly subsided along with a growing feeling of acceptation and gratitude for the time spent together.

Not his best picture, but the most expressive one. We really loved him.

[pairospam]

When I had a little free time, I got the roof lining from its hideout and prepared myself and the working place for repairing it. If you remember, I took it from a doomed truck in a scrapyard a few years ago because it was in far more better shape than the original lining of the Merkabah.



Well… it was a lot of years since that, judging by the thickness of the layer of dust deposited on the lining.



After removing half a ton of dust, the outer suface showed up and, in general, it was pretty healthy. There were, though, obvious tracks of misuse and abuse on some spots and on the edges where there was more wear, especially on the inner surface.





There were also signs of failed or poorly performed repairings but, all in all, nothing too serious.

To help with the restoration I brang the original lining, or what was left of it. It would eventually be the donor of pieces to reinforce the “new” lining.



I made a couple of patches with MDF wood for the damaged flat front part of the lining, and used a couple of wooden boards and the hand presses to get them in place, but obviously it was not the best way to do it. I would have to get proper presses, hmm…



To repair the edges of the lining where the glove boxes were fixed was another story. I decided to go for a reinforcement made of steel as I felt it was a far more durable and definite way to get it done.

Of course, doing it with steel plates would be more laborious than making a wooden frame glued to the edges of the lining, but I thought it would be a better way and I did not trust the capacity of the old and worn out lining edges for gluing.

Anyway, I got the proper steel plates, cut out the profiles and welded some perpendicular reinforcements. It came out pretty robust and lightweight, but the steel was not malleable enough to allow a few flanges to fold and grab firmly the edges of the lining without making too much bulk.

So, I looked around and found a piece of discarded bodywork from the ancient Blazer 6x6 conversion project which metal sheet was perfect for the job. I cut a piece of it and got a few strips that were shaped and welded to the metal frame.

[pairospam]

The frame was then put in place, with a generous provision of glue, and the flanges carefully though strongly folded. It was a very good solution, according to me at least.




One of the corners of the opening of the lining for the roof hatch was broken and the best way to repair it, always according to me, was to reinforce it with its similar from the original lining of the Merkabah.

Cut the ad hoc piece and reduced it until I was almost certain that it would not interfere with the contact points of the lining with the framing of the roof of the truck.

I then glued it and left it pressed for the entire night. The day after I completed the repair with wood glue to bond the separated layers of the lining to make a stronger edge.




There were some parts of the lining that also showed wear and the layers of wood/paper from which the lining itself is made needed local reinforcement, so I got the wood glue and applied it, most generously, to all the edges and surfaces where the lining was worn or/and uncovered by paint.



In the end, I was pretty satisfied with the result and went to talk to the upholstery guy who told me that he could receive the lining of the roof in a couple of weeks and not before.

As I was on the mood, I got from the attic the rear wall lining and started with the repair of it. I left the roof lining on the frame of the Merkabah, hoping it would not deteriorate by any chance before taking it the upholstery shop.



The rear wall lining had suffered far more than the roof lining, for obvious reasons, and there was a big hole on the driver’s side, near the bottom. The bottom edge was covered by some oily, dark substance, probably from dirty tools leaning carelessly against it along the centuries.




Anyway, the cleaning and the restoration began and I was happy to be at it at that time. I like to work with wood, and the job was quite challenging. I was terrified, though, that someone could accidentally strike or brake the terribly fragile lining, or the dogs have the idea to chew it just to be sure it was not eatable.

The labor on the rear wall lining also included the modifications to make it fit with the frame of the passthrough from the cabin to the Box and the removal of the curved edges that accompanied the disappeared rear windows, now replaced by insulating stuff.

Unfortunately, the edges of the frame of the passthrough did not meet the lining flat, as I would prefer. Instead, they were paired with curved shapes that forced me to plan wider cuts that would need wider supples and further work on the edges. Life is hard.

[Lassie]

Dear Pairo,

My sincere condolences to the passing of your dog.
We have gone through the same...



This was Rocky...

Best regards from rainy Germany
Jürgen

[pairospam]

Thanks for your kind words, Jurgen.
Most appreciated.

And the same to you for Rocky.

