burquedoka
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The cab heater is coolant actuated, not electric. They can fail with blockage, air bubble, stuck valve, bad thermostat (does the engine com up to temp?)
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I'm no tire chain connoisseur so I merely run whatever chains I have on whatever tires I have, and make them fit the best I can since they're usually not made for the application.If one wants to stick with the stock "X" radials, one will need "basket" type low-pressure-radial chains, or so I've been told.
I figure if I could shut off the smaller air tank instead of it leaking so bad it doesn't even hiss... All I know at this point, is my HMMH cab heater works, while my SEE's doesn't.
Using chains meant for bias-ply on radials, will likely destroy your radials. It's been years since I've needed to bother with chains, Blizzaks are awesome, but BITD radial chains looked like cables, not links of chain. Basket chains for the "X" radials, look like cables, not chains. Not a priority, my FLUs may not see the light of day again until the snow's melted...What I do know, however, is that even crappy chains deliver much better traction in the snow. If they only provide, say 60%, compared to the ultimate chains for the application, so be it. That's still a huge improvement over naked tires, of any kind.
I don't know where the leak is, as it doesn't hiss and it's too cold outside to care. I haven't found any valves for shutting any reservoirs off, and no I don't know where the alcohol reservoir is, or anything about its state. As per plenty of discussion in this thread, my plan is to wait until next week, put the SEE in a garage, and get to work on this that and t'other, including an air drier in addition to the alcohol. The fuel system loses priming after a while (air pressure zeroes within seconds of the motor being shut off), plus I'm not happy with the wiring etc. so I suspect the SEE will be down for a while starting the day after my Dodge gets back from the body shop.Dumb question; Instead of shutting that air tank off, wouldn't it be easier (or at least as easy) to plug the leak? And you do have alky in the reservoir and the valve turned on, right?
Not a dumb question, because no, it isn't and can't be. Unless that left-hand knob on the heater's meant to be decorative (I'll need to check the HMMH next time I see it), mine's completely seized. Turning the right-hand knob counterclockwise will eventually make the heater unit warm to the touch, but there's no fan.Dumb question #2; Is the SEE's heater turned on?
My tools are spread about the county in storage until I have a place to live, or at least a Quonset hut to move them into and sort 'em back out. Although, once the FLUs are in that garage and my two guys are working on them, they'll have at least as many tools as I do, plus more expertise with air & hydraulics & diesel motors than me. I'll be right there working on the primary wiring, to supervise and make executive decisions.Lastly, a $30 HF temp reader would allow finding out if your temp gauge is reading correctly and/or finding the cause of the problem, if there is one. My SEE's temp needle goes up about a third way on the scale, whatever that is, and that's regardless of if it's summer or winter. Just like any other water cooled vehicle I own.
Maybe you can put a small 3-D printer in there, moving it with a stick or something, and have it make new ducts on the spot?One thing I haven't gotten around to fixing is the ducting for the defroster ducts on mine. They got destroyed getting access to the back of the dash and figuring how to get them back in limited space is something I decided would be a future project. Mine is parked for the winter, until I put in the air dryer on the air system, not much need to run it and no need for heat. I was impressed with the cooling system I ran it hard for several hours in hot weather and it still looked like I had plenty of cooling left. Of course the cab was pretty toasty by all the heat soak from the floor and the engine cover.
I'm not worried about destroying the radials. As you've found, the stock Michelins leave a bit to be desired. And I'm a bias tire fan, anyway.Using chains meant for bias-ply on radials, will likely destroy your radials. It's been years since I've needed to bother with chains, Blizzaks are awesome, but BITD radial chains looked like cables, not links of chain. Basket chains for the "X" radials, look like cables, not chains.
I haven't found any valves for shutting any reservoirs off, and no I don't know where the alcohol reservoir is, or anything about its state.
Not a dumb question, because no, it isn't and can't be. Unless that left-hand knob on the heater's meant to be decorative (I'll need to check the HMMH next time I see it), mine's completely seized. Turning the right-hand knob counterclockwise will eventually make the heater unit warm to the touch, but there's no fan.
