MAN LE180C double cab for a long family trip

[nick disjunkt]

Batteries which are not too healthy really start to suffer in the cold at this time of year so it might be worth checking the state of the battery first. If it is the starter, it's an easy job although you should insist on keeping the old starter unless the garage gives you a rebate on the new one. Get the old one refurbished and then you have a spare.

 

[Itinerrant]

Up and running again

Hello,

Batteries which are not too healthy really start to suffer in the cold at this time of year so it might be worth checking the state of the battery first.

Batteries are so-so. They show around 20V instead of 24V. But what made us think about the starter is that everything lights up in the dashboard when I put the contact, but *nothing* happens when I turn the key to start the motor. No sound, it doesn't even seem to try starting the motor.

If it is the starter, it's an easy job although you should insist on keeping the old starter unless the garage gives you a rebate on the new one. Get the old one refurbished and then you have a spare.

Thanks for the advice ! I would not have thought of. So now I have a (not refurbished yet) spare starter !

And, yes, it seems that it was really the starter, as the motor started almost immediately with the new one.

 

[charlieaarons]

In general if travelling away from your home continent you should carry an immense amount of spare parts. I carry among other things:
head gasket kit, water pump, fuel lift pump, PS pump, air compressor, starter, alternator, belts, full set of engine sensors, brakes pads and small parts kit, one set of portal box (wheel) bearings, all oil seals, some in duplicate, u-joints, nylon tubing repair parts, air brake rubber hoses and repair parts, lots of filters, high quality oils, electronic foot throttle, electronic trans shifter, throwout bearing for clutch, engine ECU, tyre repair stuff, complete wiring diagram and workshop manual, 1 mounted + 2 unmounted spares, spare O-rings for multipiece wheels, spare CTIS fittings and O-rings if so equipped; spare water pump fr camper, spare water filters, multiple overseas propane filling adapters AN EXCESS OF TOOLS
and last but not least computer for Mercedes Star Diagnosis System
and of course lots of spare wires, splices, etc.

Charlie

 

[nick disjunkt]

In general if travelling away from your home continent you should carry an immense amount of spare parts. I carry among other things...

Hi charlie,

do you carry these things for convenience of having them if you need them, or because you go to places so remote that you would be in danger if you didn't have them?

My experience is that it is worthwhile carrying service parts and perishable parts (belts, filters, hoses, tyres, etc) simply because they are most likely to need replacing and will be quick and easy to replace, but in cases where something more serious breaks it is usually possible to limp to a town where everything else can be shipped out to you.

Provided you have a vehicle where parts are easy to come by (still sold by main dealer), and travel in areas where things can be shipped to you (not siberia, DRC or the poles!) carrying things like the clutch thrust bearing and water pump might be unnecessary.

 

[Itinerrant]

Hello,

I carry among other things:

Wow ! Is there any room left for a :beer: ? :friday:

Anyway, thanks for the list, which is impressive !

 

[westyss]

Hello,



Batteries are so-so. They show around 20V instead of 24V. But what made us think about the starter is that everything lights up in the dashboard when I put the contact, but *nothing* happens when I turn the key to start the motor. No sound, it doesn't even seem to try starting the motor.



Thanks for the advice ! I would not have thought of. So now I have a (not refurbished yet) spare starter !

And, yes, it seems that it was really the starter, as the motor started almost immediately with the new one.

I'm not too familiar with 24 volt systems, but I would say if you are showing 20 volts instead of say 24-26volts those batteries are done. At 20 volts you have maybe less than 50% of the battery, no?

 

[DEnd]

I'm not too familiar with 24 volt systems, but I would say if you are showing 20 volts instead of say 24-26volts those batteries are done. At 20 volts you have maybe less than 50% of the battery, no?

Yes, those batteries are likely done for. And are also the likely cause for the dead starter as well. Also, since the batteries are showing a low voltage check the alternator as well. Low battery voltage can be a symptom and a cause of alternator failure.

 

[Itinerrant]

News

Hello,

Time for some updates ! Following our test run which took place in the French Cévennes back in November (pictures are now online), we noticed some things in the truck that needed to be fixed or improved. The main points are :

• Fuel transfer pump which doesn't seem to work reliably,
• Water in the (should-have-been-)waterproof casing of the external 220V outlet, causing a short-circuit in the system, shutting down all 220V outlets in the truck (at least the security system is working !),
• Waste water tanks gauges which seem rather erratic.

We also decided for some new accessories :

• Indoor valve to be added for the outside shower, to prevent accidental or malicious usage,
• Awning with slide-and-bind system on the truck,
• Mobile platform at the rear, which will be mainly used as bicycle rack (plans will follow),
• Solar panels: Add 2 x 80W (probably).

So the truck is now gone back to the builder, and we expect to get it back to our place in early 2012.

Some improvements to our blog too. There is now a new Google Translation widget directly on the site which will allow visitors to read our texts in their preferred language. There are about 50 languages to choose from and, as far as I have tested for the languages I understand, it works reasonably well, at least to grasp a minimal portion of the meaning of the text.