Pairoa and Carmen

[pairospam]

Hello everybody:

Needless to repeat that I have had very little time to work on the truck the last weeks, but something has been done. Pretty little, but still.

Working with the rear wall lining was especially hard because it was pretty fragile and needed many repairs.

I had to take out the bent edges that framed the already non existing rear windows, and that was the easiest part. Unfortunately, the overall progress was pretty slow because regular work claimed most of my efforts and my time.




One good day I said enough… and took a long weekend to refresh the spirit. Got the big bag and made up a semisolid stand to tie it to the rack of the GS Adventure, nicknamed Heidi by Carmen, and headed north looking for some little sun and what’s left of dirt roads by the secondary routes.



It was a good idea, going light on bulk, weight and stuff, just the necessary. We traveled through the green valleys among the tall and dry mountains, enjoying the ride every kilometer, with no hurry.





At Pisco Elqui, a little mountain town already named on these pages, we made the tour of a well known distillery of pisco, the famous Chilean/Peruvian alcoholic drink, and tasted a few of their finest types in the big cellar.




After a few days of necessary leisure, laughs and fine food we returned home following a previously unknown pass between the mountains.

Though the tyres were not as knobby as I would have wished, Heidi performed pretty well and the ride was uneventful despite the roughness of some stretches of the road.

It was a good trip.

[pairospam]

Back home we resumed our routines and I continued, when possible, with the repairing of the rear wall lining.

To ensure the integrity of the edges of the opening for the passthrough I made a frame from steel plate which I glued to the lining. Then, I glued some reinforcements to support the flat covers of the former window frames.

Just a matter of patience, let the glue dry, sand, apply more glue, let it dry, hmm…



Anyway, autumn had made its job and stripped almost completely the poplar lined country roads I use to run on. Morning temperatures descended bellow zero but as the humidity was so low there was no frost around. Dryness refused to leave the region, and the forecast for the rest of the season was not encouraging.



For some reason we went to visit Nigel, one of our friends of the 4x4 overland guild, on his workshop. He had been working on his heavy duty F350 for the last eight years, and he was far from over. That reminds me someone… I don’t know who, though.

His work, his dedication to every detail and manufacture skills were quite impressive.

Eduardo, as always, helped him to solve some of the impasses with the engine and made a few though important suggestions regarding mechanics.

There were quite a few motorhomes, campers, steel, machinery and stuff all around. Nice ground to play for a grown up child like me.




I went on with the work on the lining and used whatever at hand to repair and adapt it to the new configuration. All is of use.



There was still no news about the brake cylinder at that moment, as you may suppose, so the Merkabah stood still under the pale sunlight, slowly gathering dust, as usual, waiting for her time to run again.



One of those days the lining was ready, or almost ready. Alejandro gave me a hand to put it back in the cabin to test the fit. There were some things to correct and I would have to move and secure the wires for the stereo that went on the rear wall, but all in all I was satisfied.

[pairospam]

As soon as I presented the metal tray on the lining it was evident that there would be a space conflict with the stereo amplifier. It was a big piece of equipment, obviously oversized for the volume of the cabin of the truck, as everyone pointed insistently.



There were some internal reinforcements on the tray that I could not eliminate if I wanted to keep the structural integrity of the tray itself, and there was not enough room for the amplifier and the speakers as I wanted to put them, not blocking the passthrough. Hmm…

Anyway, waiting for the solution to come from the heavens, I put some reinforcements for the tray, anchoring it to the lining a little more, knowing of course that it was not the firmest of the places around.



Ops. If the roof hatch was not in place before putting the lining in it would be pretty difficult to do it later. So I rescued it from under half a ton of dust, repaired and put back in the old rubber seal that still had some more years to serve and bolted the hatch on its place on the roof.



And, after an extensive fruitless research, I decided to reuse the old plastic rivets to fix the linings. There were some few new ones that were close in shape, but there were none in the grey colour needed to match the new tapestry.

So, I selected the best ones and, after a little testing, painted them with the same grey paint used on the frame. Nice and simple.



