Each visit to Kearny Mesa Truck Centre feels always like a coming home.
There is the most friendly and helpful manager Ron Lucero and the expert mechanic John.
They are going beyond giving service: they are personally involved in the Fuso Szulc and strongly motivated to have it in top condition.
Last time the Fuso Szulc was in the hands of Ron and John, four Bilstein shocks have been installed.
And an extra blade has been installed in the springs of the left front wheel.
After using for some months this new configuration settled in a way that the front is now higher than the back.
This is common and nothing to worry about.
What will be done now is to take the spring leaves out to arc them.
To bend them slightly.
To flatten them so to speak, to have the front at exactly the same height as the back of the Fuso Szulc.
Another issue playing for a long time is how the camperbox is attached to the Fuso chassis.
In the back it is OK.
There is a two-way pivotal system that works perfectly.
But in the front the camperbox rests on the two chassis beams held by heavy-duty u-bolts.
This is not the best solution because there is movement of the camperbox in the front while driving.
Because it is mounted rigidly, there is friction. Energies work against each other and somewhere sometime this is going to come to a possible disastrous climax.
Last time the Fuso Szulc was in San Diego, Ron and John believed the solution was to put special rubber between the camperbox and the chassis rails.
But this is not absorbing enough the movement.
Yesterday was a long discussion what would a better solution.
Even Vincent, the man that builds bodies on Mitsubishi trucks, was requested to come and give his opinion.
At this moment in time we do not know what to do.
We will do research how for example Unicat in Europe, building Unimog expedition vehicles, attach their camperboxes to the chassis in the front.
And maybe there are fervent and loyal blog readers who have brilliant ideas?
Meanwhile the hunt is on for a new pair of shoes.
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2 comments:
You might not like this comment, but maybe it's time to give up on the pivot system for the "house" and just have it directly attached to the frame like any other cargo-box.
It's a nice concept, but a pivot system is highly complex and difficult to get it to work in the long-term as you have experienced.
As the rear axle is very close to the center of the "house", the twisting motion on the frame rails caused by off-roading adventures really doesn't induce as much stress on the "house" as it would with a longer wheelbase.
This reader's very mechanically inclined partner says that he agrees with Ken, that the pivot system is part of the problem. He says that the BASE for the camper box needs to be attached as far out on the chassis as possible to reduce the amount of movement by the camper box...kind of like changing the box from a teeter totter to a table top.
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