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Java's F450 RV

Java230

???
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Member Number
2303
Messages
1,107
Should I port everything over or just pick up where we left off?

Basics:
2008 F450, 6.4 4x4, aluminum box truck, made into RV.

Index!

First Post/Over view of project - beginning of work

Windows/Crawl Thru/insulation

Interior paneling/Heat

More interior/Wiring/First trip

More interior/Fridge/ Poop tank

Kitchen

Kitchen/Water Tank/Poop Tank/Light Bar

Light bar/Propane tank

Electrical/Storage Drawers

Propane/Electrical/Hot water tank/Plumbing

House battery to start battery wiring/ Dinette table

Roof Repair V1.0/Exterior Shower/ Long BC trip.

Cell booster/misc crap/trips

Snow Trip/ Underbody lights/Cab insulation

Cushions/Show/Hot water Tank Drain/ Microwave/Front Shocks/Storage/ Avalanches....

Air Compressor Install/ Trips

More Air/Air Bag plumbing/ Rear View Cam / Awning V1.0

Roadtrip/ AC Recharge/Poop Tank mishaps.....

Misc Crap

Kelderman Install

Rear Sway Bar

Leaf Pack V1.0

Spray foam Floor Insulation

Leaf Spring Saga

More leaf spring Bullshit

Wheels/Tires

Popped Front Bag/suspension talk

Brakes and Track Bar

Maxxfan Replacement/ DIY alignment/ Wheel balancers

Spare Tire Carrier/Fog Lights

Fender Trimming/Solar

More Solar

Tow Hooks for rear part 1

Tow Hooks Part 2

Awning V2.0

Rock Lights/Interior Trim

Fender Flare / In Cab air control

Solar Controller/EGR delete

EGR part 2

TPMS

Roof Coating V2.0

Roof Cont.

Bath Light / Keggerator

Water Pump Replacement / Crawl Thru upholstery

Front Shocks V2

More front suspension talk / Oil leak fix

Exterior temp sensor install

Second Tow Hook / Front bumper

Bumper Install

Electrical Upgrades

More Electrical Upgrades

Tire Failure!

More Tire

Alignment
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Eithier way, subscribed!

If you want to go to one spot for your info, port it over. If you are happy jumping back and forth, start from where you left off (tire issues if i remember right?).

Glad to see this one way or the other. Thanks.

:beer::beer::beer:
 
If you value any of the info I would copy it over, if you are just blogging then continue.
Glad you're here either way.
 
OK Here goes. Hold onto your panties....


Feb 10 2017

I have been half searching for a replacement for our Ski Bum truck (and E350 4x4 winnebago), I love the truck, but the long overhang and fiberglass construction limit me a bit. I had gotten a quote from Tri Van for an all aluminum body for an F450/550, and was keeping an eye out for cab chassis to com up cheap on CL.




Then I found this truck, Nearly the same body I had a quote for, on a 2008 F450 4x4 frame, which had been stretched 36" to allow for nearly no overhang. It was built as a chase truck for a UTV racing team. I wasn't really ready to pull the trigger for a new truck, but this was too good to pass up. Deal was struck and the truck headed to my driveway.




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About the truck, Its on its second motor, the first owner towed horses with it, she attempted to drive it home after the CEL came on, #8 injector had failed, rod ventilated block. PO bought it, had a local shop drop a long block in and used it to go to Vegas for races a couple times. Then it sat, this is good and bad, it has ~4k miles on the new engine, but it leaks. A fair bit. Oil pan, valve covers and #6 glow plug harness connection. And the dreaded flex joints in the up pipe. Not the end of the world, but a lot of stuff to remove to get to the problem areas. It seems most procedures on these new trucks is cab off or trans out. Fun.







Everyone home in the driveway, I need a bigger driveway for this many large trucks...

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The box is a bare shell.The cabover is 4' tall. Very high interior roof. First order of business is the roof, two vents were framed in, and covered over with plywood and Plexiglas. They leak. So two Maxxfans were ordered and have arrived!

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Maxxfans and sealant, first of many parts deliveries.

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The back is insulated barn doors. They will be staying. One will be for exterior storage, the other can be opened to the end of the bed if its used in summer. Four 6V 250Ah AGM batteries can be seen here too.

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Design




Condensed version of our current layout. I think it works pretty well. Toilet will just have a curtain, leave a bit more space at the door. Cabover bed for the kiddo, back bed for us, fixed dinette. Counter space is limited, but will have a fold out over the crawl through, and is across from the dinette table that can be used as well. Small bar sink, three burner RV cooktop, and the space below used for a marine fridge. Exterior storage for skis, other tall stuff at the back. Still debating on propane tank placement, I am thinking two BBQ style tanks on a swing out on the drivers rear.




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Plans




First order of business is getting the crawl through, windows and doors framed and cut. The crawl through is going to be a challenge, I have some thinking and blue taping to do still, but it should be doable. Accordion seal will be used there. If anyone has done this I am all ears.




Once the framing is done I will have the entire thing spray foamed. I am still debating on ceiling thickness if anyone has input. Walls will be 1 3/4" foam with 1/4" plywood interior skin. Spray foam will be a big $$ item, but I fell it will be worth it in the long run.




Then its on to interior finishes. Dinette and vertical walls I am thinking will be small steel tubing with a thin plywood skin. Maximizes interior spaces of the compartments that way.




I am leaning towards doing EGR and DPF delete stuff to the engine while I am in there, but it adds a good budget hit. It may be a couple years down the road. Lift is a ways off too, but for most of what we do it should be ok for awhile. FS roads and snow/ice covered roads to ski areas. It has brand new tires that I wouldn't mind using up either.




This will be a very slow build. I am very budget limited, so it will be plugging away a bit at a time as budget allows. I will need to sell the RV come spring, and would like to have this one done shortly after, but I think that may be a lofty goal.

Feb 10 17 pt2

hmmmm leaking roof "vent"

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Pull off plywood, scrub with MEK

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MaxxFan shroud, covered in sticky stuff.

