Radiators

[chevdog]

Looks good Pat - I could not imagine not having a truck of some type or another [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Chevdog, Here is beast picture 3 of 3. This is on a dam between two ponds when I was out "running" my traps. I have lost a lot of large beautiful trees to beaver and don't have that many to spare. I hate to see them "girdle" a tree and leave it to die, especially if it is over 2-3 ft in diameter as I don't have enough large trees to suit me. They felled trees well over 2 ft in diameter. I have trapped a few and if I had the time I'd go out in the night and shoot the over industrious rodents. They have a place in nature, just not on my itsy bitsy piece.

Anyway this shot shows the bumper better. You can see the winch's vert and horiz rollers in the center of the bumper and with a good imagination the cable hook. The LARGE diameter horiz bars are NOT solid they are tubing. the push bars on either side of the winch are solid SS. The little round holes in the bumper are Dodge driving lights, the amber rectangles are fog lights, the rectangles that look sort of grey are covered with expanded metal and are for cooling air.

The terrific babe in the co-pilots seat is my wife. A little hard to see in her goose down camo parka and Mad Bomber rabbit fur hat. Well, that is about all the detail I notice in this. No, wait, the little thing sticking up at the end of the rear bumper (passenger side) is a pad eye for attaching the rear camper hold downs or attaching cargo holding stuff.

There is a lot of other stuff but I never took pix under the hood or under the frame of all the mods and accessories. For example: Dodge or Cummins shops charge $85 on up to over $100 to change the canister type fuel filter (plus the filter cost). I paid to have it done so I cold watch and be able to do it myself. I watched and determined that I NEVER wanted to do it myself. Sooo, I remoted the filter up higher in plain sight and adapted it to take a spin on. This is a "Prime-Loc" brand accessory and makes changing the filter a 1 min job PLUS it has a gauge to show back pressure across the filter so you can change it out when it needs it not based on an estimate of miles, time, or other imprecise OUIJA board nonsense. The customizing has gone on and on but I have slowed the rate of change due to competition for my time.

Pat

[s1120]

Nice. I like that front bumper.

[MikePA]

Pat, Is there a problem with the door in the background?

[Pat]

Good call Mike, Yes, when I bought the place one of the cars was off the track and the door was secured shut, I was checking it out and in this picture it isn't back on track yet.

If you looked closely, you'd have noticed a safety violation! I was unloading the round bales with a pallet fork. Later I tilted the fork too far back and a bale tried to fall back on me. It didn't but it bent the "backstop" on the forks about 30 degrees. Had I tilted it farther back the bale would have falen back and crushed the hood and probably come through the glass and got me too. I repaired them and bought a Kubota bale spike that uses the same quick connect as the FEL bucket and pallet forks.

I strongly recommend - N O T - using pallet forks to load/unload/move/handle big round bales. I was doing so well.. I stacked them on end on the trailer two bales high with precision... Pride cometh before a fall!

Patrick

[chevdog]

Pat, I think you've got everything you can put on that truck [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Nice job you've done.
Incidentally, that remote filter setup is gaining in popularity, especially in the more crowded engine bays. I like the one you've got with the pressure gauge - another good setup is a System1 (no pressure gauge though, but good quality). Many times they are combined with an oil cooler too.

PS - radiator is still A-OK! Now on to fixing a Ford 9" center section - but that's another topic [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Chevdog, I have a remote tranny cooler with thermostatic fan AND an elecrically controlled cooling fan clutch (Horton like the big rigs). Ordinarily my fan freewheels but in slow traffic or up a hill with a load the thermostat will engage the clutch and the fan will be spun mechanically like the regular old fashioned unit I don't waste power spinning a fan when not needed but when engaged it moves some air as it is quite aggressive.

I have a convex mirror on a mount that I can stick temporarily on the tailgate. It shows me where the hitch and coupler are so I can hook up with out a helper or making many tries to line up.

Surely you jest when you say I don't need anything else! I have lots of minor things to do, time permitting. I have a good strong 12 volt continuous rated compressor and tank to mount in a water proof/vented (see Dorade ventilators for yachts) box. Then I will install the dual pressure gauge (one gauge and dial, two concentric needles) that I already have. This along with the valves I bought, will permit me to independently inflate/deflate the air bags (suspension not crash protection) from the driver's seat. Of course the tank will provide air for inflating the tires, especially after airing down when off road. The compressor/tank will provide air for the neato air horns that I will install like I did on my prev Ford.

