'74 Argosy 20' Motorhome restoration/rebuild

[Danec020]

Lol Brad. Does he get the source of all that debt? The new panel looks great and I think the "cluster" of information will be nice. See what I did there?

[martin300662]

I would be happy to just be able to see the speedo on Bella. Sometimes I change to change lanes just to see the needle!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Danec020

Lol Brad. Does he get the source of all that debt?

Na'ah, it probably won't be done by then so I'm guessing he wouldn't want to deal with the mess!

The new panel looks great and I think the "cluster" of information will be nice. See what I did there?

Well, I will admit it's definitely a cluster

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

I would be happy to just be able to see the speedo on Bella. Sometimes I change to change lanes just to see the needle!

Maybe it's time to outfit Bella with a Heads Up Display

Maybe something like this...

[Gregsch]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Maybe it's time to outfit Bella with a Heads Up Display

Maybe something like this...

That's a great idea! I have a terribly time seeing my speedo and tach when I am driving (they are hidden behind the steering wheel). If they make a speedo and tach combo that would solve my problem. I have HUD in my Pontiac and really like that feature.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Gregsch

That's a great idea! I have a terribly time seeing my speedo and tach when I am driving (they are hidden behind the steering wheel). If they make a speedo and tach combo that would solve my problem. I have HUD in my Pontiac and really like that feature.

I hadn't realized just how much stuff was available for aftermarket HUDs. Looks like I'm going to have to do some research.

V checker H501 Head Up Display Car HUD fit for OBD1 OBD2 JOBD EOBD Vehicles

V checker H501 Heads Up Display user manual

OBD1 OBD2 Car 3 5 Screen A3 HUD GPS Heads Up Display Projector Speedometer

[bkahler]

I spent about four hours today setting up, steam cleaning the differential and then cleaning up the mess afterwards. Oddly enough I didn't take any pictures! I didn't want my phone to get wet so I left it in the shop and forgot about it.

Next up is painting the differential and painting the rear 1/3 of the chassis. Once that's done the differential is going back in

Brad

[bkahler]

I had hoped to have the differential installed before the end of the year, instead it looks like it's going to be late tomorrow or Monday before I can get it done. The differential is painted but I forgot to paint the four differential and leaf spring saddles

I just painted the top sides of the saddles this morning and will paint the bottom sides tomorrow which means Monday is probably the day.



I finished painting the differential yesterday. I was going to replace the pinion seal while I had the differential out but found that I wouldn't be able to loosen the pinion nut with the differential removed from the chassis! I'll paint the pinion yoke and splash guard once the pinion nut is removed.



I also have to paint a portion of each of the brake drums and will do that when I pull the drums to replace the parking brake cables. With luck by mid next week the Argosy will be back on all four wheels. That will be the first time in over a year!

Brad

Happy New Year everyone

[martin300662]

Great progress Brad!

Happy New Year to you as well!

[shepherd57]

Brad
You could use a 1/2 inch impact to remove the nut it should have the power and just hold the yoke with your hand .

Happy New year to you and everybody on the forums.

Now I'm going out to blow snow
John

[Isuzusweet]

Just curious......what would it have taken to do a brake disc conversion to the axle or swap a Dana 70HD from a Classic in its place?

Happy New Year to all!

Cheers
Tony

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Just curious......what would it have taken to do a brake disc conversion to the axle or swap a Dana 70HD from a Classic in its place?

Happy New Year to all!

Cheers
Tony

What seems way back (but is only about 18months ago) before the brakes failed on Bella, I was looking to upgrade the brakes and was advised this kit is a bolt up replacement (http://www.tsmmfg.net/2830.html).

However everyone I spoke to at the time advised me not to bother as although the disc brakes have a much higher stopping efficiency, after changing to the JB9 combination valve (to move the braking balance towards the rear), you end up with a much longer pedal travel. The rationale was the float needed between disc and pad, was greater than drum and pad. Basically the brakes would work better but you would have exaggerated pedal travel before they did.

If the drums give enough stopping power I would stay with them.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by shepherd57

Brad
You could use a 1/2 inch impact to remove the nut it should have the power and just hold the yoke with your hand .

Happy New year to you and everybody on the forums.

Now I'm going out to blow snow
John

John, from what I understand and read I have to mark the end of the nut and pinion shaft and then count the turns when removing the nut. Replace the seal and then the nut has to be reinstalled with the same number of turns until it lines up with the marks that I made.

Apparently there is a crush spacer that forces the use of this method.

Brad

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Just curious......what would it have taken to do a brake disc conversion to the axle or swap a Dana 70HD from a Classic in its place?

Happy New Year to all!

