Newell Renewal - Day 16 - Alternator wars

5:33 am - Sunday - May 3rd - Wittmann, AZ - 62° F, 34% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north......clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 94° F, but we will not see that high as we roll our wheels this morning for the first time in two months!  On this day in  2017 we were in Lompoc, CA at the Elks Lodge.  We went to the beach that afternoon near Vandenberg AFB......

As of 8 am Saturday the 'flange gasket' for the Leece-Neville gear driven alternator had not been delivered by FedEx, so Glenn and I drove into Wikenburg to the local Napa store to buy gasket material to make our own flange gasket.  We were back a little after 9 am, and I began to make the gasket.....

First I traced out the gasket using the old one, then cut it out

The new flange gasket

 Time to mate the new gasket to the alternator

Applying the high temp gasket material

....once the gasket was made and fitted to the alternator the hard work began.....getting the alternator back in the very tight space.  In the picture above we have finally succeeded in getting the alternator back into the space where it is to be mounted....that took almost an hour.  We used a rope strung over the exhaust manifold to help lift it over the wires in front, but it ultimately took a lot of elbow grease to get that 40 lb. beast over those wires......

.....Glenn worked on one side, while I worked on the other trying to get the alternator lined up with the base, and get the gear drive in sync with the gear inside the mounting base.....

TLE and Laureen provided support....moral and otherwise

.....at last, around 3:30 pm the alternator was bolted in, and putting out 12 volts of electricity once again.  Within an hour we rolled the 1984 Newell Classic out of Newell House for the first time in 16 days......

.....once she was out of the way the cleanup of Tom's shop floor began in earnest......

.....and alternator wars, and the Newell Renewal was complete.  There was a lot of blood shed on my part, and many bruises on my forearms from that 5.5 hour effort to wrestle the Leece-Neville back into place.  I knew it would be difficult, but my expectations were exceeded by a factor of 10.  There were many points where both Glenn and I were ready to give up, but each time we came to that point one, or the other of us would encourage the other and we continued until we were successful.  This job was even more difficult than the replacement of the dump valve gaskets, if that is possible.  There are not enough words in the English language to describe the feeling of elation when Laureen fired up the big Detroit Diesel 6v92, and the alternator began to purr like a kitten.....all the pain, frustration, and anguish just melted away.

Just to recap what we accomplished in the last 16 days:

1) Removed and replaced all 8 airbags, and ran new air lines between them
2) Removed and replaced the alternator
3) Fixed the brake, turn signal, and running lights
4) Replaced the backup camera monitor (burned out by power surge)
5) Installed the CB
6) Replaced the fuse in the radio, which had blown (power surge)
7) Replaced a water hose, and coolant reservoir on the Kohler genset
8) Polished the ALCOA wheels
9) Installed a complete 680 watt solar system over three days (which began working as soon as we pulled out of the Newell House!)
10) Removed and replaced the dashboard, and checked all the wiring
11) Removed the old satellite dish, and Winegard over the air batwing
12) Installed the XM Radio antenna
13) Replaced both low beam headlights
14) Fixed the blown LED lights in the salon
15) Determined that the charger/converter/inverter was undamaged by the alternator power surge.
16) Replaced the lower air pressure sensor/sender
17) Eliminated a number of air leaks in the air system

There are probably a couple of things I have forgotten, but you get the picture.....we accomplished a lot, and a lot of labor costs were saved....probably in the neighborhood of $6-7,000. Glenn and Laureen know at lot more about their 1984 Newell Classic, and we all gained a lot of confidence in the knowledge we can fix stuff when it breaks.

With the completion of the alternator installation we are done, and it is time to roll our wheels......it is now 6:35 am on Sunday morning, and we will be doing just that in about 25 minutes.  The next time you hear from me we will be in Flagstaff, AZ enjoying 70 degree temps for as far as the eye can see.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 15

6:44 am - Saturday - May 2nd - Wittmann, AZ - 66° F, 31% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the north by northeast......clear, blue, sunny skies today with a more pleasant forecast high of 94° F.  On this day in 2018 we visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH....

....it was all, and more than I hoped it would be!

