Beth said: "I think there's a problem with the van." I told her it was just drums (the town of Dangriga is famous for drums). Turns out, upon closer inspection, that it was the drumbeat of one of our rear shocks dragging along the ground under our axle. A rattle-casualty. One too many pot holes or a probably a dozen too many surprise topes took their toll on the shock. Beth pulled over on the main street in front of the local police station, where we attracted a bit of attention. First up was the "guide" trying to help us get out to the islands to do some diving. He saw that we were in greater need of a new suspension system than a boat, and after a brief internal brainstorming session on how to profit from the situation, he came up nil and decided to offer support instead. The cops from the station across the street weren't much help but weren't a hindrance either. The officer chatting with Beth while I was under the van had "Major Crimes" emblazoned on his uniform. I guess he was a specialist, but not in badly abused and ancient suspension parts. I tuned out.
I looked under the van to see a dangling shock absorber firmly attached to the chassis at the top and to a bracket at the bottom. The only problem was that the bracket at the bottom was no longer firmly attached to the axle (or to anything). Instead, it was about a half of a bracket, and it had that lovely shiny "fresh cracked metal" look that I generally like on things I've meant to break, but not on my conveyances.
It was with smug satisfaction that I got the offending part off of the rattlevan and into the light of day and realized I was holding a broken and removed piece of what was really a pretty tenuous suspension system to begin with. I'm pretty sure that removing parts from what started out as the collection of junk that gave the rattlevan its name is a bad thing. But at least the parts aren't dragging along the ground anymore, making drum sounds. Eventually, I'm gonna need a welder. By that, I mean, a welder machine, a welder person, or both. While I do have what I need to make a field expedient welder out of the batteries on board the rattlevan and some jumper cables, I've tried that before, and I'm not even a very good welder when I have a real welder. One thing you can get easy access to in this part of the world is a handy guy with a small shop and a welder who can pretty much make anything work. In the meantime, I think the rattlevan will be about as rattly as ever, and more bouncy than usual.
UPDATE. See the Shocks Update post to see what happened.
My bet is that shock wasn't doing any shock absorbing any way, as old as it appears to be. Many of those dirt driveway mechanics are very good at keeping old junk ---er,ah --- older vehicles working, because that's pretty much all they do. I wish you luck that you find that really good mechanic when you need him.
ReplyDeleteWhat? You don't have any wire hangers and duct tape in that tool kit? What kind of shade tree mechanic are you?!?
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention that Bob because I am running a little low on wire coat hangers. I've got duct tape for days and no shortage of bailing wire but I'm down to my last length of coat hangers. Yes, I know. This is very concerning. It was actually pretty easy (thanks to the proper tools) to get that thing off but I already had a bailing wire plan to hang it out of the way if that didn't work. (I almost always have a bailing wire plan waiting in the wings).
ReplyDeletePop - agreed. I don't think that thing was doing much of anything at all. I think we're going to get a pair of decent shocks somewhere here. This beast has a general suspension problem with a sagging rear end that bottoms out on the rubber limit bumpers. I believe the leaf springs have seen much better days. It looks to me like someone installed some spring 'helpers' at some point but they may not be doing much either. Typically people install adjustable air bags to help with the problem and some people even go to the great expense of having the leaf springs re-sprung. I'm not sure how much support some shocks are really going to provide considering the load but they gotta help right?
Sr Horst will be proud to learn that his tools provided a life line. Well done and continued success in your extended gorilla maintenance program! Instant flashback back...three 12V car batteries, run in series, jumper cables and a spicy hot welding rod. And to think, we were paid to learn that industrial survival technique, lol. All the best!
ReplyDeleteYou might reconsider the dangling shock absorber feature as it would continue mark your path assisting you in a safe return home.
ReplyDeleteHaving working shocks would probably reduce the times it bottoms out on bumps because of the progressive resistance they provide. I think you would be amazed at the difference a pair of working shocks would make in the ride and handling. Here in civilization you can even get shocks with an incorporated spring to assist the sagging leaf springs. My bet is that the auxiliary springs you see were added as part of the camper installation.
ReplyDelete