Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

You'se guys are faster than I am!

Jim - the cooler is an interesting approach.  From what little I've read the tranny cooler pressure is less than 50 psi, so that's not gonna work.  But, power steering coolers appear to be rated at a much higher pressure.  This post on etrailer says "I spoke with my contact at Derale and found out that power steering cooler # D13309 is rated for 250 psi."  And this article in Hot Rod says "but when the system is cold, it can spike to more than 200 psi for a few moments."

So, it would seem like a trip to the salvage might find a small P/S cooler that would fit in front of the fan and take the extreme heat out of the air, allowing a hose to go through the box and then down to the tank.

But, the box is 17 1/14" front/back inside and the pump's outer housing is 13" 1/4" end/end.  So there's only room to have 2" of space on either end.  Maybe I should turn it sideways and put an aluminum "wall" around it so nothing can be pushed up against it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, I see a Derale for $27.64 on etrailer.
2 3/3" x 1 7/8" x 8 1/4

Back in the '80's Derale was the hot  for superbike oil coolers...

My PS "cooler" is a loop around the front crossmember.

[grumpin]

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools-compressors/air-compressor-accessories/inline-desiccant-dryerfilter-64637.html

Would this help? Don’t like the idea of condensation in tires or air bags.

Definitely not building it with KISS! But good that you have experienced folks on here!

Made me think of my mom, she’d tell me “you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill!”

[ArdWrknTrk]

My personal experience with Horrid Fate air line separators is poor, at best.

[grumpin]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

My personal experience with Horrid Fate air line separators is poor, at best.

Should have stated as an example. I would probably go with a different brand.

Same experience with some of the air compressor accessories.

[Gary Lewis]

I put a Derale on my Honda 750 and another one on my Yammerhammer 1100.  And that price hardly makes it worth going to the salvage.  But, it is fairly big.

On the desiccant, my experience with those is poor.  That's why I've gone to a refrigerated dryer in the shop.  But, if the air is cooled enough, like through an air/air cooler, the moisture will drop out when it hits the cooler air in the tank - assuming again that you aren't running the thing for hours on end.  And, since the air outlet is from the top of the tank the moisture stays in.

So I'm liking the idea of a P/S cooler.  Just need to figure out which one.  Thanks, guys!

[ArdWrknTrk]

You say it's big, but I updated to the actual dimensions.
1 7/8 x 2 3/4 x 8 1/4.

 I think of a 9" chunk of 2x3 and feel that it offers a good comprise of size and effectiveness.
But hey, again that's just me...

[grumpin]

Just to be clear, that a KISS statement wasn’t meant in a derogatory way.

Well thought out, well planned and interesting. Great info for anyone thinking of doing this.

I would probably throw it in there and see what happens! Which is completely the opposite of how I worked on airplanes.

Which could be why I would, no pressure.

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - The "big" statement was in comparison to the space I was envisioning having.  As said, with the compressor fore/aft there's just 4" between the ends of the compressor's housing and the inside walls of the box.  Take out 2" and now you are left with 1" on either end for the air to turn and go up/down/sideways.  Not much.

However, if the sides of the box were louvered/perforated and a lid put on it the fan would draw from under the "wing" of the box and exhaust there as well.

Or, if the outlet from the pump were to be pipe and go through the right wall of the box and then the cooler put on that would save room in the box.  But, it wouldn't draw air over the cooler.

I'll have to play with it when the time comes and figure out the best way to mount it.

Dane - No problemo.  Not taken the wrong way in any way shape or form.  

[old55pete]

☒Thoroughly check frame for cracks and loose rivets and repair. Remove and replace the steering gear. There are no cracks in the frame and none of the rivets are loose. But the huck bolt was loose, so it has been removed and the hole reamed to .625” for a 5/8” G5 bolt.

That is from page four of your" things to do list ". Sorry it took me so long to respond.

To answer your question about "What is a frame bolt?" It is a bolt made of spring steel also. They already have a flanged head that is serated underneath. They are normaly fine thread and the nut is whats called a crown lock nut. One side will also be already " flanged " and have the serrations on it also to keep it from moving out of place when the frame flexes.

Interesting that the TSB says to use a grade 8 bolt as they don't normaly flex enough to be in a heavy duty frame and tend to be to rigid. Then again, I am used to working on over the road trucks not pickups

[Gary Lewis]

Steve - Thanks! I would never have found that. But, it has been changed.

And, while a "frame bolt" would probably be even better, I'm confident that the larger 5/8" G8 bolt will be all that is needed.

Now, about the compressor and the inverter. They work together! But, they didn't on the first try.

Initially I tried a heavy duty set of jumper cables to power the inverter off of Big Blue's main battery, which is an Odyssey battery with 1150 CCA. It has been on a Battery Tender so was fully charged. But when I turned the compressor on it would try to start and then the inverter would beep and shut down. I played with the jumpers several times and got differing results, so finally decided the problem was in the wiring and made new wires out of #2 cable and Magnalugs. After that the compressor fired up nicely and worked perfectly.

I'm backing the battery up with my "big" battery charger, which says it'll supply 30 amps. So this isn't quite the same as having the engine running and the 3G belting out everything the inverter is drawing, which is probably about 140 amps. But it does prove that even with the battery voltage running around 11.5 volts the inverter is happy.

On the starts 9 of the 10 LED's will light, but it'll then drop down to 7 and stay there through the rest of the cycle. That seems to say to me that the inverter is sized just about right for the compressor. And, by the way, the fan on the inverter doesn't come on, even after I ran the compressor from 150 to 200 psi three times.

[Gary Lewis]

Actually, as I look more closely at the video it looks like all ten LED's are coming on during start up of the compressor, with #9 being yellow and #10 being red.  So the compressor is about all the inverter ought to have.  But it starts nicely.

