2017 Fuso Canter FG4x4 Expedition Camper Project

[Ferjablito]

Yes. I am quite disappointed at the dryer design. It uses water to cool the condensing dryer design is idiotic, but I do understand in a one room apartment heat is more a concern than water usage, while we are the opposite as water is the most precious resource. I plan to use only quick wash and air dry with the retractable clothes line I listed.

My box is Plus size.

What cell width and cell height do you have?

 

[samurai driver]

Get yourself a commercial diesel fuel card and fuel up diesel and DEF at the truck pumps at truck stops. It's a much more pleasant experience with a big diesel vehicle.

Never let your DEF get low or anywhere near empty. I know nothing about FUSO's but i can't imagine they are any different than any other modern emissions diesel, so it should regen on it's own while you drive. You shouldn't need to pull over and do a parked regen.

Some rigs are worse than others, and with my brief experience the FG4x4 is in the worse bucket. Reading the owner manual suggests that as well as my experience. When it threw a red check engine light and went into limp mode, it will no longer do automatic regen. And no amount of attempts one can initiate a parked regen unless you figure out the obscured steps to do so. Parked regen is the only option to get out of that situation.

Remember I had zero experience with this rig, and could not obtain the continuity of the prior ownership despite it had 820 miles at the time. Even with such low mileage, if the vehicle was driven a lot in short trips, never let it reach operating temperature, there is potential one can kill the DPF.

Please school me how a commercial diesel fuel card will benefit me. I had fueled up occasionally at truckers' pumps and one major downside is you have to throttle the pump without making a big mess. The only benefit I see is you can pump the DEF rather than replenishing the tank with retail size container. The Canter can only take about one typical retail container of 2.5 gallon.

 

[samurai driver]

Speaking of DEF. I'd only bought three 2.5 gallons packs up to now. I thought they are expensive even at big box stores. Yes, there is old wife tales that you don't want any that has sat around but fram fresh.

I just found this Walmart house brand that is about 50% to 100% cheaper. I think I will buy that from now on. DEF has industry specs and the name brands is just marketing.

 

[BigSkyBrad]

It's a rort really - it's 66% water and 33% urea (a by-product from the porcine farming industry, so pig p***)!

 

[86scotty]

Please school me how a commercial diesel fuel card will benefit me. I had fueled up occasionally at truckers' pumps and one major downside is you have to throttle the pump without making a big mess. The only benefit I see is you can pump the DEF rather than replenishing the tank with retail size container. The Canter can only take about one typical retail container of 2.5 gallon.

I recommend the truck pumps for any oversize/overheight RV or rig because it's easier to get big vehicles in/out of them and you can buy bulk DEF much cheaper than the 2.5g containers. However, if your tank is only 2.5 gallons and obviously this is never going to be a daily driver it's likely more convenient for you to just get the jugs.

Also, on discount diesel cards, if you start traveling a lot it can save you a good bit of cheddar vs. buying diesel full price. I typically pay .50-.75 less per gallon but I buy diesel by the hundreds of gallons per week.

 

[samurai driver]

My closest Fuso truck service shop is 3 hours drive. I went to pick up the driver side reflector for the step that took a month to arrive to them. The general manager has been most friendly to talk to. I think I talked to him on the phone circa 3 years ago in looking for a Canter 4x4 and that was the time I realize how desirable but rare they are in the US. At the time I only had a passing interest and not all that serious. However that conversation prepared me when this rig presented itself and I didn't hesitate to seize on the opportunity.

I didn't notice my driver side reflector on the step has a small chip until I arrive home days later from Colorado.

I suspected the truck had never been in any shop for the factory recall, so I asked if he can look up with the VIN. Sure enough he said there are three, so I asked what they are.

1. Rocker arms recall - the arms of some build dates had tooling problem and can cause the arms to break, or wear prematurely. They cannot track the exact affected batch so the recall cover a big build date range.
2. Oil drain tube recall - they didn't explain all that well as they point to a box of part and said that is it. All I could understand is it is the lubrication oil for the turbo, and it is the oil existing the turbo.
3. ECU update recall - I don't think they know exactly what are the fixes. I think this is likely my experience with some persistent not standard DTCs that show up in the drivetrain control module that will return after I cleared them.

I think this is the oil drain tube on one of the recall

I did some google searches for these recalls to see the official recall notices but the hits are all over the place covering many unrelated models and year range. I also went to NHTSA for recall lookup, and as we can expect, they are never of any help.

The dealer is always booked months out for their service. Since I won't be driving my Canter much I will wait until spring to schedule the recall services.

Anyone has more specifics of these recalls please chime in.

typical US government "we are here to help"; I obscured the full VIN in the screen shot

my FCAR code reader can't provide any useful information what these codes mean

These codes cause the engine trouble light to illuminate, but not the real CEL that changes color depends upon the seriousness level.

unrelated to this post, as my trims adjacent to the headlights are marred but not broken (likely from test fitting the custom made tilt bumper) I bought these Chinese made ones from from Ali Express for a song

 

[samurai driver]

When I purchased this rig, I thought it would be a two year project as I already have no shortage of other projects pending. Also I want to plan the design carefully with attentions to details and execute quality work. There are a lot to consider, calculate, and design around the constraints. There are tradeoffs to be made in hard vs easier approaches, cost, center of gravity, exterior dimensions, utilization of otherwise dead spaces etc. The more I devote time for research and preliminary design, the better I am off as they are like site planning and laying a good foundation for a building.

I have been giving thoughts to the floor plan and putting some numbers to the layout, and soon realizing some of the most challenging area like weight distribution and the volume and weights of fuels, and water. One thing that I set out to minimize is the number of external additional openings on the habitat box.

For the internal floorplan the riding constraints are the locations, sizes and weights of the fresh and waste water containers. Even with sizes there are the H x D x W to determine what work best with the cabinetry design and floor plan. This includes high versus low aspect ratio tanks. For strength to weight ratio and space efficiency cubical tanks tend to work better. Low aspect ratio tanks are poor for level sensing but good for low center of gravity.

I watched recently of a video where Winnebago Van-base RV has structural issue with their high aspect ratio water tank from the hydraulic pressure causing the flimsy tank to bulge out against also flimsy cabinet panel. Their solution is to send out ugly steel reinforcement brace to bolt onto the flimsy kitchen cabinet. Water is about 8.5 lb / US gallon, and is heavier than diesel and gasoline.