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RE: Been working on a new camping spot
Is that land you own?
This is part of a larger ranch that was started by my Great Grandfather. We had to divide things between family members and this is the piece I chose. I decided to fore go the cattle ground in favor of stuff with a view and the creek.
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Mighty Thor
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04/30/13 07:08pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Been working on a new camping spot
I got a chance to take a little video the other day so I thought I would share.
Our spot of heaven
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Mighty Thor
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04/29/13 11:44pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine
Mighty Thor, I watched the show where they shipped your bus. It's a blast to get to here your story about getting it shipped. Now as no one else has asked how was Marc (the Truck Driver) in real life? I am sure they are all very different in "real" life as the show is for entertainment and if they did not ham it up it would be pretty boring.
Marc was great, He shared a little about his family and how he came to be a truck driver and how he ended up on TV. I think my deal was pretty mild compared with some of the stuff he has had to figure out. I did see that when he shipped Evel Kenivel's truck he reused the rails he made to ship my bus.
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Mighty Thor
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04/14/13 05:24pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: D'o's & Don'ts of Camp Grounds
Don't park your new beautiful slide out next to my 1976 piece-o-crap. My wife will want yours and I can't afford it and don't want to listen to her complain about mine.
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Mighty Thor
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04/10/13 02:24pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine
Nice bus! Where did you find it???
This is what happens when you bid on Ebay on stuff you don't really expect to be able to buy. You bid something silly like $700 and then you up your bid a few times early, knowing that the final price two weeks later will be several thousand dollars, and then when there are 10 seconds left and you are the high bidder you have to explain to your wife why you bid on a bus when you are not a bus driver. 10 seconds later you have to answer the following question "SO, how are you planning on getting it here?"
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Mighty Thor
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04/10/13 02:12pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine
I removed the engine cradle from the bus and had it sandblasted by a friend. I knew that there was going to be a lot of repair, but I was surprised by the amount of rust damage on the underside.
https://dhh6pa.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1pWP2aAaLeVxigSqWw-YRgfy9sUryKWvpN7nAb4gYXxCcxxZWVCFvgy5aT3oTvkXpyemySsqI9vVfS6YaR4Jd8bBCkcDIpAcA3/DSCF2647.JPG?psid=1 height=600 width=800
The old joints between aluminium and steel were riveted. The rivets were almost dissolved away so was the steel and the Aluminium rail was gone at the end.
https://dhh6pa.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1p2YdV57K9bbyuBDLKkbHzttawYa14KWi_jsB6VHhZ44X5gRu1HpoHmt_VOTUoyrUbk55mgdTfH-X7zSX3jARfHrZZcMPPgcdZ/DSCF2649.JPG?psid=1 height=600 width=800
The worst damage is at the very back where the motor mount is located. The metal here is now paper thin. I will have to rebuild this whole area.
https://dhh6pa.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1pdtGjZOU149J3zmTpBwB_8OuM1wshtBILb9sa4WPZnes22GaW8vHWmaEtVvSkJcc4syVIHvwVikMJD1WhKVfIsX4ea16mKwhn/DSCF2652.JPG?psid=1 height=650 width=850
I will be rebuilding this area to fit my current engine but also hope to allow for future engine upgrades. Maybe an 8V92 Detroit someday.
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Mighty Thor
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04/05/13 08:45pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Been working on a new camping spot
winter camping can be fun, but getting to the camper in the dark with snow can be an adventure, thus the round about tracks. The next morning we had a good laugh about trying to find the road.https://eumadw.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1p-JemnRADa7fVh5eJOoholeEgHOvFBvpmdQbJGo_nhhj1j4KMDDK40bOXVsqSG5qiQMIRjeTvlSVz2fSwVlazeFt1FoXJ0Vbk/1111121223.jpg?psid=1 height=600 width=800
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Mighty Thor
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03/13/13 10:25pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine
Tony, thanks for the link.
The Radius Rods I am rebuilding are massive and somewhat unique. The one shown is splined half way through and matches splines on the 1 inch bolt and the attachment plate. On the other end of the rod the center piece has a tapered hole that matches the tapered pin on the bus frame. In order to use any other rods I would have to modify the attachment points on the axle and the bus. I hope to avoid that by rebuilding the original bushings with more modern materials. If they work, they should last longer than I will.
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Mighty Thor
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02/28/13 10:03am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 454 water pump
I ordered a high performance pump from Summit for my 454. It didn't seem to cool any better than the stock pump that was in it before.
Should be noted that a water pump is just part of the system and that it cannot move any more water into the radiator than you can push through the thermostat hole. Cooling is a variety of factors including flow, exchange rate, radiator capacity, etc.
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Mighty Thor
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02/28/13 09:51am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Engine performance tuner
Have a programer on my V10 dually and it does work, by that I mean it allows my engine to pull harder in towing mode than the stock program, but the fuel economy goes down. I really only use the truck to pull the trailers with so I don't run it in economy mode.
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Mighty Thor
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02/28/13 09:45am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 454 water pump
Haven't specifically put one on a motor home, but Edelbrock makes a good aftermarket water pump that flows better than the OEM. I have used them on several engines with good results.
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Mighty Thor
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02/27/13 06:49pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine
Sorry bout the size. These were off my phone and uploaded to my online Photo Album that is supposed to resize automatically. I am not sure what happened that they ended up so big.
For now the Family refers to the bus as The Big Blue Bus, or in the case of my wife "That #%$##%#$%^ Bus!" For now I usually call it Big Blue. Around my wife I try not to mention it at all.
