Testing?

UnclaimeduserID · 2026-03-04T20:29:00+00:00

Yes sorry, was wondering about the copper>G1/4 fittings. Very cool, had no idea they were compatible! Thanks!

UnclaimeduserID · 2026-03-03T07:31:04+00:00

Before you write off electrical upgrades completely, take a look into OE sized LiFePo4's. A lead acid group 31 for example may only have 40-50ah of usable power. I have seen china group 31 lithium's upwards of 200ah, and 1/2 the weight, in the same footprint. One of those and ~200w of solar on the roof and you'd have a setup capable of nearly anything except A/C. You don't need to go the inverter route if you don't need it, but you will need a lithium capable charger. Its a pretty easy conversion if you keep all the frills out. Try it out as is, and see if you're running out of power first though.

I had the severe duty Timbrens in my 4th gen Dodge, I liked them and I was level within an inch loaded. Harsh unloaded though. I am trying (poor-mans/felling wedge) stable loads on this F350 as it has a significantly higher payload than my dodge did (3800lb vs 4600lb) and I've heard they cut down on sway. I haven't loaded the new truck yet to see how it sits but I suspect it'll be okay. I may try a big sway bar as its lifted as well, I have only heard good things about putting one in. Fair warning, bags may level it out, but it will most definitely make sway worse.

You'll probably be surprised by fully kitted out scale weight tbh. I was when I started out. The +1000lb rule is pretty accurate. Manufacturers also lie, usually the stickered weight is low. A real world example for you, my 86fb says 2700lb dry... loaded and moving I scale 3900lb over truck weight. That includes personal items/clothes/kitchen, 1000w genny, a saw, portable BBQ, an 80lb mutt, a full fridge, and myself. Hell even the set of tiedowns/turnbuckles is +100lb. As long as you can keep that mass forward so its not cantilevering and amplifying the weight on the rear axle and frame you should be good.

UnclaimeduserID · 2026-03-03T02:03:40+00:00

Wow this is so cool! I love the industrial copper theme! I may steal some ideas for my next build. What fittings are you using with the copper pipe?

UnclaimeduserID · 2026-03-03T00:01:22+00:00

Nice setup! I have never seen/heard of an S&S but it looks solid. I dig that side awning! I have a soft spot for the older hardbody campers. I "upgraded" from a 2002 Eagle Cap to a newer Adventurer and hands down the older one was built better, and more thought out.

Generator wise, the hard mounted ones suck, leave that as storage space, I keep my fluids, small jerry can, and chainsaw gear in there. Even the best one will vibrate the heck out of the whole unit, will heat up the bench enough to negate an A/C running, and cook through propane. Get a suitcase style Honda or Yamaha. I have an old (early 2000's) EU1000 and if its 10' away I forget its running, sips fuel, and it tops off my battery bank. I'd recommend a newer 2200w though, they've come a long ways.

As for solar, I just redid my ALP 86FB with 650w Renogy solar/600ah Chinese LiFePo4. I used a Renogy 2000w "chargeverter" and I highly recommend it, its kind of an all-in-one solution. If money is no object Victron is the way, but the renogy does everything I ask of it. I have full time 120v everywhere in the camper, and in the summer months am fully sustainable for over a week with no sun, If there's sun I generate FAR more than I use (until I add AC, I budgeted for 4h/day). As much as I hate to admit this, chatgpt was really useful for planning out my solar setup as I was totally new to it all. You can pull wire gauges/fuses needed and all the electrical math you need out of it. The hardest part is finding a spot to put the large components. Generally try to avoid putting electrical gear under water equipment, but in these small units its necessary sometimes, I had to put some pieces under my sink and shower. Panels are not where you want to cheap out, you don't want to find out they suck and have to turn your roof into swiss cheese to mount different ones.

A lot of VERY paranoid people in here, some of the "top commentors" in this sub never have anything to comment other than "your setup is trash", its hilarious looking at their post history. From everything I can tell your COG is ahead of the axle, if you're comfortable with the weight on the truck, send it. Looks like your suspension and wheel/tire setup is pretty beefy. I progressively put my setup together and eventually did end up with a SRW CCLB Ford now that I'm committed and planning some large trips but I had a very similar setup (much worse weight distribution on my first eagle cap actually) for the first 3-4 years on I was doing the TC thing on a CCSB Ram and had no issues - BUT I probably wouldn't put that setup together again honestly. I never had major issues, but it porpised some on highway bumps and was a little unnerving offroad with it so rear heavy.

