phoenix2013

The crimp lug on the yellow wire was "welded" to the board terminal. So what happened. The customer was going to attend the Hutch Rally. Just had a very nice hauler body put on the truck and the Jackalopee rewired to go to the lights and the RV plug in the new body. Body work was superbly done by the shop, rewiring of the electrical stuff was handed off to the SHOP MORON. This was couple of days before the Rally. Shop moron flunked basic logic, there was none, wired the RV socket regardless of color code indicated in the socket, black wire in the socket apparently ended up in the brown terminal location which means, when trailer was plugged in +12V trailer battery was just waiting to be connected to "something". In this instance running lights. The owner of the shop was horrified and immediately wanted to get new Jackalopee, but getting one to Colorado in a timely manner to make the Rally was not in the cards. I offered to deal with it at the Rally if the customer could limp down the road for a few hundred miles. This required a triple effort: the customer rewired the RV socket to the proper color code (shop moron not involved), the establishment purchased a Jackalopee for the Rally delivery, the establishment purchased a $15 bucks Autozone 3 to 2 lights converter for transplanting into the Jackalopee ( you can see the "surgery" at the bottom of the Jackalopee) to allow having basic lights for the "limp mode". The moron was not involved in this implant surgery. Upon arrival at Hutch remedial surgery was scheduled starting with removal of the foreign implant, implanting the new pcb assembly and reconfiguring the cables. "Reconfiguring" was done according to the latest upgrade of the manual. Yes, there is a new version, no, it's not the whole thing, just the last two pages. This was the first field test of the new manual instructions for prepping and installing cable wires to the pcb, utilizing this prepping method for the RV side and the truck side. Since the customer was pretty handy, I supervised. More on the process in the next post. Incidentally the last two "new pages" (14 and 15) are available just let me know.

Just continuing the thread, how do you do "THAT"

Welcome medicmike, you are at the right place, we were all at the same "stage" at one time, even the veteran pullers who initially pulled RVs with "something else". There was a discussion at the Hutch Rally this year about the fact that this is not the right time to go shopping for an HDT. Volvo was on the strike and the waiting period for a new now is two years. Used ones that were at $50-60K few months ago are going for $90K, because truckers need trucks to make a living regardless of price. In couple of years, when sanity returns (hopefully), that $90K truck might be worth $60K again, so why sit upside down to a tune of $30K. If you have an excited and skillful son, that's gold, use his talents. All kind of info on this forum to help you guys along. You want to know how to do this, we can help you and show you how.

Don, good to hear from you, it's been too long, here's some Old Goating memories you might recognize. Extending and modifying that New Horizon pin box so it would reach that "old" 100lbs + Super Binkley. As you remember I was always very democratic in my relationships with customers, "I do the engineering, here are the tools, you do the work". Always under the guise that if you do it it will cost you less. And the finished product. And do you remember this "happy reunion". Should we tell them Don? Would you guys like to know, how this conversion came to being and how Don ended up with it in my back yard?

The desire for a "lighter version" has been around for years. The original Super Binkley was designed without concern what it would weigh. Primary goal was the ability to put it together with relatively unsophisticated equipment, to be strong and to eliminate the design issues of the original Binkley. It weighs over 100 pounds. This is my second bite at the apple. It will be actually more than 1/2" thick in critical areas.

This is such a clever bunch, I knew you guys would figure it out. noteven, I was of the same opinion: It will have two side holes drilled that could not be lasered due to braking process. But I have, grown, learned and evolved. The first time I've seen parts with holes bent on the brake at Young's Welding I expressed an "opinion" about holes lining up. They explained that their brake is CNC controlled and they have software for it. They are able to plug in the material grade and properties, radiuses and it calculates springback, etc. After seen the results and line-ups to within few thousands, only my advance age prevented me from experiencing what some describe as an engineering orgasm. OK my fellow "co-designers", what's the next part I need to design?

Send me PM

12 x 12 x 3 is size, 5/16 steel plate is material

It would make a sturdy bread basket 5/16" steel plate

OK, I see a need for a clue. No it's not an ET cover, these are already designed and produced. The clue, it's 12" x 12" x 3"

Old Goat's at it again, no he's not chasing nannies. Can you guys figure out what the hell he's up to now. He was bored in his retirement, so that's what he came up with in the middle of last night, still working on it.

There is no such thing, I'm on my fifth "retirement", retirement is a time of transition. Just look at the Queen Elizabeth at 95. It has been said that when Pope Benedict XVI, who is 94 currently, retired from his lifetime position in 2013 after 8 years as a Pope, he got a one word congratulatory statement from Elizabeth, "Wimp!"

