DanielBoondock

First re-torque of the D-bolts, surprised at how much they stretched, And looked what I noticed, check the marks on bottom of the frame this isn’t Alcan which has only done 30 and barely moved by the trail cam, it’s Dexter. In only 4k miles that flabby old suspension banged (HARD) against the frame, bottoming out. Might as well hit your trailer with a huge sledge hammer. I suspected it was bottoming out, that seems like they’re practically inverting. No wonder those springs break 🙄

Compared to my last one DeWalt puts in a much stiffer spring so it's a bear getting the pusher in. I've gone all-in on your approach, or will soon. Trying to find where I put those 45 zerks to finish it off. Also have the LockNLube. How well does this work with the Alcan, do you find you need to lift the camper to relieve pressure and get grease in? Unfortunately I'm not super confident that all the grease holes are horizontal, they might have shifted in installation.

By the way some automotive history if you’re not familiar and are interested; none of this is new. EV’s were actually the second type of drivetrain after steam, invented in the 1830’s. They were very popular in New York City in the early 20th century where fashionable (and rich) ladies would take them shopping. Internal combustion came later and the problem was that crank. It was difficult and possibly dangerous to crank the engine. When the electric starter was invented they took off and dominated. And getting gasoline back then was difficult, you had to buy it by the pint at the drug store - the ones that had it 😅 Hybrids too have been around a long time, Leno has a 1916 Owens Magnetic which was quite innovative with an EM drivetrain. He’s got all the historical stuff including steam cars

I took a hint from @jd1923 and got the DeWalt battery powered grease gun and separately had to buy the case. Driving me nuts how dirty and greasy this ones gets, and awkward to bring with you, this should be easier. Only thing is that filling it with a fresh tube was a trick, I’m thinking it would be easier to do it from a bulk container and let the motor do the work. Anybody try this, John?

Good to hear thanks! I’ll forget about it. Yeah if it settles down it’ll be perfect. 😅🤣😂💯💯💯

Alcan suspension first drive! Clear pattern stands out - ‘higher spring constant’. Didn’t know what to expect but the pattern is clear that it’s simply a stiffer spring system. AI summary below nails all the observation of a higher k - shorter displacement, faster oscillations. Suspension/Trail Cam Definitely not going to show a video because theres literally nothing to see. Whereas the stock was very noticeably fat bouncy with large displacements, I could barely see the Alcan doing anything. Simply because it was so fast with a shorter stroke, combined with the camera distance, frame rate and resolution it’s not exciting. This is the same route as before and I can’t easily detect the work its doing. Interestingly this also affects the EZ-Flex, it’s not having to work as hard either. Rear Mirror Eyeball Instead of big, fat hippo roly-poly now its jumpy. There’s still waddle, but instead of a couple (1-2) big wallows it’s something like twice as much (2-4) quickly damped, small waddles. Bounces are smaller and quicker. Seems like its more axial (forward/back) chatter but could just be getting used to it. Overall At first I didn’t like it, it turned from a big fat old dog to a young pup. Is ‘talking to me more’ (motion wise). But I got used to it and can see a steadier ride in the macro, and more bumpy in the micro. But less overall. However, on very bumpy roads, its quite chattery, not sure about that I’ll have to get more experience.

I wouldn’t touch it. Ignore the headlines, RAM doesn’t have the battery production capacity or (as far as I can see) the engineering commitment to this truck. They originally planned on three plants, scaled back to one which is on life support last I checked. “Follow the battery production …” that shows how serious they are. At any rate the REV will probably just get delayed again, if we ever see it. Philosophically @jd1923 nails it. IMO hybrids (of whatever variety) are ‘worst of both best of none’. In addition I’d add that they’re solving a problem that has been solved. You want EV? Buy a Sierra or Silverado EV, I can guarantee you’ll have a wonderful towing experience with no trouble with charging or whatever. You still want ICE? Plenty of choice. There is literally ZERO reason to buy a hybrid at this point. Pick your poison and run with it.

Right but I mention it hoping somebody would notice the difference; TV’s provide traction, TT’s are just rollers. Which gets to the core of what I think here - it doesn’t really matter tire wise. Tire performance is more critical in a traction vehicle, but here you can probably do what you want and the tire won’t care. Yeah that’s more internet FUD. I’ve replaced two Bolt tires in 8 years. In both cases it depends on how you drive - ICE guys who do donuts and track racing wear them out too. While EV’s provide instant torque the pedal algorithms have hysteresis and if you watch EV drivers (plenty of Teslas around) nobody is ripping the line, it’s lost its appeal with this much power/torque. Plus they design EV tires differently to account for this and efficiency. … Anyhow should have suspected you’d air down your TV! 😅 Well at any rate my argument isn’t that airing down the TT tires is bad but that its probably counterproductive. The Ez-Flex, Alcan are doing the heavy lifting on the low end of the frequency band and you want higher pressures on the top band. Haven’t heard any good refutation of this argument so that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 😅 Good discussion ,..

Got it done. Turned out to be a nothing burger, at these torques the bolt just kind of flows into place. They warn us about the need to re-torque due to bolt stretch after all. Anyhow I’m not going to touch it after this. On torque I was thinking about a conversation I had, how the spring torque wrenches quickly become uncalibrated, 2%-15% in a year apparently just from sitting in your truck getting bumped around. You can get fancy non spring based ones for a rich $500 or something. Or do a simple re-calibration using a weight and a bench vice.

