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From fire truck to MTV

Skyhawk13205

Well-known member
147
254
63
Location
Alaska
Got the main electricals mounted. The batteries (3x 24V LiFePO4 victron, 15.3kWh) will be underneath the inverter/chargers.

View attachment 920695

I think this will be the location for the water heater and fresh water tank.
View attachment 920694

Someone asked a while ago, this is with the cab tilted and it's door closed. It has a seal all the way around.
View attachment 920696

Hydronic heater mounted with it's expansion tank.

View attachment 920697


Diesel fuel pickup for the heater installed. Nice that there was already a standpipe in the tank at the secondary port. Made for a very easy install.
View attachment 920698
your install of the heater looks nice, I installed mine in a box near the top of the camper. The head/suction pressure for the fuel was to high so I used a faucet lift pump off the troop heater to lift up to a fuel filter module and took the fuel off the return via a T fitting, for some reason the dosing pumps cannot work against any fuel pressure. The system works great now, it heats up my camper in less than 10min even in -10F. WhenI had a cold snap of -10 to -15 I got the temp up to 80F inside the camper.

my suggestion is to verify the fuel lift to your heater. It is prob within the correct range, if not it might be temperamental to keep running.
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aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
your install of the heater looks nice, I installed mine in a box near the top of the camper. The head/suction pressure for the fuel was to high so I used a faucet lift pump off the troop heater to lift up to a fuel filter module and took the fuel off the return via a T fitting, for some reason the dosing pumps cannot work against any fuel pressure. The system works great now, it heats up my camper in less than 10min even in -10F. WhenI had a cold snap of -10 to -15 I got the temp up to 80F inside the camper.

my suggestion is to verify the fuel lift to your heater. It is prob within the correct range, if not it might be temperamental to keep running.
View attachment 925021View attachment 925022View attachment 925023View attachment 925024
I was careful to be within the pump requirements, but will keep this in mind!
 

aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Took the truck out on another test, this time steep hills and lots of narrow roads. Took the kids biking and some other fun activities as it was their first day off from school.
Welded a hitch on so I could fit the bike rack. Working out well so far and it very much out of the way.
Pulling hills, I don't know the grade but was dropping speed I couldn't do more than 28 mph in 4th (C7 330hp, Eco hubs, guessing around 30klbs). Foot to the floor for a couple minutes, fan finally turned on near the top of the hill - 70f ambient.

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Skyhawk13205

Well-known member
147
254
63
Location
Alaska
Took the truck out on another test, this time steep hills and lots of narrow roads. Took the kids biking and some other fun activities as it was their first day off from school.
Welded a hitch on so I could fit the bike rack. Working out well so far and it very much out of the way.
Pulling hills, I don't know the grade but was dropping speed I couldn't do more than 28 mph in 4th (C7 330hp, Eco hubs, guessing around 30klbs). Foot to the floor for a couple minutes, fan finally turned on near the top of the hill - 70f ambient.
I did a drive last week, though a pass, most of the tractors pulling doubles were going about 30mph, other trucks pulling boats were doing 45-50, I had a 1078 3126 275hp weight at 20k eco hubs, going about 55-60. The calibration or adaptation seems to not have a kickdown. When the throttle is full open at high rate the transmission does not downshift, it seems to stay in the same gear, I end up having to let of the accelerator then manually downshift to 3rd or 4th to get a better range, if the truck losses momentum to much it has a hard time getting back to 55-60. You could get the 370HP rerate to get better performance. A member here does them.
 

aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
I did a drive last week, though a pass, most of the tractors pulling doubles were going about 30mph, other trucks pulling boats were doing 45-50, I had a 1078 3126 275hp weight at 20k eco hubs, going about 55-60. The calibration or adaptation seems to not have a kickdown. When the throttle is full open at high rate the transmission does not downshift, it seems to stay in the same gear, I end up having to let of the accelerator then manually downshift to 3rd or 4th to get a better range, if the truck losses momentum to much it has a hard time getting back to 55-60. You could get the 370HP rerate to get better performance. A member here does them.
I have a 370hp spare ECM loaded with all my injectors, trims just haven't tried it yet.

