Due to arrive soon

[94touring]

Fuel gauge on the bus had been intermittent for some time. Usually within 5-10 minutes of driving it would come alive. It finally stopped coming alive so I assumed it had died for good.  Being from Brazil the gauge isn't obtainable but a 68-72 gauge could work, albeit upside down but good enough.  Had checked the ohms at the gauge and verified it was getting signal from the tank sender.  Pulled the dash apart and hooked up the new gauge but it also showed empty on about 3/4 of a tank.  Confused, I got a sender from another tank sitting around the shop and the new gauge would work.  Decided to take out the sender from my tank to see what could be wrong. Well I upgraded from a low capacity leaky Brazil tank to a late bay tank which the access hole doesn't line up to. Had to peel back some metal to get to the sender.  Turns out the float was full of gas.  Replaced that and new gauge started working.  Having taken the old gauge out I cleaned up the electrical connection pins and low and behold it works again too.

[MiniDave]

So, a lot of extra work but the result was good!   

[94touring]

Yeah what should have been relatively easy turned into a full day.  The float getting a pin hole had to have happened sometime within the past month of the fuel gauge no longer working.  I did notice it would "come alive" once in a blue moon but sit just above E, which now makes sense because the float wasn't floating.  I did learn a little more about how these gauges work and I have to say I really dislike how they have the gauges assembled to the dash panel. There's 2 tiny pins that the fuel gauge press into that are the 12v and signal wires.  A center stud acts as the ground.  But the kicker is the metal backing plate to the gauge cluster is a hair sliver away from touching a few 12v sources.  So inevitably every time I am trying to get it in or out sparks start flying as things shift the even slightest amount. I'm thinking about taking it back out and adding electrical tape along those edges.  Also the bulb assemblies suck and are a mega pain to get twisted in just right to make a ground connection so they work.  I'm adding led 12v diodes to replace these twist in assemblies that are hit or miss making the ground connection. There's a post with multiple spades I can add a dedicated ground wire to from these diodes. The tricky part might be getting them to stay in place, but I have an idea for that.

[94touring]

Also on the project list was a front hitch.  Got myself 2 inch tube steel, quarter inch plate, and a 2 inch hitch receiver.  I utilized 5 different frame sections underneath to bolt it to. The end of the hitch has a 3/4 inch bolt that goes through a plate I welded to the frame.  Then there's even a 6th contact point which is at the front of the hitch that has two bolts go through where paneling seams are fitted together. It's really just to keep the thing from flexing the tiniest amount. Like the rear hitch I fabbed up, the front hitch works great for a jacking point. The plan here is to be able add a cargo hauler to the front or bike attachment.  This just gives me more options over hauling a trailer, or the ability to haul more stuff. The other thing I decided to do was utilize it as a tow bar attachment point. This hasn't gone as well after some road testing. The bar I made is solid 2 inch steel, sleeved, pinned, welded, and is strong enough to pull around the 777 I fly.  The issue is only having 1 contact point to the front of the bus allows the bus to "steer and angle" rather than stay square to the back of my truck. It's rather ass puckering when it gets loose back there and dangerous to say the least. I am going to modify the bar to have 2 additional arms that will pivot in line with the current pivot and bolt up to the outter ends of the hitch assembly under the frame. This will keep it square to my truck and also be extremely overkill at the same time. I figured it would be nice to have the option of flat towing in an emergency rather than sourcing my trailer, or flat towing a 4k mile trip like I took in it last year. Then just driving the bus around whatever area I end up at.  Anyways the tow hitch survived all the extreme forces of a swaying bus in my flat tow test drives.

[scalpel_ninja]

Yeah what should have been relatively easy turned into a full day.  The float getting a pin hole had to have happened sometime within the past month of the fuel gauge no longer working.  I did notice it would "come alive" once in a blue moon but sit just above E, which now makes sense because the float wasn't floating.  I did learn a little more about how these gauges work and I have to say I really dislike how they have the gauges assembled to the dash panel. There's 2 tiny pins that the fuel gauge press into that are the 12v and signal wires.  A center stud acts as the ground.  But the kicker is the metal backing plate to the gauge cluster is a hair sliver away from touching a few 12v sources.  So inevitably every time I am trying to get it in or out sparks start flying as things shift the even slightest amount. I'm thinking about taking it back out and adding electrical tape along those edges.  Also the bulb assemblies suck and are a mega pain to get twisted in just right to make a ground connection so they work.  I'm adding led 12v diodes to replace these twist in assemblies that are hit or miss making the ground connection. There's a post with multiple spades I can add a dedicated ground wire to from these diodes. The tricky part might be getting them to stay in place, but I have an idea for that.

