'92 RC restoration/trail rig build (New pics & VIDEOS 7/12/14)

[The War Wagon]

Well THAT was a total bust.   


The amp is dead.  NOT, "fried," which I coulda lived with, because setting the truck on fire WOULD'VE been EXCITING.  Just... dead. 


I'm GETTIN' juice from the battery.  In fact, I can't get OVER how professional my install was.  When we were teenagers, we slapped everything together with duct tape, because we couldn't stand the thought of being OFF the streets for more than 5 minutes.  So what if only three speakers worked.  Or just the left half of the car had sound - we had to be CRUISIN'!  DOWN time was WASTED time!   


Now I'm using ACTUAL electrical equipment, like, a solder gun - REAL connecter between every splice and at every end - wire cutters with crimping tool, and professional fusing.  Honest-to-goodness - if I could take this truck back to my hi skrool days, they'd say - HOLY SHIITE!!!  HOW DID YOU TIME TRAVEL A 1992 RAMCHARGER BACK TO 1984?!?!?!        And THEN they'd think, the stereo install was professionally done; I spent that much time & care on it.


Oh well - back to fleabay for ANOTHER cheap amp.  And this cheap, dead, amp has been sitting inside the truck - through heat, cold, moisture, and who KNOWS what, for 8 years.  It was OLD when I bought it off fleabay 8 years ago - it probably didn't need much to give up the ghost.  Replaced the on-board fuse - still nada.  Took it apart, since I was gonna throw it away anyhow; looks like two diodes threw up in it, so I'm guessing that was the cause for the failure.  Stereo works GREAT and looks even better fitted in the dash... you just CAN'T hear it.  Oh well... we'll get another amp, and try it later.


102" whip arrived today, so life isn't all bad.      My Uniden BC355N came in yesterday - tested it around town in my Jeep.  My Galaxy 949 arrives tomorrow, so now I gotta hook all THAT gear up this week.  I might write that up as a separate thread. 

[Dracen]

do you need a 2 ohm or 4 ohm amp? mono or multi channel? what watt you looking for? I have a pioneer amp  (820 watt) I used for less than a month when I replaced it with a mono block 1100 watt.

[The War Wagon]

do you need a 2 ohm or 4 ohm amp? mono or multi channel? what watt you looking for? I have a pioneer amp  (820 watt) I used for less than a month when I replaced it with a mono block 1100 watt.

I'm looking at a 4ohm, 4 channel, 400watt amp - nothing overpowering, mind you - something along these lines;


http://www.ebay.com/itm/151342499909?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


  I've got 150 watt Alpine 2-ways in the doors, and 200 watt Infinity 6x9 3-ways in the rear, so I just want something strong enough to push 'em a little w/o breaking them.  Besides, it's not as if I'm going to be hearing much of anything over the exhaust roar, anyways! 

[The War Wagon]

Oh boy - CRAPPY cellphone pics!!!

I actually got a LOT done in 3 hours tonite, although not much of it was photogenic.  Got my new Uniden 355N installed.  Neat story on that; I got it off fleaby for $75, but with no power cord or mount.  No biggie - I saved some bucks, & had those things laying around anyways.  In fact, I had a couple of hangers for some crappy outdoor speakers laying around - just bent 'em into the right shape, and then screwed it to the dash where the electric trailer brake used to be.

  Cool thing about that is, it's easily removeable for storage.

I just pull the whole ashtray out, and stick it in the center console! 

Got a nice little magnetic antenna for it, and ended up running the wire for that through the firewall as well.

  Yeah, my truck is STILL dead w/o a driveshaft under a blackberry vine encrusted Oak tree.     Good thing that paint is IMPERVIOUS - it'll need a wash like you wouldn't BELIEVE when I get it roling again... probably NEXT week...   New 7290 yoke arrived today - gotta order the pinion seal tomorrow, then run it by to my driveshaft man, and HOPEFULLY... get a driveshaft by Saturday - or Monday - and get it installed.  Gotta at LEAST get back to 2wd! 

At any rate, the little antenna stores easily enough under the hood, when not in use.  Thank goodness for classic DEE-triot Iron!



