Question for all you Propane Converts

[jynx]

Erin wants a samurai pretty bad and I finally gave her the nod, well we found one that is about 2.5 hours from our house, about 150 miles +/-. It looks like a pretty solid rig and it already has a propane conversion on it, which I see as a bonus since I had already thought about doing that anyway. So since you guys seem to have more propane fired rigs then about any other group that I have been around, I figured I would throw it out to you guys.

Do you see any reason why I couldn't go about 150 miles on 2 full 40# tanks feeding a 1.3L samurai motor? Also, do you all see any other issues with running it on the road? Since we don't really have a trailer she will need to be able to drive it around until such time as we have somewhere to park a trailer. i figure I can tow with the cruiser, i just know it will be a serious dog and I will eventually have to get something a little stouter to do the business.

I am also curious if any of you have had to smog your converted rigs and what that involved? In order for me to title it in Davidson, or any surrounding county, I will have to have it smogged. It will just need to pass the snooper test, but I have no idea how to even approach that, or if I should just roll up and let them test it and then see how it goes.

Thanks in advance,



Matthew

 

[TeddyBoy]

those guys never post (except Sid) so I'll try to answer.

None of their rigs are streetable so they don't really measure in mpg, they more measure in running time. For instance I think John gets about 8 hrs per 40 lb tank of wheeling and since you may only go 10 miles in 8 hours it's anyone's guess how that translates into highway mpgs. Dave has a 2WD long bed "farm truck" we just converted to propane and he absolutely loves it but I don't think he's put enough miles on it since the conversion to know how far you could go. Not much help I know, sorry.

 

[CID 96]

I think that you would have no problem driving 150 miles on 16 gallons of propane. Smog, I don't know about. If it still has factory smog equipment then is should be fine. Propane burns a lot cleaner than gasoline.

 

[Sam Stewart]

Propane burns a lot cleaner than gasoline.

That's what I was thinking. The only question I can think of is what exactly they measure. Does propane produce any other types of emissions that gasoline doesn't?

Sent from another Galaxy

 

[jynx]

Thanks guys. Worst case I have a place halfway that I could stop if needed. I can't find my emissions report, but there are only 2 gases that they monitor.

I have read a little bit on the EPA website about converted vehicles and it seems like as long as it meets or exceeds the OE standards then they are fine with it.

I can handle most other stuff, but propane is uncharted territory for me so I have some homework to do. Since I had debated propane anyway I don't think it is a big deal (or is it and I don't know it), but I would have know more about it instead of just jumping in head first.

 

[jynx]

The guy is going to meet us on Saturday, provided it isn't gone by then. I may text him tomorrow to see if he can hold it until we get a chance to look at it.

So I talked to him a little this afternoon and he seems like a nice enough guy. He said the conversion was done using forklift components. He works for a mining company and it sounds like he probably had some experience with the forklifts where he worked. Is there anything that I should look at or specific questions that I should ask about the conversion?

 

[CID 96]

I don't know Samis very well, but on Toyota stuff all you add is the fuel regulator and a new carburator. Pretty simple. Run one wire to the solenoid. Run your water lines to the regulator.

 

[jynx]

My guess is that they are going to be very similar. I will have him send me some pictures from under the hood.

 

[jynx]

I see the regulator in the lower left of this picture. I will look for the coolant lines.



I appreciate the help.

 

[TeddyBoy]

so is it officially in the stable now?

 

[jynx]

We are going to look at it this afternoon. Having 5 vehicles on a tenth of an acre lot is going to be interesting. I will let you guys know.

 

[Sam Stewart]

We are going to look at it this afternoon. Having 5 vehicles on a tenth of an acre lot is going to be interesting. I will let you guys know.

Doooooo iiiittttttttttttt!!!!!!!!

Sent from another Galaxy

 

[jynx]

Wellllll..... It is officially part of the family, however..... funny story

So we drove down to Dunlap to meet the guy, he rolls it off the trailer and it fires up and we take it for a spin around the parking lot. All seems good, got a little front end movement but it doesn't have a steering stabilizer and it is running TSL SX swampers. Everything runs good, looks the part so we do a little negotiating and I pay the man.

We ran up the street to fill the second tank and then we are off. Figure if the front end shimmy gets too bad I will park it in McMinnville and come back for it. At speed it planes out and other than pulling hard up the hills, it just rolls right on. So we pass McMinnville and aim for home. Stop for a drink about 40-45 miles from home and all is still good. Noticing a whine from the rear, but figured I planned to go thru everything when I get home anyway so we just need to get on home.

Well we get to Murfreesboro, 20 miles from home and right as I pull away from a light I get a POP, GRIND, I am not happy with you, kind of noise from the rear. Limp it into the Walgreens on the corner with some chirping and grinding as we go.

Erin took her mom and Hannah on to the house and I stay to assess the damage. I was hoping to pull the rear shaft and limp it home. Erin got back with my tools but while she was gone I crawled under to find that it appears that both pinion bearings have taken a dump and the pinion will now move almost an inch in and out of the housing and the pinion itself will touch the housing on all 4 sides.... When she got back I went ahead and pulled the shaft and tried to move it in FWD, no dice. It will roll backwards, but as soon as you start forwards the rearend binds and locks it up.

