Col.Coleman
23rd June 2012, 10:02 PM
Ah the Joy,
Of course most of you know we are going away on A SLOw Club trip next Sat for a 2000k round trip. We will be well catered for in spares, knowledge, tools and from what I hear, plenty of potential for fixing at our destination should we so require, but preperation is best done before we go for the benefit of everyone. Here in lies my current tale in prepping up the Stage 1.
Segment 1 - The Known Knowns
The poor old Stage 1 workhorse is in need of a little bit of TLC. It has been my beach truck of choice, and Family Series Rig as well as tow vehicle and tourer. It has taken us to every island in SEQ, as well as towing my 1.6 ton KFM out to Meandarra, and trip north to Rockhampton as well as countless k's in between. It also decends mountains very well:eek:
Sitting around in weather waiting for some love means the body is crying for some attention. The rear doors have some bad cancer and were in need of some urgent attention to stop the window tops falling off on the road. The driver and passenger footwells also have developed a few Fred Flintsone holes where the inner guard meets the firewall. All of this was expertly taken care of last weekend by Ho Har. I just have a couple of ones on the drivers side to patch. Add some mats and should be all good. Roof leaks like a sieve at the gutters, and the vents are falling off, but that is part of tomorrow's job. Need to replace about 30 odd rivits all over the place as well.
Les is well overdue for a fluid change, so I set about making that right. Never been done while I have had it so I did an engine flush with Cost Effective maintenece. I discovered 2 things here. My propshaft interfaces with the sump plug with knicks out of both the plug and the yoke. The original Isuzu cartridge filters are provided with O rings that don't fit the housing on my vehicle properly. They are a different size and leak oil straight back out without some adjustment. I also noted while under here and greasing the prop shafts, the guy I had rebuild my double carden joint, put one uni in, in such a way it is impossible to access to grease. I now have a sludge free motor with some beautifully clean oil and greased up shafts.
While dumping the gearbox and transfer oils I found the following. My gearbox filler plug is toast. Vice grips wouldn't even budge it. Had to remove the side plate, gring 2 flats in the head and remove it with a big shifter and a hammer. Now fitted with a new plug and washer, torqued correctly. I also discovered the gearbox filter screen had a 90 degree twist in it from one end to the other as well as discovering a few other leaks. I have a full gasket kit I will fit on the return. I have to pull it apart to fit the collar on the Hi/Low selector shaft I found missing when I got Low Range working again. Speedo doesn't work, so I still have to fit a new drive pinion.
Started flushing out the Coolant for a change and some antifreeze considering where we are going and now it seem I have going to have to pull the radiator out tomorrow and solder up where a fitting has cracked and is now weeping coolant. Great, just what I need to do.
I also have to rebuild the swivel hubs tomorrow, which sounds like alot of fun. Not.
To top it all off, I had a show stopper this afternoon. I had to pick up a camper trailer today, and after the drama I had this week to get a hitch to fit it to the back of the Stage 1, all was going well. I arrived and collected the trailer, hooked it up and was driving home when the Isuzu just shut up shop. Felt like I ran out of fuel, so called The General to come and get me. She was less than impressed. Dropped 20l in the tank, quick prime and off we go. Didn't get far and it started to die again. Starving for fuel at high revs. At first I thought it hadn't bled properly, but then it kept getting progressively worse. This had happened before when the flex hose in the line near the fuel pump started sucking air, but there was no telll tale diesel.
Popped the line off and was getting suction at the pump, so I was relieved I am not having to rebuild the pump. Accessed the tank pick up, and getting suction there to, so eliminated sucking air. Algae was my next thought as I have had a clogged filter in the Td5 before. Dropped the water seperator under the body and yep, full of it. Put it back on, but it wouldn't prime, making me suspect sucking air again. I then dropped the drain plug on the seperator to see if I was drwing fluid, but there was none and a heap of vacuum in the system. Only 1 thing left now. A blockage at the pick up.
Lifted the sender and found the tank strainer completely clogged. This vehicle has filter overkill. Filler strainer, tank strainer, water seperator/filter on the boday and another on the motor. Had a dilemna over leaving the tank strainer off and let the first filter clean it all up first, but decided to put it back on. I would have only lost about 5 litres of usable fuel and it is easier to change out the body filter than the tank one, especially when full of gear, but I had a good look in the tank and it looked pretty clean.