Passes under the hinge, and away from anything essential, since there's sooooooooooooo much space under the hood!

I suddenly realized this evening, that my rear bench folds forward!  Actually, I already knew that - but I suddenly remembered, I wanted to mount the Fatboy on the backside of the console... and wasn't sure there'd be enough clearance, when you flip the bench forward!    I'm old enough now when camping, that I've EARNED my airmattress in the cabin, so I NEED the bench to fold down, and for everything to fit.  Thankfully, it DOES!

With that GTG, I drilled holes for the mounting bracket, ran the ground wire, and then ran my coax! Got it all tucked neatly away and out of sight - I even had a few feet to spare, even after running it all the way to multicarrier where I'm mounting the 102" whip!

NOT a lot of excitement so far, but I'll take some BETTER pics with a BETTER camera tomorrow - show you how I've fuse blocked the battery with marine grade fusing and such.  It's gonna look pretty sharp when done - I'm PRETTY sure I can finish it up in a few hours tomorrow night, and see how she sounds.  Atmospherics tomorrow evening around 9pm should be pretty good HERE (cool, dry, air in place!), so be listening in Central, Mountain, and Western time zones - I'll try and reach out, and PUT 'the touch' on ya'!

[The War Wagon]

I should point out, that the UPS man been veddy, veddy, good to me lately. 










Never owned a Galaxy radio before, but wanted to go first class in the RC!  Should finish the install tonight.


Cross-referenced the Timken oil seal chart - ALL 204 pages of it... ... and dicovered my local Autozone actually HAS p/n 5126 IN stock!  So I'll take the new yoke down there this morning, TEST FIT before purchasing, and if it works, then it's off to my driveshaft man - I should have a new driveshaft by Saturday, and then it's just coercing some buddies to install it! 

[The War Wagon]

Is that a BEAUTIFIL driveshaft... or what!




I also have a line on a HEAVY impact gun, to break that rear pinion nut free!  Once that's done, the old shaft and pinions will be for sale - less than 200 miles on them, after a thorough reconditioning!


A couple of videos on the stereo install - enjoy the second, as a lady from our church stops by, and surprises me as I'm working on it! 


http://vid212.photobucket.com/albums/cc305/The_War_Wagon/Ramcharger/Stereo_zpsf7e28b01.mp4


http://vid212.photobucket.com/albums/cc305/The_War_Wagon/Ramcharger/Stereo1_zps87a7bcd8.mp4

[crazzywolfie]

you need to get rid of that buzzer lol. it is so annoying. looks good. can't really tell how it sounds over that annoying buzzer.

[The War Wagon]

you need to get rid of that buzzer lol. it is so annoying. looks good. can't really tell how it sounds over that annoying buzzer.

I KNOW what you means, but I also have little kids, so the buzzer helps me know if they're trying to ESCAPE.  If it were JUST me & the wife, I'd pull the fuse on it!






But in OTHER news, as soon as I posted pics of the driveshaft to Steel Town Offroaders (my local four wheelin' club where I'm a member), my buddy Eric phoned, and said he had the time to come over and help install it!     And a guy from my church, loaned my his heavy-duty impact wrench, to get that rear pinion nut off!!! 


Eric had been working on his Subaru earlier in the day, and found out he needed a part that won't arrive until Tuesday, so he was all ready to work, with NO vehicle to work on!  So he came over and helped (actually, he did MOST of the work ).



  NOT to panic - we got a block of wood right AFTER this, to tap it in more gently, and not damage the seal.


  And these are the only three pics I got, because I spent the other three hours under the truck, holding the driveshaft steady while Eric installed it!


Darndest thing though - the t-case flange had four smooth holes, and four tapped holes.  And so we're TRYING to install the the bolts THROUGH the tapped holes.  FIRST off, the collar wasn't seating QUITE flush, so out came the Dremel tool, to shave what must of been just thousandth's off the cardon, before it finally seated flush.  But then, we could NEVER get the 4th hole to line up true!!! 


