Recent content by Johnbyrdgates

Thanks, Travlr! Now that it’s getting cold, I’m going to put the truck in the barn and disassemble it. I want to add a battery heating system that I’m piecing together from Smart Car bits. Once it’s all apart again, I’ll get down to testing the secondary controller and my wiring to find out why...

Valley Rock and John Mc: I do use reverse (and the other gears). I left the drivetrain original except for removing the clutch. My secondary controller is not working at all, and the motor that it control isn’t being told to go, so I’ve been running the truck on half its potential. While this is...

Me too. I figured I’d have enough power to push the truck faster down the road than stock and that the running gear would be the limiting factor. It might be the case yet. One of my controllers seems to not be working, so I’ve been running on half the system’s power. I’m not sure how to diagnose...

The truck is running fine for my purposes, though you wouldn’t want to take it on the freeway. I thought the additional horsepower might allow for more performance at higher speeds, but the controllers get warm and put the truck in Econo mode. Some of the hills around here are pretty steep and...

Count me in🙂 … twice! I upgraded!

green, When my fuel filter kept plugging, it turned out to be rusted fuel lines. If the truck sat for 15-20 years, there was plenty of time for your lines to rust inside. Mine looked great on the outside right up until I could see the inside from the split that developed. Ethanol s#$&s, too, so...

I agree with NDT regarding the crank’s probable condition. However, I used to read the tech notes section of Military Vehicles magazine and in one article, the excellent author (Turchet?) indicated that replacing those bearings was better than nothing and a lot easier than having the crank...

It needs some throttle mapping tweaks, and the new transmission jumps out of second gear, but otherwise its a resounding success!

Forgive the absence of fenders, etc. I’m still figuring out power steering.

This’ll just be a ‘get it out of the barn so I can work on another vehicle’ cruise. So maybe 40 feet. I still need to hook up my Volvo electric power steering pump to the truck, so I’ll be cranking hard on the Saginaw steering gearbox.

Tomorrow, I drive it out of the barn for the first time.😬

I’ve finished the truck bed rebuild. It has been quite a challenge to duplicate the original tailgate, bed and front piece in aluminum and stainless. Drilling holes in 304 stainless steel eats up drill bits - even cobalt coated ones using oil and pilot holes. One bit absolutely melted at the tip...

Cooling the batteries is not part of my project yet. EVWest told me that I may not need to cool them. I ordered connectors for the cooling ports and they’ve been on back order for almost a year now, so my plan is to try the truck without battery cooling. Actually, battery heating will probably...