I wonder what surprises are in store for me tomorrow. Up to $2k so far:eek:
CC
Of course most of you know we are going away on A SLOw Club trip next Sat for a 2000k round trip. We will be well catered for in spares, knowledge, tools and from what I hear, plenty of potential for fixing at our destination should we so require, but preperation is best done before we go for the benefit of everyone. Here in lies my current tale in prepping up the Stage 1.
Segment 1 - The Known Knowns
The poor old Stage 1 workhorse is in need of a little bit of TLC. It has been my beach truck of choice, and Family Series Rig as well as tow vehicle and tourer. It has taken us to every island in SEQ, as well as towing my 1.6 ton KFM out to Meandarra, and trip north to Rockhampton as well as countless k's in between. It also decends mountains very well:eek:
Sitting around in weather waiting for some love means the body is crying for some attention. The rear doors have some bad cancer and were in need of some urgent attention to stop the window tops falling off on the road. The driver and passenger footwells also have developed a few Fred Flintsone holes where the inner guard meets the firewall. All of this was expertly taken care of last weekend by Ho Har. I just have a couple of ones on the drivers side to patch. Add some mats and should be all good. Roof leaks like a sieve at the gutters, and the vents are falling off, but that is part of tomorrow's job. Need to replace about 30 odd rivits all over the place as well.
Les is well overdue for a fluid change, so I set about making that right. Never been done while I have had it so I did an engine flush with Cost Effective maintenece. I discovered 2 things here. My propshaft interfaces with the sump plug with knicks out of both the plug and the yoke. The original Isuzu cartridge filters are provided with O rings that don't fit the housing on my vehicle properly. They are a different size and leak oil straight back out without some adjustment. I also noted while under here and greasing the prop shafts, the guy I had rebuild my double carden joint, put one uni in, in such a way it is impossible to access to grease. I now have a sludge free motor with some beautifully clean oil and greased up shafts.
While dumping the gearbox and transfer oils I found the following. My gearbox filler plug is toast. Vice grips wouldn't even budge it. Had to remove the side plate, gring 2 flats in the head and remove it with a big shifter and a hammer. Now fitted with a new plug and washer, torqued correctly. I also discovered the gearbox filter screen had a 90 degree twist in it from one end to the other as well as discovering a few other leaks. I have a full gasket kit I will fit on the return. I have to pull it apart to fit the collar on the Hi/Low selector shaft I found missing when I got Low Range working again. Speedo doesn't work, so I still have to fit a new drive pinion.
Started flushing out the Coolant for a change and some antifreeze considering where we are going and now it seem I have going to have to pull the radiator out tomorrow and solder up where a fitting has cracked and is now weeping coolant. Great, just what I need to do.
I also have to rebuild the swivel hubs tomorrow, which sounds like alot of fun. Not.
To top it all off, I had a show stopper this afternoon. I had to pick up a camper trailer today, and after the drama I had this week to get a hitch to fit it to the back of the Stage 1, all was going well. I arrived and collected the trailer, hooked it up and was driving home when the Isuzu just shut up shop. Felt like I ran out of fuel, so called The General to come and get me. She was less than impressed. Dropped 20l in the tank, quick prime and off we go. Didn't get far and it started to die again. Starving for fuel at high revs. At first I thought it hadn't bled properly, but then it kept getting progressively worse. This had happened before when the flex hose in the line near the fuel pump started sucking air, but there was no telll tale diesel.
Popped the line off and was getting suction at the pump, so I was relieved I am not having to rebuild the pump. Accessed the tank pick up, and getting suction there to, so eliminated sucking air. Algae was my next thought as I have had a clogged filter in the Td5 before. Dropped the water seperator under the body and yep, full of it. Put it back on, but it wouldn't prime, making me suspect sucking air again. I then dropped the drain plug on the seperator to see if I was drwing fluid, but there was none and a heap of vacuum in the system. Only 1 thing left now. A blockage at the pick up.
Lifted the sender and found the tank strainer completely clogged. This vehicle has filter overkill. Filler strainer, tank strainer, water seperator/filter on the boday and another on the motor. Had a dilemna over leaving the tank strainer off and let the first filter clean it all up first, but decided to put it back on. I would have only lost about 5 litres of usable fuel and it is easier to change out the body filter than the tank one, especially when full of gear, but I had a good look in the tank and it looked pretty clean.
I wonder what surprises are in store for me tomorrow. Up to $2k so far:eek:
CC