Eric was VERY careful & thorough at this - that, and I ordered EIGHT ( bolts from Denny's... JUST to have a few spares to play with, JUST in case of something like this!  Once he hit resistance, he'd back the bolt out, inspect everything, and try and see where we were going wrong.  No matter what we tried, three bolts going in true, would always pull the cardon off-center of the flange by maybe just the tiniest fraction, to keep a fourth bolt from going in true.  And brudda, we played with this, from before 5pm, until 8pm!!! 


FINALLY... we tried what is often done with these flanges - put the bolts through the BACK of the flange through the smoothbore holes, and bolt into the tapped cardon holes that way. 






And we were done in 30 seconds. 




Wotta day.




I DID also get the stereo working yesterday, and it IS now driveable (gotta top off the axle though - we only lost about a half-a QUART of 90w while changing the pinion seal!  ), so the day went pretty well overall!     I did attempt to install the CB last night... and my coax was about 6" short of reaching the radio... D'OH.  And to add FINAL insult to injury, I'd crossed a couple of wires and pretty much drained the battery over the last couple of days.  I had to jump start it, to get it started after dark, and move it OUT from under the oak tree and blackberry vines.     I knew EXACTLY which wires I'd crossed though (I knew SOMETHING was amiss, when I bumped the wipers and they worked... WITHOUT the key in the ignition!  ), so I cut THAT connection.  May have to jump it again on Monday, but I'll drive it around after adding 90w, and get the battery juiced again.


NOW to lock the axle, delete the CAD, and finally have 4WD again!  And start looking for G2 one-piece axles on sale...

[The War Wagon]

Wellllll... I've driven it twice now... for 2 1/2 miles total... and it's making a whole NEW & DIFFERENT set of noises. 

There's a definite new & high RPM vibration that is the new driveshaft - it's mild, but noticeable.  I've inspected the bolts & straps after each drive - everything is still tight and in place.  I'm not sure if it bothers me because it's new & different, or new, and portends trouble.  REGARDLESS what The Beach Boys say, I'm still convinced, there are NO "good" vibrations in a Ramcharger... 

I'm becoming more convinced, this thing is basically un-streetable (to say nothing of trailworthy!), UNTIL we get that rear axle rotated and shimmed into place.     I'm glad the CAD, and to a lesser extent, the grease seals, in the front axle, are an 'easy' fix.  But there ain't a helluva lot you can do with a truck that needs new U-joints every 200 miles, though... 

[rjtx667]

until you shim the rear axle it can have issues... also if the rear pinion did not get seated back just right it could be rubbing the ring gear wrong? maybe? I don't know.. never done it  before.

good luck

[The War Wagon]

until you shim the rear axle it can have issues... also if the rear pinion did not get seated back just right it could be rubbing the ring gear wrong? maybe? I don't know.. never done it  before.

ONE of things I made sure to do, when it was re-geared this past year, is include a crush sleeve ELIMINATOR!  Changing the pinion then meant, simply lining up the notches on the nut on installation.  Since the transfer case flange is the NON-spec piece (and I'm starting to wonder about the outfit that made it...  ), I'm wondering if it could be 'out-of-round,' as it were. 


I'll keep you posted...

[The War Wagon]

Well I FINALLY got the tennis ball installed today! 





Decided to spend the afternoon fiddling around with a few things.  Ran the RCA outs from the radio, to where I'm going to install the subwoofer (only took 8 years to install the STEREO.  Listened to it twice, already dissatisfied  ).  Installed a battery disconnect, although I DID cut the offending connection that was draining the battery.  Nonetheless, the disconnect seemed like a nice idea.  Re-did how my power ports were fused, and finally got around to connecting the license plate light that stymied me last spring, so all in all, it was a good day farting around with the truck!   


Custom jumper for the CB arrives later this week - can't wait to do a little broadcastin'in - see how far I can reach from this ridgetop!

[The War Wagon]

OK... going BACK to Gibbs this morning, to lock the front axle, disconnect the CAD, replace the oil seals, and start planning to rotate and shim this rear axle...

Like I told somebody the other day, I'm about $10k away, from having $10k left to go, before the FINAL $10k I need to finish it off RIGHT!