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Roof hole #1 done! Only broke one screw off. Stupid stainless.

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pt3

More small progress. Climbed under, with tarp this time (i managed to park on the non gravel, ie mud section of my driveway), to investigate oil leaks. Headlamp, UV light and torque wrench in hand.




Oil pan bolts are to torque spec (9.5 ft lbs, really?!) but are dripping from the heads around the back of the pan, front looks dry, that makes me thing its seeping past the bolts/threads, but could be running down from above. I just don't see it getting to the heads of the bolts.




Valve cover area on passenger side is wet and running down the block, may be valve cover gaskets, may just be the glow plug harness on that side (DUMB design). Likely both though. Still determining if I want to tackle those or farm it out.




Stripped the interior down. I was getting a bit of water at the back edge of the cabover, need to find it. I had a suspect in mind.

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Marker lights were the suspect, and sure enough, you can see the tel tale dribble line coming out the bottom. (there may still be a little coming in from the gutter-body joint, but that is TBD)

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Passenger side is better, but still a little drip.

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In case anyone is interested, here is how the panels clip together and form the ribs.

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Brown Santa has been leaving me lots of goodies.




12/3 SJTW for the 12V circuits. I could buy 100' extension cord cheaper than the wire, go figure. Made in the USA too.




14/2 Anchor Marine Tinned cooper wire for the 12V circuits, 250' roll, also Made in the USA.




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Also got a switch panel and the interior lights I will be using.




I only had an hour or so, but I started on the cab.




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Stripped the back wall.




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I knew there were some mice at some point as I found some turds under the back seat.... But they made a home in the middle seat belt housing. No fresh, but stinky mouse pee. Somehow they seemed to have made it above the headliner too... I really didn't want to pull that.




Planning for the pass through, it looks like I can unbolt and slide the box back about 6" I hope thats enough! And of course this is a glued in back window.

Feb 11 2017
wiring rough in is just about done. I used that entire 250' roll of 14/2, and i didn't use it for the lighting circuits (18 gauge for the LED's). I didnt quite expect it to go tat fast! I need another 30' probably. Need to run circuit for the heater and water pump still. I will likely run those ousisde the wall later on.




Door and double pane windows have been ordered too!

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Two main areas for the elec, under the bed, where the batteries, inverter/charger fuse panel and breakers will live, and the end of the cabinets of the opposite side, where all the switches will be. The rest is lighting circuits, and conviniance plugs. I need to figure out a way to keep the end of the wires poking oout of the walls/ceilings where I want them, duct tape may work, but the entire inside of the box is covered with frost at the moment, its cold out...




I got some rigid insulation to start furring the ceiling down with as well!




A little more every day is the idea right?




One table saw, one sheet of 3/4 ply turned into little pieces.

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Got one wall almost done. It was butt berkeleying cold. The missing areas are doors/windows.

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So I tried insulating the aluminum channels. That was a failure. The foam would only expand ~6" either side of the hole, no matter how much you tired to pump in. Im not going to put a 15/64 hole very foot.... Looks like they will remain uninsulated unless someone has a genius idea. Thoughts? I am trying to avoid cold bridging.




You can see the foam puking out of the holes in a few spots here. That stuff was not cheap.




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Got the ceiling channels filled at least.

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Box of goodies is growing

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Battery interconnect cables. Check, CL score.

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Got an on demand hot water tank on Ebay, killer price, should be a nice unit, 60K btu's.
 
Feb 12 2017
My door showed up, but the UPS guys had their way with it
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
, edges are good and dented in a few places....

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Picked up a used inverter/charger as well, only 1250 watts, but should run a microwave (i hope!). Charges at 55 amps, a bit slow there as well, but the price was right. Came with a 200A Blue sea breaker too.

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Whats in the crate?




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Windows!!! Not fancy flush pane ones, but they are double pane insulated ones, they latch and slide very nicely, I am very happy.




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PT2

headliner dropped and moved forward.

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No going back now! It was a bit scary to take a sawzall to my new truck.... Rough cut in the box.

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Window out, got 3/4 of the way around, then it broke... ugh

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Yikes!

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Need to cut the inside lip down to 1/2" still. Ran out of blades.

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Window infill pieces, ran out of time today....

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PT3

Cut....




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Hole....




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Door!

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Got the window infill panels done. Used the cutout from the box! Has a rib on either piece, makes a nice stiff panel.




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Almost done! Cutting the last bit of the cab and box.




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done, that was a bitch!

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Whatever aluminum they used for the floor is HARD

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PT4

Starting on the gasket.

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all done

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Connected! just need to get the cab vents back in now.

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PT5

Just about caught up on this thread now...




More big holes this weekend!

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Window is just temped in, so the red tape is water proofing...

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One next to the door too, hard to get a pic as its next to the garage.

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Opens the inside up a bit!

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Said good bye to my little trailer too
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
That was my first big fab project.

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PT6

Long list before insulation.... Got a little more done last night.

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Reinforced the large window. It was a little floppy, and I didn't wan the spray foam to hold it crooked. Used a piece of oak there.

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List, done. Way more of a thrash than I was expecting. All the little stuff adds up...




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All the furring s done, all the wires wrapped, taped, glued in place.




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PT7

a bit more....




Progress!




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Now for the nasty part... Grinding it all flat.




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Trying to catch this thread up.....




Annnnd Done!!!

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First panel up

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Got another sheet on the wall last night. Aiming for one a night for the weekdays.

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One more panel!

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And the heater getting a bench run. Cant decide if I want to do a separate tank or pull from the main tank.

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Cleaned the garage last night. I now have about about 6'x15' of usable space. Soon to be cabinet shop.... Also found out the cabover is still leaking.... Ugh. We got more than an inch of rain yesterday, once it drys out a bit Ill have to caulk it from the outside.




Knocked out the bed frame. Its dimensions kinda drive everything.

