Turning my authority back on...

[Waterloo]

IFTA stickers and permit finally arrived. They came Saturday... New signage is on the truck, just waiting for these stickers. Now I can roll legally.

Putting the truck together, new stereo is installed, had grounding issues that gave me some fits. I wound up running a new ground cable, no clue what that was about, but it is now fixed. I used the cab back wall, ground off the paint and secured with a good size sheet metal screw and washer. No clue what was happening, but I was getting power through the ground. No wires that I could see behind the wall, up near the roof cap that I may have hit. I drilled into a pocket, there was nothing behind it, as I could stick my fingers in there. Removed and replaced, and all issues went away with new cable. Weird.

Now, I have another problem, a 1st world problem, the stereo is is too loud, I cannot even turn the new head unit past 12 and your ears start to bleed and speakers get distorted... Need to tone it down a bit. Looking at the amp ratings on the box and the real amp ratings from the day of manufacture tell two different stories. They are almost double the output of what the box says. Then I have two line drivers, they are not helping matters. Sound is crystal clear, line drivers and amp gains are all turned to zero except for the subwoofer. I have the speakers bi amped, going to change that, and just run normally. More screwing around...

The new fans are installed in the sleeper, and talk about moving some air, LOL! Now I am thinking I should have ran a switch up to the dash as well as in the sleeper. Any recommendations on an RF remote to turn the fans on and off from the drivers seat with a key fob or small remote? Fans require a 3 amp fuse. Two of them on separate circuits and switches, a toggle 12 volt wall switch for an RV. Any help there would be appreciated, not too keen on running more wire.

The fun part, I went through all of the electrical in the dash, and fuse block. I cleaned it all up, 11 years of a mess it was. Drilled some new holes for USB plugs for the phone and new ELD. Ram Mount arm will hold the iPad mini that will be my ELD, I think it is called My20, a bluetooth set up, $130 on Amazon, 5 star reviews in more than a few locations, not just Amazon.

Had to run power up front, so I installed one of those Blue Sea fuse blocks under the dash where the dog house used to be. Now I can just hook directly to a fuse block without having to mess with the little pins or splicing into wires, very convenient. I installed one in the back too, darn things are nearly full! Well worth the money, solid units, I used this one x 2 https://amzn.to/2Xy7bG9

If you get tired of tapping wires or trying to find an open slot in your fuse block, these are a nice alternative. I ground both blocks to the cab, the rear is hooked up to my isolator that is tied into the ignition. The front is a direct feed off of that annoying 12 volt shut off device from the factory. I am going to install an inline shut off to the fuse panel under the dash. Not a big deal, as it was just too easy to tap into the power feed at that point. I have the CB and stereo HU running off of this block, sound is crystal clear, no engine or ground loop noise/whine.

Today we are going to start cleaning out the truck. It is a mess with me in there splicing, wrenching and drilling... Crap everywhere. Going to clean her out, scrape the boogers off the walls, when I say boogers I am speaking of the carpeting or fuzz that the walls have covering them. They are shedding, looks like cobwebs on the wall, I call them boogers. Bought a tool on Amazon for $20 that scrapes them off. It is called a Pilling Shaver, we shall see how it works, a manual one, not electric. Then I am going to use an orbital polisher with a microfibre pad to shampoo and really deep clean the walls with some all purpose cleaner, probably some Simple Green. Then vacuum and mop the decks, run up to the laundromat and wash the sleeping bag and hopefully be ready to roll on Wednesday.

Damn thyroid has been on a tear as of late, I have the energy of a slug. Just got my lab work back from the VA Hospital along with a letter from my doc. Everything looks good, they took two gallons of blood, except for my thyroid. I have an appointment in two months to see a specialist at the University of Michigan. Darn thing is swelled up right now, can feel it in my neck. When it does that I go from feeling good and right into reverse and then all I want to do is sleep. It is nothing for me to sleep 18 hours or more straight through. And packing on even more weight, and I have been eating very little and consuming little beer as it is just too hot outside. Not good, especially when I am trying to get on the road. I should have been finished with this crap last week. This sucks.

Looks like I bit off a bit more than I can handle at this time... But, the truck will be mine, there was still stuff in there from the last owner. I detested that truck, with all of the mechanical and other issues with it. Now, she is running good, (KNOCK ON WOOD), and I want to make it mine. Will screwing around with wiring and stereos make me money? Probably not, but at least I will be in a better state of mind going down the road. At least that is the plan.