Worked on the doors, lubricated the hinges and the spring stop slide things. Too the panels off and lubricated everything in there.
Took the door lock to the local Ace hardware but they couldn't cut a key from a lock so I went through their boxes and found blanks that worked, then cut them with a file. Locks work great now and everything is super smooth. Very happy how it turned out.
PXL_20240609_220723881.jpg

Installed an aluminum "bash bar" to give some protection to the solar panels. Finally got the solar wires tied down properly too.
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Took it to the local airshow to watch Blue Angels and F22 demos. Bike holder working great.
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aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Got a tow bar, may try to flat tow an Xterra behind truck. Found documents saying this was the only "approved bar". Wanted the aluminum ibis one but saw too many failures.
Had to grind a little material off for the adapters to fit... guessing that's why they were sold to civilian market.20240710_180811.jpg20240710_180818.jpg
 

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aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Been using the truck a lot. Have a campground nearby and going for a lot of one night stays. Working on installing the camera system that records video(4x cameras). Installed cedar around the rear door, liking the water setup(27 gallon tank inside filled with Jerry cans - side compartment holds 12) this was done to make it 4 season capable without using tons of energy on take heaters..

In 90 weather the solar has batteries back to 100% by 11am. It using a lot of hot water it takes a little longer.

Surprised how much the family loves this thing, Thought it would be more of a curiosity.20240801_162530.jpg20240729_125611.jpg20240802_073752.jpg
 

MatthewWBailey

Father, Husband and Barn Hermit
Steel Soldiers Supporter
772
1,421
93
Location
Mesa, Colorado
Been using the truck a lot. Have a campground nearby and going for a lot of one night stays. Working on installing the camera system that records video(4x cameras). Installed cedar around the rear door, liking the water setup(27 gallon tank inside filled with Jerry cans - side compartment holds 12) this was done to make it 4 season capable without using tons of energy on take heaters..

In 90 weather the solar has batteries back to 100% by 11am. It using a lot of hot water it takes a little longer.

Surprised how much the family loves this thing, Thought it would be more of a curiosity.View attachment 928955View attachment 928956View attachment 928957
Do those crabby things help with electrical problems?🤔
 

aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Been using the truck a ton, kids love to eat dinner in it and we've been taking it to a local campground a few days a week.
Installed cedar on the sliding door area and found out how much I hate structural adhesives. Had to go back to tried and true screws.
Also installed the video system. 4 cameras, recording, live feed to cab and habitat. Pretty slick for about $250.

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AKPacker

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
55
120
33
Location
Anchorage, AK

aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Was doing a little testing of the Eco hubs and suspension deflection. No issues rubbing or traction. Drove over some 18" rocks and it was pretty controlled and didn't need much throttle in 1st.
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All new rubber from the Goodyear Commercial dealer. Took a little work for them to get. They showed no availability and had to send out a message asking, then had to send my info for approval. $1200 each.
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Mounting replacement valve stems, found out that the ones Midwest offers are not bent to the same angle, this resulted in uneven squeeze of the seal and after 20 minutes it started leaking at 90psi. I ended up re-bending the tubes so they go on without hitting the wheel. Also cutting the cross as that was missing (also missing on some that were already on the truck).
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Changing tires is going fairly smoothly. All new orings, valve stems. The slide hammer prybar is working well. The dewalt impact really is getting a workout on those wheel nuts - as is my back.
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Working on replacing the rubber on the torque rods. I've already done it on the tops of the v-bar. These are a bit of a pain at they are torqued to 1000-1300 ft-lbs so I got a Tiger torque rod press tool, and a 3-1 torque multiplier. Was temped to get an impact that had that high of a rating but found getting on in 3/4" anvil and needed toque didn't exist from dewalt, plus it's hard to fit a large on between the nut and brakes.
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aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Took it on it's first highway trip to Fort McCoy. Now with the new tires we can for further and at high speeds without worrying about old rubber. Truck did awesome, cruising at 65 was no issue. Did have some imbalance at times, seemed to come and go depending on tires getting in sync with each other. Not sure if I'm going to try and chase that down or not, it's fairly minor.
Was a little chilly (low 40s) and had some condensation forming on the pass through door and the sliding door. Taking 4 showers inside, boiling water didn't help. I am going to be insulating the pass though door, and the minisplit also has a "dry" function. A few things to try out to help with that situation.
Looked over everything after the trip with the thermal camera and had no abnormal heat generated in axles, hubs, u joints, etc.
Got the diesel heater hooked up full and it works very well. Can heat the living area and the hot water tank very quickly. It does cycle a bit and when it does it turns off it's pump - I'm going to keep the pump active so it doesn't keep kicking on and, seeing the water is still hot then shutting down. Need to do a little research.
Measured the box height to ground, 51" at the front, 49.5" at the rear so not quite level but not bad over 20'.PXL_20240907_170602791.jpgPXL_20240907_192856936.MP.jpgPXL_20240907_210434279.MP.jpg
 

aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Another trip out, truck did awesome but now hearing a whistle when CTIS is checking pressure (during the pressurizing step) this happens when moving and stopped. Will have to investigate. All tires within 1psi and no error lights.

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Had a bit of a steep decline and had to be a little careful not to drag the rear end. I may cut some clearance from the rear storage boxes, however not sure it's worth is as the hitch still hangs down pretty far.

Tested the setup for the cab heat/cooling from the habitat. Uses a ~150 CFM fan and 3d printed the vents to blow on each persons face. Works alright, may put some tint on the front windows as the sun coming in overpowers its as it's only sending habitat temp air (about 72). I can lower that temp obviously. I'm a fan of windows open but the wife likes them closed to her hair doesn't get tangled so she is loving the change.
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The Arduino control is working great. I have the programming simple so a single keypress will activate the corresponding item on the screen.
1.Lights - 3 settings
2.Electric water heater (800 watt element controlled by a solid state relay).
3.Webasto diesel heater
4. Water pump
5. Cab fan (the thing I mentioned earlier)
6. Water valve - this opens a servo valve to the water tank so it can be heated with the webasto
7. Air conditioning, this controls a solid state relay to send power to the victron autotransformer, which provides the 240V to power the mini split
8. Habitat fan - this controls the fans on the heat exchanger that is inline with the webasto heater, PWM controlled for various fan speeds.
9.Air valve - servo valve that allows the webasto coolant to flow to the heat exchanger for warming the habitat.

To control, the webasto heating:
T: This is the current habitat temp
L: Low temp setpoint
H: High temp setpoint

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Will be changing engine oil and trans fluid soon - if Amazon finally delivers it all. Being in WI, the 15w40 that's in both right now isn't a good fit.

20240925_065323.jpg
 

AKPacker

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
55
120
33
Location
Anchorage, AK
Will be changing engine oil and trans fluid soon - if Amazon finally delivers it all. Being in WI, the 15w40 that's in both right now isn't a good fit.

View attachment 932286
Nice, I just changed over to the same 5W-40 for the winter and have 15 gallons of Transynd sitting in my garage waiting to be swapped in. It took Amazon 3 tries to get me a (mostly intact) shipment of motor oil. The first two shipments weren't even deliverable, and the third box was delivered inside an oily trash bag. Those Shell gallon jugs don't tolerate being packed on their sides with nothing to secure the lid...
 

aw113sgte

Well-known member
588
862
93
Location
La Crosse, WI
Finally got the last bucket of ATF, I think this was the 3rd try from amazon....I feel bad from all the deliveries that failed due to damage. I imagine huge spills of ATF all over the floor of vans.
My method was to disconnect the return line from the cooler, this proved a little difficult as my adjustable wrench flexed more than I liked. Local hardware store had every size except the 1.5" needed, same with multiple auto stores. Needed a trip to harbor freight
Initially pumped out 5 gallons (ran in neutral till it sputtered out the return-that thing flows fast). Then I pull transfer drain, pan drain, cooler outlet. Oddly the cooler outlet drained a lot and for a long time.
I put 10 gal of transend in and ran it in gear till bright red pumped out, this was about 11gal in the drain pan
Checked level and went on a drive, then drained another 5 and put in the last 5 of transend. The siphon tube worked awesome.
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Son was sad he missed it so I had him start draining the engine oil. Didn't even drop the plug in the bucket on his first try! (I dropped a bolt and drain plug into the bucket during the trans flush)

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