By Friday morning it was obvious the tailights we ordered from an Amazon seller were lost in transit, so the seller refunded my money.  So here we are with no tail lights, which we must have to move the 1984 Newell Classic down the road.  What do we do?  Wait another week for another seller to ship to us?  Tom called a few places looking for the correct tail lights, which are very hard to find locally.  Fleet Pride told Tom to call an outfit called Lighthouse of Arizona, which he did.  They advised they had two of the necessary 5 lights we needed to replace the remaining five sealed tail lights with blown bulbs.  We decided to drive into Phoenix to buy them, and make do with that.  All 6 tail lights on this Newell perform identical functions.....they act as running lights, brake lights, and turn signals, so we only really need two functioning lights on the rear to be legal.  We'll get the rest down the road.....

Tail lights are back in place

....it was an hour and one half drive into and back from the store located in Phoenix on 29th Street.  Upon return I quickly installed the two new tail lights, then filled the rest of the blank spots with the defective ones....now we have three working tail lights....two on the left, and one on the right.

In Tom's mancave he has a toilet and a urinal.  Every time I use the urinal I get a kick out of the blue lettering on the back wall of the urinal.  It is an apt portrayal of how a very large portion of the American public feels about the ACA* after all these years.......

......we were also awaiting the arrival via FedEx the flange gasket needed to reinstall the Leece-Neville gear driven alternator, which we have had for over week.   It also did not arrive as scheduled, and promised.  This missing flange gasket is the last item we need to finish the last project awaiting completion.  It's been sitting at one of their Phoenix locations for over two days.....it has been scanned 3 times, but has not moved.  I called FedEx to have them find out why it is not moving, or being delivered.  After 30 minutes on hold I was told they would have to open a 'CASE' and get back to me.....as of 7 am this morning (Saturday) they have not done so yet......

The old flange gasket

....meanwhile, Laureen replaced some blown LED strip lights up front (blown by the failing alternator power surge)......

....and did some more trouble shooting on the marker lights.....

....and Glenn washed their Honda Element.....

....by the end of the day with no resolution in site on the missing in action flange gasket we decided to drive into Wickenburg on Saturday to by some gasket material and make our own flange gasket.  Once we get the alternator installed we will be done, and will be in position to roll the 1984 Newell Classic out of the Newell House where she has been for two weeks, and then depart the Wittmann compound early Sunday morning for Flagstaff (7,200' elevation) and much cooler daytime temps.

Once piece of good news is that the replacement back up camera monitor (also damaged by the power surge) did arrive via UPS Friday as promised....UPS seems to be the only carrier delivering things on time these days.  Another piece of good news is that we have mostly solved the air leak problem down to where it is very, very slow.  And finally, all of us here at Newell House continue to be asymptomatic!

Thanks for stopping by!

*ACA = Affordable Care Act aka: Obamacare

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Newell Renewal - Day 14 - Setbacks

6:59 am - Friday - May 1st - Wittmann, AZ - 68° F, 32% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north by northeast......clear, blue, sunny, hot skies today with a forecast high of 97° F.  On this day in 2018 we arrived in Ashtabula, OH at the Elks Lodge located on Lake Erie.....

 Lake Erie in the background

Thursday was a total bust as far as anything getting done successfully, or otherwise.  None of the parts for which we have been waiting over a week have arrived, and Glenn and Laureen's attempt to stop the very small air leak in the rear six pack ended up with multiple leaks in the end....to say the least it was a discouraging day.  

 Rear six pack

Where is that leak?

On a positive note, I did receive my new Elks Lodge membership card for 2020-21.......a full 15 days after it was mailed.....the USPS has really, really, really slowed down mail, and package delivery.  My son mailed a large envelope containing our mail to us April 23rd via first class mail, and it just arrived.....I could have ridden my bike to Rancho Cucamonga in that time and picked it up myself.  On the Elks membership card....I could have ridden there and back in the time it took them to deliver it.....what is the deal?  The USPS package containing the much needed tail lights has vanished somewhere within the system....the tracking showed it arriving April 30th, but late Thursday the tracking info completely disappeared from their system, and it says "We’re very sorry your delivery is late. Most late packages arrive in a day. If you have not received your package by May 6, you can come back here the next day for a refund, or replacement."....wait, what?