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Put about 70 miles on it Sunday, picked up the ceiling material. Its going to be knotty cedar T&G. Smells delicious! But it was smoking again, I think it may be leaking oil onto the exhaust, but it seems to do it randomly. I need to crawl under it again and see whats up.




Drivers Side wall done

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Ceiling started. Definitely a rustic cabin kinda look.

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Test fit one of the lights Ill be using. I hope they are enough light! They are 3W 120lm each.

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I was trying to get the two windows I have cut in yesterday as we are supposed to get 2" of rain today... I have had a cold coming on, and that sure didn't happen.....




I did get one in, and it was not fun. Turns out my walls are only 1 7/8" thick, not the 2" I planned on. And to make things worse the foam was a bit thin around the windows, this let the plywood bend in even more. So I have to cut a bunch of shims, and make things kinda the right thickness again. Then.... The wall has a big bow in it, vertically. So I couldn't just use the foam strip to install the window. Its glued in like a berklyer now. After getting that in I was spent. The good news is my new patterning bit for the router work great at cutting the holes.




Hole cut

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Window in

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it got dark....

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My stairs came though, and they fit in the under body box! It was close, but they fit.

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I also picked up a battery combiner, its rated for 200A continuous, so it should be up to the task. Another CL score, $20!

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Since the old ship has sailed, time to kick it in gear.




Good bye old friend. You will be missed.

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Since its the time of the year it usually rains in the PNW, dry weekends must be used to their fullest.




I was in a bit of a hurry, so not too many pics.... But window #2 is installed.

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Window #3, drill 4 big holes. Connect the dots.

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Cut and fit interior panels.

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Slap in window.

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Stair bracket on.

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Stairs. Yeah my garage is a mess and very full...

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Fridge acquired. They only had one left in stock locally so it was snapped up. Isotherm (made by webasto) 4.7 cu ft drawer unit, which will be nice as its under the counter top, no getting on your knees to see in the bottom shelf. Its REALLY nice.... But my wallet hurts. Its a DanFoss compressor, 12v and 120V, burns 429 watts/24hr on avg.




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Made a little time lapse of the weekend.









At the start of the weekend.

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Wrapped up the ceiling

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Sanded and stained last night. Changing color

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First coat done

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Got a bit done this weekend.




I love these splices. Crimp on, self adhesive shrink wrapped. Good stuff.

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Got the LED exterior light done.

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Fan trims and interior pucks in.

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I had to hook them up to see if it was going to be enough light. I was worried it wouldn't be as they are quite small. Its a good amount of light!

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Started framing up the rear storage/wall. Its 1" .072 steel, this give me a 1" area I can insulate, and gives me some structure to support the bath wall from.

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In place. This will be the exterior storage.

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Bathroom wall and bed frame just about done. Cutting stupid angles wiht a skill saw sucks.

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18" clear under the bed frame for storage. The plan is to have it lift up for access from inside.

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And that catches up this thread! ok we will slow down to real time updates now...


Feb 23

Here is the panel :flipoff2:




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Got the benches cut and partly together

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And i have enough scraps of maple 1x3's for the kitchen cabinet face frame!


Got a fair bit done yesterday.




Cabinet will separate the bed/dinette area. The bottom will have a pull out drawer for trash and recycle. The middle will be a pantry drawer, and the top will be a shelf open to the dinette side. It also created the back and base of the bench seat.




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Bench sitting in place. Heater or water tank will go here. Like heater so its closer to the center of the truck, but that means small water tank..... Thoughts on heater not close to center? It would go right at the front wall, under the other bench.




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All together

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This is kinda fun going back thru all this. Also what a fuck ton of work! And nice to not limit number of pics per post!!!
 
Spent an hour or so trying to figure out why my reverse lights dont work... Fuse is good, swapping relays made no difference. Im getting ~half a volt at the light connections.




So possibly a break in the wire somewhere, which I think is unlikely, all the rest of the wiring has been impeccable, and the tail lights still work, or the reverse switch at the trans is toast.




Other half of the dinette sitting in place

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Im thinking heater and water pump will go here, just have to check that I can sneak the intake and exhaust out, its right above the gas tank. I will have to build a riser for the heater to sit on as well, not quite enough room with gas filler box there.

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Stove came too, ebay special with dents... But its got a nice flip down glass top for when its not in use.

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Pulled the tail light panels. Lots of room there. Need to figure out how to put them on a quick release. Ill take ideas there!! Passenger side will get poop tank, drivers will get gas tank for the heater.

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ere is a floor section for anyone curious, aluminum (ACTUALLY STEEL), some coating (the grey), then a boat load of bed liner.




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Cut hole for heater intake and exhaust

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Bolt down heater and run exhaust.

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Put the slats on the bed. One skinny one since math is hard.

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Four fucking heavy batteries.

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Harness mounts make great battery mounts too

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Started wiring.

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Time lapse of the weekend.







Got to let my inner OCD out last night




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Final wall panel went in. Was planning two pieces.... Did it in one instead so my hole was off a bit. Trim will cover it. Second dinette bench is in. I am thinking I may pull it back out and shrink it another 1/2"....

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The UPS guy must love me.... And I have a very forgiving wife for letting me pile parts in the house. Thats the tank for the heater, 3 gallons, will be mounted outside.

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Poop tank and parts are in.

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Tried this floor, not doing it for me... It was the only "grey ish" one that was in stock at HD. Will see what else I can find.

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Fuck am I getting tired!


IF YOUR READING THIS DO THE FUCKING FLOOR AFTER THE CABINETS!!!!!!!!!!!!! STUPID ME.

Underlayment going down. Green and red is the same stuff, I just had a piece of the green left and it fit just right there.

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Here is where I quit last night. Found some flooring we liked finally. Its a vinyl plank with a "foam" core. Claims to be water proof.

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Late night last night... Didn't take many pics.




Finished up the floor

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Kitchen cabinet in (well mostly in...)

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About 30 hours till departure....ouy


Got home before dark. outside shot! Will need some air in the bags...




