Chainbreaker
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One of the hazards of surfing Craigslist ad's is you just might find something you don't need but you buy it anyway…
So I run across an Airforce NF-2 light tower (Light All) unit advertised on CL. After looking at the pictures in the ad I notice the enclosure appears well built (Mil Spec) and is fairly compact, it is on a steerable trailer with sturdy leaf spring suspension and has dual wide access doors on both sides plus a door on one end for panel access and even has a parking brake. These features spawn an idea…I wonder if my recently acquired MEP-002a would fit inside one of these? Living where it rains a LOT during the winter I like my equipment covered as well as mobile on the property for the added utility factor. So I asked the seller to take some interior measurements and what do you know... A MEP-002a “should fit” inside with a few inches to spare.
So I purchase the NF-2 unit and to my surprise I found out that everything works - the gasoline fed Onan CCK 2 cylinder starts up and purrs like a kitten, the elevator platform raises and lowers and the big reflector housed mercury lights all light up VERY brightly. I can imagine one of these units stationed on a remote airfield shining brightly into the cargo hold of an aircraft and whatever else they were used for. I really hated to cannibalize a working unit but had no need for a light unit per se and planned on selling the included Onan CCK 2kw gen set to cover some of the project costs.
I got to work and removed the outer enclosure skin as one piece by unbolting all 100 or so rusty skirt bolts (thank god for air ratchets!) that attached the enclosure’s skin to the trailer’s bottom deck area. With all the doors open I then used my tractor forks to gently lift it off the lower frame as one unit. I then pulled the genset, then ground off several no longer needed fittings in the bed area, removed wiring harnesses then removed the NF2 control panel. While I had everything off the trailer bed I decided to spray on a bed liner in the bed deck to better rust proof and sound deaden it a bit. I used the “U-POL Raptor” bed liner kit and man did it turn out nice! Very easy to spray on with great texture. Once the bed liner cured I used my tractor and hoisted the MEP-002a gently above the bed and lowered it onto (2) 3/4" thick carefully located horse stall-mat runners placed between the deck and skid frame to further dampen any vibrations. The hard part was figuring out exactly where to place the genset before drilling and attaching it to the bed. I decided to place it 8" from the end panel access door to give me adequate working room to reach inside to access the accessory outlets, circuit breaker and throttle control knob easily (the NF-2 panel door is a vertical rectangle whereas the MEP control panel is a horizontal layout). I also needed to leave enough room in the opposite end of trailer to install my batteries on the trailer's frame as I used the MEP-002a's battery skid space to retrofit a larger MEP-003a fuel tank (more fuel capacity is a good thing!). I needed to leave room as well for the NF-2’s built in fuel tank attached to one end of the enclosure so I could use it as an auxiliary fuel tank.
Anyway, it all fit quite nicely however by adding in the rubber mat runners it raised the MEP up and the control panel box on the right side only clears one side of the sloped structure by about a ½”, talk about cutting it close! I still need to paint the exterior…more Rapco CARC 283 Green is on the way! In the meantime, here are some pictures of the project thus far:
Before:
After:
So I run across an Airforce NF-2 light tower (Light All) unit advertised on CL. After looking at the pictures in the ad I notice the enclosure appears well built (Mil Spec) and is fairly compact, it is on a steerable trailer with sturdy leaf spring suspension and has dual wide access doors on both sides plus a door on one end for panel access and even has a parking brake. These features spawn an idea…I wonder if my recently acquired MEP-002a would fit inside one of these? Living where it rains a LOT during the winter I like my equipment covered as well as mobile on the property for the added utility factor. So I asked the seller to take some interior measurements and what do you know... A MEP-002a “should fit” inside with a few inches to spare.
So I purchase the NF-2 unit and to my surprise I found out that everything works - the gasoline fed Onan CCK 2 cylinder starts up and purrs like a kitten, the elevator platform raises and lowers and the big reflector housed mercury lights all light up VERY brightly. I can imagine one of these units stationed on a remote airfield shining brightly into the cargo hold of an aircraft and whatever else they were used for. I really hated to cannibalize a working unit but had no need for a light unit per se and planned on selling the included Onan CCK 2kw gen set to cover some of the project costs.
I got to work and removed the outer enclosure skin as one piece by unbolting all 100 or so rusty skirt bolts (thank god for air ratchets!) that attached the enclosure’s skin to the trailer’s bottom deck area. With all the doors open I then used my tractor forks to gently lift it off the lower frame as one unit. I then pulled the genset, then ground off several no longer needed fittings in the bed area, removed wiring harnesses then removed the NF2 control panel. While I had everything off the trailer bed I decided to spray on a bed liner in the bed deck to better rust proof and sound deaden it a bit. I used the “U-POL Raptor” bed liner kit and man did it turn out nice! Very easy to spray on with great texture. Once the bed liner cured I used my tractor and hoisted the MEP-002a gently above the bed and lowered it onto (2) 3/4" thick carefully located horse stall-mat runners placed between the deck and skid frame to further dampen any vibrations. The hard part was figuring out exactly where to place the genset before drilling and attaching it to the bed. I decided to place it 8" from the end panel access door to give me adequate working room to reach inside to access the accessory outlets, circuit breaker and throttle control knob easily (the NF-2 panel door is a vertical rectangle whereas the MEP control panel is a horizontal layout). I also needed to leave enough room in the opposite end of trailer to install my batteries on the trailer's frame as I used the MEP-002a's battery skid space to retrofit a larger MEP-003a fuel tank (more fuel capacity is a good thing!). I needed to leave room as well for the NF-2’s built in fuel tank attached to one end of the enclosure so I could use it as an auxiliary fuel tank.
Anyway, it all fit quite nicely however by adding in the rubber mat runners it raised the MEP up and the control panel box on the right side only clears one side of the sloped structure by about a ½”, talk about cutting it close! I still need to paint the exterior…more Rapco CARC 283 Green is on the way! In the meantime, here are some pictures of the project thus far:
Before:
After:
Perhaps with a little welding of some brackets it could be used as a motorcycle lift or some sort of adjustable stand; maybe use a motor driven pulley on the worm gear drive instead of the manual crank. Hmmm....how about the largest monster truck adjustable height "light bar" every made!
