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What did you do to your rig today?


autumnwalker

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Okay some updates.

1) Borrowed a 1 1/4" wrench from my brother's garage. Unscrewed the AC lines from the compressor on the Scout.  Big fittings!  A few days ago I removed what I guess was a drier.  It was a small canister.  Slowly removing the old AC gear for a cleaner look.

2) Deb's Subaru has a squeak in reverse seemingly in the LR wheel.  Took the wheel, caliper and rotor off.  All looks good except the metal on metal sliding surfaces are DRY.  Going to get some disc brake lube and lube all friction points and sliders.  We have a small tube at my brother's garage but I'll probably get a new one.  I think the squeak is the park brake shoes rotating slightly and springing back or something similar.  I'll do both rear wheels.  The front had new calipers and rotors in the spring.

3) Ah, a battery and battery chargers story.  I mistakenly left the auxiliary battery hooked up in my manual dual battery setup in the Suburban after the last run at Bump and Grind.  Even though I unhooked the main battery Negative the radio pre-sets and clock seemed to have drained the auxiliary battery. (Positive cables joined, but each battery has negative to ground.  Switch on the positive cable.) It is 4.5 years old, and is an AGM Starting battery, that has gone unattended and unhooked up for months and possibly years at a time between charges.

So, the Suburban wouldn't charge it during short runs.  It stuck at 9v and would compromise the main battery and she wouldn't start if the batteries were in parallel.

So I put the battery on a simple 2/15 Amp battery charger.  At the 2 Amp setting the charger showed 5 Amps.  It would bury the needle at the 15 Amp setting.  I let it charge for a day at 2/5 Amp and it would not come above 9v.

So I put it on a Schumacher Speed Charge unit.  Not an anti-sulphation unit but supposedly an intelligent charger.  After half a day it was up to 12 volts and 50% charged. I then let it charge overnight.  In the morning it showed 69% charged, just over 12v, and the battery was boiling!  I could hear the acid boiling inside and the battery was hot. I unhooked that charger!

After sitting all day it then showed just under 12 v.  So it seems like a bad cell, because ideally they really should add up to closer to 14.8 or something if I recall correctly.

So, tonight I bought a CTEC de-sulphater changer on sale.  I've always wanted to try one.  We have several compromised batteries kicking around.

So, it's on 'RECONDITION' charge tonight (for deep discharged batteries) and we'll see what happens!

 

 

 

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Installed a different set of tires and rims with more friendly backspacing on the new to me rig today. Here is how it sits now, and tomorrow will be tearing into the rear end and dialing a few things in. Should be ready for Sat.

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On ‎2016‎-‎08‎-‎24 at 0:28 AM, Powerram said:

While charging your battery would read 14v. A good battery that is stationary, with no surface charge, but fully charged, should read 12.6v

 

My CTEC charger went through a RECONDITION cycle on my bad battery.  Took a couple of days.  I just took the charger off and it reads 12.6v.  I will check it tomorrow.  If all seems well, I will try it in the Scout for a couple of days.  And try a couple of other bad batteries.

 

The charger and battery got good and warm during the cycle!

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Picked up my third MacPass yesterday.  Now there's one in each vehicle, so I won't go blasting through a gate forgetting the pass was in another vehicle............ :banhammer:

The one in the Rogue is also registered for the Cobequid Pass and the Confederation Bridge.  It is labelled with marker, so I don't confuse it with the other two or Deborah's!  Sometimes we take her car up the highway.

 

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5 hours ago, sar4x4 said:

Picked up my third MacPass yesterday.  Now there's one in each vehicle, so I won't go blasting through a gate forgetting the pass was in another vehicle............ :banhammer:

The one in the Rogue is also registered for the Cobequid Pass and the Confederation Bridge.  It is labelled with marker, so I don't confuse it with the other two or Deborah's!  Sometimes we take her car up the highway.

 

We have the pass in the work trucks, and one day I had the family in the car and we blasted through the gate with me driving , not even thinking that I'd have to use a different lane to pay the toll.

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Left my RECONDITIONed battery overnight.  It is now reading 9 v again.  I'm convinced now that it is toast! lol  IIRC the warranty was for more than 4 years but I doubt I'd get much compensation.  It's 4.5 years old now.  And I'd have to find the receipt, and after moving that might be a hard job.

 

I may try a non-AGM this time.  Not sure.  I have a medium priced battery in the Scout and in the Rogue with no problems.  My AGMs seem to quit after 4+ years of neglect.  My OEM Nissan Rogue battery lasted a bit longer.  But it has auto disconnect, so it never was run down even though I left the interior lights on.

 

Everyone has a story about battery brands, good and bad,  so they all seem the same............

 

Hey Matt, you see more battery problems than most ever will.  Comments?

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22 minutes ago, sar4x4 said:

Left my RECONDITIONed battery overnight.  It is now reading 9 v again.  I'm convinced now that it is toast! lol  IIRC the warranty was for more than 4 years but I doubt I'd get much compensation.  It's 4.5 years old now.  And I'd have to find the receipt, and after moving that might be a hard job.

