Thanks Jon Would you recommend it? And also can you tell us how much propane you have?
MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!
- Thread starter VerMonsterRV
- Start date
Thanks Jon Would you recommend it? And also can you tell us how much propane you have?
Neil
Observer
Look great. Watching closely.
I have had the springs out of my truck many times.
The trick is to get The existing springs without any tension on the pins. If you get this right you can litteraly push the pins out with your fingers. One extra or one less pump on the jack and you will be banging all day and they wont move
Neil
I have had the springs out of my truck many times.
The trick is to get The existing springs without any tension on the pins. If you get this right you can litteraly push the pins out with your fingers. One extra or one less pump on the jack and you will be banging all day and they wont move
Neil
VerMonsterRV
Gotta Be Nuts
Well maybe, I really like the looks of the cu-434 and I really have no prior RV experience with other ranges. I do have experience though with a marine Seaward Princess Euro model (no longer made) that we really liked aboard our sailboat. I looked into a marine range and the problem is they are gimballed and although they sell a kit to un-gimbal them, the kit didn't look great. So I finally found the Dometic. Dometic is not my favorite company, mainly due to the fact we have been spoiled by marine tech support. Dometic standard response is take it to an authorized service center, never got that with marine companies and could generally speak with someone that knew the product. Sorry for the rant. Back to the range.
We have had a couple of problems with it already. First the igniter stopped working, problem is Dometic riveted the oven together so no easy way to get to the wiring (though I will when time permits drill out the rivets). Second the largest burner will occasionally pop and leaves black soot on the bottom of the pans. Still need to figure out why that is happening.
Our propane tank is a fixed mount 12.2 gallon tank. We have been in the truck for the last 4 months and freely cook and bake. We filled the tank yesterday again in preparation for the Baja and put in 3.5 gallons. So my initial estimate of 9 months on a tank fill should be doable, plus if we come across a place we will likely top up. I still need to source the various propane adapters needed for worldwide travel.
I removed the rear springs when we were doing the chassis refurb. The original U bolts were rusted so used a angle grinder to cut them off, a bit of a surprise when they popped. Now that the habitat is on and we are on the road we are hiring a truck repair shop to put them on. They seem like a good bunch of guys. We are planning on pulling the under storage boxes ourselves to save a bit on the labor costs.
Joe917
Explorer
While you are there I would pull all the leaf spring bolts and replace with new. at the very least carry 2 extra bolts of each size and grade. In south America we could only find 8.8 grade bolts. I would also carry an extra pair of shackle plates. Springs can be made in any city and a broken spring won't stop you but a broken shackle or bolt might.
VerMonsterRV
Gotta Be Nuts
Thanks for the tip, unfortunately a broken leaf would stop us. I took the chance and got parabolic springs, so will be pretty rare. They do look very robust though. I also got new bolts, bushings and u bolts. The shackle plates will be reused but they are pretty simple flat plate so likely easy to get made on the road (but I would think they would be ok). I will hold onto the original bolts in case the new ones fail.
Does your truck have the factory original parabolic springs? I thought I saw that in your listing.
Joe917
Explorer
Yes factory parbolic springs. We broke 2 in south america. We also have airbags on the rear that are capable of handling the entire load. After the parabolic failed we stopped at the first Mercedes shop we got to ,they did not stock the part and sent me across the street to a truck spring shop. I got the standard south american "no ai", not here or we don't have it. What it really means is i can't be bothered, go away. I went back to Mercedes, the Manager says come with me sir and back to the spring shop we go. The spring mechanic comes out, measures, walks to a giant rack of springs and pulls out the identical part, too easy. We also had a through bolt failure that lead to a shackle plate failure. A replacement bolt and plate and we would be back to 100%. On the road to Mato Grosso, Brazil from Bolivia there is literally nothing but bush and cattle ranches. We had to crawl out with bailing wire holding things together. Carry a good spool of heavy bailing/fencing wire, great for emergency repairs.
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VerMonsterRV
Gotta Be Nuts
Well hearing that the parabolic springs are more supported than I had thought is good news. Will look into the other suggestions before we ship south.
VerMonsterRV
Gotta Be Nuts
Well, the new springs are IN! Things went fairly smoothly but we did run into a speed bump. Any concerns about the difference in stack height can be laid to rest, we actually had to remove the factory 3" spacer block and replace it with a 1". This was to get the ride height within 2" of the front. We will see how things settle out and how we like the ride. We do have the option to remove a leaf or even add a spacer to the front springs (or eventually replace with parabolic springs). So far we do notice a slightly softer ride, though we need to get to rougher roads to decide.
Now this is done I need to figure out where the coolant is disappearing to. A truck mechanic spent a couple of hours and could not figure it out. I do have a couple of leads and new radiator caps arrived from the UK today at our next mail stop. I will try and call Rob Pickering tomorrow morning, maybe he can shed some light.
Oh,and I remembered another project, I want to run the exhaust towards the rear of the truck, it is making a bit of a mess how it is exiting.
Now this is done I need to figure out where the coolant is disappearing to. A truck mechanic spent a couple of hours and could not figure it out. I do have a couple of leads and new radiator caps arrived from the UK today at our next mail stop. I will try and call Rob Pickering tomorrow morning, maybe he can shed some light.
Oh,and I remembered another project, I want to run the exhaust towards the rear of the truck, it is making a bit of a mess how it is exiting.
VerMonsterRV
Gotta Be Nuts
Well, I dug into the Dometic RTX2000 rooftop AC and why it is not functioning. After removing the interior trim I see that they nicely soldered 2 20 amp fuses directly to the circuit board. Not sure why but those fuses are testing bad (we had a fused power feed to the board). Now trying to get a bit of sympathy from Dometic UK if they will honor the warranty even though we are not in Europe.
VerMonsterRV
Gotta Be Nuts
A quick travel update, we have ended up heading to the Baja. Plan is to get to the remote areas as quickly as possible and just hang out there until this craziness with the Corona virus settles down. We are currently in San Felipe after a long drive from Joshua Tree NP. Plan is tomorrow to continue the trek south and find a nice quiet beach front campsite for a few days.
This is our campsite in Joshua Tree, only problem was there was not nice dispersed camping so we were in a formed campground. Really pretty there though.
And here is the beach right in front of our campsite here in the Baja. We are in a campground again as we arrived late and the "wild" camping options here are pretty slim (for a truck that seems to attract attention).
This is our campsite in Joshua Tree, only problem was there was not nice dispersed camping so we were in a formed campground. Really pretty there though.
And here is the beach right in front of our campsite here in the Baja. We are in a campground again as we arrived late and the "wild" camping options here are pretty slim (for a truck that seems to attract attention).
Sitec
Adventurer
Beautiful spot. How's it all playing out over there? Guessing heading south into a quieter country is a better bet than heading north back into a busy place... We are in reasonably quiet countryside where we are so don't plan on going too far. Had the truck been finished that however might be a different story! 
Safe travels fella!
Safe travels fella!
chrisgaspar
New member
So overall, how's the Dometic working out?
Joe917
Explorer
San Filipe is a nice spot. If you walk out into the shallows along the beach towards the peak in your photo you will find a bunch of hot springs. Boondocking is not great in Baja, you have to pay for all the best beach sites, it is dirt cheap though and you are in the off season.