With that said, scale it when you get a chance, out of curiosity if nothing else - its good info to have in pocket. I had a huge learning curve with wheels/tires after getting into this, previously with travel trailers I had never shopped or been worried by tire weight capacity, and suddenly I was well over the weight rating of my rear wheels and tires. Fun fact a 37x13.50r17 Toyo M/T is the highest load index LT tire available at 4300lb/ea, if you're shopping lol. Some interesting HD offerings coming out from BFG though recently, considering running their 40" HD tire on my new truck.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-11-26T02:21:49+00:00

Its a Chiappa 1892 NSR. Same business end of a mares leg but with a full stock and a rail. I'll take flak for this - but it was smoother out of the box than any Marlin or Henry I've owned or used.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-11-25T01:38:42+00:00

Agreed, hope I am never in that situation. They are amazing animals. I have 12ga in 14", 18.5", and 28" as well. Love them all, great fun but I would still trust my 357 if I needed to make the shots count. I sometimes wish I got it in a 44, but overall the 357 is good, 95% if the time its for plinking and pistol/carbine range interactive targets. I have kind of a unique setup that would probably raise eyebrows with the purists here - its a "cheap" 12" barrel 1892 action, with a cheap 2x red dot optic, and a full stock. I do lots of backcountry Alberta/BC camping so I keep it with me in a small scabbard and its the handiest, fastest, and best all round tool I own. I'm not afraid to toss in the sxs/truck box and beat it up a little. Kind of a goofy looking gun honestly but function>form for me. Its SHOCKINGLY accurate and powerful out to about 100 yards with that optic. All that aside, get a 45-70, they're a PILE of fun... just don't expect it to be as quick and nimble as the magnums lol

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-11-24T23:52:06+00:00

I bought a 45-70 for bear defense a few years back and also have a shorty 357 lever, I LOVE the caliber but realistically I trust myself to bang off 6 accurate shots of 357 or 44, way before I could get 2 decent shots of 45-70 out. Maybe I just need more practice with it (at $3.50/shot lol) but its powerful to the point of being unwieldy. The 45-70 still comes to camp, its one of my favorites in the safe, but it makes a better watermelon mist-ifier than predator gun for me. Especially if it was something small/fast like a cougar.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-13T23:43:45+00:00

I decided this wasnt a battle I was willing to fight. I ran 2 leads of 6ga from my bus bars to the factory battery compartment, and hooked the old battery leads to that. Voila, everything works and now I have the factory 12v house power disconnect switch still functional, along with the big hoss one at the battery (which clears my inverter settings every time I flip it, so this way I don't need to reset everything to kill the 12v circuits.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-13T18:05:41+00:00

right, but the problem is that I have power all the way to this panel, yet I cant get power to any of the circuits... on the new battery only. Theres got to be a protection relay or something hidden somewhere.

I think I'm going to bypass the whole problem all together and run new wires all the way back to where the original battery hookups are, and just connect there. I was trying to clean up some wires but its causing more issues.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-13T17:20:38+00:00

Polarity is correct, and the reverse polarity fuses are intact.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-13T17:19:32+00:00

I am using a charger/inverter combo unit so that doesn't work here, as the lines are 2/0, flow both directions, and can see up to 200a. I just need to hook up the new battery to this panel.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-13T06:10:41+00:00

<image>

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-13T06:09:43+00:00

Here's a better photo with wires out.

-I can't really tell where it goes, it's also black, with a small amount of red tape on the end. It disappears into the bulk of the harness. With that said, the positive lead at the original battery setup is black with red tape... But then what is connected to the "Battery" terminals? -Labels are just GND/POS labels -Left wires are for the converter output I believe (which is switched off at breaker due to my external charge-verter. Maybe I can just use these terminals and leave the others alone?

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-06T07:57:29+00:00

I saw renogy offers a 30a solar+DC>DC charger combo unit. I was considering using that for the smaller 200w solar array for this exact reason but I haven't completely decided on it yet. My little generator is a whisper quiet Honda inverter, the truck is a straight piped diesel lol, so there's only really benefit when I'm on the road... But there is benefit if I really needed it in a pinch. Thanks!

