LJ70 Build Thread!

[Doodle]

Loving the signs on the store fronts...very retro

 

[Paddler Ed]

Any idea how long a fridge will run for off one of these batteries?

They'll have an Ah rating on them; have a look at how many amps the fridge draws, and then divide the Ah by the amps, and that gives you the hours it will run for.

For example if they are 110Ah (a fairly typical leisure battery) and an Engel fridge draws 2 - 2.5amps;so that gives around 40hours usage.

Hopefully not Ed.

From my experience over here its all about who you know, not what you know. If this wasnt a public forum, youd be amazed at some of the things I could tell you have gone on over here with everything.

I know what you mean; we have some interesting friends in Western Sydney (Fairfield/Auburn area for those who know W. Sydney) who can sort things out quite quickly...

That is certainly not the first time I have heard that, especially when quarantine is involved.

Definitely is the case in Aus that knowing people is more useful than knowing lots of things...

 

[Ben]

Ben was that forest called Wombat State Forest? I've had many a muddy times in there with my Surf - great fun. and I thought you had your truck through customs waay too easy. But glad it has all worked out for you the way it has ... we might have to start calling you the golden boy

No not Wombat State forest, but that is one place I want to visit very soon. Their is a 2-3 day 4wd trip around that area in my new book.

Cant remember what the forest is called, but I know where it is when looking at a Melway.

Yes I got it through easy, but as I said, all about who you know.

the people I'm staying with have been on this property for 5 generations, and their relatives were the first white settlers here on this land.
They have got so many contacts and know so many people. Very useful.

 

[grantw]

Not quite so simple:

- most lead acid batteries are only happy longer term if their charge never goes below 80% which would only give you around 22ah.
- if you discharge below 50% on a regular basis your battery is going to be very unhappy
- most batteries are never charged to 100% in the car special chargers are required

So assuming it is a normal battery you would get approx 15ah to play with which would give you 7 hours continuos operation. Luckily the fridges don't run continuously to maintain their temp so it is going to depend a lot on the ambient temp. The batteries Ben has don't look to be normal batteries (possibly traction batteries?) so he may be able to discharge them to as low as 20% but more likely 50% of their charge.

I've only been reading about all this stuff over the past few days and it gets ridiculously complicated ... so may not be 100% accurate but won't be far off. Let me know what I missed. JW will probably be along in a minute to correct all my guesses

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

that pretty much covers it, give or take a bit. Those batteries are not traction just an improved design from normal. On our summer holiday last year our fridge ran almost constantly because of high 30's, low 40's day time temps and it being mounted in a metal oven!

 

[Shayne]

I've never given it much thought but boat batteries take a real hiding in terms of use and tend to last for years , perhaps it's worth looking into it for you guys adding fridges etc ?

 

[Trevor]

As I understand it the rule of thumb says, Leisure, marine or deep discharge batteries will recover if discharged no more than 50% of capacity. Although you can run them down past this level, they will never be able to retain a full charge to original capacity as the battery will sustain some internal damage.

So a 110Ah battery in reality becomes a useable 55Ah, if you really need 110Ah capacilty then buy 2, connect in parallel via a split charger.

 

[grantw]

Shayne, you probably have proper traction batteries on the boat (some of which can be safely discharged to dead flat) as well as fancy charge controllers that look after the batteries. Proper batteries have a working life of upto 15 years - fork lift batteries and the like.

 

[Shayne]

As i said i've never given them much thought (apart from when someone forgets to turn the isolation switch off for a week ) all i know about them is its a duel set up 12volt and they've been drained way past any hope of starting the engines quite a few times with no lasting problems that i've noticed . I only suggested it because boats tend to need far more battery power than trucks or even camper vans and who would think to look around the harbour for help installing a custom setup ?

 

[Leopard]

Thanks mate.

Awesome!

I did wonder who had bought it when Johnie posted saying another club member had bought it.

Looks like a good one.

Shame we could have met up for a beer! Give me a shout if your over again and anywhere near Melbourne.

Could let that Troopy pass me by... really glad I got it! Absolutely loving it!

Will hook you up if I'm down that way for sure.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Not quite so simple:

- most lead acid batteries are only happy longer term if their charge never goes below 80% which would only give you around 22ah.
- if you discharge below 50% on a regular basis your battery is going to be very unhappy
- most batteries are never charged to 100% in the car special chargers are required

So assuming it is a normal battery you would get approx 15ah to play with which would give you 7 hours continuos operation. Luckily the fridges don't run continuously to maintain their temp so it is going to depend a lot on the ambient temp. The batteries Ben has don't look to be normal batteries (possibly traction batteries?) so he may be able to discharge them to as low as 20% but more likely 50% of their charge.

I've only been reading about all this stuff over the past few days and it gets ridiculously complicated ... so may not be 100% accurate but won't be far off. Let me know what I missed. JW will probably be along in a minute to correct all my guesses

I knew I was along the right lines. I forgot about if they're cranking batteries or deep cycle batteries, and not running them below a certain amount.

Even if you ran a 110Ah, and never dropped it below 80% you'd still get nearly 10hrs life out of it, and if it was a deep cycle then you'd be looking at 20hrs+ from it, and that's without the battery taking any charge from the alternator/charging circuit.

Have a look at what size alternator you've got fitted as well Ben, you may need to upgrade it if you want to run a couple of deep cycle batteries in addition to any other bits and pieces (is that right?) due to the extra load on it.

