Multiple Battery types and the danger of diode damage with modern batteries mixed with Lead Acid and OEM alternators.

[RanchWelder]

Well it was off Craigslist and the gentleman was very polite.
The slider was used once to tow his rig to his new home.
Came with the X-Plate welded to rails.
4 pucks with a central 2-5/16 that uses a pair of ball bearings to lock the center section to a flush mount goose-neck pin hole. There's a threaded flipper you turn to move a pin between the bearings?

Somebody is looking out for me.

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We had to drive an hour and a half to pick it up.

We're going to drill the bed out for the center pin and pucks and mount flush with plates from the frame to each puck.

The pucks are almost exactly the same spacing as the frame and the thickness of the corrugated deck.

Bolt some side support plates to the frame, so it cannot bend between the rails and drill through the sides of the rails/x-plate to bolt some carriage bolts to whatever we can make work. Few shims.

The X-Deck will really Cris-cross the frame.
It's like adding a plate over the deck, instead of under the deck.

The rails could be separated, by cutting the X-deck loose, but it looks like the added strength and the low profile will allow the slider to be removed, when required.

I'm thinking the over-load springs we took out might be best put back, though.


_________________________________________________________________
Here's another one on eBait that is similar and priced to sell.
According to the seller's comments, This one has the pucks for:

" four-post mounting plate will fit Dodge, Ford,and Chevy 3500 pick-ups with pre-made openings in the bed"... on the removable base plate.

You'll notice these pucks have a lever that lock each puck and my x-plate does not.
Newer trucks must not have the center pin, that my x-plate has?

The slider and the head could be adapted with different side plates to any of the Demco rails or bases, from what my hitch has taught me.

Check out the price and shipping cost of this Demco:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/226248477277?itmmeta=01J4J1A3GTZGE474M8YSSYYJ5S&hash=item34ad75ca5d:g:n1sAAOSwgaFmmAom&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAAA4IJaLXfkY51ND2x3Ra9chiJW9faCgBqMFRfKplRDS2Oop58btTVhDkcjjkjigDSMQxkbZSBdqPD+IV5Up1/Isg7Ij0zUwK9FQXKVMq18tGTV/EdW3yss77usB--E16I4huvJ7PTve56OQH/79PAIo3+eRJrplcSLUV5B3HB6iTdkpXFFEEGyjnCM+OUPJEN9yK2a5CF6sAL5pGMiRhqovzLPbD7mp3cfuD9ZsPRjAk/b2X6pktJ21XImkQQqqCdq93NwbtvssoHT8sEjQ9UiIhUioi4uvayr7aqKtZ/+b0bq|tkp:Bk9SR7y4qMGkZA

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Nasty-LSX or one of Those Houston guys, should go take a look at this one, before it gets sold.
Listed as $500 and $6.95 shipping? LOL

The Puck Deck under this slider, is $695.00 new and can be used with any brand of riser/head combo.

**** This hitch rotates automatically when you turn more than 15 degrees, so you don't have to get out the truck, chock the rear wheels (both sides, front and back of the wheels), un-lock the slider, get back in the truck and move forward, verify the lock, pull the chocks and then back up or make a tight turn with your short-bed.****

Wow just writing the procedure without the Auto-slider option wore me out.

The synchronizer gear under the hitch rotates and pushes the entire 5th wheel pin back 14 inches, when you take a turn or cut the wheel to back up.
You can see the mechanism in the eBait sale picture, if you look closely.

Link to the hitch PDF with pics of the gear system:
https://cdn.demco-products.com/documents/HJ26077.pdf

Demco's site:
https://www.demco-products.com/rv-towing/5th-wheel-hitches/autoslide

There's a huge bearing under the tongue, which rides against the chevron plate, protruding in front of the head block riser. Your trailer is actually moving backwards faster than you are backing up, once you break the 10-15 degree angle. This gear rotation system works driving forwards or backwards.

So, if you have to go around a school bus, stuck at an intersection, in the middle of town and must make a tight turn, with your short-bed, you can slowly articulate and skip the ninnie dance of "chocking and sliding" in the middle of the road.

I suspect on the mountain hair pin turns we have here in MT, this gem will save the cab from damage on some really cool back roads, which might not have been drive-able, without the Demco Auto-slider; in a short-bed configuration and 5th wheel RV.

Still cannot believe the unit we found was so affordable.

The Gentleman said he was a Blazer guy, growing up.
Sent him pics of my build before he told me the x-plate was included.
When I asked for the best rails to use or if the more affordable units from another manufacturer would suffice, he text me back the pics of the plate and said it's included.
Bout dropped my phone.

Another former SquareBody guy with a great big heart.

Great honor to get to meet all of you, one at a time!

 

[RanchWelder]

To get the thread back on track...

The change of ownership at The Red Top AGM battery company, moving to Mexico manufacturing, has caused a lot of disgruntled customers.

It seems the $300 Red Top, that used to last 10 years or more, suddenly burns out at 2 to 2-1/2 years even with light use? The Yellow Top reviews are worse, on several sites.

Several comments by former owners complaining about lost performance is concerning.

If I try to afford even 1 $300 AGM and it dies in 2 years, it would be cost effective to have gone LiFPO, for the RV power source.

Switching technologies and relaiable charging, untill I can afford 400 watt solar cells, down the road and buying and building into a more future proof system, is tough.