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Switches actually running the lights! 12v meter and two usb ports there as well

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rats nest.....

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Pooper placement confirmed

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Black walnut scraps for sink infill cutting board

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MARCH 5TH, FIRST NIGHT IN THE TRUCK.

Fawk yeah!




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Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
 
update since I was in a giant rush yesterday.




pooper in




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Prototype ski storage

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Temp counter in

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Bed done, after the first night, im really happy with the Amazon memory foam mattress. so cushy

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Temp cooking

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Stairs work well

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A little more progress last night. Gas strut installed on the bed. Only ended up needing one. Seems to work just fine.

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Pretty decent storage access. I may put a divider in to keep things from migrating towards the back...

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Poop tank valve going on. What a huge PITA. When the company wants to sell you a bag of abs shavings just buy it.... I spent a long time with a piece of pipe and a paddle bit making shavings. I didnt realize how much it would take....

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mmmm goobery

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Fridge is in! And its pretty
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7


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Black tank fittings are the biggest pain in the ass you can imagine.




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That was it for last night.


No real visible progress last night. Put a coat of finish on all the raw ply edges.




Also picked up the counter top material

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Child safety device in place.




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Now back to the heater. I couldn't get it to pull gas from the boat tank. After pulling the tank apart I think the pickup tube was just too big for the little pulse pump. It was 3/8" ish tube. So heat gun and a piece of 3/16 and wa la, new in tank pickup.

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Since I haven't gotten a chance to install the tank yet.... ghetto rigging ensures. Luckily this is all very low pressure.

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It works!! Box got to 70 in a couple minutes.... Too hot.




Exhaust location since I dont think I ever posted this. No smoke or smell on kerosene.

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Not about that ticking fuel pump. Its loud (mounted to the wood spacer above the frame rail in a rubber P clamp). This will need some googling.
 
You simply cannot loose it in a parking lot....




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But hitting the store means we are going out of town!




Munchkin seat, installed.

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Got an idea to quiet down the fuel pump, quick fist to the rescue. Definitely helped.

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Headed out for the night

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Parking for the night

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Even got some work done while we were gone, added a hand rail

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Ugh too much rain!!

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It was a little wet Saturday.... Makes working on the truck miserable. I strung a tarp up between the garage and truck, that helped a little....




Thats a gravel driveway under there....

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And a half block from my house.

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Didn't get much done. Started layout for the counter top. A lot of weird ass radiused angles on the stove... 1 3/16" radius corners?! Really?

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Holes cut and nailed in place.

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Weather cleared up for Sunday, good. Tile time.




That was a pain in the ass...

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But my lovely wife polished all the edges of the tiles for me!




First row in. Glued down with polyurethane adhesive caulk. That was interesting to trowel.

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Done! Well need to grout still....

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Anyone recognize this extrusion? I'm guessing its not proprietary to TriVan. I need a couple pieces. You can see my dirt finger line plan :sombrero: Bob the rear end a bit. Should really help with the departure angle. I will have to re-do the hitch, but this thing is built like a bomb shelter. I don't plan to tow much more than my little aluminum boat.




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"Grouted" the counter last night. Used black RTV silicone so it have a bit of movement.




Tape off all the edges.




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Work it into the crack, then wipe as clean as possible down the tape line. Carefully pull the tape.




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Then I crawled under to finish mounting the poop tank. Added large fender washer to the screws.

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Now a question. This section of the tank is not supported. I hung off the back corner and it didnt really seem to flex much at all. Is it worth making a bracket to hold that back corner? Its 1/4" abs on that top flange.




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Not much time yesterday, but hit the stove hole with a grinder to get it to slip in. Ebay damaged sink, of course its the front corner, oh well, it was cheap.

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Dropped the water tank in, perfect fit (after removing my seat top ledgers
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
)! Need to get some 1.5" insulation for it to sit on, then it will get permanently installed.

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Connections are still going to be tight.

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My solution for quick release tail light panels came too, needed to be able to drop them to get to the poop tank dump and the heater fuel tank. Should work ok, hinges were not working.... These will be a bit slower.

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Cut more holes in it. Poop stink evacuator hole.

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Insulated the back bath wall. Really only because I needed the scrap!

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So I could insulate under the water tank!

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Tapped the holes for the tail light panel and used my nifty new wing bolts.

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Drops off for easy dumping!

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Another weekend in the books. Just a campground this weekend.




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Spent some time on Sat getting the poop tank done. Made a custom "long elbow" for the vent.

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Runs up the back corner and out the wall.

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Added a cleanout for easy tank rinsing.

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And the clamshell vent over the outlet.

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Getting out of the driveway was interesting. Ugh. I need some gravel.

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Pickup up the propane tank. Its big. Bigger than I planned. Its 11.9 gallons or 50lbs, and its half full and really heavy to wrestle under the truck, then to to bench press onto the jack...




But it fits, sideways, barely.

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Tight on the spring hanger. A little trimming of the gaurd thing and it will slip up a little higher, should have ~1/2" clearance min.

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Took some pics of the frame extension while I was down there. Its welded in, then a doubler is bolted across it.

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My lighting showed up, they don't match... oh well. Mount is taller, covers are different, colors don't match.

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So I started on a light bar. Bend attempt #1, fail.

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Attempt #2, works. Floor jack, two pieces of 2x material, one big ass trailer hitch. Kinked the tube a little but it worked and its a light bar, who cares.

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SIDE NOTE, BUT I STILL HAVEN'T HAD TO FILL THE PROPANE TANK..... JUST DID IT ONCE ORIGINALLY
 
Leaving town, means I need to wrap the bar up as the bolts it uses hold the bumper on....

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A little crooked. :flipoff2: and I have to add some tabs to support the lights it looks like.

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Finished up the kerosene tank mount

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Out in the woods

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Chill dog

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Nice sunset

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Chuckanut Dr is a bit tight in this thing

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Propane fill goodies came in.

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Completely wasted. Collapsed easily by hand and zero rebound.

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Leaving town, means I need to wrap the bar up as the bolts it uses hold the bumper on....

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A little crooked. :flipoff2: and I have to add some tabs to support the lights it looks like.

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Finished up the kerosene tank mount

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Out in the woods

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Chill dog

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Nice sunset

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Chuckanut Dr is a bit tight in this thing

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Propane fill goodies came in.

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Completely wasted. Collapsed easily by hand and zero rebound.

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Propane tank is in! My god that was not fun, its tight, like really really tight, cant lift the tank up, it has to be tilted and wiggled into place.... Apologize in advance for crappy pics, its tight.
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7





The front side of the tank got through bolted through the floor, its under the fridge, which meant fridge had to come back out. Back side I couldn't do that as it would have been right inside the door. So I made some brackets, they go under the flange on the tank, pickup both bolts, and then bolt sideways through the floor member. Getting all that lined up with the tank in place was interesting.




Brackets with the lovely blue paint

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And in place.

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Remember it was tight? Its touching the spring hanger.....

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A little sawzall action and more better. Hopefully that not enough to cause structural issues in the hanger.

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Tucked up nicely, you cant even see it if your not looking. It will get a healthy coat of bed liner next.

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Nothing real exciting, but a little more progress. Made up the first battery cable, big thanks to Cascadian for letting me borrow his crimpers! They are sweet. Self adhesive shrink tube is awesome.

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New cable let me install the shunt for the Victron battery meter. While I like the RJ45 connections for the meter, damn getting those heads fished through holes sucks!

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Gotta install this end still... But it works!

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Its a jungle behind the fridge...




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But the stove works!! (and my phone sucks at pics...)

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Took the truck to the dump station near me, one 10' hose is just enough for that spot!




Need to make a 45 adapter thing for the cleanout, hose is too stiff to get in and down enough.




ANDDDD got it stuck in the damn driveway again.... buried the front axle. Got it out... Its parked on the other side of the driveway now... The good news is it might have a posi rear end. I had two holes at the back wheels. (it had a gear shop tag on the keys when i got it too)




And built a drawer. May have gone overboard with the pocket screws...

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Lots of storage there.

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A little bit more whenever i get a free minute!




Pantry drawer done

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Battery monitor and T stat mounted.

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Little work yesterday between rain showers.




Added support tabs for the lights.

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Drilled lots of holes, mounted. Need 3 longer bolts....

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I think this is really going to bother me.... Middle one is a single I bought from a different mfg. Mount was a little different height, but I didn't realize it was thinner as well. Ugh

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We spent the weekend in it again.




We look a little large on the ferry.

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And for a poopy update




One 10' hose works great ( I have two)

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And The clean out works ok. Not as good as I hoped, but I dont have to get on the roof....




If I close the dump valve, I have to turn the flow on the rinse hose way down as the air has to come out the same vent. Never had an issue with this going straight in the roof. Im tempted to add a hose connection to the tank, just below the top next to the dump valve.

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I should add more comments. That clean out for the tank is useless. Never have used it since that post.... I got a tank rise thing that goes on the dump valve. Works great.
 
Worked on the propane tank some more.




A load of undercoating on it. Thats some nasty shit.

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Also got a big rig mud flap, I think it should work well. Gotta do some hacking, but it looks like I can anchor across the top, and at the bottom outside corner to the body.

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Then added a deck plate to the back side of the tool box on the passenger side so I can get to the gas valve.

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Tried to get to one of our regular spots. Ran into 8-10" of wet sloppy snow that was more than we wanted to try to get through solo.




Oh well. There is a nice quite CG close by

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Snow wasn't far off.

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This was a first long stretch of gravel we had done, not too bad on the smoother sections but the pot holed areas were brutal. Like 10mph crawl at best, otherwise I thought I would break the truck. This has me thinking about wheels/tires/lift/springs etc. Ill take any input here....




A couple things, these are G rated tires (IIRC!) 14 ply sidewalls. Great on the highway, fine on smooth gravel, ouch in potholes. Has anyone had experience going from a 19.5 tire to a 20" LT? Or too a less load rated 19.5?




Or will a spring change (kelderman airbags in the front?) make more of a difference? It felt like it was front end for the worst of it....


Found a few hours yesterday between soccer practice, dinner and homework with the kid....




Propane tank mud flap is done, man are those things hard to cut!




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Bolted to the body on the outside

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and a piece of cable on the inside. Hopefully this keeps it off the tire. Handy slot/hole was already in the spring hanger, I think it will stay put.

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Finished up the last big wall panel, still lots of trim work, and skinning the door. But this piece keeps the insulation in place and give it a much more complete feel.

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Caulked in the back side, this is kinda a "wet room" skis, ez up sleds etc. That should keep the water from running under the floor into the living space. There is a fair bit of storage back there, but I wish I had made it 1" deeper....

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Got the inverter mounted, and the hot side cable done. Man everything takes FOREVER! Climb under bed, forget some little piece/tool, climb out, walk to garage, climb back under bed. Repeat ad nauseum.

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100W folding panel, looks like they took one of the "flexible" panels and cut it in half. Its very small when folded. It will be paired with a Victron MPPT controller.

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Charger is wired. Ran a piece of flextite conduit between the tool box on the drivers side and the battery area. This is so I can run my incoming power cable from there. Also ran a pair of 8 gauge wires for the solar hook up. The solar controller will likely be mounted next to the batteries though. The other two glands re for my 2/0 DC power wires.

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And in the box I have about 20' of 20 amp cord, and the two solar wires. Tools and fluids live there too.

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And wires up to the inverter charger.

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Also started on my 120V breaker box.

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Then it was time for more holes..... Water heater intake/exhaust.

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I even managed to get the hole from the inside and outside to line up
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7


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Its a concentric vent, intake around the outside, exhaust down the middle. All stainless which is nice.

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And all done.

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And since It was almost 90 yesterday we thought we should give sticker peeling a go! Man it came off so much better than when it was cold out! No more sponsor names, just the number either side now. There was even a second layer of blue on the front!




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More last night...




Water tank is in, strapped in place, and hopefully stays there. Glad I didn't get a bigger tank, no way I would have gotten the fittings on the end.




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Water outlet, drain valve on the right will need to go down though the floor.

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And in place, it fit exactly tight against the wall.

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Water heater mounted, the blue can will be the grey tank.

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I did get the water ran to the other dinette bench and to the valve before the water pump. But that was it. Man its tight and takes forever! All the rest of my pics are blurry....


Here is a recap on the thrash that was Friday. Whoever decided I needed to get the water done before we left was a little nuts.... Needless to say, the three hours I had planned for it wasn't enough. Oh well, I dragged my *** out of bed at 6:30 and got to work.




I had to connect the tank to the water heater, both of which were installed at this point, then do all the tank fill side of things, install the water pump, wire all that stuff, and do the grey tank. (yeah typing all that out reminds me three hours were not nearly enough, planned to work 7-10, cleanup and pack and leave at 12)




So to start we have to install the faucet. Kids oil based clay works great for making a dam.

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Now you hope and prey you don't break the tile.

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Breathe again....

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And drop the faucet in. One thing checked off the list.

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Run water lines.

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Hook up water pump, used flex here to try to keep noise and vibrations in the lines down.... Pump is god damn loud. Its a used one I have had in my garage for years now.

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Install fill and vent.

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Add water. Chase leaks. I hate threaded fittings!!!! PEX is awesome though.




Hot water coming out!

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Apparently I took zero pics of the grey tank. Its the blue jug, its a hose barb fitting off the end of the strainer basket, a piece of 1" vinyl tube. Works really well actually.










Truck drove great all weekend, towed the boat at 70 no problem.
 
It took 25' to get front to rear. Wow that was not fun. Its oiled up well underneath.




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Disappearing into the beast

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But its loomed and run the whole way! Need to get come more end connectors and run the ground.


Woohoo!! Its charging from the alternators!




Ground run to the frame. Ground the paint off and used an existing bolt/ground spot.

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Connected at the battery (thoughts on an aftermarket/larger terminal?)

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Make the noise! (Project Binky if you dont know the reference.... Check it out on YT, no affiliation....
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
) Green light means the combiner works and batteries are charging from the engine. Solar controller and wiring can be seen here, and done as well!

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All the electrical goodies to make it all work.

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And a curtain happened too. Yes the truck is dirty.... we are using it....

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STILL HAVE NOT CHANGED THE BATTERY LUG......

Fuse "stud" and a 300 amp fuse.

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And we are now fused for the main run. Yeah I need a battery terminal...

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Picked up a "fitted" sun shade, fits nicely, over my phone holder too. Should help a fair bit, that is a big windshield.

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Dinette Table acquired. A little skinny, but man it's going to look awesome!

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Quick overnight trip. This thing drive so nice on the road, potholes still suck.....




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Stole a rod holder off the boat....

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..... and Instant BBQ

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Well the good news is, the 120v side of the wiring is done, bad news is it won't run my coffee maker
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
ugh




But the table is installed!

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Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
 
Great time at the NWOR, we were comfortable, but had one of the most "not off road" trucks there. Either way it was nice. Hung out with lots of friends, enjoyed watching the obstacle course, and did lots of walking around looking at rigs I recognized!







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Now I thought I had a leaking window..... Well its not the window...... Looks like our time on rough roads has taken its toll on the roof seams. They are splitting all the way around. Tri Van used an elastomeric of some sort to seal the overlap between the roof sheet metal and the corner extrusions. Its brushed on. Where is passes over the lip of the sheet metal it looks like it was the thinnest point and its just splitting there. Ugh!




This is the worst of split, but actually not leaking as the butyl that is between the pieces is good and thick here.

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SOOOOO I get to re seal it all the way around, fun.... I hit the spots that were leaking (place you can see form the interior anyway...) with a bit of sikaflex since it was supposed to rain again. I wiped it with MEK and a wire brush, seemed to stick well.













But I need some input. Is a sealant with a layer of paint on it. Its loose at the edge in places (i will peel those) but is there any goos reason not to just spread a new layer over the top, going over both edges of the old stuff, after a wipe down with acetone/mek to clean it up?




Also, I have a can of brush able Geocel Pro Flex, coming, and have a case of Skiaflex 1a, thoughts as to product to use?? Sika will be a ***** to trowel out, and may not stick to bare alum as well as the geocel, but its grey. The Geocell may go on thinner (a good thing to keep water from pooling on the roof, but also need enough to get a good build up) This stuff supposedly stick to bare alum, and will stick in the wet (hotter chemical?) so maybe it will bond better to the original elastomer and paint?




Option 3 I am trying to avoid is going around the entire thing with a cup grinder and taking the old crap off..... That would take days.....





The roof issue.....




Across the front. Obviously failed.

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Peeled off easily. Luckily there is a big layer of buytyl there, so its not leaking there.

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But the sides don't have much butyl, and are leaking. Hard to see but you can see the cracks in the middle (i fixed the worst ones without taking pics)

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So I took a knotted wire wheel to that area down the middle allllll the way around. That sucked. But it left me with a clean strip that hopefully the Sika will bond nicely too. I got the bare aluminum primer to use as well.


Not pretty, but hopefully sealed
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Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


Center ground down. Scrub brush and acetone came next. Then Sika 260 primer

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Front edge got a red scotch brite, acetone. Then the primer.

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Not pretty, but should be water tight.

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eight tubes
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Huge thanks to Ryan at Bahn Camper Works, http://www.bahncamperworks.com, he sold me his last shower unit, and it seemingly was the last one in stock in the US. Thanks again!




Not the ideal location above the exhaust, but the only place it wanted to fit.

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Super slick, well worth the $$

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It shoots a long ass ways! And hot water comes out. Win.

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Internal connections.

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Nifty little tuner. Sadly the CEL came on, #6 glow plug circuit failure....

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Made a window infill panel.

