Sweet Ratchet, you will not be disappointed. Exploder is looking sharp too. Ranger looking good with the black wheels.

Christmas was good here too.

 

It has been a while. I thought I would post quick update. F250 passed inspection. Hurray!

Warm weather has come to town so I was able to drill the rivets out of Ranger for the rusted shock mount. My normal bits did nothing. The holes are recessed so grinding wasn't an option. So I decided to try my Milwaukee Shockwave bits that came with my drill. They ripped through those rivets like nothing. I needed bigger sizes to finish the job so I immediately went out and got the full set. These are some tough bits. Well worth it if you have to drill any steel.





Now I just have to deal with frame rot from the old shock mount. It held a bunch junk behind it. But the shock is on and I am happy.

In other news, J got his first big blue truck for his first birthday courtesy of my parents. I have to say, the Cozy Coupe has come a long way. Complete with air horn sounds and a gas pump

 

 

That's when I got my first ones. I tried one just for the heck of it and I was like, WOW. This is sooooooooo much easier.

 

Minor updates. Taking F250 on road trip at the end of the month, so time to get some maintenance in. Off work all next week to get some of that done followed by my sister's wedding. So far, new air filter is in, added 64 oz of Sea Foam to my tank for a fuel system treatment and 6 oz to the oil to dissolve any deposits.

In other news, I am almost done building a desiccant air dryer for my compressor in anticipation of a plasma cutter joining the family. More details to come.

 

I'm curious to see your air dryer. I just run some cheapie air filters on my drops. They do 'catch' water to a degree, but I would never say the 'dry' the air.

 

Here is what I have so far. It will hang vertical on the wall behind my compressor with the pressure gauge after the filter. I want to know what my pressure drop is at flow. I am connecting with quick connects so I can easily bypass the filter and close the valves to keep moisture out.



The only part I actually had to experiment with is was the screens to keep the dessicant beads out of the lines. These are sink aerators Gorilla glued to these 3/4" brass NPT fittings.



I got the idea from a youtube channel called Hannah's Bug which is pretty interesting all on its own. My setup has a HF water trap filter before this desiccant filter. In her's, she built a gigantic water trip into the desiccant filter. I also chose side entry with 2 inch threaded caps on the top and bottom so its easy to change out the desiccant when the color changes. I am into this for about $80 I think including $35 of that for the desiccant beads. I'll put up more photos when I am done.

 

I meant to add the link to Hannah's page.
Also, commercially available filters seem to get real pricey real quick. HF sells one but it is tiny. These large ones should work for several hours before needing recharged.

 

Got it all assembled on my lunch break.PVC glue is drying. Hopefully I'll get to test it after work.

 

Have you done the 64oz Seafoam before? Seems excessive.

 

I've used 2 bottles of AMSOIL Performance Improver in the past. The tough part is with the 39 gallon tank, you need a lot of treatment. I don't like to add it at half tank, I like to pour it an and then fill the tank. Seafoam calls for 2oz per gallon for cleaning which is why I did 64 oz. And by that math I should've used 78 oz.

 

Top cap has a slight leak at 120 psi, otherwise all good. There is a 10 psi drop from the regulator through the HF filter and the new desiccant filter @ 120 psi on the regulator. Not sure what type of flow I was getting as far as SCFM. I was using my air nozzle for testing and the air felt cool and dry coming out. Real test would be the warm moist air from the compressor running for a while.

A few notes on the project.

1. It will be difficult to service the filter on the wall. I will remove it to deal with the screw caps and change the media. Use plenty of teflon tape to get them to seal.
2. PVC needs to be kept out of sunlight. I would also not leave it pressurized except when it is in use.
3. May be smart to install a protective lexan shield in case of rupture.
4. I would also not leave it pressurized except when it is in use. That is why there are inlet and outlet ball valves on the air lines.
5. Quick connects were so easy and I can bypass the filter in about 30 seconds if need be.
6. I used schedule 40 2 inch pipe which is rated to 166 psi for normal use (minimum burst pressure is 890 psi). My compressor only goes to 150 psi and the regulator can only go to 125 max. Even if the regulator failed, I should be fine.
7. I used medium duty clear PVC adhesive which is good to 6" pipe. This is rated for the pressures I am using.
8. The clear pipe is 2 inch schedule 40 Excelon R4000 I got off of ebay. The piece I ordered is 20 inches long.
9. For simpler servicing, try using some 2 inch schedule 40 ball valves. That was fancier than I was looking to get and way more expensive than simple screw caps.
10. This uses almost a half gallon of desiccant beads.

 

Ah, I have a short box with a 24 gallon tank, I think I added a standard bottle once and it worked great, never really did so since.

Are you doing this preventatively or trying to fix something?

 

Just preventative. The truck doesn’t get driven as much as it use to since my wife got the Explorer and I work from home a lot. Just want to make sure the injectors and fuel system are good and clean for a long journey.

 

New toy got delivered this past week. Primeweld Cut 60 Plasma Cutter. Chinese machine, Italian made Tec.Mo torch, surprising functionality and quality. Went through 1/8" plate like nothing. Edge was pretty nice too. Been saving up Amazon gift cards for a while and decided to fill the empty spot on the welding cart.








F250 is going on a trip at the end of the week, so not much time to play. Need to finish my maintenance tasks and make sure she is ready to go.