MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!

[VerMonsterRV]

I really like seeing the macaws. We've seen a few different kinds so far, but haven't yet seen the all blue ones.


And the truck had issues again. We decided to head to an island that is mostly park and walk some beaches. In the morning before we went to this parking lot Heather saw a spark when I started the truck. We drove the 1km to this parking lot, stopped and went to the island for the day. When we returned in the afternoon I tilted the cab to see if I could find what was wrong.

I found that a small cap on the end of the starter was hanging by 1 screw, the second screw was gone. Plus a U shaped washer seemed to be jammed. I emailed Stafan (this guy is literally a walking encyclopedia for Mercedes trucks) asking about this and he confirmed that this washer aligns the shaft to the brushes (with a very nice hand drawn diagram of how it works), and the cap holds the washer in place. Given it had jammed in there, and there is very limited space I was working on trying to get the U shaped washer out. And that's when all the "help" started to show up. Very kind of them, but honestly it pretty much stopped all progress as I had to translate everything into Portuguese, which brushes doesn't translate well. After figuring out they call them carbons they started to understand. But not until it was dark. So, I thanked them and told them I was going to stop for the night and that they could go. I think they were glad to be able to go back home. The next morning I got out early before they all showed up and had it all back together and the truck started right up.


The offending washer without the cap. Luckily I had a couple of metric screws that were the correct size so I could put the cap/retainer back in place.


Now I do carry a spare starter with us. But to replace it there is a fair amount of disassembly needed to be able to get to it (turbo and dump pipe). I don't have spare bolts and studs for those, yet. I will be getting some.

Well, that's enough for now. More to come.

 

[Geo.Lander]

I really like seeing the macaws. We've seen a few different kinds so far, but haven't yet seen the all blue ones.
View attachment 795281

And the truck had issues again. We decided to head to an island that is mostly park and walk some beaches. In the morning before we went to this parking lot Heather saw a spark when I started the truck. We drove the 1km to this parking lot, stopped and went to the island for the day. When we returned in the afternoon I tilted the cab to see if I could find what was wrong.

I found that a small cap on the end of the starter was hanging by 1 screw, the second screw was gone. Plus a U shaped washer seemed to be jammed. I emailed Stafan (this guy is literally a walking encyclopedia for Mercedes trucks) asking about this and he confirmed that this washer aligns the shaft to the brushes (with a very nice hand drawn diagram of how it works), and the cap holds the washer in place. Given it had jammed in there, and there is very limited space I was working on trying to get the U shaped washer out. And that's when all the "help" started to show up. Very kind of them, but honestly it pretty much stopped all progress as I had to translate everything into Portuguese, which brushes doesn't translate well. After figuring out they call them carbons they started to understand. But not until it was dark. So, I thanked them and told them I was going to stop for the night and that they could go. I think they were glad to be able to go back home. The next morning I got out early before they all showed up and had it all back together and the truck started right up.
View attachment 795282

The offending washer without the cap. Luckily I had a couple of metric screws that were the correct size so I could put the cap/retainer back in place.
View attachment 795283

Now I do carry a spare starter with us. But to replace it there is a fair amount of disassembly needed to be able to get to it (turbo and dump pipe). I don't have spare bolts and studs for those, yet. I will be getting some.

Well, that's enough for now. More to come.

I thought these MB trucks were supposed to be super reliable? Or was that super repairable?

 

[where_the_heffalump_roams]

One of the draw backs off on the road repairs with an interesting vehicle that draws attention. Glad you got it figured out! Reminds me that I wanted to pick up a spare starter to carry on the road.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

One of the draw backs off on the road repairs with an interesting vehicle that draws attention. Glad you got it figured out! Reminds me that I wanted to pick up a spare starter to carry on the road.

Add an alternator and water pump to your list. Oh yeah, we seem to be going through a bit of a rough patch. We're broken again. This time the front brakes seem to randomly start to drag. I think it is something with the air system, bug I'm still trying to figure things out.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Well, now that I am pretty confident in the repairs to our brakes I can tell you all about it. Our truck the optional 4 wheel parking brake. While the rear parking brakes works like all the other trucks, utilizing a spring, the fronts are air only. How this is achieved is there is a "shuttle valve" in the brake line. When you use the service brake, the shuttle is on one side, the parking brake the other. Well it seems our shuttle was either sticking or leaking. While driving the front air parking brake would ever so slowly apply. We noticed the truck feeling a bit sluggish and when we stopped we could smell the brakes. Upon checking the front drums were hot. While trying to figure out what was wrong, 2 local guys pulled up and told me they were mechanics. In the drizzle they helped trouble shoot, including jacking up the front of the truck to check the front brakes. We hoped (yeah right) it was a one time problem (when has that ever happened?) and decided to let things cool off and drive on. Well soon enough we realized it was still happening. By stopping and setting/unsetting the parking brake "fixed" the problem. So we limped back to town and camped for the night to try and think through our options. This town wasn't very big and we were about 90km from a smallish city.

These guys jumped right in to try and help.


The next morning we carefully drove 1.8km to the only truck mechanic in town in hopes at least to find parts if needed. Once again these guys literally attacked our problem, dropping what they were working on. Within minutes the front of the truck was jacked up and 3-4 guys were looking for the problem. Part of the problem though is we do not know Portuguese and letting these guys know that I was pretty sure it has something to do with the front parking brake was tricky, partly due to the fact that none of the trucks here have front parking brakes. Luckily for us, they had a cousin who knew English. They called him up and he came right over and spent most of the day with us, not only handling the translation but getting to know each other. He has been to the USA and hopes to move there with his girlfriend, and I hope they can. This area is the apple growing area for Brazil, so he left for a few minutes and came back with apple gift packs for us.

