It took me a while to fully grasp what a toll the Dempster Highway took on my van. Stranded in Dawson City, I find a way to limp myself to a slightly less remote city. / dustyodyssey www.buymeacoff...
I’m an older guy in my 50’s. Sometimes I do the stereotypical thing of putting down younger generations. But sharp witted, thoughtful, highly intelligent, adventurous people like you make me check myself. You are a wonderful young man. The world has a chance to prosper with people like you as its steward. Safe travels sir!
Seriously man, this kind of adversity you’ve been going through within your entire northern trip has landed up resulting in the absolute best YouTubing I’ve ever seen… your persistence and continuous positive nature coupled up with your knowledge just makes my day!! Thanks so much for these videos!😊
@@dustyodyssey if ur somehow near the Edmonton area on your way south, u more than welcome to take a break and park your rig at our big lake lot (home base) about an hour north of Edmonton… I’ve got lots of tool stuff since I did a couple van builds myself here that your more than welcome to use. … we got a guest fifth wheel to recharge the “batteries “… just sayin…
@@dustyodyssey ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5_JWLyRfj1E.htmlsi=h3pLk7tbs00_hs38 Here’s my van I built out last year… it was just a cargo van. We going to spend this winter in Quartzsite in it.
What I love the most is how much you know about your car. We have a lot of HIACE buses in Jamaica, you would definitely get the part quickly as we use those buses to transport people all over the island.
Don't worry about the rust on the undercarriage so much up there, they don't put salt on the roads. Anyways, awesome video and I really respect how you know your car inside and out, you're a true overland explorer. Most people do the stuff you do in there brand new 80k + vehicle without a worry $$$, it's not the same.
Wow, I had no idea it was that hard to get to your alternator. And as others have commented your abilities of finding the problem out and getting it fixed is superior. Well done! and safe and fun travels.👍
Its cool how you know so much about electronics and mechanical knowledge you have at your age you will become very successful in what you ever you do keep it up dude
Blown away by all of the work you did filming all of the work that you did! After seeing you have to go through all that trouble just do an alternator and I will be sure to avoid these hi aces (even though I'm a die-hard Toyota fan)
Now that I’ve done it, it’s really not that bad. Lots of pieces have to come out, but no impossibility tight, impossible to access fasteners like some other jobs. But I do have to admit, repairs on a cab-over van can be needlessly difficult
Dawson City is not bad place to be stuck for a few days. Really good mountain bike trails, and that disc golf course is super fun. I drove a 2017 Kia Minivan up there, and I can't imagine driving a van like yours where it's hard to get parts so far away. Glad it worked out in the end for you. I may add spare alternator to my parts I bring with me on my next trip up there. And yes the amount of dirt from the Dempster was insane. It took me months to get it all off my van.
If I had a nickel for every time I saw a van lifer, or RV'er burn up an alternator with their off grid system I would have at least a buck.. A small generator would save you a lot of grief going forward. When I built the 24v battery for our RV I made sure if I ever ran into the same problem I could do the same as you and run the engine off of it. Great video, glad to see you back on the road!
I started watching your videos just a few days ago and in one of them you mentioned going to Alaska. My first thought was, I hope that he gets a box carrier for the trailer hitch and puts a small 1000 Watt generator in it in case the alternator fails. And a few videos later it failed on you. You did a great repair!!! My son and I crossed Australia both ways last summer over 10,000 km and his van alternator also failed, cooked the battery so we experienced something similar only lots more helpful auto stores.
Aw, I'm so glad you mentioned Foresty Forest in the last video I watched. That's why it popped up on my home screen. 😊 sorry to hear about the alternator. That looked complicated to get to! Putting it back in and having to take it back out ..ugh just ugh. Lol your van is cool btw! Glad to have found your channel. I am converting a van myself but I'll have to live vicariously through you and Foresty when it comes to the mountains. I learned after my last trip to West Virginia that I am getting too old to drive on mountains with downgrades. Lol happy trails!
Really enjoying following along with your adventures. Cool to see you work through the issues like you do! I'm a motorcycle mechanic by trade and diagnose charging systems fairly often. The dips you are seeing when you turn things on is pretty common and depending on your voltage meter latency the dips can seem exaggerated. If the voltage holds steady within a couple of seconds you should be good to go. Another thing to think about is heat (even if you are in a cold environment like you are). With all that dirt build up combined with lower road speeds (think airflow) you can overheat the regulator and cause it to fail faster over time. For years I have relocated regulator rectifiers on motorcycles to get more airflow and last longer. Not sure if that's something feasible for you but thought I'd throw that out there. Have fun!
Glad to know that's normal! And I think you're dead on, heat is a big problem with the alternator. Especially, since the van is a cab-over, there's really not very much airflow, and the alternator's location right underneath the AC compressor doesn't help things either.