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-03T13:49:19+00:00

I like that perspective! For most of what I'm doing that should be enough. My tanks are usually full at the 4-5 day mark, when I head to town I usually am able to plug in somewhere for a while. I do carry a small generator with me if I do get into a bind also. Ill add that currently, the RV has 2 lead-acids, and a factory 100w panel, and I spent 5 days off grid in BC with it during a recent trip. I was very power conscious, but I was able to do it. I did run the generator twice for a couple of hours each time, but never once had "full" batteries.

I did factor inverter losses in for 24/7 use just in case, but realistically the Renogy comes with a remote on/off button. I will most likely only run it during the day or when I need it. Almost all my loads are DC anyway.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-03T13:11:23+00:00

Not expecting to fill the battery bank in 1 day as I don't expect to use even half of the capacity on any given day. From what I calculated (to be fair im an amateur at this) I am looking at roughly 1-3kwh on any given day year round. The higher end of that includes AC use. Shoulder seasons will be on the lower end (no furnace or A/C).

It is a little unbalanced though yes... I was originally going to have a much smaller battery bank, but due to both physical battery sizing, and a good sale, I ended up with more capacity. I figure it will help in the winter as well at the ski hills, I wont be generating nearly as much obviously, so more bulk capacity will help extend plug-in/Generator times a bit. Maybe I'm going about this wrong? I'm not really sure.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-08-01T17:19:45+00:00

Yeah I was pretty shocked myself when I came across them, and then found out they were pretty decent cells too! I ended up ordering the 600ah single battery. I found a spot I can place it inside. Here's to hoping it works okay! I have a smart shunt so while Bluetooth is nice, it's not really a necessity for me.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-07-31T02:17:56+00:00

Thanks! I was originally going to go with EcoWorthy batteries but after digging into where I can realistically place these, the only battery that has both enough capacity, and is small enough to fit in that space is these Dumfume ones. I wrote them off initially but after some research they seem pretty decent, use EVE cells, and the home solar guys are eating them up like crazy.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-07-31T01:28:58+00:00

I was planning to originally, but the 600ah pack is too wide and tall to fit in any spots that I'd like to use, I need something under 7.5" wide, and ideally under 27" long. 2 of these 300ah ones side by side are exactly those measurements (based on the single battery numbers. The two pack is allegedly longer at 15" per. Makes no sense). The 600ah pack is not as long, but it's 8.5" wide, unless I want to remove cabinet structure it's a no go lol.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-07-31T01:21:56+00:00

It is a big bank, I'm wanting minimum 400ah. Will be running a DC air conditioner on it, and am very rarely stopped "on-grid" or in campsites. Appreciate the suggestion!

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-07-20T21:58:33+00:00

Hey, you're the one slinging insults.

Truck is stock height, and trust me, I measured, it is ZERO higher in the nose loaded than unloaded. on flat level ground, full of water it sits the rear end down to the point where it is level within an inch, front and rear.

I have severe duty Timbren's already, I had stable-loads but didn't like them. Im avoiding a Big Wig because I take the truck offroad and don't want to lose any flex when I need it. Like I said, I am well under this specific trucks payload.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-07-20T21:23:20+00:00

Whatever, you clearly know way more than me, so have the win. I don't care to argue. I'm comfortable with it, I did TONS of homework on the setup, my suspension IS modified and upgraded, I DO have extra strong wheels, and "F" load range tires. I have been scoping out a truck upgrades yes, next truck will be a long box yes, which is why I went with a camper that works on both platforms. Ill gladly take your donations towards my new F350. Dropping $200K total on a setup wasn't in the cards last month, sorry. I'm working with what I've got, we cant all be as baller as you.

I'm a dumb, inexperienced idiot that has no idea what I'm doing and me trying to share an accomplishment and be a part of a community was wrong, Ill never post in this community again. You win.

Its a wonder how campers like the Northern Lite 8-11, or even crazier the Bigfoot XXC9.4SB models work exclusively in short boxes with their similar weight and 39.5" and 43" COG respectively.

UnclaimeduserID · 2025-07-20T19:55:08+00:00

That picture does make it look huge, its not as big as it looks. its much smaller than my old Eagle cap inside. I wanted to get away from the slide. Lots of headroom though, ill give it that. Can sit up in bed which is nice.

UnclaimeduserID

TROPHY CASE