I've found using black electrical tape in tight areas to be tricky and it inevitably ends up turning gummy over time. I've had good results with using yellow Kapton tape that seems to be rated for higher temps and longevity.

[94touring]

I'll look into that. Basically just need something folded over the metal lip where the backing plate fits to the back of the gauges where there's three different 12v sources. What it looks like back there.

[scalpel_ninja]

I'll look into that. Basically just need something folded over the metal lip where the backing plate fits to the back of the gauges where there's three different 12v sources. What it looks like back there.

Yeah, Kapton might be a better option. The weakness I've found with smaller pieces is if it's applied by hand, the oils tend to make the tape stick less reliably because there's less surface area that's untouched when compared to larger strips with more untouched contact area. I tend to peel it from the roll with tweezers, cut, then apply the small bits without touching it. The tape itself is pretty thin.

[94touring]

Well as a bonus it really doesn't need to stick, but rather just be squeezed between two surfaces that are screwed together.

This is the main culprit for sparks.  Added a + on the 12v metal and a - on the ground metal.  You can see there's literally no space between the two! 

[Dan Moffet]

One bonus of having a front hitch is that you can use it to manoeuvre backing a trailer into a tight spot. I put one on the front of my garden tractor to move the boat around my back yard. I got the idea about 60+ years ago from a Popular Mechanics magazine.

[94touring]

Hadn't thought of that, but that's definitely something I'll keep in mind.

[BruceK]

That's a good looking hitch

[94touring]

That's a good looking hitch

Thanks. The way it fits with all the various angles of the framing and brackets, it has to be installed with 2 floor jacks installing it directly up. It was so snug that I could remove the floor jacks and it held itself in place before I even bolted it up.

[94touring]

Took the dash back out and cleaned up the electrical nightmare to the gauges. All sorts of wires got eliminated.  By using led diodes I was able to remove all the 12v spades that affix to the back plate. This takes away the risk of sparks, melted wires, a fire, and the need to use electrical tape as a buffer.  The fuel gauge still required a spade to power it up but it's never been an issue.  The alternator warning light probably needs a small incandescent bulb in line as that's what sends signal to turn the alternator on.  When you first fire up the motor it needs a good 2500 rpm rev to trigger enough energy through that diode. The only other thing was I needed to use a regular stock twist in socket and stock bulb for the highbeam indication to work properly. It was working backwards and I couldn't wrap my mind around why. The good news is that's the most stable socket back there that isn't rattling loose or a major pain to twist in with objects in the way. 

[94touring]

Work summoned me to Dallas but I was almost done modifying the tow bar. Needed those arms to keep it square to my truck.  Custom made brackets, and utilized 1 inch pins at the pivots.  With just 1 arm on it is solid as a rock with no slop that I was getting with just the single attachment from the hitch alone.  I stiffened the center hitch tongue part so it can't spread open as a double measure and added shims at the receiver so even that can't wiggle around. I don't think it will really carry any load in the center with the arms, but it's there as additional support now.

[94touring]

Side note:  noticed with the last forum update pics post sideways again till you click on them.

[94touring]

Finished this up yesterday after coming back from a quick work trip to Dallas where I got to sit around for 5 days not working...  Anyways the additional arms did the trick!  The center pivot and tongue piece that previously would bend to hell stayed perfectly in tact.  The outter arms showed no signs of bending or fatigue from extreme forces.  I did note the bolt points to the framing on the hitch did exhibit some forces due to ruined threads where they bolted through the tube steel, but the bolts weren't bent up. I was using some grade 5s I had laying around the shop and upgraded to 10.9s with longer shanks.  First road test was the 5 miles of curvy shop road that had me shitting my pants before. This time it wasn't an issue at all. It was also very windy out and the bus being a barn door amplifies wind.  After that section was completed I pulled over and inspected everything and continued on to the highway to do 70mph.  Again strong cross wind but pulled straight as an arrow.  Feels similar to pulling my trailer as far as load and braking goes.  Only issue and one I read about on the Samba was tight turns a bus doesn't like to turn. The wheels just plow.  So at the end of the trip into a parking lot downtown to drop it off at my place, the final tight turn in the lot it did just plow.  One guy on the forum noted his did that when he discovered a bent torsion arm. My right upper is messed up I noticed last time doing link pins which alters the camber on that side compared to the other side. I went ahead and ordered a new upper to see if that helps out.  Probably should have replaced it a couple years ago but never noticed issues driving.