During our test run, we also tested Google Latitude on an Android device as a means to track our path. However, Latitude doesn't really work offline and we don't have a data plan in France. So we used a small app called Latify which can be used to track your path, even offline, and then it integrates seamlessly with Latitude, uploading (as soon as an Internet connection is available) all the offline-recorded points directly to your Latitude account. Then you end up in Latitude with one map per day (but you have the possibility to consolidate several days - up to 1 month - in the same map) showing your path, with date and time for each waypoint. Accuracy seems reasonable, however altitude doesn't seem to be reported correctly. The sad thing is that Latitude maps are private and cannot be shared. So if you want to make them publicly available (on a blog, for instance), Latitude allows you to export your tracks as a KML file which can then be imported in Google Earth or Google Maps. From there you can set a map public, modify it, create a link to it, etc. I personnally use the raw KML file of each day from Latitude as an overlay to display on maps on our blog. Sample here. People interested in those kind of things, what tools do you use ?

Happy New Year to everyone here and happy travels ! :wavey:

 

[Itinerrant]

2012 - Year of the Trip !

Hello,

It's been a long time since our last message. Here are some news.

Our truck spent the winter at the builder's premises to get some things fixed and / or improved. Two solar panels have been added, so we now have 4 x 80W. A nice awning has also been fitted :

The awning is really easy to deploy / put away ; I can do it by myself in minutes. There's no contact point to the ground, so we can use it on every terrain (be it sand, tarmac, etc.). We still have to see how it handles the wind.

We haven't decided yet for the mobile platform at the rear to carry our five (!) bikes. Advices welcome !

We got the truck back in early March and we decided to take it on a short trip to the Baie de Somme in the North-West of France. We had rather good weather and did some funny things like horse-riding, hiking and sand-yachting. All details with pictures, maps and videos are on our blog. The report of our first test run in the Cévennes has also been completed.

We are very happy with the truck, the additional solar panels give us a good amount of supplemental electrical autonomy (before needing to start the generator). Now we are busy with all the preparative work before the departure of our big journey still scheduled in July. :smiley_drive:

 

[Ford Prefect]

John Rhetts has a wonderful rear tire carrier that you may wish to consider. You could make something very similar for the bikes, and even set tires on there if you wanted too. Of course that would get in the way of your rear hatch, but that would just mean dropping the rack when you wanted to get into the hatch. (If you build the rack wider than that hatch you can lower the rack and get into the hatch with relative ease I should think.)

The truck looks great! I hope you have a wonderful trip in it!!

Regards,
Brian

 

[Itinerrant]

Video time !

Hello,

John Rhetts has a wonderful rear tire carrier that you may wish to consider.

Thanks for the suggestion !

The truck looks great! I hope you have a wonderful trip in it!!

Indeed. Here is a short video of the truck while driving a little bit offroad. No hard stuff though, as it was our first time, but it was great fun !



It was at a very nice gathering of expedition vehicles in France. More pictures and videos can be found here. Now we are hard at work preparing our big trip which is due to start next month...
:wavey:

 

[Ford Prefect]

That was great Itinerrant,

May I ask, do you have any sway dampening system on the camper? If not then you may want to think about it, and if you do you may wish to beef it up a bit. Watching you go up that hill looked a bit scary, and the hill was not so horribly harsh that one should think they would see that much body roll. I think a set of shocks at the point where the camper is allowed to pivot might be the simplest way to accomplish this goal.

Congrats on your maiden voyage!

Brian

 

[LukeH]

Hi Brian. I'll take the liberty of answering here as it was part of my work for a while.
What you're seeing, and what we see on the Univat and other vids isn't the box dancing around at all. Those that have really thought about it make damn sure the box is clamped down close to the rear axle. The builder that made this one has anchored at the back and uses sprung bolts and guides towards the front.
What you're actually seeing is the rear wheels following the back terrain. The sway of the box is kept under perfect control by the sway bar that's part of the suspension. The cab is faithfully following thethe terrain too, guided by the front sway bar. The sway bars on a truck in Europe are very solid as they have to deal with psychopathic truckers on roundabouts, so in a cross-axle situation under this little loatd the suspension won't even squash to follow the ground. The chassis flexes. As a carr driver it can be surprising to see the box dancing around, but once you've got your head round just how floppy an eight meter open rail chassis really is in twist you grow to accept it. Actually damping the front of the box where it detaches from the chassis would load the box and twist it more through the reaction force of the damper.
hth.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I did not realize that the MAN trucks had that frame twist in them. I was under the impression that was a strictly unimog thing.

Never the less, if you watch closely, the rear wheel has rather large, to rather very narrow gaps between itself and the cabin from time stamps 104-108. That is where my Curiosity comes in Luke. I know that this is the way it is designed, and I amn very familiar with it, but I have also seen people who used springs too weak or strong to handle the load and thus causing problems. Once I saw that sway lift the rear duals off the ground nearly six inches in a hop that was purely due to the sway of the camper. This person later put on some shocks to dampen the ride and it helped out significantly.

My thought on a dampener would in no way take away all of the force, just slow the body roll. So that is why I was asking.

Thank you Luke for giving your thoughts, and again thanks for telling me that the frame has twist built in. Most American heavy trucks do not have that, rather they have a very strong rigid frame to prevent just such twisting.

SO if I understand you correctly, then you are saying that dampening in any way would add pressure to the cabin of the vehicle and thus decrease the life of the cabin, correct?

Thanks Luke

 

[Itinerrant]

Le grand tour : first report

Hello,

We're on tour now. We left Belgium at the end of Augustus, now we are in Morocco. Here are some pictures of the truck in action.

More stories and pictures (and not only with the truck !) on our blog ! :wavey: