Let the good times Roll!!!

Finally unleashed my little honey bee truck.

1992 S80 2x, with four speed transmission. Total mileage when delivered. 17,950. Formerly a U.S. Park Service vehicle.

I'm slow, if you've read my previous entries, you might say glacial in my progress on this vehicle.

For the past two months since I took delivery, I have been spenidng my time, shopping for and procuring parts and puttering about on it, trying to find a simple easy way to follow Leon at Daihatsu's instructions for removing the last impediment to wild frolicking un-limited speed.

The first obstacle, the speedometer cable switch was easy. And I went from 22.5mph, interruptus, to 30 to 35mph screaming engine velocities.

So, the transfer case speed limiter remained a problem. I tried to get in to it, but seeing and reaching the clip and then positioning it to do a removal were something which I knew would take me more time than it was worth. So, I considered taking it to a professional transmission mechanic, but just couldn't do it.

Still as Leon said, its not pleasant to listen to those three cylinders over-revving, with the underlying thought that your tearing out her heart. So, I kept it down to 25mph, and futzed about.

Then I remembered a mechanic who owed me big time. Last week I cornered him, got an hour of his time, and took my little truck to him. I showed him the photos from this site of the e-clip, I call them c-clips, showed him the easiest way into the transfer case, then forced myself to leave the area so he could work un-bothered by my protective comments.

Fifteen minutes later, standing outside the shop on a cold spring day, he presented me with on intact c-clip!
"Try it out, and let's see if that's what you want."

He is in Quantico, Virginia. I quickly ran five minutes down Rt.1 and back, and I announced to him and the whole shop. "The news from Richmond is great!" (think about it)

On the way back up to Annandale, I finally couldn't resist it, I jumped onto I-95N at Edsall Road, and stayed with and in traffic all the way home, while the three little cylinders just hummed in my ear.

How fast was I going? I guessed at least 70mph!

But the next day on my way up to one of my bee apiaries in Poolesville, Maryland, I took my Garmin GPS set on speed readout.

Officially, I can cruise on the interstates at just under 60mph.
Going downhill toward the Potomac river, I clocked 64mph before I eased off for handling considerations. More on that later.

Going up the Maryland side from the river I never dropped under 54mph.

Now handling.

I have 20.5x8.0-10 Nanco's on the front wheels which were balanced and mounted at a local Pep Boys.
On the back are the tires which came with the truck, Carlisle E Trails. Same size. These I haven't had checked for balance.

First, I knew before but now its more noticeable, tire thump when they are cold, and even some at higher speed after the tires are highway temperatures.

Second, a tendency to "track" in grooves where pavement surfaces join in vee junctions. Especially when the pavement is wet.

I did have to do one panic stop from about 45mph, in traffic on my way back from the Poolesville apiary. Other than a brief and noisy locking of the tires on dry pavement, there were no handling or recovery problems.

I am now considering the next steps in this.
1. Putting on 11/2" or 2" lifts to accommodate 12 inch mags and tires. I don't want to lift it too much, I want to keep the CG as low as possible.
2. A good set of mags and quality highway tires.

My thought is that the bigger tires, will give a better ride, and reduce some of the road feel of the current ride.

This truck is going to be used not only in the apiary yards, but also for running about on the roads doing bee farm activities.

I'm open to suggestions and opinions, especially the ones I don't want to hear, but need to consider.

Thanks,op:

Nemo

 

I would do with a 13" wheel. While stepping over some used tires the other day in the shop I saw a 13" honda wheel. I picked up a measuring device(stick) and it looks like the bolt pattern was the same as a early 90 Daihatsu. When you add taller tire you will get more top end. But there is a point when going to big your engine has to worh harder to pull the tires if you know what I mean. Some guys on this site are running 14" wheels and getting by. Being in Texas where they are for off road only i cant tell you a lot. I will say that I did have a Suz. with 14" wheels and noticed a little lack of power when taking off. My two cents if going with a bigger wheel stay with a 12 or 13" wheel. You got 10" now , 12" would be a boost.

 

I had a 1986 4X4 Ford Ranger with a four banger 1.500cc engine.