Sorry Susan, I had the trailer side done months ago. The truck side "motivation" happened when I did the trailer brake hack and I was doing pictures for that. The Jackalopee Force was strong and said "go forth Master finish, or I'll rank you down to padawan"

OK, been working on another hack, trying to make you guys "happy"😂. First wanted to see if seven wire with the crimps can be pushed through the cable grip. Yes, with little fiddling they will go through. This allows to do all the cable and wire prep outside of the Jackalope, then push it in and connect the wires. Much easier than doing the, cutting, stripping and crimping inside the Jackalopee. But I detect a question emanating from the Jackalopee Force. "But Master, where do we light saber cut individual wires?" Not to worry my young padawans, Master delivers. The truck side prep. The trailer side prep Strip 3/8" off each wire end to accommodate the crimp lugs. You should get these results. May the Jackalopee Force be with you.

Brake controllers vary in performance technology and sophistication. The unifying factor is that all come with four wires, black, white, red and blue. #6 Delphi Harness in the controller below is typical. The connection protocol for all brake controllers is as follows: The black wire is connected to the truck battery (+) terminal, across 30-40 Amp resettable fuse. The white wire is connected to the truck battery ground (-) terminal. The general requirement calls for the controller power (+12V and ground) to be uninterrupted directly from the batteries. The blue wire is connected to the BRAKE CONTROLLER terminal in the Jackalopee and the red wire is supposed to be connected to the brake light switch in the truck. Easy to do in the pickup truck, not so in the semi since that switch is air actuated and buried under the dash. An alternative method of wiring it is to bring the red wire inside the Jackalopee, as shown below and crimp it together with the brake light wire (red) from the truck bundle. For those whose Jackalopee is already wired there is an option, use a double male single female disconnect Pull the truck brake lights crimp out, install the disconnect, plug the truck brake lights and the controller brake lights into the disconnect. A disconnect shown is now a standard item supplied with the connectors in the Jackalopee wiring kit, for those who would like a one (or two) I am certain than the fine folks in the Jackalopee "organization" will be happy to send you one (or two). A bit of a "techie" info, the red wire in controllers has couple of functions. Its primary function is to activated the brake lights on the trailer if you are using the brake controller manually to engage the trailer brakes without engaging the truck brakes, such as going down hill in the rain. It's good to "inform" people behind you that you are indeed braking even though you are not using the truck brakes. In many controllers there is another function, the red wire "monitors" the brake lights and if it sees those (when you apply the truck brakes) it tell the controller to "go to work, he is indeed braking". This prevents the brake controllers from activating the trailer brakes from spurious motion such as going over humps, railroad tracks, etc. Brake switch is a good center point to make the connection, but frankly the brake lights don't give rat's behind where or how the signal comes to light them up, hence the above "suggestion".

Yes, yes, since you have the rank go forth an "collaborate" with him, I heard he's still as randy and opinionated as before.

Hmmmm, I thought he moved into the recesses of memory, he was colorful.

Ah, the MDT days, first Newsletter I wrote for them was Winter 2004, 10 pages, Orr's were running the chapters, membership down to little over 100 folks, last one I wrote was Winter 2012, over 30 pages, membership almost 500. I could see the writing on the wall and tried to merge the MDT guys with the fledgling HDT guys but it wasn't gonna work. Guys who laid down $100K on gussied up MDTs with 300HP Catepillars couldn't stand the guys who laid down $30K on a HDT with 450 HP Cummins and made it work. Hence the "Dark Side" split between the buyers and the tinkerers. Phil, how's that James Bond 007 doing?😃 For those "not in the know", early Gen 1 ET hitches were serialized, Phil has one serial no. 007. I wanted to upgrade it but he doesn't want to part with 007. How about if I keep the 007 designation on it?

Shut-off valve in the supply line is the best way, it's good to have one there to remove the valve if you are fooling around removing and installing things. Not having the valve there eliminates possibility of damaging it during re-install. Remember, the supply line has a direct connection to your final dry tank with 125 psi on it. Quickest "method", sharp knife. Cut the supply line in the spot where you are going to install the shut-off valve and let the dry tank go bananas for the next few minutes until it empties, install the valve. Use the leveling valve to empty the air bags, if they are not empty already, to remove the output line. Loved to do it with customers watching, with all that hissing and truck suspension settling down, "😢he broke my truck". On edit: Wow, just got a notification, I am no longer a "rookie" I an an "explorer". Let's see, 9 years on the forum as Phoenix 2013, I'll be 77 tomorrow, I guess we are talking afterlife to reach an eagle.

Few installations I have done including mine I just use a hole saw cutter. Two holes, in and out. Hole sizes big enough for the cable and and a grommet to protect the cable from the sheet metal edges. The floor in that area is pretty thin sheet metal, hole saw will go through it like butter (after you go through the rubber mat and some insulation under the mat). Might want to consider "expanding the project", I installed there also a charger/inverter, external marine type AC socket (to run the charger while the truck was "sitting idle" and couple AC outlets (to the interior of the cab) for computer power, microwave, coffee pot, etc. I had some pictures of the project but they are deep in the archives. Take a look under the floor before you start making holes and not run into floor stiffeners, harnesses and other "surprises".