 

I may try a non-AGM this time.  Not sure.  I have a medium priced battery in the Scout and in the Rogue with no problems.  My AGMs seem to quit after 4+ years of neglect.  My OEM Nissan Rogue battery lasted a bit longer.  But it has auto disconnect, so it never was run down even though I left the interior lights on.

 

Everyone has a story about battery brands, good and bad,  so they all seem the same............

 

Hey Matt, you see more battery problems than most ever will.  Comments?

I don't have much experience with agm batteries, other than abused they only last 3-4 yrs. I'm not sold on all the info I read and researched in them. I bought a Costco Kirkland battery in 2007 or 2008 and installed it in my big dodge in alberta, ran that truck hard, flopped on its side a few times, competed in mud bogs Rand dead and boosted countless times, ran the m12000 winch on it to the point it stalled the truck, and it's been in several vehicles and the last car was my challenger , 8 years of straight abuse it took. Worked great. Cost was $100 even plus tax. 1000cca.  I don't see one brand or the other consistently fail more than others, but maybe a disconnect switch in the grille would work for you, that way when not being used for lonf periods , as you walk by , just flip the switch, no popping hood or anything. I like conventional batteries my self, not deep cycle , just regular batteries. Around the 1000cca. I had best luck with them

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Thanks!  I do have disconnect switches, although under the hood.  One for placing the auxiliary battery in parallel with the main battery, and one for the winch (off the aux battery).  I try to always pop the negative cable off the main battery on the Suburban when I'm going to let it sit for more than a day even.  The Scout tends to remains connected, it doesn't have a radio/clock or any drain.  Popping the cable off is a bit of an attempt at anti-theft as well.  Although I try to leave the vehicles (Scout, Suburban) in a gated compound or blocked behind another vehicle mostly.

 

Yeah my AGMs don't seem to last any longer, and probably not even as long as a regular wet cell.  And I'm not running a Trophy Truck or Rock Bouncer that I'm worried about spillage. Also the last time I bought AGM the store said they weren't selling many, 6 month old dates on the shelf, and their tester before selling a battery across the counter doesn't read AGMs correctly, etc etc didn't inspire a lot of confidence in the battery!

 

I'll post up after I buy something new!

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So, I took a couple pics of my battery this morning before I left home and just looked at them now.  My memory was totally wrong, these aren't 72 month batteries, they are 3 years like Matt says.........  Funny how on the side it says 'Deep Cycle' as it also says 'Starting Battery'.  And 3 year guarantee.............  I got 4 1/2 years but for the price difference and how I use it, it isn't worth the extra $ over a standard battery.  I don't mind paying more for the right gear, but this isn't the right gear..........

 

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OK, so what I came on the forum for, other than stirring the pot lol

 

Finished wiring the winch in, but that made new problems, broken battery terminals, so after digging and fabricating some small pieces and taking cables off of another winch it is all wired up and operational., Respooled under tension, all good now, 

 The exhaust is leaking, in several spots, and getting worse,  found that my makeshift rear muffler hanger didn't work, entire weight of muffler hanging on y pipe, splitting and cracking and stressing flanges, all welded up now and installed a bit more of a tail pipe from the muffler back, all nice and quiet. 

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On Saturday I took the unused AC heat exchanger off the Scout, while also doing minor maintenance on the Rogue and Forester.  Bits at a time feel fine!  Priorities, lol.

 

That's an 'Oil Dri' matt under the Scout, it leaks.  Same colour as the pavement.  I just need some gray weights to hold it down.

Hint - Don't walk on it and then across something else!  Ask me how I know!  It holds an enormous amount of fluid...........

 

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On Sunday while starting to sort and move and unpack the garage, I test fit the Scout in the garage.  There will be adequate room to work on the Scout or the Rogue or the Forestor at one end and one side at a time.  I'm probably going to get wheel trolleys to move vehicles against the outside side wall easier for a clearer path and workspace down the interior side wall.  As for the Suburban, we'll see over time.  I may only work at it in the yard or stick one end in at a time, there won't be quite enough room to pull it all the way in.  Let alone height.  But I can raise the door.  And Deb suggested I can even erect a 'Quebec garage' for short periods!  Not ideal, but we will see.  SOMEDAY my brother will start back in his garage and finish the Iltis and then there is room for the Suburban for big jobs.

 

Some stuff I moved out temporarily..............  about half of what was in the garage.

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Scout in far enough to close the door, and can move almost two feet towards the outside wall.  Lots of room on the left side once the temporary shelf is moved. 

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Going to remove the kitchen counter the PO left and build proper shelves and work bench.  There's 7 feet from the front of the Scout to the end wall!  But I can't use it, it's being dedicated for some house stuff.  Happy wifey, happy lifey! lol

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That's also a cast iron bath tub you can see the end of just to the left of the center of the picture.  That's a beast to move!  It is now at the garage door and being moved to the shed until we reno part of the bathroom.  Not this calendar year!

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