Turns out that Nigel and I are not the ones stuck with their long standing projects, neither free from problems. Do you remember my friend Hugo, the one who bought a Volvo 6x6 from Scandinavia a few years ago? He is at present time finishing the mechanical work on his stretched and highly intervened vehicle, and a few days ago he was moving the living Box to make some arrangements at his shop when one of the supports gave and the big thing went to the ground with a resounding crash.



Fortunately, the Box did not roll over and, as it is made pretty tough, withstood the hit with no damage. Lesson learned.

As the winter approached, the late vineyards showed off their last burst of red ocre colours before the leaves fell to the ground. Seemed it would be a pretty cold winter as previously said, with no rains at all.



Herman, the upholsterer, delivered on time the lining of the roof, for a change. It was not perfect but I knew he had made his best effort. There were minor adjustements that had to be done before putting it back in place so I left it to him to finish the job and went back to the shop with empty hands. Sorry for the crappy picture.



I searched for the original central plastic glove box, also hidden under a thick layer of dust, made some measurements, and guess what…



Yes… it was the precise place for the amplifier, at least for a momentary installation. Could not find a better place to put it as there was no room anywhere for such a huge device.



Probably the best place for the amplifier would be under the seat on the passenger side though, or even under a future central seat. I would give it a second thought later, when I built the seat bases.

Cheers.


Pairoa

[a90]

Thanks again for your update Pairoa,

Besides the interest in the Mercedes, I also very much like the information and pictures of the landscapes of Chile. It actually learned me a lot of a country almost on the other side of the globe and made me think about getting there once.

[pairospam]

a90: That is precisely the idea. You are more than welcome if you want to come!

And, even before thinking it twice, I realized that I wouldn't have gone far with the old plastic glove box on the tunnel of the engine. Surely I was not the only one to see it...

So, I went to the store and bought some pieces of wood to build a pretty robust box to contain the amplifier and maybe some travel documents. I got MDF 20 mm thick, not only able to stand on but even to jump on it.



I glued, screwed and sanded a lot today. I like working with wood. Hope tomorrow I will finish the box and then will have to decide wether to paint or to upholster it. Decisions... decisions.





Greetings.

Pairoa

[a90]

Pairoa, do you also have power outage ?

The news was that Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Chile have problems with electricity.

[pairospam]

a90: no problems with electricity here. No news about outages in other countries neither. I guess that the only way it can be an international outage is if a big meteor falls in the middle of South America, or a supervolcano as big as Brazil erupts, as every country has its own power network.

Regards.

Pairoa

[a90]

Good to hear that you' re ok. Here is some background: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/17/worl ... index.html

[pairospam]

Hmm... pretty odd.

Anyway, there's been no problem in Chile, as I wrote before. Hope they find out what happened.

Thanks for your concern.

Pairoa

[pairospam]

Here we go again. Quite a while.. though less than usual.

No big news, at all, though I have some. I had to take some holidays if I wanted not to loose them so we decided to go out but to stay in Chile. This time we went south aboard the Montero as the weather –mid wintertime- is not very good for a tour on any bike. Well… for me it was not an issue but Carmen did not agree, of course.

Just a few pictures as it was so pretty, so calm and lonely that it is worth to share. There were still some red ocre coloured oaks that added to the landscapes that magic tone, and we had snow when we went to the mountains. Yes… snow is not rare in Europe at all, but we don’t have much around, especially in these times of dryness.






We travelled the old and well known roads on the region of the big lakes and also some hidden mountain tracks until the old Mitsubishi, in low 4x4, full throttle, rear differential blocked, gave up and started to slip backwards.








It was a nice, relaxed and pretty intimate trip, as the winter invitates to.

[pairospam]

At arrival, there was a special package waiting for me. A good friend had found and sent to Chile the brake cylinder I couldn’t find here, making sure it was the right and original one and not a Chinese imitation. Oh, I was pretty happy. Thanks again, Klaus.



Unfortunately, back at work I had to resume my activities and there was a lot of work to do. Moreover, there were some new tasks and a few jobs that were waiting for my arrival to be completed.

To make it worse, my colleague got a fracture of one of his knees and went out for at least one month, and guess who is the one to replace him.

