whomisi
Member
I would love to see a photo of the setup if you have one on file? It's something I thought would be a good idea and one less way to break down with a little redundancy
Unicorn on the Ocean - 1120AF Coming to Canada
- Thread starter whomisi
- Start date
DiploStrat
Expedition Leader
Not sure this can be done on an 917. There really wasn't even a way to mount an air conditioner compressor.
Obviously, anything can be done, with enough time and money.
Things are looking better at the moment. Also looking at a second inverter to drive the primary inverter/charger.
whomisi
Member
She's arrived! Very exciting. Extremely clean, it is hard to believe. No corrosion even on fasteners. It even has all the original tools with it, air line for tyre topping up also.
I can't tell if it has the 4 wheel park brake system. When I push the park brake lever inwards and down from the low position, I hear air dumping and the truck did move a little bit like something relaxed. How can I tell if it has 4 wheel parking brakes without jacking up the vehicle?
The fabrication of the box on the back is very high quality. I think it will become workshop storage Cabinets when I cut it in half! I will reuse the bottom cupboards onto the habitation box subframe.
I must say the driving is not coming naturally. I have never driven a big truck, or even owned a diesel before. The gear ratios are strange to me, 1st 2nd and 3rd are crawling, 4th quite slow also, 5th and 6th are much faster. I guess this is the truck world for hauling heavy things! I am happy to have the split box.
The accelerator pedal is very firm, so I have lubricated the system and this should help. The idle adjust had lots of free play so I have taken up the slack here. With no rust, I can spin the nuts by finger after loosening them to start.
Starting on a hill is a challenge, something I must practice! I think a slightly higher idle and less stiff throttle will help.
The tachometer isn't reading correctly, it just bounces around between 500 and 1000. I will check the wiring.
I can't get the cab to tilt, I think I need to play with the pump direction lever a little more, I hear it sloshing oil around but there isn't any real resistence. I did tighten the valve on the cylinder itself and release the latch inside the cab.
Otherwise it's perfect, like a giant clunky version of my VW T3!
Hello Atlantic Canada! Just 5350km to go.
I can't tell if it has the 4 wheel park brake system. When I push the park brake lever inwards and down from the low position, I hear air dumping and the truck did move a little bit like something relaxed. How can I tell if it has 4 wheel parking brakes without jacking up the vehicle?
The fabrication of the box on the back is very high quality. I think it will become workshop storage Cabinets when I cut it in half! I will reuse the bottom cupboards onto the habitation box subframe.
I must say the driving is not coming naturally. I have never driven a big truck, or even owned a diesel before. The gear ratios are strange to me, 1st 2nd and 3rd are crawling, 4th quite slow also, 5th and 6th are much faster. I guess this is the truck world for hauling heavy things! I am happy to have the split box.
The accelerator pedal is very firm, so I have lubricated the system and this should help. The idle adjust had lots of free play so I have taken up the slack here. With no rust, I can spin the nuts by finger after loosening them to start.
Starting on a hill is a challenge, something I must practice! I think a slightly higher idle and less stiff throttle will help.
The tachometer isn't reading correctly, it just bounces around between 500 and 1000. I will check the wiring.
I can't get the cab to tilt, I think I need to play with the pump direction lever a little more, I hear it sloshing oil around but there isn't any real resistence. I did tighten the valve on the cylinder itself and release the latch inside the cab.
Otherwise it's perfect, like a giant clunky version of my VW T3!
Hello Atlantic Canada! Just 5350km to go.
loonwheeler
Adventurer
Congrats and great photo. Safe travels back home!
Geo.Lander
Well-known member
Great stuff! There will probably be a lot of issues to start of with, i bet she has not really been used in the past few years.
You have rear wheel parking, I have never heard of these having 4 wheel parking breaks. You can test by parking on flat and hand rolling the front tire by rocking back and forth.
You start in 2nd gear, 3rd and 4th can be a little hard to find at first
Have you unlocked the cab tilt correctly? It is located under the passenger side bench seat.. The red light should come on on the dash.
whomisi
Member
5.5 days to cover 5350kms, mission successful. Cruising at 85km/h, 2,300rpm, 22l/100km across a VERY wintery Canada.