The complexity of how to "Safely and Properly" re-charge, without pole A/C power, is the reason for the questions and the grief of being under financed, when potientially forced to move out of a building with a wood stove, ve trusting a 1992 propane furnace in an old RV vs building a ****** outside the RV front door to house a wood stove for -40 degree winters, gets a bit un-nerving to negotiate.

Dragging to warmer climates when everyone in the country is doing the same thing, leads to issues when out of town with out of state tags and fines. Fines that can be worse than trying to remain put and fighting the winter and the chainsaw for heat.

They run a very efficient collection system in the deep southern states, when I guy shows up with an old rig towing an old RV. Never want to arrive for vacation and forced to leave on probation, during an "E" Year.

Not burning up the RV with a sub-standard inverter from overseas is wearing me out as well.
The low frequency units are $$$, as already stated above.

Going to have to stay put for a good long while on disability pay, to pay down the Blazer suspension/transmission rebuild.

All those expensive tools were supposed to earn me a way to make a few bucks staying in my garage.

Now it's "get out" go broke and lose everything or freeze to death, after being told the deal to live here and rebuild a few cases was a great idea.

Rock and another Hard place. Over and over again.

If you have gear that works and a formula besides Ricko1966's lil' red wagon solution, I'm learning and ready to listen. My budget is thin as rice paper, after trying to afford supposed RV that actually works correctly and goes down the road safe and straight.

Learning what not to buy and which brands have caused others to succeed or fail, was my intention with the thread.


Like I mentioned, free camping sites are often far from fire rescue and fuel stations.
Leaving the RV and driving 25 miles to town, means might not be there when you get back.
Or everything is stolen.

Wandering Gypsies and thieves are becoming the norm.
It's tough being self sufficient and carrying everything you own, wherever you go.

Having invested in tools for five years, that I might not be able to use for the next year while off the grid, is tough to digest. No where near what I had in mind, in order to be a useful and productive, self sufficient member of our small business community. Nobody rebuilds engines or transmissions her.

It's now a lost trade.

No machine shop for 140 miles in every direction.

 

[Ricko1966]

Don't know if this will help or not. Told you,I've done this 1. Get a BBQ grill with a side burner and get a cast iron camp griddle to throw in it. 2. Get a concrete sprayer pic of mine below. Replace the wand with a kitchen sink sprayer, mine used to be,but I went to this hand shower with shut off valve,the kitchen sink sprayer works better and you can use it to wash dishes. A rubber band around it will hold it on ,roll the band down for off,and it will fit in a normal hand shower holder. Put it on the shower floor pump it up,now you have a pressurized hot water shower with out needing a water heater. Concrete sprayer has bigger tubing so better flow than a garden sprayer. Most of the time you can get hot water from gallon bottles painted black and left out all day. Throw a couple in a cooler and shut the lid at 7pm now have hot water through the night. 3 a pic of my heater using a BBQ grill regulator and 20 gallon BBQ bottles,no electricity needed. Cooking,hot water and heating are you're biggest electrical consumers,make them propane. If you open a computer UPS you will see they are a top quality inverter clean signal attached to a 12v SLA batteries, hook it to a 12v deep cycle tons of run time Anda ups with a dead battery is dirt cheap or free.

 

[RanchWelder]

Moving.

 

[idahovette]

Moving.

WOW that's the shortest comment I have seen you make, most are novels!!! You OK?

 

[RanchWelder]

I'm good.

 

[AuroraGirl]

WOW that's the shortest comment I have seen you make, most are novels!!! You OK?

I think theres hidden meaning in that comment, one of those things where we must comprehend what isnt said to be enlightened

 

[Craig Nedrow]

Geez, I hate to here this, probably most of us have been there one time or another, just sad. Praying for you RanchWelder.

 

[Ricko1966]

Don't know if this will help or not. Told you,I've done this 1. Get a BBQ grill with a side burner and get a cast iron camp griddle to throw in it. 2. Get a concrete sprayer pic of mine below. Replace the wand with a kitchen sink sprayer, mine used to be,but I went to this hand shower with shut off valve,the kitchen sink sprayer works better and you can use it to wash dishes. A rubber band around it will hold it on ,roll the band down for off,and it will fit in a normal hand shower holder. Put it on the shower floor pump it up,now you have a pressurized hot water shower with out needing a water heater. Concrete sprayer has bigger tubing so better flow than a garden sprayer. Most of the time you can get hot water from gallon bottles painted black and left out all day. Throw a couple in a cooler and shut the lid at 7pm now have hot water through the night. 3 a pic of my heater using a BBQ grill regulator and 20 gallon BBQ bottles,no electricity needed. Cooking,hot water and heating are you're biggest electrical consumers,make them propane. If you open a computer UPS you will see they are a top quality inverter clean signal attached to a 12v SLA batteries, hook it to a 12v deep cycle tons of run time Anda ups with a dead battery is dirt cheap or free.

Using my pump sprayer again,put a kitchen sprayer head back on it. Broken pipe underground, so this will due until I have time to dig and fix it,been digging in the wrong spot for three days. Heating shower water in the electric ice tea maker. Gotta do what you gotta do. Oh and a little tip if you do this take another gallon of water in with you. I just sprayed off,soaped up lathered my hair,started to rinse and ran out of water,lesson learned