So… here I am, making double shifts, with no time to work on the Merkabah, having the right spare to make a big progress pretty at hand, finally. Hmm…

The other day I went to the shop and had less than one hour available to do anything, so I chose to prepare and install the roof lining, brought from the upholsterer the day before we left for the holidays. This time Eduardo gave me a hand as I feared to damage the delicate lining if I tried to do it alone. The final result was more than acceptable, but as soon as the lining was fixed I got a call and had to go to work, actual work.



The news is, for a change, that I am not desperate to install the cylinder as I would have probably been in recent past years. Now I know and accept that everything has its own pace and that I must, and need, to wait for the right time to do things and not to feel frustrated when everything drives you to feel that way.

The aim is to make the brakes work to move the Merkabah and then start the building of the baseframe for the living Box, and I am pretty close now.

Patience… Pairoa… patience

Cheers to you all, wherever you are.

[Oschi]

Now I know and accept that everything has its own pace and that I must, and need, to wait for the right time to do things and not to feel frustrated when everything drives you to feel that way.

The plain truth in easy words. How comes that, even at the age of nearly 50, I still don't get it right?

Love your story telling ... so much, that I'd grieve if you'd already finished. ;-)

[pairospam]

Well, Oschi… I am 52, and I am just starting to understand.

Glad you like the story.

Among a myriad of things that had happened the last few weeks that got me distracted from the project, Chico, one of our dogs, had an ugly cut on one leg so I had to take it to the veterinarian. He got anasthesia and was sutured. It took the whole morning, though, and then it was late for lunch and for working on the Merkabah.



Profiting of the the last hours of the pale winter sunlight of the same day I opted for giving a little attention to the WR450. It refused to start the last time I tried to crank the engine and also realized that the battery was not in its best condition after three months of inactivity.
Anyway, I put on the service overall I always keep at home and removed the dirty cover of the bike. This time I was prone to split the engine apart if necessary to make it run, but after a lots of kicks the engine started and remained stable at idle. Hmm…

It was pretty suspicious so I took her out for a ride around the block to perform a short test and, naturally, we ended up on the top of the hills. Ahh… impossible to resist the temptation. Yes… I know, I know.



And soon, another week had passed.

I had some time left last Friday and went to the shop to install the famous brake cylinder.

Put the cylinder on the bench and filled it with brake fluid, as done before, and did my best to install it without loosing too much fluid when connecting the piping.

Despite my efforts there was a non negligible amount of fluid that ended up on the floor of the cabin, carefuly covered with a plastic sheet, of course. I don’t like brake fluid too much.




After tightening hoses and pipes I installed the old seat on its base, once again, to bleed the brake circuit.

Eduardo helped me, though he was so confident that it was just a matter of changing the pump that he waited for me to complete the preparations for the purging of the brakes watching some nice videos on Youtube.



Soon as I had finished to adjust the length of some connecting hoses and cleaned around I topped off the reservoir with new brake fluid. Expectations were high.

Eduardo depressed the pedal a few times while I loosened and tightened the bleeder screw of the slave servo valve. I was also confident that, after all the attemps to fill the system, the whole brake circuit should have only a little amount of air and lots of clean brake fluid.

After only a few strokes there were no more bubbles coming out from the valve and Eduardo felt the pedal become stiff. It was nice to hear the clocking sound of the valve when it started to work.

I let the fluid go until I was sure there was no more air in the circuit and asked Eduardo to crank the mighty V8. Naturally, even after a couple of months without running, the engine started at the light touch of the button and a fantastic cloud of exhaust smoke surrounded us.

Pretty slowly the air pressure built up and, when the release valve spitched at 115 psi, I released the maxi brakes and engaged the transmission. The wheels, all of them as I connected all the lockers, started to spin at the same time. When they got enough momentum I pressed the pedal of the clutch and then firmly stroke the brake pedal. There was a neat shake and the wheels were firmly blocked at once. Great. Eduardo just said: I told you.

It was necessary to make some adjustments, of course, but, finally, the brakes were working. The Merkabah was autonomous. It was a brief good moment and then I had to go to work, pretty happy, though.

The next days there were a lot of issues related to work and family that prevented to work on the truck. I made a list of things to do, and I felt overwhelmed by the amount of items still to complete, not including the making of the Box itself. I shrugged and said to myself: Patience… one step at a time, as always.