Yours went out as part of "blast" on July 26, for that reason I'm thinking that it went into junk mail. Will email you another today.

Full disclosure here. I experienced a several years hiatus between the secondary education and the college education. The reason, immigration to a new country (legally), shedding European culture and communist indoctrination, assimilating into a new culture and earning a living for a few years as a skilled worker, rather than as an "intellectual". Meaning that when campus intellectuals got to work on me to turn me into an "intellectual" I was seasoned enough and mature enough to distinguish between the beauty and power of knowledge and the interspersed clumps of BS. I am at awe at the scientific prowess I've seen in the US. I've worked with the best and the brightest. Why do you think the mighty China still send thousands of their best and brightest to our universities and they thrive. I'll offer an "opinion" why they thrive, they arrive with a bit of an inherent maturity, they absorb what has us at awe and they manage to avoid the clumps of BS which these days have grown to lawns of BS. A year back I was "curious" and as part of project research learned these facts. During WW2 when we beat everyone 7% of Americans had college degrees, during Apollo and moon landing decade 14% had a college degree. Now it's over 30%, wow an awful lot of "intellectuals". No wonder that clerks these days have college degrees as well as the baristas at Starbucks. Looking at the curriculums I posted above I didn't see anything that would focus on study of facts, it was more about how you generally perceive things, how you feel about it and how you discuss it. A perfect recipe for creating ignorant loudmouths.

Randy, I detect an annoyance with the reporting herein and general ignorance about the subject matter being reported upon. That would require having intellectual curiosity on the subject of reportage. Modern journalism is driven by clicks, sensationalism, fearmongering and activism, not facts and accuracy. I have a curious mind and decided to waste few minutes to see how Stanford and Loyola shape the young minds of budding journalist and communications majors. Just looking at these offerings gives me a foreboding feeling of how out of touch I am, perhaps I should audit some of these.

The whole idea behind ETs coming with the mounting plates as part of the hitch was so there would be "no consequences" for removing the rear most brace. Volvos are pretty good about the frame rail staying put without that brace, not so on all trucks and suspensions.

This is the procedure we used to remove and re-install rebuilt ETs (mounting plate, the four airbags and the leveling valve would remain in the truck) First, unbolt the two stop plates on top of the sidewalls, then unbolt the eight 3/8 bolts holding the tops of the four airbags. I'm assuming you have the "four baggers", it's a little more involved if you have a single large bag. Rebuilt ETs were shipped without the head, in your instance you want to lift the platform with the head so use a strap you can get under the head. Lift the platform above the sidewalls and set it on top of a lumber, 2 x 4 works good. Unbolt the eight 5/8 bolts holding the top portion of the hitch to the mounting plate. This is a two man job, one guy on top with 5/8 socket and extension and wrench and one man with and air impact and 5/8 socket under truck. Make sure all the eights bolts are completely out. Pretty easy task in an open rails installation. On some beds built tight around an ET you will need, multiple extension, 3/8 extension, wobble sockets, straight wrenches, closed wrenches, ratcheting closed wrenches, Band-Aids for knuckles and a substantial repertoire of juicy four letter words. Install two closed (for safety) lifting hooks in the sidewalls. Use strap long enough to fashion three point lifting configuration, from the lifting ring on the hoist (yes RING, I did drop and ET to within two inches of my toes with no steel toes from a lifting hook), through the lifting hooks on the sidewalls, back through the RING, to the dogbone pipes and back to the RING. You want lift the whole thing as straight as possible, so lift a little and see which way it tips and move the straps to where the center of the weight for the whole thing is. Be careful lifting the whole thing around the air valve (same when reassembling the hitch). Store it on a bench or a pair of horses, this one was being mounted on a palette for shipment. Again for safety, if we were leaving it on the hoist we would lower it to the ground as low as it would go. Reassembly is a reverse process. Take the "opportunity" to clean and touch up the paint on the mounting plate and it really "helps" to run a 5/8 drill or better a reamer through the eight mounting holes in the mounting plate to a point where a 5/8 bolt has enough clearance to just drop in. Pre-load all eight bolts with the bevel washer in the assembly and position it over the mounting plate. If you get it just right over the mounting holes all eight bolts will just drop in (might have to wiggle it a bit). In the picture below it's an ET Jr, the procedure is the same. When impacting the bolts the top guy has to make sure that the square bevel washer are square to the sidewalls, if they are not they will crack under the torque. Incidentally, as a point of interest, the new ET manufactured by Youngs (versions 5 and 6) no longer require the bevel washers. The sidewalls are no longer rolled C-channels, they are custom drilled and bent C-channels (both ET Seniors and Juniors).