The flame starter fuse had been pulled, and it sparked a lot when I tried to put one back in so I left it out. I would like to fix this. It still started at -10c two mornings in a row, a little smokey but she got there! Could I just use a manual switch to toggle this system on when I want it? Ditch the controller all together?
Had a scare with the brakes, it started pulling hard to one side. I thought it was oil in the drum but turned out to just be water, one of the inspection flaps was a tiny bit open and 2000kms of heavy rain with five or six brake applications let enough water in. Once we closed the flap and got it warm enough to dry it was all good again.
It does have four wheel park brakes, the fronts using air pressure to apply when the park brake is applied. I suspect this was fitted because it has the big winch, more planted when using the winch this way. I can test the spring brakes by pushing the lever in and down from the "park brake on" position. This releases the front park brakes but leaves the spring brakes applied.
The headlight fuses weren't secure so they were arcing and sparking as the metal tabs weren't tight enough. I would like to convert these old fuses to a more modern style. Has anyone else done this?
Had a big air leak under the air ride seat on day one, cut the line shorter and put it back on no big deal. A couple of other small air leaks to find and deal with including the chain flinger system. I'd like it to hold air pressure, but it always drops to around 6 bar. I suspect this is where it shuts off the aux air systems.
I got the cab to tilt by messing around with the lever position a little. Had to top up the fluid as well. The fluid seems to leak out constantly when driving around so I think air is getting into the cylinder causing fluid to flow back to the tank and overflowing it. Might have to pull the cylinder apart and clean it up. It's telescopic with about 5 parts!
Once I adjusted the idle speed knob driving it became much easier, it was originally idling at 450rpm and that was why hill starting was such a challenge. Up at 600 it is much more drivable. The accelerator loosened up and that helped as well.
What a journey! And what a truck.
The flame starter fuse had been pulled, and it sparked a lot when I tried to put one back in so I left it out. I would like to fix this. It still started at -10c two mornings in a row, a little smokey but she got there! Could I just use a manual switch to toggle this system on when I want it? Ditch the controller all together?
Had a scare with the brakes, it started pulling hard to one side. I thought it was oil in the drum but turned out to just be water, one of the inspection flaps was a tiny bit open and 2000kms of heavy rain with five or six brake applications let enough water in. Once we closed the flap and got it warm enough to dry it was all good again.
It does have four wheel park brakes, the fronts using air pressure to apply when the park brake is applied. I suspect this was fitted because it has the big winch, more planted when using the winch this way. I can test the spring brakes by pushing the lever in and down from the "park brake on" position. This releases the front park brakes but leaves the spring brakes applied.
The headlight fuses weren't secure so they were arcing and sparking as the metal tabs weren't tight enough. I would like to convert these old fuses to a more modern style. Has anyone else done this?
Had a big air leak under the air ride seat on day one, cut the line shorter and put it back on no big deal. A couple of other small air leaks to find and deal with including the chain flinger system. I'd like it to hold air pressure, but it always drops to around 6 bar. I suspect this is where it shuts off the aux air systems.
I got the cab to tilt by messing around with the lever position a little. Had to top up the fluid as well. The fluid seems to leak out constantly when driving around so I think air is getting into the cylinder causing fluid to flow back to the tank and overflowing it. Might have to pull the cylinder apart and clean it up. It's telescopic with about 5 parts!
Once I adjusted the idle speed knob driving it became much easier, it was originally idling at 450rpm and that was why hill starting was such a challenge. Up at 600 it is much more drivable. The accelerator loosened up and that helped as well.
What a journey! And what a truck.
Geo.Lander
Well-known member
That is some serious mileage on the maiden voyage! Congrats! You have a very different cab tilt pump to ours.. The lifting piston is also very different, our is much closer to the front of the cab and much less travel, seems to have about the same angle of tilt thou..
whomisi
Member
Yeah we went all in, I'm glad I found such a well maintained example. Saved some headaches!
There was something on the VIN decode about a heavy duty cab tilt. F31 I think was the code. Hopefully it'll give me capacity for adding a small roof rack. Just need to get it working properly first!
whomisi
Member
With my BC license I had to do a two day air brakes endorsement but that was all for license. I got a transit insurance binder from ICBC that's designed for this kind of purpose. Then for vehicle registration I decided that the Dutch plates and registration were probably maybe close enough.
