Thinking about a Bus/RV

jsstevens said:
Yeah, optimizing for maximum alternator output is probably not the right answer...
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Yeah. Re-gearing the rear end in the RV is something I absolutely wouldn't want to do. And also more horsepower seems like a good way to blow up the transmission, so really, no, I'll just leave it.

TCABM said:
Q: is the new alternator 1:1 to your engine rpm or something different?
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It's something different like in most cars. I forget the exact ratio, I want to say around 3:1.
 
TCABM said:
Q: is the new alternator 1:1 to your engine rpm or something different?
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I'd bet it's closer to 3:1. If that ratio holds true, then the Jeep owners who towed their vehicle while in 4Low and had the engine turning an estimated 50K rpm, must have had the Alternator absolutely melting down in short order, lol. 150K rpm alternator speed is something to behold!
 
SoonerAviator said:
I'd bet it's closer to 3:1. If that ratio holds true, then the Jeep owners who towed their vehicle while in 4Low and had the engine turning an estimated 50K rpm, must have had the Alternator absolutely melting down in short order, lol. 150K rpm alternator speed is something to behold!
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You know, it would be really fun to intentionally stage some destruction like that and film it in high speed for YouTube.
 
Shower install is coming along...

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Big couple days on the Journey, got the ceiling repaired and J is giving it the sanitizing treatment top to bottom. Next weekend is the first shakedown trip.

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SoonerAviator said:
I'd bet it's closer to 3:1. If that ratio holds true, then the Jeep owners who towed their vehicle while in 4Low and had the engine turning an estimated 50K rpm, must have had the Alternator absolutely melting down in short order, lol. 150K rpm alternator speed is something to behold!
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Did they confirm the engine was turning or did they just grenade the transfer case?
 
denverpilot said:
Did they confirm the engine was turning or did they just grenade the transfer case?
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There's a pic of the engine block in pieces looking like it ran into an industrial egg beater. However, I doubt it actually made it to 50K rpm before imploding.

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SoonerAviator said:
There's a pic of the engine block in pieces looking like it ran into an industrial egg beater. However, I doubt it actually made it to 50K rpm before imploding.
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Thank's for that, I was just looking for that image but they took the video down.

Forces on rotating parts increase as the square of the RPM so there is no way to make 50,000!
 
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Zeldman said:
I am surprised that in 4WD low and in first gear that the wheels actually turned and did not slide. Must be one heavy Jeep.
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It’s also a dinky little engine.
 
If at highway speeds I imagine that most gears would have that result, except for high range 3, 4, 5. Multitudinous options for screwing up:)

4WD would also help turn the engine.

We need someone with an RV and a 4WD to test if the engine turns in Low Range.
 
Spring Ford said:
If at highway speeds I imagine that most gears would have that result, except for high range 3, 4, 5. Multitudinous options for screwing up:)

4WD would also help turn the engine.

We need someone with an RV and a 4WD to test if the engine turns in Low Range.
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I would gladly do that (and post it to YouTube) if someone wanted to sponsor it. I’m not doing it with my Land Rover because I actually like it.

edit: and it’s an automatic transmission so doesn’t work as well for the concept
 
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The video on the residential fridge install for those interested:

 
Shower is coming along...

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Made some progress on the electrical last night. I got the new wires cut, ends crimped, and run for the alternators. I found I needed some different hardware (no surprise) to get the lower 28si alternator mounted. I went with the 28si because it's a heavier duty alternator more commonly found on medium and heavy duty trucks. However, the 28si lugs are a significantly larger distance apart than what the AC compressor I'm replacing had. It'll still work, but I'm going to need to fabricate a bracket for the top lug. I expected this, basically it'll just be cutting and welding some 1/4" thick steel.

The top (house) alternator, the 270A Leece-Neville, bolts right up no problem.

I also managed to get the new water pump belt and tensioner on. Caterpillar put two bolt holes on the adjustment slot. From the factory, only one of those holes was filled, and then the pivot hole (the one that snapped off). I ended up putting two bolts in the two holes on the slot. It's not ideal, but the geometry still provides sufficient support and it's easy enough for me to reach up and check on bolt torque and belt tightness.

Home stretch...
 
I've continued to piddle away on the shower. What's amazed me so far is how sturdy it feels installed into the RV. It feels sturdier so far than the old shower that we removed. Hopefully that continues to be the case once I start going down the road, I suppose that remains to be seen. I'll need some more plumbing bits at the store but I'm working on getting the shower head and plumbing behind the wall installed as well.

It's amazing how much bigger the shower is now, with what doesn't feel like any more (certainly not any significantly more) space taken up in the floorplan. Just going from the neo-angle shower to a quarter round, and up from 34" pan to 36" pan gives enough extra space that now we'll be able to take showers without bumping into the walls.

Another thing we'll be doing is taking advantage of the skylight that the shower has:

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With the gooseneck shower head being up in the skylight area, I'll be able to stand underneath it without bending down. While we'll still have the sprayer wand (this shower setup has both), previously all the shower had was the sprayer wand and it would mount up at about my shoulder height, so washing hair was annoying.

