fuso 4x4 rebuild

alan

Explorer
Hi Alan, I'm inclined to agree with Ben2Go about those high lift blocks - re issues with axle twist. But having just dealt with my Canter suspension issues by replacing the crap standard leaves with parabolic - have u considered those? I went with a 4 leaf and the heavier 5th leaf overrider and got an extra 6inch lift and had to remove the spacers. Ride is so much better - more supple and far greater articulation. Might be a bit expensive, but I'm sold. Mine's about 2.5 to 3 tonnes on rear axle - I guess yours would be 3 to 3.5 tonnes. Regards Steve
Hi Steve, The blocks work fine in Isuzu's so we will see what happens, the parabolics would be slightly better than what I've got on the back but i would'nt bother for the cost involved, with two shocks mounted outboard the control will be much better.
 

alan

Explorer
Alan: After two big recent outback trips (25,000KMS) I thought I'd throw in my experience with batteries. Like you I went with sealed AGM batteries on separate bank to the starter batteries. Anyway on both trips, the AGMs failed (open circuit). On each occasion I replaced them with straight HD lead-acid truck batteries and those have never failed. Lesson learnt - I'm not sold on AGM for very rough stuff. I's also inclined to think your capacity is an overkill - 300AH should be heaps - particularly with modern energy efficient LED lightning. We run a fridge and a freezer in very hot areas with only 150AH with 300W solar panels. Regards Steve

Hi Steve, These batteries i have are gel batteries not AGM batteries, gel batteries normally cycle better than AGM batteries but both are normally very good, may be you had a dud brand, ideally batteries should only be cycled down to 75% for maximum life, this only gives me around a 100ah at 24volt so this is just the correct amount of batteries for my application.
 

alan

Explorer
Hi Steve, firstly welcome to ExPo.

I certainly don't want to make light of your experience but I do want to share this build with Alan.....it is a brave thing to run one battery bank even if it is an overkill capacity......the vehicle below also has done some really heavy tr avel too, Connie Sue, Anne Beadell, Gunbarrel, Canning, Cape, etc, etc but we set it up with only one bank of 2 x180ah AGM (180ah @ 24v) ....either Full River or Ritar....can't remember exactly......4x 68watt Unisolar laminates and a diesel Watts2c Powermaker (2.5kva@24vdc) shown in the rear left locker, to limit depth of discharge and cut in whenever load exceeded 40 amps. There were some big loads too. Large AirCon , bread maker, coffee machine run by 3000w inverter, v2x fridges, sat TV, etc. The first time I checked the hour meter , a bit over a year in service, the Powermaker had only clocked about 120 hours .....these guys free camped in this truck for almost 3 years too albeit in very open country so the solar would have been very effective and also they moved around a bit so alternator charging would also have played a big part.

View attachment 189932

BTW They changed out the batteries after 4 years purely as a precaution even though they were still showing no sign of deterioration. Remember the pair of AGMs were the only bank of batteries on the truck. I should also mention that battery temperatures were monitored by the Powermaker too so they should never have got hot under load or overcharging .... And my thought is that heat can be a contributing factor in 'open circuit' battery failures.

I think in theory, an AGM by its construction format should be more robust than a typical lead/acid but maybe there was a quality issue there with those that failed on you.

Note that this was the only truck I have ever had anything to do with that runs a combined start/house and while it may sound scary it has worked extremely well in this case with effective monitoring.

Regards John
Hi John,
If you have the room one large battery bank is much simpler and hassle free, and the batteries will last longer. if people are worried about the truck starting there's always the starter packs to carry just in case.
 

gait

Explorer
story from the front-line ......

separate vehicle and house batteries. Vehicle is two NS70 in parallel, 12v. House was two 6v AGM in series for 12v, enough warning signs of failure (loss of capacity).

The battery to battery charger failed a couple of weeks ago. Stopped working while I was trying to figure out why no diesel from one tank (broken pipe).

I replaced the AGMs with two starter batteries - deep cycle didn't translate into Chinese and supplier of AGM had long lead time.

Fell off the road in Nepal. 45 degree vehicle angle was such that fridge door was opened for about 9 hours, left house batteries low before recovery complete.

End of monsoon so solar a bit iffy. Just enough to keep pace, not enough to increase SOC day to day. Diesel cooker failed to start on low voltage cutout. 12.1v at batteries, cutout is 10.7v. Problem compounded by small air leak in diesel supply.

Work around for cooker was to turn everything else off and use by-pass switch to connect vehicle and house batteries. Disconnect once cooker running. Eventual fix to replace melted blade fuse inside cooker. Find leak and fix.

Next drive use by-pass switch to again parallel vehicle and house to charge house some more. Don't forget to switch off when camped.

A few other things went wrong at the same time - it never rains but what it pours.

General message, redundancy and flexibility.
 

whatcharterboat

Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Hi John,
If you have the room one large battery bank is much simpler and hassle free, and the batteries will last longer. if people are worried about the truck starting there's always the starter packs to carry just in case.

Hi Alan........mate, I'm not worried. I really admire the whole approach to your truck.....and even if it works out that some things may not turn out the best down the track, no one can say you didn't have a good crack. There are literally 100's of great builds going on this forum and yours has to be one of the most unique.

..........and you can always repaint it in Desert Sand if Pensioner's Cardigan Beige draws too much flack!!
 

alan

Explorer
Hi Alan........mate, I'm not worried. I really admire the whole approach to your truck.....and even if it works out that some things may not turn out the best down the track, no one can say you didn't have a good crack. There are literally 100's of great builds going on this forum and yours has to be one of the most unique.

..........and you can always repaint it in Desert Sand if Pensioner's Cardigan Beige draws too much flack!!
Thanks John! i hope we can catch up at SEMA did you get the boss in a good mood?
 

LeishaShannon

Adventurer
Did you consider LiFePO4 at all? Less than half the weight / physical size for the same usable Ah, can be mounted in any orientation, and "possibly" 10x the cycles, but twice the price.
 

Alastair D(Aus)

aging but active
Mind change

Elisha,
Some time ago I think I adversely commented on your plan to use LFP batteries as opposed to more conventional AGM. Recently I have reconsidered my intention to use 2 x 6v 400AH Lifelines as the 12v house system. I have just ordered a 320AH LFP bank with the necessary monitor etc. Given that with LFP a 70% DOC is acceptable vs 50% for AGM I am at about the same usable capacity. The price was only 40% higher and if the projected lifetime of 5000 cycles is realised then I will be way ahead. It also seems that the recharge rate has been improved a lot and so my recovery rate should be better also.

Thanks for stimulating me into looking harder at the new technology.

Cheers
 

Hoddo0

New member
Hi Mark (by the way how does one enter a simple line feed?) anyway I share you view on the bravery of only one bank - I run two. You may be right about the AGMs (my supplier being inferior build qlty), but Ive had no issues with HD truck batteries and one two many failures with AGM to be confident. Like you, we travel those harsh outback WA tracks (old Gunbarrel etc) and we need ultra reliable in harsh conditions (corrugations!!). My main point was the shear large capacity of Alan's battery bank. PS: Bye the way my recent parabolic upgrade made a big difference & that can only help the battery life. Is there a 4x4 truck camper group on Expeditionportal? Regards Steve
 

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