It was a bit of a hassle trying to wrap my head around it, but it worked out in the end. I've since had it inspected in BC, I had to add marker lights but otherwise all good. Now I'm waiting for the translation of the registration document so I can officially register it on the road here and get a plate.
It's all pretty confusing but really isn't that complicated, just hard to find the answers. Where in Canada are you?
whomisi
Member
Time is flying and life keeps getting in the way... but a few bits and bobs have been done.
I got the auto chain slingers (on-spots) working, had a little play in the snow with them. Will probably pull them off though, once we're on super singles they'll need moving anyway and I am probably better to just carry chains. I don't intend on doing too much mid-winter highway driving!
Thanks @Geo.Lander for the tip on the floor rust, I found some! There's a stupid carboard spacing thing behind the rubber trim which holds moisture and rubs on the paint, with dirt collecting as well, it is a recipe for corrosion. Luckily it seems to be just surface, I will clean it up, paint it, and keep it clean.
With the park brake engaged (which applies pressure to the front brakes, and take it away from the rear spring brakes), the front brakes would often leak air. Sat at 8bar for 30 years plugged into compressed air in Europe has probably loosened things up a bit! So I pulled them apart, cleaned them up and put them back together. Nice and clean inside. Not sure what the torque spec on the clamp bolt should be - where do people find that info? Is that what the WIS I keep hearing about is?
Cleaned up the big balls while I was there, thin coat of fluid film, grease in the kingpin bearings, she's good to go. I will check inside the balls soon, is that supposed to be moly grease in there, or just heaps of the usual kind of stuff?
Where do people go for a list of things to service and how often? I've found things on the LN2 forum but being in German a lot of it is hard to decipher. With parts hard to get, the more I can prevent failure the happier I will be. Especially since this is such a tidy unit, I will only have myself to blame.
I did some digging into the flame start system, seems like the plug had failed which had gone dead short and the control module fried itself too. The relay was burnt closed and a trace had evaporated. I've patched it up and ordered a new glowplug, and also a newer style control module. Hopefully get that all going to help with the Canadian winter starting. Until I get the box built and sort out diesel burning water heating systems.
Looking more at the service box on the back, I realised that it is built on a somewhat torsion free subframe. There is a steel tube on top of the frame, with brackets sitting out holding two long aluminium C channels. The front is bolted, then all others are on a slipping bushed joint. Pictures aren't overly clear. I maaayyyy re-use this for my habitation box, as I want to re-use the storage boxes anyway. But as mentioned before, I would like 18ft of living space when right now the box is 15ft. So it may still be possible, but I will have to do some more tearing apart before I decide.
My only semi-major issue I have found with this truck is the rear axle is crabbing hard. The passenger side of the axle tube is a 3/4" further back than the drivers side. You can see it on the military axle wraps that the passenger one (second image) appears to have slipped. I can only assume the spring pack centre bolt is sheared. I'll have to pull the whole lot apart to find out, which is a job for another day. Probably once the box is off the back and I'm about to cut the frame for extending. Or maybe if/when I fit the parabolic springs I hear such good things about.
Starting to pull the dash apart now, remove the high voltage driving unit for the blue lights, pull out the "RAG" black box monitoring system, basically try and simplify the wiring before I build it back up again with radios and VHF radios and backup cameras etc. I did find a 24-12V adapter hidden up above the sun visors, one less thing to buy and install!
I've failed to get the loudhailer on the roof working (Hella RTK 3), which is a shame. But not worth any more of my time as much fun as that would have been!
I had a play with the Rotzler hydraulic winch, I really should probably remove it since it is heavily overkill but it is just so cool it might have to stay despite the weight penalty.
So just bits and bobs for now. I need to start carving out more time to get things really going. I'm tempted to try and sell the whole service body as a unit, there must be a market for something like that with the PTO generator, but we'll see if I can find it.
I got the auto chain slingers (on-spots) working, had a little play in the snow with them. Will probably pull them off though, once we're on super singles they'll need moving anyway and I am probably better to just carry chains. I don't intend on doing too much mid-winter highway driving!
Thanks @Geo.Lander for the tip on the floor rust, I found some! There's a stupid carboard spacing thing behind the rubber trim which holds moisture and rubs on the paint, with dirt collecting as well, it is a recipe for corrosion. Luckily it seems to be just surface, I will clean it up, paint it, and keep it clean.