I have tomorrow off work and my wife is traveling for work, so I'll be dropping the kids with the babysitter and spending the day finishing things up. I should get the alternators mounted and running, and the shower at least mostly finished up.

Monday I've got an appointment with the exhaust shop to redo the exhaust. Hopefully they'll have the parts in stock that are needed so I only have to make one trip.
 
I'll be curious to see how that shower head holds up under vibration. I like what you've done from a design perspective and the higher shower head is nice (I hate having to crouch to wash my hair!) but that's a long lever arm to vibrate on...
 
jsstevens said:
I'll be curious to see how that shower head holds up under vibration. I like what you've done from a design perspective and the higher shower head is nice (I hate having to crouch to wash my hair!) but that's a long lever arm to vibrate on...
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Good points. It's not clear at all in the picture, but one thing we liked about this shower head is that it doesn't just stick out of the wall, it also has a bar that comes down and attaches to the wall further down. So it's well stabilized. If it were just sticking out of the wall, I wouldn't like it being set up like that at all and I'd want to come up with some other stabilization means.

One thing that's overall surprised me with the RV is how much things have survived. Dishes are probably one of the best examples. We had a hard time finding plastic (or whatever they call that material) dishes that we liked, so we ended up getting standard dishes. I don't think we've had a single one break.

Although something that has come to mind is I haven't put in some sort of good latch on the fridge yet, I need to come up with that.
 
Did you do anything special to the plumbing to stabilize the pipes? (Not the shower head, I read that.)
 
jsstevens said:
Did you do anything special to the plumbing to stabilize the pipes? (Not the shower head, I read that.)
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Pluming on the RV is pex, which handles the vibrations well. Just some clamps is all that's required.
 
More shower work... pex is fun...

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That shower head idea is cool. Will your on board water pump keep up with pressure and the flow rating of it?

Most RV parks had reasonable pressures that beat our pump in the fifth wheel so hookups usually weren’t a problem.
 
denverpilot said:
That shower head idea is cool. Will your on board water pump keep up with pressure and the flow rating of it?

Most RV parks had reasonable pressures that beat our pump in the fifth wheel so hookups usually weren’t a problem.
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Well I just fired it up and the pump seems to do a good job. :)

More later...
 
Today I managed to get the shower install finished up and the alternator upgrade also finished.

The shower was sort of tedious, but I’m really happy with the result. For only having a few extra inches in each direction, it really does a lot for making a roomier shower. And now with the shower head above my head, this will be much better for showers. One pipe had a slight seep, I just need to tighten it a bit more.

The alternator upgrade has proven a success. Two one-wire alternators are working great. I had to make a bracket for the top bolt from some spare 1/4” metal I had around. Because the replacement of the ac compressor with an alternator changed the pulley location, I also need to change the belt size. The stock belt could work but I had to bypass an idler pulley to make it fit. I got a couple longer belts and should fix that.

Exhaust shop Monday...
 
Our shake down outing is going well, only area left to organize is the bathroom.

Looks like I may also need to do some shower work, one thing that slipped by my inspection is a Crack in the shower base. Not sure how I missed that, but I did.

We never used the shower much in the Storm, because it ended up being used for storage, but with the extra room in the Journey, it may hit used more, so a replacement may be in order.

I may put a temporary fix in place with some Eternabond.

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tmyers said:
Our shake down outing is going well, only area left to organize is the bathroom.

Looks like I may also need to do some shower work, one thing that slipped by my inspection is a Crack in the shower base. Not sure how I missed that, but I did.

We never used the shower much in the Storm, because it ended up being used for storage, but with the extra room in the Journey, it may hit used more, so a replacement may be in order.

I may put a temporary fix in place with some Eternabond.
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I’m glad to hear that your shakedown cruise is going well.

I’d imagine you wouldn’t have any issues with storage in the new unit. It is nicer having your own shower to use instead of the bathhouse ones.

How big is the crack? If your RV shower is like ours, the frame is a single piece fiberglass. That by itself should be repairable just fine.
 
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The RV now has vortex generators. :)

For those not familiar, this is the product:

http://www.airtab.com/

I always thought they didn’t look good (I still think that) but the aerodynamics make sense and the reports on the RV forums say they do help with stability. Mileage, probably not, but some people claim an improvement. I really don’t care much about mileage just about stability.

We’ll see if they make a difference. Yesterday the winds were strongly out of the south and I was driving it both north and south on the roads I drove (normally I’m actually traveling somewhere so I’m just driving one direction). I was able to really notice the difference in stability driving into the wind vs a tailwind. That makes sense, but that does make me think these have a shot at doing something. I guess we’ll see.
 
Do they lower the stall speed?
 
jsstevens said:
Do they lower the stall speed?
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Certification tests will determine. This was late enough that it doesn't fall under CAR 3 so testing will be more stringent.

Oh, wait, it's an RV. What certification?

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Skip Miller said:
My first thought was: Wow that is a lot of NACA vents!
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Yeah, looking at the profile they are more or less reverse NACA ducts.

Actually, a NACA duct would be a neat idea for the engine air inlet on the side of the RV instead of the grille that it has now.
 
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