@@dustyodyssey As good as you are with wiring, is there a way to lengthen the wires to mount the regulator in a better place with more airflow? Longer wires can add a little bit of resistance, but in my experience when the regulator has good airflow it helps make all of the charging system last a lot longer. Your idea to use your other battery system to 'reverse' charge it was great btw!
@@four81 I’m not sure if the brushes would seat properly without the regulator, but I may be able to rig up a spacer. Hopefully I will be good for a while. I’m not anxious to take that all apart again haha
@@dustyodyssey I understand, if it is working now, don't fix it. :) Watching it back though, you could make a little bracket to hold the brushes in place for sure. Can you practice on the alternator that you robbed parts out of before digging into it again? Because I fabricate things out of metal a lot I tend to think a little different than most, haha. All these diodes and heat sinks just to flip the voltage to DC can be a bastard sometimes! Glad you got it sorted. Safe travels!
I feel like you should have way more subscribers than what you have now. Just know that 22k plus people enjoy what you’re doing and that’s a lot of people.
Great video! So many lessons and you do a great job sharing your ingenuity. I don’t think too many van owners have your knowledge and skills with electrical and batteries. You could upgrade those solar panels to 250w or 300w - just to get more power and faster charging - especially in areas with minimal sunlight hours. At some level, taking a Hi Ace to the Yukon and Alaska is crazy risky compared to a North American van or truck. Still, I admire your adventure.
Great enginutety to use your house battery for this. I will now keep a spare voltage regulator, brushes, the diodes you mentioned. Thanks for making such great videos!
In a cross country trip (a few years ago) my VW Westfalia with a TDI conversion had the alternator stop working on a lonely highway in the western US. We drove a couple of hours to get to a town with an alternator rebuilder. It was stressful, but obviously not in comparison to your trip. Turned out it was the voltage regulator had come off its heat sink and melted a terminal. Luckily the shop had a regulator on the shelf. We didn't even need to remove the alternator, the guy running the shop was able to slide it into place with the alternator on the motor. A couple of hours of messing around and we were on our way. He commented that if it was anything else, we would have needed to stay there for a few days because he had none of the other parts for that unit. I was bugged because the alternator had been rebuilt perviously just to avoid that kind of thing. Turned out I should have probably left well enough alone. Welcome to Van Life!
Your videos are really good man. Very good information, at a very good rate, nothing that even tries to turn our boredom sensors on! Best of luck and safe travels!
Dude i just found your channel and i love your videos and approach to life on the road. You've inspired me to take do some more custom wood work in the cab of my jeep ! Keep truckin. I also plan on making my way up to alaska next spring, so ill be paying close attention to your moves in AK.
Also that alternator plug connector did not look good, if the terminals are corroded or burnt it will make for a bad connection and get hot and potentially fry the new alternator, a good clean with a wire brush or some sand paper will fix that, hope this helps!!
Great video. I would have gotten a stand alone regulator to put the alternator back to the house battery. Or run the alternator through the battery to battery charger. That would take out the spikes.
I was trying to think of anything I know as well as you know your van... the only thing I could come up with is Word documents. Troubleshooting table of contents and footers won't help in the wilderness though! :D Thanks for sharing, so glad to be a subscriber! * * * Had to watch that more than once - such a densely packed video!
I feel like if you can figure out Microsoft Word you can figure out pretty much anything. I’ll never forget the time when I hit “print” on a 10 page report and for some reason it broke all of my formatting. I would rather replace my alternator again than deal with that haha
Amazing what you are able to do out in the nowhere. Perhaps you wanna try to change your head lamps to led bulbs as well as any other lamps in your rig to led.
I just watched the video where you showed off your van and said how you hope nothing goes wrong on the trip to the Yukon you were planning 🤣 Sorry man lol
You should remove half your panels and replace them with amorphous ones. Less peak midday power but you will generate so much more power on cloudy days and early/late in the day than a regular monocrystalline. Downside is they take up slightly more space, I think they'd be worth
I had my alternator rebuilt, what a pain in the fucking ass getting that thing out was. Nightmare. To make it worse, I'm probably going to have to put a new one in soon.
Now that I've done the job 3 times (most recently with a high output alternator) I feel you. Having to pull the drivers seat, the side engine cover/carpet, and the AC compressor just to get to the alternator is pretty maddening 😡
Is it the usual practice for Auto shops to be closed on weekends/public holidays in North America? Ours close 2 days of the year, Christmas day and Good Friday.
It is pretty common for a shop to be closed on the weekend. The chains are open, but independent mechanics usually close for Sunday or the whole weekend.
I was wondering why didn't you charge your car battery with the house battery sooner, also you could swap over the bearings and bushes from the new alternator as well, that's basically a rebuilt alternator!
Instead of “hey bear” you should get a high decibel whistle that you can wear around your neck like I have. My buddies tease me and call it my “rape whistle” 😂 eaten by a bear, raped by a bear…. … if it prevents either I’m glad I have it.😂
