WTH Kershaw, your composite knife broke against woodstick !!

Just got this snapon edition composite knife. Chop chop chop.. Knack !.. 

WTH, it broke! Shame on you Kershaw !

LJ80 speedometer : Full Tank !

Tested, the adjustment of bimetal regulator fix the previous issue

LJ80 Troubleshoot : Fuel Meter never Full, Coolant Temperature doesn't move..

It's been a while i notice these gauges response in my Lj80. Fuel never pass 3/4 and coolant temp never move. As i read both are resistive type response, which should easily be checked. 

Is the gauges broken or wiring broken or sensor broken?

 

Fuel meter responds, means no wiring issue, fuel sensor may have issue or the gauge display it wrong.

Coolant temp not responding, can be wiirng issue, sensor issue or gauge issue.

First I check coolant sensor , comparing to other (car/new sensor). My thermistor read 400 ohm when cool and 140ohm when hot (car runs for sometime). The other thermistor read 400 when cold. Ok no issue on sensor. How to check cable and gauges. As the gauge made from bimetal type,it should have coils to heat it up.it means it is "Ok" to short the sensor side just to check if it respond. So i connect the sensor cable to ground. And after few seconds, i notice that coolant temp  needle move on the gauge. OK, i have no wiring issue and the gauge respond. But what is wrong?

Comparing the coolant temp vs fuel meter gauge, both have no sensor issue (at least it give reading), it has no wiring issue, but both may have gauges issue. 

I remove the speedometer from console (4screws), remove cables (socket) and odometer cable, i need to remove plastic cover of steering wheel to be able to get the speedometer out. 

Thereare 6 screw on the back, remove them, now i got the back plate of the speedometer out. All thing inside are mounted there. 

After checking/guestimating the connection, i inject 12v and ground to it. And measure some points inside.

Basically, it has 3 bimetals. 1 acting as regulator (on the right side of fuel meter), 1 acting as the display of fuel ( on the left of fuel meter), and one acting as display of coolant temp (on the coolant temp gauge).

Regulator works by having a single coil from the bimetal point to ground. The bimetal itself will be connected to side metal giving 12v. When it connects, current flows, bimetal (regulator) gets hot and bend, as it bend 12v disconnected. This way it act like pulse width modulation, sending burst of 12v pulses on the bimetal (regulator) itself.

When voltage raise up, the bimetal become hot faster, means faster to disconnect, this way it regulate the output to stay on the target value. This happen vice versa.

Checking the regulator output with analog meter, i got 4 volts. It is connected to 2 gauge bimetals (shared). On the back of the pcb there is written 7V on the regulator out line. Now i understand that the issue of my gauges is due to less voltage on regulator output. With less voltage, the 2nd and 3rd bimetal will get less heat = less bending = less value on display.

How to increase the regulator output?

1. Cut the regulator coil (disable it), get a LM317 voltage regulator and a potentiometer, set the output to 7V. This is the modern way. But i may add some soldering/components on the back of speedometer.

2. Bend the metal pin inside(where 12v connected to bimetal (regulator). This will make bimetal need more bending to disconnect, means it will give longer time of 12v connected means output will have bigger 12v duty cycle (higher output). After several bend and check (with analog voltmeter) it give me 7V and time to test. I connect 120ohm resistor between coolant temp input  to ground and it works now. Gauge move halfway. 

Time to reasembly everything.. Or should i reset the odometer as well.. Maybe later .

Simple Recovery : Can ratchet strap be use to recover stuck vehicle?

Yes and no.

Tested with my new (old) LJ80 which just weight around 800kg.

I setup the ratchet strap on tree hooked up to Lj80 front fender, set the handbrake on the LJ and pull as hard as i can. Somehow i bent the tree and the LJ refused to move. And the tension on the strap was so tight that was very hard for me to add a click on it. 

But considering that i will not set the handbrake when i'm stuck, i released the handbrake and it rolls. I put a brick and the LJ can easily climb it with the strap pull force. So yes it can be use to recover a stuck vehicle but limited. 

The strap is rated 3 ton, but handle had limited mechanical advantage to pull,as well as my hand power. At the end, can it be use? Light recovery, yes, hard recovery, no. 

Simple Offroad : to the beach ... !!

Got a chance to drive this little Lj80 with my family to the beach. I was expecting to struggle dry sand, prepared some manual recovery gear, but found wet sand instead. Wet sand feels firm, solid, there was no deep wheel print on the sand indicating we are floating on it. Or is this because the feather-weight jimny?

235/70 AT r15 on self painted 15x7 wheel at 20psi walk nicely on the sand. I was carrying air pump incase i need to air-down but not used, seeing how easy it run.

I was using 4wd-high at 1st gear, throttle medium-high constantly while zipping thru the wet sand next to sea water. It was fun, until when we werr about goibg home, there is transition from wet to dry sand which bogged the engine a little, changed to 4wd-low at high throttle easily clear up that area. 

It was fun ride with this little LJ80

Simple Adventure : Backyard trailing

Testing the new LJ...

Simple Offroad : LJ80V 1981 !

And the adventure begins !

Simple edc : Opinel #7 Inox

Just given a new opinel 7 by my father in law, this is my first time handling this unique knife. I spent a week with this knife alone, thus i get few thing to note (for my review) :

- the blade is hard to be open/close => this raise a concern that i need to use too much force to do it, therefore there is chance to danger my hand if it slips. (I CUT my hand twice just open/closing the blade within this week).

- the lock-ring is super tight to turn. It creates mark/bump in my thumb.

- the back edge of the knife is rough, uncomfortable.

- the wood swell in water. This knife shouldn't be use "outdoor" in humid/wet environtment.

- the sharp edge grinded only one side, or just grinded unevenly?

- the blade is thin, flat grind, i think it is more of kitchen blade, which is good for those kind of cutting.

- the does the work to lock the blade.

- inox, kind of victorinox, rust resistance, edge wear not that great but easy to resharpen.

I like the "unique" value. But i can't stand the negative points above. Therefore i disassembled the knife, sandpaper the inner wall to free the blade movement, bend out the lockring (loosen up the lock) and sandpaper the back edge to make it smooth. Now it works better!

Revisiting old friend, the Merrill !

Wide open at minimum focus...

I need no other camera anymore !