Oh Mighty Thor, we, your humble followers, most respectfully ask on bended knee that when you post images to please use the option to resize your uploaded images to 480 in height and 640 in width. Difficult to view oversized images that are bigger than the PC monitor plus they take longer to down load on a limit speed network.
Great to see you are making progress. Have you decided on a name for the bus?
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Mighty Thor
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02/27/13 09:42am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine
Started working on the suspension of the bus before I do the engine and transmission install. The bushings in the radius rods are shot and are hard to find. I did find a California supplier, but I decided to try to make my own first. The California supplier uses my old metal parts so this won't keep me from using the commercial bushings later if this doesn't work.
I am pouring my own Polyurethane bushings in place. The factory bushings were rubber, these will be a little harder but I note that lots of modern semi trucks are using poly in their bushings.
First step was to remove and clean up the old metal parts. I used a paint stripper wheel on a drill to clean the inside of the radius rod and a belt grinder to clean the old rubber off the center piece. I needed to center the middle piece in the end of the rod so I used the right thickness of cardboard to shim the radius rod up the right amount.
https://dhh6pa.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1pEq_dX8nLADs-sqm6AnAlzQkQ5nnp0anN9S3Ymc7OMu824mtkTO274cd0U_euCqYjb0T6jYAR6EBsyHHCwrCsVXBf-eHoTuPQ/0225131126b.jpg?psid=1
I used plastic wrap to make sure that the bottom of the rod was sealed so none of the liquid would leak out.
https://dhh6pa.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1pl4t3KylHm3kk1L75Knr037TMkCbafxXMpmxQcbT5S5vMsI1Aqrev-u8veLSIN9gcxRz5vMlUa1PYTGR5aMhf3Q4g8ZmQEMxf/0226132113.jpg?psid=1
The Polyurethane rubber is a two part mix that you mix by weight. I have a new scale that I used to measure the stuff. Just mix and pour till you have the gap filled.
https://dhh6pa.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1pEn5fmZlJ7Ic0BvI-PKkQQ4-yVeuYut9cVbXBN6tzF6lsSijy1YDBjUGTGKmaq_D3L5Ss1Mu_XHEYZn0WbrKA1tyvvBDVmvYM/0226132134.jpg?psid=1
Now just wait. The rubber starts to get stiff after a couple of hours but takes several days to reach full cure.
It will be some time before I will be able to install these rods and even longer before I can road test them, but I will update as I go.
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Mighty Thor
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02/26/13 10:29pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Urgent Help-water system
I will also throw out the whole stuck check valve idea here as well
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Mighty Thor
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01/29/13 11:46am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Urgent Help-water system
Right, Hot water issue sounds like the water tank bypass is on, but the cold water issue would/should not be affected. Assume that there is not a drain open and water running out on the ground or into the tanks, so there must be a valve somewhere that is preventing cold water from getting into an otherwise operable system..... I might suspect that the anti freeze is introduced via a two way valve on the cold water side and that the valve was left in the winterize position which would shut off water coming from the outside hose. This is just guessing on my part cause I have no idea how your winterizing set up is done.
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Mighty Thor
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01/29/13 11:43am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Been working on a new camping spot
Oh, and you can see the guest spot in the picture here as well.
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Mighty Thor
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01/29/13 11:32am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Been working on a new camping spot
Spent the fall working on improvements to the camping spot. Got to use it this winter in the snow, found out that the Heater buddy can keep you warm when you run out of propane in the coach. will post snow pictures later, but here is the dog enjoying a 50 degree January afternoon.
https://eumadw.bn1.livefilestore.com/y1pwpMr2zTUx7eoxi05u8QY5Kio7sgPU6WNQF2NZYHoOdD9liv8Sw4a3u_ymcrC_-CVbtA4gUPgGBrFemP0UJgGCgA9sUVZclNU/IMG_2139.JPG?psid=1
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Mighty Thor
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01/29/13 11:31am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Been working on a new camping spot
And this site will be available for making reservations, When?????
You just can't see the guest spot in the pictures, right?
Right, I am standing in the guest spot, taking the picture of the main pad. Will try to get a picture of the view from the camper next trip out.
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Mighty Thor
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10/11/12 03:50pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: What is the stranget dry camping you experienced
Camping with scouts is always an adventure. On one week long outing we were on an island on Flathead Lake in Montana when a tornado hit the camp. Pine trees were uprooted, tents torn apart, and one real cranky camp director. But it was still better than being in the office.
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Mighty Thor
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10/08/12 10:19pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Been working on a new camping spot
We Have spent the summer working on a spot to park the motor home. Water is gravity feed from a mountain spring. Had 200 amp service put in. The pad is a stone foundation from a house built in the 1870's. view from the front door includes the Tower Rock of Lewis and Clark fame. https://y0gzcq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pdPEs5kH22sdRvd-0tINU6_Jtllw82szGFsg8gPSg7jDcvUk_ctYjLrQzM5gXx_nGSlAuPrJte_OCOTmME6DhA0vvozkVxWQQ/1005121344.jpg?psid=1 width=800
https://y0gzcq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pVsZvpXvbkz7lUYBURsRAKqkedts0KAT2MPgDd0wiGuFJbLHipdwTN_BFmjVhC1RjxEJUVTWTz-TFtACJMnc0cUiKhvU5MDCW/1005121514a.jpg?psid=1 width=800
Montana truly is magnificent.
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Mighty Thor
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10/08/12 09:59pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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