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Dallas to Temple and back

OPCOM

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Went to Sermis' place to browse and buy a few goodies.. Nice 240 mile round trip, plus a few miles to stop at haney Electronics in Cleburne (Home for all of your Military Electronics Needs).

Truck went very well, just purred along at 55 with the 1100x20's. Coolant stayed at 160-180, oil at about 70, boost and after-pyro showed 3psi/600 to 7psi/850 depending on grade.

As always, making a stop or two along the way.. caused a stir at Cracker Barrel.. Instead of parking it in the back with the lowly RV's.. parked up front and got it some looks.

Getting to Sermas' place was no issue, but sort of cut the driveway short and let the front wheel go about 8-10" down in the little tranch beside the drive. (Sermis, you gotta widen that driveway!). With 3 tons of S280 in the bed, the thing was more tippy than I cared for but slow and steady did right. Or maybe it just seemed tippy to me. Rolling is my biggest fear in the top heavy beast. I'd like some day to find a big crane and see at what degrees point it wants to actually roll..

Sermis let me drive his M35 with the huge tires. Definitely need armstrong steering with the big tires! His truck runs real strong and the ride was smooth. I like the way his IP governor seems to work. Once a certain RPM is reached, it just stops feeding like hitting a brick wall, unlike mine which much more gradually cuts off the fuel. I'd like to know which adjustment controls that so I could set up mine to 'hit the wall' instead of allowing overspeed. For the first time I sat in a spring ride seat. Under my considerable mass it was too low, but the ride was cushy and the seat back was more comfy than my stock 'hard seat'. I'll keep my seat however since it has good storage (you know, jumper cables, flares, air chuck, ammo, etc.. ) in the box under the cushion. The experience of the muffler he has installed was very gratifying. The low frequency hum of the engine was there but the high frequencies were diminished; none of the usual buzzing and It was easy to have a conversation without yelling. You could actually hear the non-whistler turbo spooling up and down and that was a pleasant effect.

Driving from Sermis' place, had to refuel. I dumped the rest of the PS "Diesel clean + cetane boost" in the tank.
http://www.powerservice.com/dieselkleen_cetane.asp
The jug says it raises the cetane by 6 points. I've been using this product alot (as well as Lucas injector lube) One thing I have noticed is that using alot of Diesel kleen (2x) seems to noticeably raise the EGT so maybe I should lay off it.

First time to drive at night with the flourescent guage lamp. Once it got dark, the tubular flourescent trouble light I had mounted under the pyro/boost guage shelf did a real good job illuminating the dash guages. Maybe too good, so I will have to experiment with addng a dimmer. I tried before to take the lamp housing apart, but the ends are either too tight or glued on. The shelf I am talking about is this:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index....opic&t=6574&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40
but the light is not shown. It was fixed right under the shelf and the reflector aimed so that the driver is shielded from the lamp itself which just shines downward on the truck's panel.
 

texas-5-ton

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Grandview, TX
If you were in Cleburne, you should have stopped in and looked at our beautiful 5 ton. You were only about 8 miles away. Where exactly is Haneys at in cleburne?? I see him on ebay but I have never been by his place.
Chad
 

OPCOM

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I wish I had known. I don't know where Rio Vista is, but next time..
You going to the TX-OK etc. rally?
Haney Electronics 8012 County Road 1009, Godley, TX 76044 (817) 309-2220
 

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hndrsonj

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Yep, SERMIS has some goodies and is very good to deal with. So what did you get? By the way, you need to look at the HEMMITT seats they are like air-soft but are adjustable-truely aweosome!!!! :wink:
 

No.2Diesel

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Nice trip

Quick question: What RPM were you running at 55MPH? Have you noticed a difference in mileage with the taller tire? Or is it the same due to increased weight and resistance?

On my partially worn 9x20s I do 50MPH at 2,400 RPM (not exact because I'm looking at the gauge from an angle.) I would like less RPMs with slightly increased top speed.
 

sermis

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hndrsonj said:
Yep, SERMIS has some goodies and is very good to deal with. So what did you get? By the way, you need to look at the HEMMITT seats they are like air-soft but are adjustable-truely aweosome!!!! :wink:
Not sure what my seat is. It has a spring ride that is adjustable from the front and the back and bottom kind of work together to dampen the ride. I like it, eaiser on the back.

Will try to get a Pic later.
 

sermis

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Yes, reason for the sale. I just bit the bullet for new air assist, $1,347.00.......OUCH......Wife is not happy and said to get some money in.
 

OPCOM

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Dallas, Texas
No.2Diesel said:
Nice trip

Quick question: What RPM were you running at 55MPH? Have you noticed a difference in mileage with the taller tire? Or is it the same due to increased weight and resistance?

On my partially worn 9x20s I do 50MPH at 2,400 RPM (not exact because I'm looking at the gauge from an angle.) I would like less RPMs with slightly increased top speed.
I am doing 55 at 2500RPM, (also not exactly seeing the guage straight ahead) which would be 2272 at 50MPH. Redline (2650) is about 59MPH but I don't go there. I gained perhaps 5% greater mileage. The best benefit is lowered engine speed.

- On the flourescent dash lamp, I have tested dimming it by inserting a 100 ohm /25 watt/ 0.58A rheostat in series with the 12V supply. It was able to be dimmed greatly and the rheostat current was 0.49 amps max. (@12V) and 0.14A minimum with this particular light. Dimming 12V flourescent "trouble lamps" can be risky due to operation of the switching devices in the non-saturated region, so we will see how long the $10 lamp lasts.

12-25-09 update - -the florescent lamp's built in inverter burned out in 6 months.. Not intended to be dimmed. I put a "LED marker light strip" from cheap auto in the same location, dims well, no issues for .1 year and don't expect any.
 
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