Now the amazing part, after saying that the best they could do was to entirely disable the front brakes and we could then drive the 90km to the city, they came up with a shuttle valve! It's not a Mercedes part and I have no idea as to which truck it was supposed to fit, but they got it installed and we are off! All in all it was a good experience!

 

[Wazak]

I still have in one of my old tool boxes some coins and pop rivets that I used to use when diagnosing air system leaks when I was a mobile service engineer working on heavy earth moving equipment. As a get you home they can be temporarily used to block off a leaking air line.
If you suspect a leak to a brake cylinder actuator try working backwards from the brake to trace the source of the leak.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

It's been a while and since Heather just published a blog I thought I would save some time and just post a link here if anyone is interested in what's been going on.

On the way to Patagonia

 

[Backroad Explorer]

Hello Jon and Heather;
I'm glad to see you are having a Great Time.
Safe Travels!!!

Brain in McCall, Idaho
P.S. Please stop next time you Two are in My area.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Hello Jon and Heather;
I'm glad to see you are having a Great Time.
Safe Travels!!!

Brain in McCall, Idaho
P.S. Please stop next time you Two are in My area.

Hey Brian, we should be there sometime next summer. This time though without the truck , will have to swing by and say hi.

 

[Emac]

Who did you use for the import paperwork , I’m looking at importing an expedition Rv from Canada to the US and do not know where to start. The RV is in the states I need the proper paperwork to register if I purchase . Thanks in advance

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Who did you use for the import paperwork , I’m looking at importing an expedition Rv from Canada to the US and do not know where to start. The RV is in the states I need the proper paperwork to register if I purchase . Thanks in advance

We used All Ways , but they seemed to have changed their business a bit. They handled both the shipping and all the import. They seem to be now doing import only. Maybe they could help with your truck.

 

[where_the_heffalump_roams]

Who did you use for the import paperwork , I’m looking at importing an expedition Rv from Canada to the US and do not know where to start. The RV is in the states I need the proper paperwork to register if I purchase . Thanks in advance

It may depend on what border crossing you are wanting to use. I had a really hard time finding an importer on the east side. I wanted to import from Ontario and drive the truck back through the USA. I could have made it happen myself if I was able to work with a more flexible time frame. I didn't want to risk being held up with customs so I had my rig brought over to the Blaine, WA border. Import Guys brought it over without a hitch from the Canadian site.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

So a quick truck update if anyone has the optional 4 wheel parking brakes like we do. Our previous "fix" for front parking brake that would slowly actuate while driving wasn't really a fix. The mechanic replaced a shuttle valve and to be honest I tried to understand how this would fix it but really couldn't. It did seem to work though so we continued on south. Well it happened again while driving and I decided to dig into it myself and do a bit of basic testing. I removed each of the air lines on the shuttle valve and actuated both the service brake and parking brake. The service brake worked as I expected, air flows when the pedal is pressed and nothing when not. But the parking brake was a different story. When engaged it would flow lots of air, but when off it still flowed some air. Which is what caused our problem. Due to our remote location and limited parts availability here in Argentina I have blocked off the front parking brake for now. The real problem lies in one of 2 places. Either the parking brake handle valves or the trailer brake valve. I will diagnose both those but not in this location.

Just so you know its not all work and no play here are a few recent photos! This is a National Park with a dirt coastal road. Great views and camping, but a bit windy at times.

A visit by Zodiac to a penguin colony, what a great day.

Flamingos, never realized they were here.

Petrified trees in another National Park.





Same penguin colony, about 10,000 birds on the island.


Fur seals who came out to play with the Zodiac.

Guanacos, heaps of them on the road to the petrified forest.


More to come...

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Well is seems our truck really doesn't want to go south. We're now having issues with our transfer case. What started as a shaft seal leaking has now turned into a pulling of the transfer case, splitting it open and finding out why I am getting a fair bit of metal on the magnetic drain plugs.

This was the third oil change in about 1000km. The challenging part is we're now at "The End of the World", the farthest south in South America you can drive without taking a ferry (south of Punta Arenas). There is a MB dealership in Punta Arenas, which is where this picture was taken. I am scheduled to return Monday morning for the removal. The problem is that parts for this case are not available in Chile. Some are available in Argentina, but that carries some risk. If you need to order from Europe then Argentina is a very poor choice. So for now I have some available parts on order into Ushuaia (600km bus ride away) and an appointment in Chile.
I am also finding out that our transfer case shares some parts with the non full-time VG-500 box, but not all. The not all part is the potential problem. These would have to come from Europe and frankly it would be cheaper to buy an entire used transfer case than even one of the internal gear parts new from Mercedes (one gear alone in the full time bit is over 4k euros). I'm actually considering getting the case open, jumping a flight to Germany, and carrying back the needed parts.

So a word to others, if you want an LN2 try like heck to get the 1124. The 1124 would be nicer for a few reasons. First, obviously more power, second 6 speed transmission so better gear spacing, and third it uses the VG-550 transfer case which is still in production. Yup the 1124 are more upfront money, but maybe a bit easier/cheaper to fix down the road.

 

[Neil]

Can an 1124 transfer case be transplanted in .

Let me know if we can help from the UK

Neil