Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:46 pm
Sorry, was absolutely wacked out after Sundays efforts and then had to go away for a couple of days.
Any how I'm back and heres the next bit with pics
Right , well after I went back out it was time to get the van off the ground to get enough clearance to withdraw the front lower pack, the rear one, and the dreaded center pack.
We decided to go for putting it on four ramps , but to do this we needed to jack the van up to place the ramps under the wheels, this caused untold problems as the trolly jack like most opperates over an arc which means its fine for putting two ramps under but when you try to put the other two on it trys to either pull the van down the 1st ramps or push the van over the top of the 1st ramps
, we spent about an hour trying to get it stable.
Top tip dont try and do any of this on a gravel drive
its a nightmere, have since cleared a larger area now.
Anyhow once the van was up on all four ramps it was time to pull the front lower pack , and as per the norm it takes longer to pull the horrible plastic lugs out of the trim inside the wheel arch than it does to drop the pack
once the trim was removed and quick disconnect of the cables and coolent pipes etc and then the trolly jack went under and we lowered the pack down, real easy.
Then we went to the rear of the vehicle and this pack was the real easy to pull down but before that we had to remove all the tin and pipes etc that travel under the center pack to the rear pack.
ALSO you have to disconnect the handbrake cable
this is best done at the lever end, rather than taking the wheels off , which we couldnt cos it was on the ramps, but to be honest I think its the best way, just remove the plastic cover around the lever inside the van, then undo the balance bar and the cables can be disconnected, then work under the vehicle and pull the cables out of the holes in the floor pan, TAKE CARE to pull them straight though as they are on long bushes that should be attached to the outer, we broke one of ours, but as its on the spare van it dosnt matter.
Once all the pipes and tin are out of it the rear pack is dropped out a treat.
It was then on to the dreaded center pack , all 155KG of pack
We put the air jack under the van and blew it up, un did the packs securing bolts until the pack was just teetering on the bolts and the air bag. once we where happy with the air bag position and its balance the bolts where fully removed and the pack was on the air bag.
I then let the air out and lowered tha pack down onto a couple of 4" fence posts which we where going to use to slide the pack out on, the idea was sound BUT in practice the air bag idea tends to be very un-stable and the pack wanted to roll off it quite easily, it took both of us all our might to keep the pack level and not to roll off the air bag
We got it down if a little hap hazzardly
but it was down and in one bit.......and it is blooming heavy
, we then dragged it out towards the rear of the van.
There .....all done ...all packs out .....we then had to take the van off the ramps ( which proved interesting again
) ( nearly squashed my mate !!! remember the handbrake had been disconnected ......say no more ) once off the ramps it was then time to swap the vans over and repeat the whole thing over again with the other van
Once thats done I then have to put this set of batts into this working van
wow does this ever end !!!
Anyhow this is where I am now , I have the 2nd van in place but still need to pull all the batts out of it , but this time I dont want to pull it apart as much if I can help it as this van has to go back rather than just broken up for spares.
Below are some pics of the weekend
Controller and heater and aux battery removed.
Front upper battery removed
Van on all four ramps and the front pack ready to come out
Front pack out
All the crud removed that runs under the center pack
Airbag in place and infated
Center pack removed and pulled out on the fence posts
All the pipe work etc that runs under the center of the van
Errrrr we have a problem, this is what happened when we tried to remove the van from the ramps and forgot we had removed the handbrake cable DOH !!!
We where real lucky, it didnt squash my mate or..............
Hit the side of the house !!!! it didnt only cos the ramp jamed up under the chassis
So remember take care when doing this. We where on the case and were careful not to get to close to things when we knew it was unstable !!!
So just need to schedual the next removal
To be honest its actually not that bad , we made it harder by not sweeping the gravel away , this has been done, 99% of the stuff is easy to get to , its really only the weight of the packs that make it tricky, certianly I think I'd rather change berlingo battery packs than change an engine in a car ( which I have done many times
)
Stay tuned for the next installment, which I might get done over the easter bank holiday ??
ChrisB
Any how I'm back and heres the next bit with pics
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
Right , well after I went back out it was time to get the van off the ground to get enough clearance to withdraw the front lower pack, the rear one, and the dreaded center pack.
We decided to go for putting it on four ramps , but to do this we needed to jack the van up to place the ramps under the wheels, this caused untold problems as the trolly jack like most opperates over an arc which means its fine for putting two ramps under but when you try to put the other two on it trys to either pull the van down the 1st ramps or push the van over the top of the 1st ramps
![Evil or Very Mad :evil:](./images/smilies/icon_evil.gif)
Top tip dont try and do any of this on a gravel drive
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Anyhow once the van was up on all four ramps it was time to pull the front lower pack , and as per the norm it takes longer to pull the horrible plastic lugs out of the trim inside the wheel arch than it does to drop the pack
![Evil or Very Mad :evil:](./images/smilies/icon_evil.gif)
Then we went to the rear of the vehicle and this pack was the real easy to pull down but before that we had to remove all the tin and pipes etc that travel under the center pack to the rear pack.
ALSO you have to disconnect the handbrake cable
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Once all the pipes and tin are out of it the rear pack is dropped out a treat.
It was then on to the dreaded center pack , all 155KG of pack
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
We put the air jack under the van and blew it up, un did the packs securing bolts until the pack was just teetering on the bolts and the air bag. once we where happy with the air bag position and its balance the bolts where fully removed and the pack was on the air bag.
I then let the air out and lowered tha pack down onto a couple of 4" fence posts which we where going to use to slide the pack out on, the idea was sound BUT in practice the air bag idea tends to be very un-stable and the pack wanted to roll off it quite easily, it took both of us all our might to keep the pack level and not to roll off the air bag
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
We got it down if a little hap hazzardly
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
There .....all done ...all packs out .....we then had to take the van off the ramps ( which proved interesting again
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
Once thats done I then have to put this set of batts into this working van
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
Anyhow this is where I am now , I have the 2nd van in place but still need to pull all the batts out of it , but this time I dont want to pull it apart as much if I can help it as this van has to go back rather than just broken up for spares.
Below are some pics of the weekend
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Controller and heater and aux battery removed.
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05328.jpg)
Front upper battery removed
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05333.jpg)
Van on all four ramps and the front pack ready to come out
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05334.jpg)
Front pack out
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05335.jpg)
All the crud removed that runs under the center pack
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05332.jpg)
Airbag in place and infated
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05336.jpg)
Center pack removed and pulled out on the fence posts
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05337.jpg)
All the pipe work etc that runs under the center of the van
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05342.jpg)
Errrrr we have a problem, this is what happened when we tried to remove the van from the ramps and forgot we had removed the handbrake cable DOH !!!
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05339.jpg)
We where real lucky, it didnt squash my mate or..............
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05340.jpg)
Hit the side of the house !!!! it didnt only cos the ramp jamed up under the chassis
![Image](http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/Scorpiounleashed/EV/DSC05338.jpg)
So remember take care when doing this. We where on the case and were careful not to get to close to things when we knew it was unstable !!!
So just need to schedual the next removal
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
To be honest its actually not that bad , we made it harder by not sweeping the gravel away , this has been done, 99% of the stuff is easy to get to , its really only the weight of the packs that make it tricky, certianly I think I'd rather change berlingo battery packs than change an engine in a car ( which I have done many times
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Stay tuned for the next installment, which I might get done over the easter bank holiday ??
ChrisB