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Our portable AC unit can clip into it!
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ITS FULL OF LIES.... GET 10 ish

Holy hell, reset the mileage computer after I put the tuner in. Before it was 9.3 avg, Seattle to Spokane with a little in town stuff it's reading 15.5 now! I has cruise set at 68 (2250 rpms) the whole time
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Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


Night five so far so good!
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Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


We did a trip up to explore BC, we went through Banff, Jasper and Wellsgrey parks. Great trip and the first long one in the new truck. Amazing trip, lots of fun hikes and great scenery. Truck eats up the miles! Averaged about 10.3 ish MPG not going easy one it. Only found one long grade that made it get pretty hot, temp sat right around 200 most of the time, oil temp was never more than 10 degrees more than water temp.




Full write up here: https://www.nwadventuretruck.com/fir...g-trip-report/




A few pics from the trip

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So one of the guys over at Grassroots Motorsports forum just so happens to work for Webasto. He saw my incorrect fuel line and sent me a roll of the correct stuff! Apparently they actually use the fuel line ID as part of the fueling system metering. Too large of an ID (like my rubber) will actually over fuel the heater. He said it would likely work fine for a long while, but eventually it will kill the fire box. The pulse pump needs the restriction I guess.




Correct stuff.

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So I got around to installing it between the fuel pump and heater last night anyway. Uhhh yeah no good pictures under there, but its clear tubing in place of the rubber.




Still rubber to the tank, not exactly sure how I will get around that one yet, but its only about 24"




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OK a couple of tiny updates.




Added a cell booster antenna. Will see how that works.




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Added a handle to the bed, much easier to lift!

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And worked on a backup camera. Huge fail so far.... Its wifi based and I had an old phone I was going to use for the screen. The idea os good, but the transmitter that claims 150m, is more like two. Too much metal I guess, as soon as I walk around the side of the truck it just drops.




Parts

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Stuck it all in a tupperware on the back of this panel, tapped the license plate light for power.

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It works if you stand behind the truck..... not so helpful. I may fuck with it later, or just get something different.


A couple questions for the diesel guys, my tuner has some "warnings" built into it.




At 30 PSI it goes yellow, 35 goes red. Is yellow an OK safe pressure for climbing passes etc longer terms.




Same for EGTs, 1200 ish goes yellow, 1400 goes red. AFAIK 1200 was all you wanted to run for short periods.










Just campground camping this weekend. This thing tows the boat like it's not even there. Love it!




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And it definately has a LSD of some sort, both rear tires dig holes!




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A quick weekend in the woods.

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"fixed" the broken and rattling running board. LWB problems....

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Need to check tire pressures, but it felt much nicer this time, I think the rain and traffic filled in a lot of the holes. Washboard was no problem at 30-40mph, the big holes were still jarring if you didn't slow down in time. I rattled one of the lights loose, fixed that yesterday.


One more quick project down. I needed better access to the propane tank. I had a 6" deck plate in the tool box, it was enough to turn the gas on and off, but not fill the tank, I had planned on a remote fill (and may still do that) but I couldn't even get the remote fill parts hooked up without dropping the tank.




Sooo in comes a bigger hole.

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Round corners dont crack as easily.

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Annnnnd door.

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Much better access, I am going to ask my local fill guy if he can work with that rather than the remote fill....


10.71 mpg on the last tank, that's with a pass going both directions. Not bad!




Going up the pass, 50-55mph, 30 psi and 1000 degree EGT's, the other side is shallower and I can run up at 60+ staying under 1000 degrees.
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OK guys I need some input. Trying to track down the reverse light issue, its dark enough I needed them last weekend.




What I know:

Lights work, Plugged them into the brake circuit and they come on,




Wiring in the ghetto looking Junction box I thought would be the issue looks good.




~.4V to reverse lights in reverse. Same at the trailer reverse light plug.




Fuses good, (Ill check again tomorrow), but they were good last time I looked. Swapped with a similar looking relay, no change.




ghetto block i thought must be the issue

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but neat and waterproof connectors inside....

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One thing that was good I learned, the spare tire crank does not work with the large step bumper.... Good to know! Socket had been installed on crank to use with a ratchet.


Finished up the backup light project.




Finally bought a riv nut tool, where have these been all my life?! No more trying to hold a box wrench on the back side for me!




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Cheap Amazon light bar. Tied to the trailer reverse light circuit. Just clears the license plate light, and the door latches.

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More light!

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A storm was headed through Friday night which was supposed to bring snow. So what did we do? Pack up and go looking for it!




Off the highway and headed up for more altitude

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Found the snow line, so we parked and called it a spot for the night. Whipped up some tasty dinner and had a nice little fire. A couple went by just as we were headed inside for dinner, just after dark. Driving a 4x4 early 80's Toyota Chinook camper, say hi if your on here! Looked awesome




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Woke up to 3" of new stuff! So pretty.

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Kids and dog had a good time.

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No drama heading down in the morning, we were a little worried as its pretty steep. I had grabbed some chains on the way home from work, but first gear idled us down the hill safely.




Now the interesting parts..... 4x4 doesn't work.... At least the hubs wont lock in with vacuum as they are supposed to. So I started tracing vac lines. So far they all look good, but I did find a dead seal.... I cant for the life of me figure out what this part is called.




Its this seal at the end of the axle tube. I dont think it has anything to do with the vacuum system as that's all in the hub. Looks like a bitch to get everything out to change it...... I skimmed thru the 60 tech article and didnt see it.

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Decided to do a little "camp light" project. Sometimes I hate having the bright outdoor lights on, so I did some little puddle lights along the bottom edge of the truck. Enough light to find the stairs, but not be overly bright.




Start with cheap marker lights, they mount in a 3/4" hole.

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Bottom flange that runs around the truck is ~1.25", works great, drill a 3/4" hole.

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Pop in the rubber ring first, them slip the light in it.

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One cheap light up switch from Amazon, still need to make the bracket.... Apparently I am out of large angle alum.