I had to tread carefully on this one 😅 It was all fine probably because I didn’t replace the axels and kept it all aligned. It’s just unexpectedly 1.5 of the outer side U-bolts, with the bit oval hole on the tie plate, that are troublemakers. I’ve got enough to cut the high spots on a few others, but these need another 1/16 taken out or something. Anyhow with all that torque the underside bolt straightened out, this steel stretches, so it just adapted to the environment and certainly the slightly canted U portion won’t move. Anyhow I’m beat! I got an Oliver because I didn’t want to DIY, boy was I wrong 😅 Someone here warned me about that … anyhow we’re going to get a big El Nino this winter and will be traveling a lot right after so I’m in a race to pull it all together, but am at the end of my rope. I practically kissed the phone when he said “Yeah it’s fine …” 😅 I’ve got a couple minor more projects to do, small SiO2 ones and bypass the black washout for direct transfer, but that’ll do it

Final stretch, wrapping up the torquing which is taking a lot of arm strength Now, NSFW, I know my good buddy @jd1923 is not going to be happy with this but you’ve been warned 😅 … I’ve got a couple U-bolts that aren’t straight up aligned. They’re canted out a bit. I need my right angle drill which I don’t have to hog those holes out. Was thinking of various options and called Alcan. They said it’ll be fine if it’s not too much. Later if I want I can remove the plates and make it look pretty, but they didn’t think it critical. I will get this ‘done right’ but for now need to wrap it up so I can drive home (30 miles) Otherwise even with the aligned ones there’s gap to the springs, because the top cradle is slightly wider than the springs. There’s small gaps everywhere, it isn’t precision manufacturing. Anyhow John you’re absolutely right, it is bending the hanger in. Surprised we don’t use washers on these hanger wet bolts.

Yeah the Loveland site is still a major hub for Keysight, servers/IT/support/R&D, We went through some layoffs but wasn’t bad, didn’t touch R&D much. I’d love a Golden Parachute about now but ain’t likely as they’re doing pretty well 😅

Side quest; various cleaners I’ve found useful, probably already well known around here. I like to keep the trailer spotless and good as new, while being lazy so here’s some helpers Microwave and Cooktop Weiman Glass Cooktop and Microwave Wipe One wipe for induction cooktops and microwaves, works really well getting off microwave and stove splatter (hint get a collapsable microwave plate cover too) Tovolo Collapsible Microwave Splatter Cover General inside and out sponge Boat Erasers Just a sponge but made out of melamine, which acts like a super fine polish/sandpaper. Works really well to get stubborn stuff. We’ve got these nice woven placemats that were impossible to clean before using these. Also fantastic for the shower grout. In theory if used too vigorously can dull the gel coat, but Glidecoat sells them too so that might be over blown. Anyhow keep them for the tough stains Low water Dish disinfecting Steramine Sanitizer Tablets Restaurant grade food safe dish/silverware/surface disinfectant. Best part? Tablet form. Just bring along a bottle and you’ll have enough for years to come, pop a tablet into a gallon of water and you’re set, use with a spray bottle, I like these small ones (regular ones are way too big for a trailer) MR.SIGA 16 oz Empty Plastic Spray Bottles for Cleaning Dishes are now a breeze. I use an OXO Good Grips Soap Dispensing Dish Sponge which is super easy with the built in soap dispenser. But these things can harbor germs, so we just scrub off, rinse, spray with disinfectant and let sit a minute than quick rinse or wipe off. Dishes have never been faster or easer. Floors and corners DEWALT 20V Handheld Vacuum Cordless I’ve found the floors need cleaning at least once a day if not more often, plus I’ve got carpets (runners). Tried a bunch of small vacuums, this is the bomb! Hangs from the closet shelf with the included hook, with attachments so that you can even do a great job on carpets. But it was a big step adding cordless to the trailer, but once you’ve got the batteries you need a … DEWALT 20V MAX Blower, 100 CFM Airflow, Variable Speed Switch Really resisted this it being sacrilege (not to mention Glamping in the worst way!) to bring a leaf blower. But this thing is incredible! Tiny, variable speed so you can keep it quiet and soooo useful. Leaves on the roof quickly clog up the gutter drains, this is one step blow them off. Campsite cleanup, I also use it to blow the dust out of the truck.

Not if you’re an EV driver! 😅 It doesn’t matter anymore but it’s part of the culture, 0-60 kind of thing. I’m proud of the 1.3 mi/kWh the Ollie gets (only a 35% range loss EV or ICE). And I’d disagree its irrelevant - with diesel at $6/gallon ($8 here in California) whether your aware of it or not its hitting your bottom line Ah you’re trying to play a trick on us! “Over inflation”, how about “Under inflation”? 😅 Just joshing, yes optimal inflation is what we want which is the discussion. Let me try a different angle; do you run your RAM tires under by 20 PSI or whatever? Why or why not? That’s good. I heard about those sites, I think there might be one here in California but I wasn’t RVing then. The Beer Busts were awesome, they continued into the company splits (Agilent/Keysight). Anyhow that old time culture is very slowly dying out unfortunately. We were proud to have the Bill and Dave culture for many decades but now it’ all about reporting up every day, micromanaging and over working. I was going to stay for a few more years but it’s not fun anymore, time to leave.

Yeah I started just after they retired I think, 90-91. Then we split off, I was part of the ‘original’ HP (Test and Measurement) so missed the fun thereafter. Carley was what killed it