I've never given it much thought but boat batteries take a real hiding in terms of use and tend to last for years , perhaps it's worth looking into it for you guys adding fridges etc ?

I think a boat battery is a deep cycle as well, just with a bigger capacity (higher Ah) for the starting, and then to power the electrics on board.

As I understand it the rule of thumb says, Leisure, marine or deep discharge batteries will recover if discharged no more than 50% of capacity. Although you can run them down past this level, they will never be able to retain a full charge to original capacity as the battery will sustain some internal damage.

So a 110Ah battery in reality becomes a useable 55Ah, if you really need 110Ah capacilty then buy 2, connect in parallel via a split charger.

We (Dad) has goosed a number of leisure (deep cycle) batteries over the years with his caravan; since about 2000 he's had a motor mover fitted which uses the caravan battery to power it. The mover has quite a high load on it as it's moving 1500kg of caravan by a roller on each wheel, so the battery is a decent size. He's now using a C-Tek battery charger to keep the battery in condition after knackering a couple; I think he's worked out it's paid for itself 3 or 4 times over now, compared to how many leisure batteries he would have got through in that time!

 

[Ben]

Run a 120 AMP alternator.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Run a 120 AMP alternator.

Should be OK then if you don't go overboard on lights!

IIRC amps are calculated by watts divided by volts; remember for lights there are normally 2 of them...

I'm not sure how you then work out what is needed to recharge the battery though...

Oh, and we got our (my) student visa last night, so we're on our way back to Aus for another year at least... already been looking at new 4x4's and have friends keeping an eye out for us... already been told of a freshly rebuilt engined 4Runner for $1500 with no rego, and a Jeep Cherokee for $1500 (no they won't be giving me $1500 to take it away...) I'd prefer the Toyota...

 

[Ben]

So when you coming over Ed?

 

[Paddler Ed]

Early June; what do you need?

I'll be up in Armidale in Northern NSW (Oxley Rivers and Coffs Harbour are within 3 hrs) at University of New England studying a Master's in Economics. Will be doing a trip down to VIC though as my brother is in Melbourne and I'll see Angus nr Avoca.

This is the type of 4Runner I'm looking for really... not so keen on a 4 door for some reason; I like the look of the 2 door ones more (and the same for the Nissan Arsefinder and the Land Rover Discovery-of-a-new-oil-leak). I'm trying to decide if that one for $3k is good value or not; it needs a new HG (and probably a head skim to do it properly) which is about $300 at mate's rates in NSW.

 

[Ben]

Had to work yesterday finishing the course for the cross country event.

Nice 2 year old 70.

Finished at 5pm and went and worked on my truck till 11.

First job was fitting the new indicators to the bullbar.

Marked where they needed to go.

And cut them out.

Found the tungsten bit in the air grinder very useful for cleaning up the edges.

After much searching I found the box with the paint in and box with the paint brushes in.

Gave all the bare metal a coat of paint.

Soldered and heat shrunk all the wires.

Other side.

Seemed bright, even from the other side of the workshop.

Both sides done.

This is the rubber for the mud flaps. About 4mm thick.

Marked and cut it.

Thought I could make use of one of the holes in the chassis to help mount the mud flap.

So cut a piece of angle steel to bolt through the chassis to then bolt the mud flap to.

So nice having a proper cold cut saw.

No heat or sparks and very quick.

Found which box my self tapping screw were in and found some suitable ones.

Screwed one side to the bumper.

Found that I couldnt use a piece of angle bolted through the chassis as it would be too far forward, but spotted another bracket to screw it to.

One mud flap on.

Started doing the flares/arches next.

Need to get some penny washers to go between the screw and the rubber. Also thinking of putting a bead of stikaflex between the flare and the wing, but not until I've dont the bodywork and re-sprayed her.

Screwed the bottom into the end of the rock slider.

Front next.

Just need to do the other side now.

I'm not a huge fan of how it looks with the mud flaps and flares, but its necessary in order to have my truck on the road over here and not get hassled by the police.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I'm not a huge fan of how it looks with the mud flaps and flares, but its necessary in order to have my truck on the road over here and not get hassled by the police.

Very true; I sort of like the flares though.

The mudflaps come into their own on the dusty dirt roads, you need them to reduce the spray of stones when you're ticking along at 60kmh!

I think part of the reason it looks odd is that it's not on the bigger tyres.

 

[sae70]

I don't think it looks that bad Ben! I quite like the rubber flares, oh to be able to just walk into a shop in this country and buy any kind of rubber product that one wants! Will you be able to re-fit the original wheels and tyres after the test?

 

[fridayman]

Run a 120 AMP alternator.

The voltage output tends to be the problem, rather than how many amps your alternator can generate. Some Toyota alternators aren't that great, and tend to max out at around 13.8 or 13.9, when you really want at least 14.2 (or even 14.4) to fully charge most batteries (it varies with battery type and brand).

Have a look if there is a voltage boosting diode available for your truck - the chap sells on eBay. They increase the voltage output by about 0.5V (or thereabouts).

 

[Ben]

I don't think it looks that bad Ben! I quite like the rubber flares, oh to be able to just walk into a shop in this country and buy any kind of rubber product that one wants! Will you be able to re-fit the original wheels and tyres after the test?

Thanks mate.

If all goes to plan the 37"s will be back on Tuesday night.

Want to replace the 35"s at some point. Thinking of going slightly narrower, probably 11.5" as opposed to 12.5". Thinking of getting some Mickey Thompsons, all the guys I've spoken to over here who run them are very pleased with them.