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And done. Camera makes it a little brighter than it is, but they don't shine in your eyes, and give enough light to find the stairs etc.

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Had a little free time and it wasn't raining, so I got some insulation done. I picked up a roll of EZ Cool, basically just 3/8" foil faced foam. Wont do much for sound deadening, but should help a little with heat. The carpet in the cab gets wet from condensation when the dog sleeps up there in the cold, so I wanted to get something under the carpet.




Not much from the factory.

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Cut a chunk, lay it in, start bending, taping, cutting cursing. Cut it bigger than you think you need, it looses a lot of size when bending it around the contours. Don't forget the holes needed for bolts etc. I only pulled the back seat, front would be nice too, but I didn't have time to pull all the interior and trims out.

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Floor in place.

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Going up the wall. This was fun.... All the slots for the trim piece clips need to be cut. It really didn't want to go back on.

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Then up the back wall. This was glued with super90, the rest has just been taped in place/held with the trims for the most part.

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Also wrapped around the cab to box gasket. Not much insulation, but it should also trap some air there that will help a little. Seat ans trims back in now. Not sure what to do for wall covering, maybe carpet, maybe wood panel?

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Another quick but fun weekend trip. Snow, snow and more snow!




Shout out to Stevens Pass ski area, they were letting people sled and not running them off like every other ski area around here. We stopped, had some lunch and did a bit of sledding.




Winter wonderland. We had to stop and push a couple of cars up/off the road and get them turned around. The guys on snowmobiles looked at us a little funny when we ran into them. But 4x4 works fine manually locking the hubs in (whew!)

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Little lights are awesome, and actually kinda bright in the snow....

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This happened too
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And doggo wanted more snow balls.

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Great weekend!!!!




The LED lights are great really really good. We missed a family of dear that I am not sure I would have seen otherwise. Driving in nuking snow was not an issue, gave a bit of a Star Wars hyperspace look going on.

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It was a good day for big sticks.

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Ski fun! It was amazing, 28" in 48 hours.

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Digging it out. Probably didnt need to, pulled right out just fine.

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Now for some battery usage. We arrived Friday night ~6pm ish, this was Sunday 8 am ish. Was down a little more before we left. Lots of heat use, no charging at all.

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(IIRC we were at 123AH used when we were packing up)

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With a 6.07A load on it.

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Im thinking the batteries may be a little tired? They were used. 12.3VDC seems low with that little of a draw on them.


Great night in the woods, had a nice bonfire with friends. Slept cozy and warm!




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750 miles, 6 days in the truck, good times!




We headed out to ski bum for a week. Shitty snow, but still had a good time.

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Lots of this...

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Skinned and trimmed out the back door finally. I can add the pics here too, but its written up there.

https://www.nwadventuretruck.com/fin...the-back-door/




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Now for questions.....

I think my radius arm bushings are toast. In 4x4 doping a tight turn the front end kind of feel like it locks up then unloads. It 'shimmies' instead of making a nice smooth turn. And IIRc the shop that did the pre purchase inspection mentioned something along those lines. But I am not getting clunking (I read that is the main thing people complain about with toasted bushings)




Sooo just replace bushings? Get new arms ( I mostly see ones for big lifts that are $$$, if I do lift it will only be 1.5")? Find OE arms to swap over?




Or do I have a LSD of some sort in the front too???


Floors are cold, really cold. So before the last trip I bought some cheap carpet and cut it to fit the kitchen/eating area. Had to lift the fridge a bit to clear it. I spray glued foam floating floor backing to it so it doesn't scratch up the vinyl flooring. That way it can be popped out for summer. I also didn't do any in front of the door, that way wet boots don't just soak it.




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Then I added a drain for the hot water heater. It has a valve it uses when it gets close to freezing to release pressure I guess. Good to know..... It dumped a lot of water out onto the floor. (you can see my ghetto vinyl tube in the carpet pic) now its a proper drain, down through the floor.




Drill big old hole.

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Make up the fitting and measure the piece of pipe needed. I am using PEX, its awesome.

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And wala, water goes out the bottom of the truck!

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Also got the Ham radio nearly installed. Just need to finish running power..... Picked up a cheap ft7900

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For as big as the truck is, there is no where on the dash to put a damn remote face plate! I settled on this, its low, not going to be adjustable while driving, but should work ok.

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Also added a second gas strut to the bed, it wouldn't stay open when we stacked all the stuff on it that end up on horizontal surfaces....
I think I do well with deadlines..... My wife mentioned that the microwave would be a nice luxury to have. So Microwave it is. Inverter will run it, barely. Pulls ~85 amps, microwave makes odd noises, but it works!




So I made a little shelf for it to sit on, drilled small recesses for the feet of the microwave, hopefully that keeps it in place enough. Flipping the grey water lug sideways made enough room under the sink for it to fit.




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Need to zip tie the power wire up out of the way, but it shares the 120V plug with the fridge. Should work well.




Also got the water pump switch installed. For some stupid reason I can't get the "on" position when the LED is up, but I didn't power the LED anyway.... Tucked out of the way where it wont get bumped on or off.




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Just got home, it's dark, I have to use the truck in two days, do I start this project? Hmmmmm
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They are done, 50 mins for the drivers side, 20 for the passenger. Hope that makes the front nicer!
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Busy Weekend!




Went snowshoeing Saturday. Wife broke trail all day!

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Started in my messy ass garage making some overhead storage.

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Hanging from the ceiling

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And filled up.

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Remote switch for the inverter, so I dont have to climb under the bed to run it on every time....

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And even got a coat of wax on the skis!

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Skifari 2018 is in the books, it was a GREAT trip this year.* Amazing snow all week!




Did a little write up here:*https://www.nwadventuretruck.com/ski...bum-road-trip/










And picture dump for those who just like pics
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Stuck and hit by an avalanche....*




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Mt Baker*




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Sasquatch, BC




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The whole gang, 10 people, 6 rigs




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Whistler, BC




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Parking lot meals




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