[ArdWrknTrk]

That is rated power level...

So, the inrush isn't even beginning to touch the 'surge' rating of 6,000 watts.
If the running watts are up there at 8-9-10 you will get the fan to come on, eventually, and it will stay on until the heatsink cools down.

You do need good cables though!
I see you've figured that one out.

[Gary Lewis]

Good point, Jim.  So it is just about using up the rated power level of 3000 watts in getting the compressor started, but essentially not getting into the surge rating.  Or, if it is it's doing it so quickly I can't detect it via the LED's.  Anyway, it seems like it is going to work well.

But good cables, including good connections to the battery and the inverter, are essential.  My jumper cables have started many a vehicle, but they were a no-go on the inverter.  Probably because of the hardness of the cable's alligator clips and the inverter's input studs, which gave a very small contact area.  But new cables with good terminals fixed that.

It was magical when it all worked!  Given the lack of anyone I know having run that compressor with that inverter, the problems with my DVM giving wonky readings due to a low battery, and then the problems starting up with the jumper cables, I was ecstatic when it finally worked perfectly.  

So, when I install the inverter I'm going to run dedicated power and ground as I don't want anything in the cab going crazy due to pulling the cab's ground up.  And a large megafuse at the battery.

[ArdWrknTrk]

FYI:.  https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F392620913399

I just saw this on my eBay feed.

IDK how much the Bostitch hose is, but $37.50 delivered for 300 psi 1/2" hose seems really good to me.

Volume of flow can be king, IDK how your airbags are going to be hooked up.

[Gary Lewis]

The Bostitch hose is $27.69 shipped from Amazon, so is ~2/3 the price.  And, it has the replaceable ends, which I was planning to use to allow it to be cut down to maybe 25'.

But, it is also 1/4" vs the 1/2" size of Speedaire hose.  So certainly more volume with the larger hose, although as you've pointed out before, the schrader valve may be the limiting factor.  And, the 1/2" ID hose has to have a significantly bigger OD.  Dunno.  I'm torn but leaning to the 1/4" hose.

As for the air bags, I've assumed that I'd put their valves on the back bumper, although that means the lines have to flex with the suspension.  Perhaps bringing the lines up to the tool box would be good?

[ArdWrknTrk]

So, that's Cripes price -without- shipping, and Prime is gonna kill it there.

You don't need field reparable ends if you're going to cut it in half.
Since you'll need a new nipple and coupler anyhow.

But in my trade, if you drop the gun and it lands on the coupling, cutting a smile into the hose, leaving NO room for a double barb, then having those ends as part of the original hose is an advantage.

[Gary Lewis]

I kinda like the field-replaceable ends idea.  Especially when you are going off the beaten track.  That way any damage can be repaired.

And the smaller diameter and less bulk has merit as well.  May go with the smaller hose and cut it to whatever length I think I need to get to the front tires and have the remainder as spare.  Then, if that doesn't fill fast enough I can try one of my larger hoses with the regulator turned down to see if there's enough difference to warrant the bigger hose.

[Gary Lewis]

I took Jim's suggestion and put the 'scope as well as the DVM on the inverter today.  The DVM shows 102 volts when there's no load on it and 122 volts with the compressor on it.  But that's not too accurate as the DVM is expecting a sine wave, and as you'll see this one is a square wave.

As for the waveform, here 'tis w/o any load.  And, btw, the vertical scale is 50 volts/horizontal line while the horizontal is 2 ms/vertical line.




And here's the waveform with 600 watts of pure resistive load, which was my hot air gun on low.




Here it is with the heat gun on high - 1200 watts:




And this is with the compressor on:

[Nothing Special]

Gary Lewis wrote

The Bostitch hose is $27.69 shipped from Amazon, so is ~2/3 the price.  And, it has the replaceable ends, which I was planning to use to allow it to be cut down to maybe 25'.

But, it is also 1/4" vs the 1/2" size of Speedaire hose.  So certainly more volume with the larger hose, although as you've pointed out before, the schrader valve may be the limiting factor.  And, the 1/2" ID hose has to have a significantly bigger OD.  Dunno.  I'm torn but leaning to the 1/4" hose.

1/4" seems a little small.  It won't be the restriction the Schrader valve is, so maybe it won't be significant.  Don't take this for anything more than it's worth but it just seems small to me (I have a 25' long 3/8" hose and a 12' long coiled 1/4" hose that I carry with me).

As to field serviceable, I second that (or is it "third" by now?).  I had a hose spring a leak on one trip.  It had a lot of cracks in the outer sheath, I really should have replaced it before, so it's my own fault.  But it was nice to be able to repair it in about 2 minutes.

Gary Lewis wrote

As for the air bags, I've assumed that I'd put their valves on the back bumper, although that means the lines have to flex with the suspension.  Perhaps bringing the lines up to the tool box would be good?

When I had air bags they were mounted to both the frame and the leaf spring (at the axle), with the air line going into the top where it was attached to the frame.  So no flexing of the line while the suspension cycled.  Not that the line supplied couldn't handle flex, but it was nice to keep it all tucked up against the frame where it was protected rather than needing an exposed run to get it from the axle up to the truck.  I'm not sure how your plan to let the bag and mount separate to keep it from limiting droop will affect that.  But I guess I envisioned keeping the bag attached to the top frame mount and let the bottom spring mount fall away.  If you do it that way your line will be up at the frame like mine was.

And for what it's worth, I put the valves on my truck inside the bed.  They were just inside the tail gate, on the front-facing surface of the stake pocket / tail light thing.  I suppose they could have been exposed if I was hauling a load of gravel, but otherwise they were pretty well protected.  And usually not too hard to get at.