At some moment I got a couple of hours and made a furtive scapade to the workshop. I cleared the frame from all the stuff that had cumulated on it the last months, secured the air tanks and removed all the stuff that was not necessary to be there. Then, I cleaned and installed the steering column and the steering wheel.



I leaned against the side of the front right wheel and realized it was flat, completely flat. There was a conflict between the inflation valve and the brake drum and the last pushed against it and made the air scape unnoticeably during the last weeks. Hmm…

The inflation valve is the giant type, and the ad hoc connectors were still not ready so I simply changed the tire and put the spare one that was pretty happy to leave its dusty corner. One of the mechanics helped with the manoeuver and it was sooo easy.

The truck was still on the jack stands so I swept as good as I could the floor under the frame and went under it myself to get the Merkabah on her feet. I reached to remove only the front ones and got a call from work. I sighed and left the truck and the shop, knowing that at last three more days would pass until I could get there again.

Strangely, I felt less anxious than expected, knowing that probably the next time I went there I would take the truck out for a short, illegal, run out of the shop.

On another front, we gathered at the site with the guys. The start of the building of the new house in the country was inminent, after many months of delays, changing of plans and whatsoever. There was a lot of things to do about and there would be much more in the near future. Wish me luck.

[pairospam]

Hi all:

Last Friday was a special day. I went out early from work and rode to the shop hoping I would move the Merkabah now that she was able to brake, or so it was supposed.

Obviously, though, I was removing the second jackstand when I got a call and had to go back to work again to cover an emergency. It was just part of the master plan, I thought, and went there with a big smile.

One hour later I was back in my dirty overall and the big lady had her six wheels firmly planted on the ground. One of them on the right side was semiflat, though, but not flat enough to my taste to make me stop the braking test.

The mighty V8 came to life smoothly and I made sure that there was nothing that could be in the brief path of the truck to the front wall, including the chain of the winch that still hung inadverted from the roof.

The clutch was a little sluggish so I asked one of the mechanics to help me with the bleeding of the cylinder while the air pressure was building up. A lot of bubbles came out from the circuit, hmm…

Braking, on its side, seemed to be okay.

When the air pressure was up I freed the Maxibrakes and engaged first gear, confident that the braking system would be able to stop the truck before smashing through the wall and through half San Felipe.

Made no intermediate attempt and went directly against the wall, joking as if the brakes did not work, and firmly applied the brakes close to the wall. Everything fine… the truck stopped at once. The brakes worked pretty well.

Nico, who was handling the smartphone immortalizing the event, did not buy the joke, but smiled the same.





It was a good start, of course. I checked everything again and had to tie up some stuff, tighten a few bolts, connect a few cables and deal with some minor details left in the oblivion.

Unfortunately, my brother in law was not in San Felipe that afternoon. I would have liked to share with him the joy of the moment.

After a brief lunch the whole working area was cleared and the cars in the path taken out to leave room for manoeuvering the Merkabah to get her out of the shop.

Going back and forth to align the tail with the entrance gate was quite easy comparing with the rough time I had long ago doing exactly the opposite but without the hydraulic powersteering. It was soon evident, though, that some power help would be also of great relief with the clutch as it was a torture to keep the pedal pressed for too long.



At some moment I had to stop and clean the winshield from a thick layer of dust that barely let me see what was in front of the truck. Ops. Didn’t see it before.

Anyway, after a little sweating and some help not to smash other cars and the pilars, the Merkabah got her first bath of direct sunlight since 2012.



The guys helped with the traffic while I took the big lady out of the workshop and drove her along the street until the next intersection, checking the brakes every dozen meters.




What a feeling. If not concerned by the lack of mirrors and the traffic issues the smile would have reached the Himalayas.

I performed a pretty elegant but prohibited U turn to the left and parked on the opposite side of the street. The handling of the truck was excellent, and the turning radius pretty tight and quite helpful when moving in reduced spaces. The drag of the rear tires was brutal, though.

Another aspect that was immediately notorious was that the suspension was clearly softer than before. It is a truck, of course, and I drove it briefly, but last time I drove it in original conditions when towed from the countryside I almost lost both my kidneys. Good.