Be sure to post "after" pics! The links will tear the tread blocks apart until they've seated down so far they're not much use as tire chains. I can totally see why basket-type cable chains are recommended (by more than one expert, not me) for the X radials.I'm not worried about destroying the radials. As you've found, the stock Michelins leave a bit to be desired. And I'm a bias tire fan, anyway.
Don't know if the pictured chain is radial friendly or not, but they look stout and are cheap, so once cut to size that's what I'll use.View attachment 660877
Oh, I'm sure it'll be easy to find, and give a proper post-mortem, once I have the SEE inside the garage and care to look.I doubt that there are valves for shutting the tanks off, but I'd think an air leak big enough to empty the tanks "within seconds" should be very easy to find. Although it's odd that the compressor would keep up with a leak even remotely that meaningful.
Oh! I was wondering what that whole assembly was.Look in the right rear wheel well and you'll see the bottom of the alky reservoir, and the valve is at the other end of the hose.
"Then the fan" seems to be that decorative knob which might actually be a seized-up switch. I haven't jumpered the blower to see if it works, seems a working switch is required, regardless!Sounds like you indeed have a functional heater. Turn the right knob on, as you said, then the fan, and you should have heat. While 140 degrees is way low (if it is a true reading) you'd still get heat in the cab. At least mine starts blowing warm once the coolant temp exceeds ambient, which has been well below 140 lately.
Because I don't need a third one, just because I'm willing to splurge on batteries doesn't mean I'm OK with wasting $30 for a tool I don't need because I don't need an answer to that question ASAP. It won't be many more days before we've probably pooled at least three of 'em together, I can wait? That is one decent tool HF sells for cheap, though!You say you don't have time now, but you probably should spend some getting familiarized with your FLUs. And if you do have money, why not splurge and buy a (second?) infrared temp reader from HF for $30, or so? Those are useful for many things, aside from verifying coolant temps.
Be sure to post "after" pics! The links will tear the tread blocks apart until they've seated down so far they're not much use as tire chains. I can totally see why basket-type cable chains are recommended (by more than one expert, not me) for the X radials.
"Then the fan" seems to be that decorative knob which might actually be a seized-up switch. I haven't jumpered the blower to see if it works, seems a working switch is required, regardless!Guess I've been lucky, running all kinds of chains on all kinds of tire with no ill effects. But I'll take a photo in the spring, if you remind me.
A casual look-see would reveal the heater's fan switch, right above the outlet. I think you're trying to use the little knobbie on the left, for the shutter.
Two of my FLUs came with regular (small) batteries in them, one courtesy of the Govt. (or possibly GP), the other's were presumably installed by the previous owner.One thing occurs to me, is I'm running my pickup-truck batteries in my SEE, without having downsized the alternator regulator. This won't overcharge 'em, but will boil 'em after every startup. These were perfectly good, 3-yr-old batteries when they went in. If I don't take 'em out sooner rather than later, they'll be destroyed before I have the truck they came out of fixed!
If you can't hear your batteries boiling, are you monitoring their temps with your HF temp gun, or is your battery-box closed? In which case, if I'm talking about a split-second of boiling, how can you smell it? I mostly smell diesel-startup fumes at that point, before the exhaust runs mostly clear w/ a touch of grey (prolly the motor's not quite coming up to temp on the SEE due to the possibly-stuck thermostat) well after any of the boiling I mention. You'll eventually wonder why those batteries need so much topping-up with distilled water, and even then, begin to rapidly degrade. I've been dealing with this issue on the ambulance-alternator upgrade for my Dodge, too, but I'm also adding a third battery to that truck.Granted, I haven't driven either one much, but there has been no sign of them boiling.
I agree. But if the event only lasts a split-second, how do you know? The startup battery drain on my FLUs is negligible 9 times in 10 because the motors mostly start right up, but of course I've got the hand-throttle pulled back, so they're not firing up at idle, right? If they crank & crank, a) they can take more charge b) it's likely cold, so they can take more charge. It's all those times the motor starts before you can physically release the start button, which I think shorten the life of undersized lead-acid batteries. If they don't cause other failures before they die...Knowing all to well what gassing batteries smell like, had the two FLUs with small batteries been boiling, I'd like to think that I would've noticed.