 Our Jello plan to be in Flagstaff by Saturday, May 2nd seems to be circling the proverbial drain with increasing rapidity.  I know I shouldn't be so negative, but it is getting hot here in Wittmann, we are running our A/C 12-14 hours every day, and Arizona is still under 'stay at home' orders for another 2 weeks.  I ordered, and picked up another 3 dozen "pasture raised" eggs mid morning thinking it would be our last order....before the non-arrival of the tail lights.  We are supposed to received the flange gasket for the alternator Friday via FedEx....we'll see.  At least we do have tracking on that item, and it shows it arrived at their Phoenix facility around 2 pm Thursday.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to those of us who live in the western U.S. that we are being treated as if we live in New York, or New Jersey.  Arizona, which has had an extremely low case and death rate is still locked down for two more weeks.  The natives are getting restless, and I don't blame them.  World-wide there are just under 240,000 deaths reported from the Wuhan Virus, and just over 3 million confirmed cases.  In the U.S. anti-body tests being done across the nation find that over 25% of local populations have been infected at some point, which brings the death rate down to a paltry .01 to .05% of the population groups tested.  Is every death tragic?  Of course!  Is this 'pandemic' really cause for us to run around with our hair on fire, like the world is coming to an end.....no, it is not.  The cure seems to be far worse than the disease.  Back in early March when the decision was being made to lock our country down the 'experts' were telling our leaders that the number of deaths in the U.S. would exceed 2 million if we did nothing, 1 million if we shut everything down.  About 10 days later we were told it would be closer to 250,000 if we closed things down.  Then we were told it would be under 100,000.....total deaths in the U.S. as of today stand at 63,700....a lot for sure, but nothing compared to the statistics used to scare the hell out of our leaders, and us.  And yet, here were stand on April 30th.....6 weeks into this fiasco, and just 4, or 5 states are trying to reopen.....most subject to great ridicule by the 'Elites' who lecture us daily.  Virtually none of the orders being handed down by Governors are based on actual science.  According to PolitiFact Sweden, the only country not to shut down their economy, and punish their citizens with house arrest, has a death rate per capita of 150 per 1 million....a little higher than the U.S., which comes in at 118 per 1 million.  Their goal, with no lock down, was not to overwhelm their hospitals (also our initial goal with the lock down) was a success.  In short, we have wrecked our economy, destroyed livelihoods, businesses, etc. to save 32 people per 1 million.

Nevertheless, we continue to socially distance ourselves, and obey the civil authority.  We wore our face masks when we shopped at the local Family Dollar store Thursday. They had TP, paper towels, and Kleenex, so things are getting back to normal.  We had a nice sunset.....

......Glenn and Laureen snapped this cool picture of our coach just after the sun set.....

....time to roll our wheels!  Thanks for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 13 - There is always one more, right?

6:55 am - Thursday - April 30th - Wittmann, AZ - 73° F, 32% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the east by northeast......partly cloudy today, but it will get to 99° F.  On this day in 2013 we were walking along the National Mall in Washington D.C.....

We continued our waiting game Wednesday for the tail lights, and flange gasket.  Glenn and I left the Newell House compound early to drive into Phoenix to Fleet Pride to pickup his new 'low air pressure sending unit' to replace the one about which I wrote yesterday.  On the way I decided that even though mine is working fine, I should by one of these obscure units for future use should the need arise.  We arrived at the Fleet Pride in Avondale, AZ in about 35 minutes to find the part awaiting our arrival.....they did not have a second one of these.....

.....but their sister store about 9 miles away did have one in stock, so Glenn and I headed there next.  After picking up the second one for my personal inventory we stopped off at the local Napa to acquire a few more things....for me a couple of spools of 10 and 14 gauge stranded wire, and some buss buses (20 amp and 30 amp), also for my personal inventory.  We were back at the Newell House compound by 10:30 am.

There were only a couple of things for me to do this day, so I got right to them.....first up, install the two 'Power Pulse'* units gifted to Glenn and Laureen by Tom.  These units help extend the life of your batteries......

 
.....I've been using them for over 10 years, and have had great results.  Tom uses them on his Newell, and many of our Newell buddies do the same.....

There's this little, red LED light which 

blinks so you know it's working

.....next up was the task Laureen had assigned me....cut a couple of inches off the 'lip' on the shelf in one of their storage bays.....it was too tall, and made it difficult to get things in and out of the shelf.....

.......I used my handy, dandy rotary saw attachment on my Craftsman drill to cut the 2 inches off, and then used the drill attachment to screw it back on the 1/2" plywood piece.

Laureen finished the re-installation of the padded dashboard, so the interior is basically back together once again....