Took some time at idle to check that everything was fine regarding oil and air pressure, temperature and so on, and to check if anything was burning. Then I decided it was okay and got to the shop again. This first run was quite auspicious.

[pairospam]

Carmen was pretty excited and happy and everybody there was sharing our joy. All of them had made their contribution at some given moment to help the project go on.




It was strange to see the truck standing in front of the shop, so many years watching it parked inside. Ah, it looked so nice to me!




After sweeping to the bone the working/parking place and the due struggle to place the Merkabah at her classic resting spot I made a list of immediate things to check and to do before going on with the tests, that included from tightening and adding a couple of nuts per wheel to add some liters of diesel to the tank not to have problems when trying to twist the frame.

Eduardo arrived later in the afternoon, happy with the news himself, and I soon borrowed the Mitsubishi L200 from him to get some more fuel. Two canisters with roughly 50 liters would be enough, or so I hoped.

I also got an adaptor for the tire valve, a little gift from a follower of the project, and got to reach at least 90 psi on the rear right tire. The truck was ready.



It was a very good day, as you may guess.

Next morning was a working morning, for a change. But, after lunch, I went to the shop and made all the adjustments planned and fixed some minor and major issues. Wiped and cleaned for good the windshield and checked, again, that all the lights worked perfectly, especially the braking lights.

Alone, this time, I took the Merkabah out of the shop. It was easier and quicker than the day before, though my left foot protested the same from the efforts of working with the clutch. It was again a little sluggish but there was nobody to help me with it so I let it be that way. Engaging was not problematic, at least being parked and moving shortly.

Eduardo had things to do so I was alone again to move and to test the Merkabah. I wanted to go to the countryside and check the suspension performance and how the lockers behaved on dirt terrain. I had not checked neither if the speedometer worked, nor if the gear shifting in high speed was okay.



Traffic was okay this time and there were just a few cars around so I made sure there was nobody on my path and released the clutch. The street and the whole world were all mine.

After a while, though, I had some trouble trying to engage from low to high gears. It was not easy to deal with the gear lever and the bloody mechanism but soon I could handle it in better ways. To master it would take time.

From time to time I pulled over to let the cars pass me by as I was checking the brakes and shifting gears up and down when, suddenly, I heard the loud and well known sound of a siren: the police. Ops.

I pulled over again, thinking on the excuses I should have given for taking the truck for a ride with no doors, no plates and no TÜV. But, to my surprise, the patrol passed the truck by and I saw someone’s arm waving goodbye from the passenger side. I waved back with a stupid smile on my face and remained at idle for a few minutes thinking on what to do.

Lastly, good sense prevailed and a few blocks ahead I made a turn and went back to the shop where I parked the Merkabah, hung the overall and went home.

There would be more time to test the truck, with a backup vehicle and more people to help and enjoy.

It was a good Saturday afternoon after all.

[ami]

My best wishes and have allways a good trip.

ami

[Joe]

Congrats!

[Rumpelstielzchen]

WOW, what a good feeling that must be to finally ride her after all that hard work hours! Now all the hard work finally pays off for good, this is really awewsome.
I wish you all the best and always a safe trip, enjoy it!
Best wishes, Alex.

[tooFATtoDRIVE]

From this

to this

What a journey this has been so far.

I am sure I am expressing the view of many on here: we look forward to the next stage of this amazing transformation..

[tooFATtoDRIVE]

Now I have few questions for you.

Imagine a situation where you had straight frame rails all way to the very end of the truck and you wanted to extend the wheel base, i.e. move the bogie to the end of the frame. How is the bogie mounting mechanism affixed to the frame? Bolts/nuts or something more permanent?

Would you be able to take detailed pictures so that I could see it? No rush with this, though, whenever you have time. The more the better. I guess now the frame is fully refurbished it would be a great source of info for me. Since you at it, could you measure the wheelbase between 2nd and 3rd axle?

Also, imagine the wheelbase was extended. What parts would have to be changed. So far I could think of:
* longer/extended drive shaft
* longer/extended brake lines
* longer/extended pneumatic lines for diff-locks
* different mounting points for the shocks and other suspension/drive train parts.

Anything else? I would be grateful for your comments.
Thanks