:sly:I upgraded from, 208 radials I think they were 14 or 15 inch, to 225's the same wheels I immediately noticed I'd lost a lot of the truck's friskiness. It was notice ably slower accelerating to full speed. But, I wanted the additional "flotation" on the sand beaches at Hatteras.

The question is will tires in the 13 inch size fit under the wheel wells, or do I have to lift her?
I've seen some references to 13 and 14's especially in England and they seem okay

Bigger tires should mean a little wider stance, which should add some stability. but then comes rolling and steering resistance.

Anyone out there who knows the answers, I'm going to check some of the other threads?

Thanks for the ideas.

 

in my opinion 155/80/13s are the cat's dangly bits ...A tiny loss of maybe 8 kph at the top end,but much better ride,and they even fit the without a lift..I had 175/70/13s but the extra width seemed to sap some power with the over 20% increased rolling resistance...doesn't hurt that they are the least expensive tire size and available anywhere...12s are near impossible to find..swapping the front springs to firmer aftermarket ones will improve handling and ride as well...if you go with a 200# spring the increase in ride height would be very small

 

The 13's sound interesting.

I need to do some research on them.
Given what we both know, bigger tires and wheels are going to be heavier, even the increased amount of air in each tire is going to add some noticeable weight that has to be pushed up to speed.

The heavier tires assemblies will stabilize a little by keeping her from bouncing off the pavement as readily.

I think good quality highway tires should knock out the tire thump. Although honestly I have a Miata with Yokohama AS430 205/45R16's on it and when they are cold, I feel the thump. But at speed, they are smooth as warm butter on hot toast.

And the "tracking" on road joints may be symptomatic of trailer tire tread design.

Thanks for the heads-up, off to do more research.

 

Fupabox,

I stumbled onto a page of the Daihatsu manual for these trucks.
Under tire sizes, I came upon 165/70/r13 as one of the sizes which these trucks came from the factory with.
On the same chart, I found a wheel size of 450jx13.

Do these sound right to you?

I'm still looking for a source of wheels and tires in this range. J.C. Whitney and Pep Boys both came up dry as did NTW for these tires.

There is one fellow on the net with four wheels and tires in the size. They are apparently off of a Fiat 124. I emailed him about the hole pattern, but he didn't bother to answer back.

It seems weird that there is such a dearth of wheels and tires in these sizes. What with Fiat starting to sell the 500 and the Smart car already here.

:frustration:Its probably me but I'm not finding any local sources for tires in this range.

Thanks,

Nemoop:

 

any pics? im in VA too.... west of nova.

 

I seem to be randomly missing posts....Hmmm aliens me thinks
The reason wheels in this size are drying up are twofold...no-one even uses 15s anymore so 13's are as popular as wagon wheels ,so no one keeps em...secondly the scrap aluminum market pays around .80cents per lb for aluminum rims....tire rack has the 165/70s

 

Ride boldly ride if you seek that El Dorado

I think I mentioned it in another string, somewhere in the chat room.

I was able to pick up a set of four Mazda RX-7, mags. 13x4-110.
They came with two GoodYear 205/60R13's
The price was excellent, and the seller only lived five miles from me.
I was stumbling around on Ebay that evening not really looking, when these wheels popped up. It was one of those Buy it now.
So I did. $200.00 + 66. for shipping.
That came to $66.50 a rim, and I had been thinking I was ready to go to ITA and pay them $100.00/+shipping.
Next day there is an email from the seller saying if I want to pick them up, he'll refund the shipping and he lives in the same county I do.

God does look out for me.
Thank you Lord.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for the time to get wheels and truck married up. In the interim I've been trying to decide what tires I can go with. What tires will fit these rims. Whether to use the two tires which came with the wheels and just buy two more of the same size.
If I run them on the back wheels and I have a sudden flat, its not a big handling problem.

As you can see, I tend to consider all the possibilities before I act. Its my old Diver training.
"There are old divers and there are bold divers.
But there are no old bold divers!"

Add an "r" to three of the words above, and you will better understand.

 

Did you try getting trailer tires? My Vango Vantage gave tried he tire place some headaches, but the 4 lug odd spacing matched when they bought some trailer tires. Make sure they actually measure the odd lug spacing or they'll have to reorder (yep, it happened to me). I ended up with 14 inch rims and the SAME overall tire radius so it fit the tire well great!