Air horns are a good safety investment. On back roads there are always sports car folk and cafe racers on their crotch rockets who seem to always cross the yellow line when in the "S" turns or other blind corners. Sure, I'd probably fare better than they in a head-on but I don't want to take chances with my wife and I would hate all the paperwork and inconvenience. With the Ford, equipped with good air horns that sounded like a "BIG RIG" I would give a toot in the remote mountain "S" curves and wonder of wonders the sports cars and murdercyclists would be in their own lane when they rounded the bend.

I'm still a few candlepower below lethality in the driving light department and I do have the stock 135 amp alternator going to waste and two driving light mounts empty and waiting built into the custom front bumper.

I bought a small (5") B&W TV and camera. I opened up the monitor and reversed the wires on the yoke to make the picture a miror image. When I mount the camera on the back of the camper I can use the monitor in the cab as a rear view mirror.

I have a plan, not implemented yet to modify the front seating arrangement. The center section (third person) is not used in this extended cab truck. I will drill out the rivets holding it to the right and left seat sections and remove it To be replaced with a custom center console with fire extinguisher mount, flashlight mount, two way radios, walkietalkie holder/chargers (We like our two way comms), GPS, map library, and a 6pak soda cooler (peltier junction solid state type) as well as a convenient gun safe (mounted securely to the floor) of course to be used only in those states that have reciprical agreements with Oklalhoma for our concealed carry permits. With a little luck and a greasy shoe horn I hope to mount the 6 CD cartridge type remote unit on the back of the console instead of laying on a towl in the floor in the back seat. Not tidy, but it works.

I hit the majority of the high points but who knows when the muse of customization will woo me.

Patrick

[egon]

Pat:

Your truck is impressively equiped and I am seriously envious as my 96 2500 is pure stock except for air bags, K&N air filter and upgraded shocks which need more upgrading.

But I have noticed, and I say this tonge in cheek, several very serious deficiencies that should be attended to before the contract can be signed off.
There are no provisions for containing either a bicycle or ski's from road debri and the Lincon welder has not yet been mounted on the deck.

Egon

[Pat]

Egon, There wasn't anything really wrong with the truck stock for many uses/applications. I just wanted it to do what I wanted it to do. I forgot to mention I have the K&N filter also.

One of the first things I changed was the stock shocks as they were inadequate from the start and did not improve with age. An off-road shop installed the dual shock kit up front. Stricktly bolt-on no welding. With doubled up Bilstein gas charged shocks up front there is a remarkable improvement. Way less than 10 K and the original shocks were thrashed (mostly highway driving). Of course the shocks were inadequate when new. Now with over 50K miles on the Bilsteins, I detect no aging or loss of function. Maybe its gradual onset eludes detection but I know when shocks are working as they are supposed to, and these are. I put single Bilsteins on the rear (had a passing interest in duals back there but it was far less important and much much more difficult.)

Deficiencies? You bet! I built a custom canoe rack on the prev camper. No real estate left topside for it on this one without interfering big time with the solar energy farm up there. I forgot to mention that there are two receiver hitches built into the front bumper, one either side of the winch. You can put a substantial cargo platform on the two of them. I have a triple bike carrier we use for the mountain bikes that inserts into the 2 inch receiver toward the passenger side (offsets the bike a a bit to the right).

Welder? As in engine driven? I wish! I have a Lincoln 120 volt Wire feed and a 240 VAC powered 125DC/235AC stick welder. Coupled with a 5KW continuous output 120/240 VAC generator I can run the wire feed real lgood but can't get full power in the high amp settings on the stick. In keeping with the Transformer Toy theory they aren't permanently mounted in the bed (might interfere with the camper, you think?).

I have a jib crane with an electric chain hoist on a track. The "Jib" rotates over 180 degrees. If the tractor and pallet forks isn't handier I can load the gen and welder onto the truck easily enough. Alternatively, I can load them onto the trailer if I need the truck bed free.

Thanks for mentioning the welder. It reminds me that I need to load up the gen and welder and fix a few items. I need minor repairs to at least three gates that I was putting off until it cooled down a bit. I wear leathers to weld, especially HD stick stuff and it had been too darned hot. Well, it was 42 this morning. Maybe I won't sweat tooooooo much.

Gardening, non sequiter: I picked ripe tomatos and peppers yesterday. Okra is DONE. Only the peanuts are left to harvest, of our cultivated goodies. Still lots of native pecans to gather and persimmons after we get a good freeze.

Afterthought: Maybe I need an itsy bitsy trailer for my VW dune buggy. Not to carry it but for it to pull. That would make a neat welding trailer and I could go just about anywhere without getting stuck or making deep ruts as with the Ram 3500. Wouldn't have to wait as long after a rain.

Patrick
Patrick

[egon]

Pat:

My powers of obsevation are vaning but just a word of caution. Do not go near a pipeline construction site or there may be a mysterious disapearance.

Egon