....while she was engaged with that Glenn installed the new 'low air pressure sending unit' after which we hoped there would be no more leaks, but, of course, there is always one more, right?  Tom loaned his 'leak sniffer' to check both of the six packs (front and rear) which control the ride height of the coach, and the leveling function......

Lookin' for air leaks

.....the front six pack (where Laureen is here in this picture) checked out fine, but a slow leak was found in the rear six pack on one of the Mac valves which controls the right height of the left rear corner.  This makes sense since the left rear was slowly settling once again.  The good news?  We are down to very small leaks requiring the use of electronic equipment to detect.  Glenn and Laureen will work on fixing that, hopefully, final leak on Thursday.

We are also hoping the tail lights will arrive as promised on Thursday via USPS, so we can install them.  Then we will just be awaiting the imminent arrival of the elusive flange gasket via FedEx to finish the installation of the rebuilt Leece-Neville alternator on Friday.  So, we are just days, and perhaps hours from rolling our wheels to cooler climes.   The high temp Wednesdeay was 102° F.....time to be moving!

Thanks for stopping by!

*Power Pulse:

"PowerPulse is not a charger. Charging doesn’t eliminate the main cause of battery failure – energy robbing lead sulfate deposits on battery plates. During this process, the plates gradually become more and more clogged with microscopic lead sulfate deposits. These deposits eventually limit the surface area available for energy transfer and cut back the battery’s ability to accept, store and release energy.

PowerPulse is a performance device designed to help batteries charge faster and provide maximum performance and power by generating an intermittent, optimized high frequency pulse that reduces existing sulfate deposits and keeps them from building up again. The patented Pulse Technology circuit has been scientifically proven by researchers at two major universities to improve battery performance and longevity."

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Newell Renewal - Day 12

7:10 am - Wednesday - April 29th - Wittmann, AZ - 74° F, 28% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the east.....clear, blue, sunny, very hot skies today with a forecast high of 102° F.  On this day in 2016 we were high into the Eastern Sierras on our way to South Lake Tahoe for the summer.......

.....here we are at the Crowley Lake vista point about 15 miles from Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Right now we are playing a waiting game....waiting for parts to arrive, that would normally have been received within 2-3 days of their being ordered, but the world has slowed considerably in the past month.  We hope to have the needed parts to install the rebuilt Leece-Neville alternator, and to install the new tail lights by Friday, but who knows for sure.  

In the interim Glenn, Tom and I drove into Wickenburg to the local O'Reilly's to retrieve the four new 8d batteries ordered on Monday......

 ....here I am helping the store manager to carry the old batteries inside, and bring the new ones out to Glenn's 2008 Honda Element......

 The new 8d batteries

.....we were back by 10:30 am and quickly had the new batteries installed in their respective cubby holes.....

....you will recall we installed the new control board in the Dometic Classic absorption refrigerator a few days ago.  The temp in the freezer quickly got to about 9° F, but the fridge part only got down to 41° F.  We found out that there is a little blue control knob on the control board which can be adjusted.  The factory setting is at #3, so we moved it up closer to #5, and then let time takes its measure.....

......and after a couple of adjustments we got the fridge down to 38° F.  We are hoping it will get down to 35-36° F eventually.

While I was getting a bite to eat, and a nap Tom and Glenn aired up the '84 Newell to see if there were still any air leaks, and there was still one.  It turned out that the LOW air pressure sending unit above the rear air supply tank was leaking....

....so it had to be replaced.  Fortunately, Tom was able to find one at 'Fleet Pride' in Avondale, AZ which is about a 30 minute drive away.  We will get the new one Wednesday, and that should wrap up the search for air leaks, of which there have been many.

.....of course there is the ongoing mystery of the 'marker lights' not working, so Tom, Glenn and I began tackling that.  After a couple more hours of trouble shooting we found the wire from the fuse block to the on/off switch had a short, and that solved the problem of the blown fuses, but we still had no power at any of the marker lights.....  

.......the final solution will have to await another day as we need to button things up so we can be ready to leave as soon as the aforementioned parts are delivered.

And thus comes to an end day 11 of the 'Newell Renewal' project.  We are ready to escape the gravitational pull of Wittmann heat......it is starting to heat up considerably, and it is not cooling off at night.  I woke up this morning to 74° F....way to warm for first thing in the morning!  Oh, and by the way, we are all still asymptomatic to the Wuhan Virus.....life is good.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!