Cheers
Tony

Tony, at one time converting to rear disc might have been an option because the 4L80e that I installed came with the rear drum brake. Since my Argosy has parking brakes in the rear drums I opted to get rid of the transmission parking brake and stick with my original rear parking brakes.

Had I seen the conversion kit that Martin linked too previously I might have considered doing the disc brake conversion. In the end I opted for simplicity and sticking with what was already there

To be honest I don't know what the advantages would be in switching to a Dana 70. My rig has the GM 14 bolt differential.

The drum brakes on Peanut seem to provide as good a brake pedal as my 310 had and I still need to do a final adjustment to the brake shoes to firm the pedal up a little. I also plan to take Peanut to a service shop and have the brakes professionally bled and adjusted. I'm just an amateur at this stuff and when it comes to brakes I'd rather have the pros bless them off

Oh yeah, I snuck down to the shop last night and painted the other side of the brackets. Sometime today I hope to have the differential installed. That would be a nice way to start the New Year!

Brad

[Isuzusweet]

Question answered, thanks all. I was wondering if the brake performance improvement of disc brakes would apply to a 20' Argosy.


I wonder if Smarstream (Dan), ever got that Telma unit installed on his 280? That's the bees knees for me to improve braking on my 310.

That extra 400+ lbs of diesel motor doesn't help me any.

Cheers
Tony.....HNY

[Smartstream]

Tony is trying to start trouble already in the new year. No Tony the Telma is still sitting in the garage. I had a total knee replacement on both knees last year and crawling around under the Airstream has not been high on my fun list.

As to the idea of switching to disk brakes for most it's probably not worth it. Drums stop great until they get too hot. If you are driving in the mountains discs are more forgiving but proper driving technique and using the transmission will keep you out of trouble. I may be wrong but I don't believe I have ever heard of anybody loosing an Airstream or Argosy moho because of brake fade in the mountains. Common sense will keep you safer than disc brakes.

If you want to drive a high performance sports car that's fine but that is not how I drive my 35 year old Airstream.

[bkahler]

Dan, while an Argosy might be considered a sports car compared to the 310's and larger, driving it like a sports car would probably not be high on my list of things to try

I can sympathize with you not wanting to crawl around under your coach. I just spent about 7 hours under mine getting the suspension and differential installed

The good news it's done, the bad news is I'm beat!



The leaf spring on the passenger side took me about 2 hours to get in place. Lessons learned on the right side allowed me to get the left side installed in about 30 minutes. This is a learn as you go kinda project

Last thing I did was to torque the leaf spring u-bolt nuts to 140 ft/lbs. I couldn't get any real leverage while laying on the floor so I kept sliding while trying to get to final torque. But they are torqued and the differential is back in place where it belongs!

Brad

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by Smartstream

Tony is trying to start trouble already in the new year. No Tony the Telma is still sitting in the garage. I had a total knee replacement on both knees last year and crawling around under the Airstream has not been high on my fun list.

Sorry for thread hijack Brad.

Sorry mate, not trying to stir the pot. I can't keep up with peoples coach problems let alone personal health problems. Double knee replacements!!! My brother in law said it was the most pain he'd had ever experienced......and he had just one done.

Let me know what part number I need to look for and what kind of wiring harness, controller and in cab display I need. Also, what are you going to do with the alternator output?

I actually inquired after this one earlier today.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/162324495218...witem=&vxp=mtr

Again sorry Dan; take care and hope you're back on you feet soon.

Cheers
Tony

[Smartstream]

Again Brad not trying to hijack, just answer Tony. You know how these diesel guys can be.

Tony the first thing to establish the size of the unit. They grow in size for bigger trucks. The only in-cab control required is a 4 position switch on the brake pedal. The further you push the pedal the more pairs of coils are energized, providing more braking. An upgrade is 4 indicator lights to indicate the number of coils energized. Another option is a switch to turn the system off so desired. The most desirable option is a control to energize the brake in stages without using the brake pedal. This is nice on long downgrades.

The alternator output is usually not an issue because in the grand scheme the amount of time the brake is engaged is pretty minor so a normal alternator can keep up. Even on a long downgrade you would probably only energize the first two coils. I used to drive a 22 passenger bus that had a Telma for the local senior center. A normal stop might energize 2 pairs of coils while a hard stop might energize 3 pairs. I don't think I ever saw all 4 pairs energized, didn't want to get the little old ladies in the back upset.

The Telma people were pretty helpful whenever I called them. http://www.telma.com/

P.S. Thanks, I am on my feet alright, it's getting down on my knees that I'm not too fond of yet.

[bkahler]

Dan, that's ok! It's always interesting to find out about add on's for these vehicles. I don't recall reading about a Telma braking system before. Sounds like a very interesting system.

Brad