Call a roll back to haul it home. So it now sits in the driveway waiting for me to tear down the rear and see just how bad the carnage is. Anybody got a set of 1st gen mini truck axles that they would like to donate to my latest [STRIKE]disaster[/STRIKE], uh, I mean project.

In relation to the propane though, is it common to smell a hint of propane around the rig, even with the tanks off and the regulator purged? I am thinking I may have ended up with more of a project than even I realized. I hope I can get it at least drivable by the ACC ride in November so Erin can test it out. Lots of in my future.

I will probably start a thread in the STLCA board for anyone interested in the carnage. I will link it to this one when I get it started.

It has been a long day and I am tired so I am going to take my happy broke (in both senses of the word) A$$ to bed.

Night

Edit: OK, so I did a little reading and now I think I need to find an FJ40 rear. It has the correct offset for the T-case.... so much to read.... I feel like this may get spendy before this is over.

 

[schmitty]

Wellllll..... It is officially part of the family, however..... funny story

So we drove down to Dunlap to meet the guy, he rolls it off the trailer and it fires up and we take it for a spin around the parking lot. All seems good, got a little front end movement but it doesn't have a steering stabilizer and it is running TSL SX swampers. Everything runs good, looks the part so we do a little negotiating and I pay the man.

We ran up the street to fill the second tank and then we are off. Figure if the front end shimmy gets too bad I will park it in McMinnville and come back for it. At speed it planes out and other than pulling hard up the hills, it just rolls right on. So we pass McMinnville and aim for home. Stop for a drink about 40-45 miles from home and all is still good. Noticing a whine from the rear, but figured I planned to go thru everything when I get home anyway so we just need to get on home.

Well we get to Murfreesboro, 20 miles from home and right as I pull away from a light I get a POP, GRIND, I am not happy with you, kind of noise from the rear. Limp it into the Walgreens on the corner with some chirping and grinding as we go.

Erin took her mom and Hannah on to the house and I stay to assess the damage. I was hoping to pull the rear shaft and limp it home. Erin got back with my tools but while she was gone I crawled under to find that it appears that both pinion bearings have taken a dump and the pinion will now move almost an inch in and out of the housing and the pinion itself will touch the housing on all 4 sides.... When she got back I went ahead and pulled the shaft and tried to move it in FWD, no dice. It will roll backwards, but as soon as you start forwards the rearend binds and locks it up.

Call a roll back to haul it home. So it now sits in the driveway waiting for me to tear down the rear and see just how bad the carnage is. Anybody got a set of 1st gen mini truck axles that they would like to donate to my latest [STRIKE]disaster[/STRIKE], uh, I mean project.

In relation to the propane though, is it common to smell a hint of propane around the rig, even with the tanks off and the regulator purged? I am thinking I may have ended up with more of a project than even I realized. I hope I can get it at least drivable by the ACC ride in November so Erin can test it out. Lots of in my future.

I will probably start a thread in the STLCA board for anyone interested in the carnage. I will link it to this one when I get it started.

It has been a long day and I am tired so I am going to take my happy broke (in both senses of the word) A$$ to bed.

Night

Edit: OK, so I did a little reading and now I think I need to find an FJ40 rear. It has the correct offset for the T-case.... so much to read.... I feel like this may get spendy before this is over.

Tighten the pinion nut? And you shouldn't smell propane it's probably leaking somewhere like mine does. Start checking all the connections for leaks.

 

[TeddyBoy]

bummer of an afternoon but glad you got the rig--I hope. Pics?????

There's quite a difference b/w 40 and mini-truck axles, rear 40s axles are 9.5" offset and minis are 8" centered.

 

[jynx]

Tighten the pinion nut? And you shouldn't smell propane it's probably leaking somewhere like mine does. Start checking all the connections for leaks.

Well there's your problem.....



Apparently those inner bearings are important after all! And it is apparent that routine maintenance was not on this guys radar, notice the nice coating of "swamp lube" on the housing.

I am documenting the teardown for the start of a build thread. Stay tuned.

EDIT: Link to Build thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/tn-stlca/765043-brownie-gets-new-mom-dad-erins-sami-build.html

 

[4xsteve]

Sounds to me like the guy had never gotten the gears broken in fully. Gears don't need a break in period for wheeling, but it is critical to do it right if ever driven on the street. The noise you described sounds to me like the gears destroyed themselves due to overheating. Of course that could also be the same result from having a milkshake as gearlube.

On another note, you shoulda mentioned that it had SX's on it and I woulda told you not to try driving it on the highway at all anyway. Sounds like they did okay, but that's unusual for those on the street. And you probably took about 15% of their tread off on that drive. Jus' sayin, bias ply tires are "streetable", but not exactly "street friendly".

 

[jynx]

I was just curious as to where I would go to see about getting hose and fittings for propane lines? I want to relocate the fuel lines to the frame instead of thru the cab and I am going to need a few fittings and possibly some additional hose to make that happen.

As long as there isn't any particular reason why I can't/ shouldn't mount them on the frame, opposite the exhaust of course.

Thanks,

Matthew

And if you already saw this question in the build thread, I apologize, but since this is my questions about propane thread, I figured this might be a better place to ask.

 

[CID 96]

Forklift mechanic made mine.

 

[jynx]

Forklift mechanic made mine.

Are yours routed along the frame?