With the park brake engaged (which applies pressure to the front brakes, and take it away from the rear spring brakes), the front brakes would often leak air. Sat at 8bar for 30 years plugged into compressed air in Europe has probably loosened things up a bit! So I pulled them apart, cleaned them up and put them back together. Nice and clean inside. Not sure what the torque spec on the clamp bolt should be - where do people find that info? Is that what the WIS I keep hearing about is?
Cleaned up the big balls while I was there, thin coat of fluid film, grease in the kingpin bearings, she's good to go. I will check inside the balls soon, is that supposed to be moly grease in there, or just heaps of the usual kind of stuff?
Where do people go for a list of things to service and how often? I've found things on the LN2 forum but being in German a lot of it is hard to decipher. With parts hard to get, the more I can prevent failure the happier I will be. Especially since this is such a tidy unit, I will only have myself to blame.
I did some digging into the flame start system, seems like the plug had failed which had gone dead short and the control module fried itself too. The relay was burnt closed and a trace had evaporated. I've patched it up and ordered a new glowplug, and also a newer style control module. Hopefully get that all going to help with the Canadian winter starting. Until I get the box built and sort out diesel burning water heating systems.
Looking more at the service box on the back, I realised that it is built on a somewhat torsion free subframe. There is a steel tube on top of the frame, with brackets sitting out holding two long aluminium C channels. The front is bolted, then all others are on a slipping bushed joint. Pictures aren't overly clear. I maaayyyy re-use this for my habitation box, as I want to re-use the storage boxes anyway. But as mentioned before, I would like 18ft of living space when right now the box is 15ft. So it may still be possible, but I will have to do some more tearing apart before I decide.
My only semi-major issue I have found with this truck is the rear axle is crabbing hard. The passenger side of the axle tube is a 3/4" further back than the drivers side. You can see it on the military axle wraps that the passenger one (second image) appears to have slipped. I can only assume the spring pack centre bolt is sheared. I'll have to pull the whole lot apart to find out, which is a job for another day. Probably once the box is off the back and I'm about to cut the frame for extending. Or maybe if/when I fit the parabolic springs I hear such good things about.
Starting to pull the dash apart now, remove the high voltage driving unit for the blue lights, pull out the "RAG" black box monitoring system, basically try and simplify the wiring before I build it back up again with radios and VHF radios and backup cameras etc. I did find a 24-12V adapter hidden up above the sun visors, one less thing to buy and install!
I've failed to get the loudhailer on the roof working (Hella RTK 3), which is a shame. But not worth any more of my time as much fun as that would have been!
I had a play with the Rotzler hydraulic winch, I really should probably remove it since it is heavily overkill but it is just so cool it might have to stay despite the weight penalty.
So just bits and bobs for now. I need to start carving out more time to get things really going. I'm tempted to try and sell the whole service body as a unit, there must be a market for something like that with the PTO generator, but we'll see if I can find it.
Last edited:
whomisi
Member
Finally a big step, pulling the rear box. A bit sketchy unloading it in a soggy back yard with hi lift jacks, but now I have a big red shed! Boy was it a tight fit getting it back there.
Next steps are removing the generator, relocating the hydraulic pump, and extending the frame.
Does anyone have details on a hydraulic pump connected straight to the PTO? Mine runs off the back of the generator.
And anyone had their frame extended? I'm curious where others cut it and how they add the reinforcement called for in the Mercedes builders guide.
Next steps are removing the generator, relocating the hydraulic pump, and extending the frame.
Does anyone have details on a hydraulic pump connected straight to the PTO? Mine runs off the back of the generator.
And anyone had their frame extended? I'm curious where others cut it and how they add the reinforcement called for in the Mercedes builders guide.
whomisi
Member
Haha, as soon as I saw the words dry to start I knew what video it was going to be. I watched it and he's right.
Mercedes provides the information (in german) on their bodybuilder (no not that type) portal. Link below. Im am getting a german friend to translate some of it, when I have a clearer understanding I will report back. But essentially, cut away from the load points, straight up and down, weld in a new section, add reinforcing angles along the inside that are bolted to the outer frame.
Here is the link to their documentation.