I'm glad you brought up "system" because that's the thing -- the FLU as a whole is designed around waaaay more amp-hours of battery capacity. So you're gonna have more voltage drop on startup. What's the first wire gonna melt through (if not start a fire) when voltage drops, increasing current and therefore temperature? Yeah, the coil in your alternator relay, right at the weak point where it attaches to the board... as seen in that guy's video!Either way, I thought that a properly functioning charging system would simply charge the batteries. If the draw is higher than the alternator's output, then it obviously wouldn't work well for long, but I never knew that "too much alternator" could harm a battery. Not if there's a functional regulator in the system.
How many of 'em were 24V with continuous-duty-rated alternators vs. old beaters? I'm not being sarcastic here, because you'll probably reply "more than one." But did you start running into electrical gremlins, before putting proper batteries back in or having the vehicle otherwise give up the ghost? We're trying to keep our rare-as-heck FLUs running long into the future, and I personally hate replacing batteries, especially lead-acid batteries! Let alone barely-accessible alternator relays. I won't be all "told ya so" if & when your alternator relay "inexplicably" burns out, and the last thing you suspect being responsible are your perfectly-good-for-now batteries.But if running a high output alternator can boil a smallish battery, once again I've been lucky. Many, many times, with many different vehicles.
On the contrary, Bison. If you have time to search for and watch videos, maybe keep looking for one that shows the basics of a FLU's components and their operation.Must... Stop... Watching... Unimog videos!!!
This time of year, here, yeah I've got more time to watch videos, been about a year since I have and what I posted are what, 6 months old at most? What others are doing with their FLUs are exactly the videos I'll post of what I'm doing with mine, when the time comes. Basic stuff, I'll be going hands-on with soon enough. I've got that garage rented now. This is not the time of year, hereabouts, to familiarize oneself with one's SEE outside on snowpack!On the contrary, Bison. If you have time to search for and watch videos, maybe keep looking for one that shows the basics of a FLU's components and their operation.
I unexpectedly had to move right after I took delivery of my SEE. I did read the manuals, try stuff out, and then forgot all of it for lack of training reps. Then I didn't have it anywhere near me, etc. etc. and so on and so forth. I'm finally now going to have both FLUs in the same place, with them (finally) as my daily priority in life. Basic components and operation will become second-nature for me in short order. At this time, yeah, I've not been around my FLUs enough to know exactly what I'm looking at is the alcohol reservoir for the air, or anything else...I'm still trying to grasp that you have hours of user time on the HMMH, yet didn't get around to look under/in/on it enough to (for example) find the alcohol reservoir, figure out the heater's three controls, or where the ether canister is. Or even learn it by reading.
Yeah, me too, then I unexpectedly lost my home of 15 years, OK? I don't have the luxury of parking all kinds of vehicles here, like I will in a few months from now on my own property, or in that garage I'm now renting. Doesn't do me any good to just read up, how I retain that knowledge is hands-on experience. I went so far as to have a buddy with a similar tranny show me how to run a hand-splitter before the SEE was initially delivered. I'll get there. Just be patient and please keep helping me out, because one day I will be up to speed and able to help others out.To each his own, but after buying my SEE I searched out as much information about the machine as I could find (which is also how I came across Steel Soldiers) and when it arrived, complete with a manual, I read it from cover to cover that night. Already knowing the basics, driving it off the transporter and to the garage was painfully simple, but I wanted to know not only how it was supposed to be operated but also as much as possible about how it actually functions.
It's important to me, too, and I'm also just figuring things out because now is honestly the first chance I've had to familiarize the SEE since I got it, shortly before getting evicted due to my long-time landlord passing away. This was after I bought property to develop, and a SEE. I'm getting pulled in different directions each and every day due to time constraints I didn't account for, because my late landlord was a healthy 70 competing in races up multiple 14'ers in CO. Life has its little setbacks, I'm just happy to be around on this beautiful planet.True, it wasn't until recently that I found that the wipers and heater are indeed operational, but that's because I never tried using them until now. Yes, I knew how to operate them, just not if they actually worked. Hunting down all the Zerk fittings, fixing minor air leaks, changing fluids and filters, etc. was more important to me, and the SEE's well being.