2023 F350 Tremor Build "Gandalf the Grey"

[Bigc3031]

Well, I couldn't take the stock mattress any longer and going through the AT owners group on the book of faces I found a good alternative.

Pure Green 3" latex mattress topper https://a.co/d/ioW7fAx

It's an inch thicker than the AT and defineatly more comfortable. I took the covers off the old foam, traced lines then cut the new latex with a brisket slicer which worked great. The new latex fits pretty decent in the original covers and I'll be sleeping a lot better for sure. Looking forward to logging more nights very soon.

 

[Bigc3031]

Another very small update, I added a rotopax water can to the passenger side of the truck bed tucked behind where the fridge will be mounted on a slide. It looks like I could even do a double if I wanted but will wait to see how the slide goes in. I'm having a hard time sourcing baltic birch at the moment for my plate.

 

[Bigc3031]

Started working on the fridge slide today. I’m using a Tembo Tusk slide with cutting board add on. Wow this thing is a tank!

The middle section will be two drawers and the back section is the Packout battery with room up top for cables, etc. the wood portion is dead on flush with the fridge top so it can be used as a bed platform.

I’m staining it black and using a gloss crest for easy clean up.

The system will be hard mounted to the bed but easily removable if needed.


I’m going to get some sort of articulated cable shroud for the fridge slide. Not sure on other cable management yet.

 

[Bigc3031]

Had a pretty rainy weekend last weekend which was perfect to test the Alucab shadow awn rain gutter. I’d say it’s a 90% fix for the rain drops on the tailgate gap. If I had to do it over I’d take this to a local shop to use as a pattern and make it 8” wider. Well worth the money and it totally makes a difference but it’s sized more for midsize or smaller American vehicles.

 

[tyler.armijo]

I like how well thought out everything you have done so far is. Nothing is just thrown in, everything has a purpose and a place. How long/ wide would the sleeping platform be on top on the cabinet/ fridge slide out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bigc3031]

Thanks for the kind words!

The bed platform is 24” wide, along with the fridge top which is for the feet is 6.5’ long which is more than enough for my wife. She doesn’t like the lack of space up top.

The open space in the wheel well area is perfect for camp chairs and other misc stuff that would normally bounce around.

 

[Bigc3031]

My fridge died! Well, kind of. I noticed on July 5th my temps were higher than normal and through trouble shooting the compressor isn’t kicking on. It seems like there is a leak in the refrigerant.

I called Equipt1 where I bought it and without a hassle they are replacing it. Huge shout out to their customer service! I will gladly continue purchasing through them without hesitation. I am impressed!

I am trying a new black stain/poly combo from general finish on my storage system and it’s coming out decent. I couldn’t source Baltic birch in time with a huge pain so I bough cabinet grade birch ply. I’m disappointed. Once you go Baltic you never go back. I hate the core in most ply.

My battery goes in the left most opening. There will be two large drawers in the middle section riding on accu ride HD locking glides. (Waiting on those) and my fridge will be sitting on tembo tusk slide which is heavy as all get out.

 

[Bigc3031]

I have also been looking for the right LED task light for under the awning, the truck bed door and in the pop up section of the cap.

I couldn’t find what I was looking for so I landed on National Luna touch lights. There wasn’t a good way to mount them so I came up with this prototype 3d print. If you want the files shoot me a DM and I will share. I’d make the baseplate 1-2mm thicker next time.

The next round may be chainable via
Anderson plugs and I have a smaller diameter wire sleeve.

The wire is protected by the cap I made so
If it gets yanked on it won’t get damaged.

 

[Bigc3031]

I could see damaged wires in my future so I installed an ARB wire guide on my fridge slide. Works awesome but now I need to get an extension for my DIN cable.

 

[Power Wagon Family]

I like the way you did those National Luna lights, came out great! Are those lights multi color?

 

[Bigc3031]

I like the way you did those National Luna lights, came out great! Are those lights multi color?

Thank you! This light has 3 levels of white light and 3 levels of amber. You can also buy lens covers in different colors.

 

[Bigc3031]

I haven’t made too many updates in a while because I’ve been in the woods enjoying the rig.

Last year in August and early September I experienced a flat battery due to the DC-DC charger not keeping up due to heat. Victron newer model has some significant improvements but I didn’t want to make the change just yet.

Today I installed a Renogy 200w Shadowflux solar panel as a back up power source and likely solve my charging issue. Relatively straight forward install, the wires in the cap were already done so I just had to make up an extension wire and terminate the gland connections. The panel was almost a perfect match for the factory L track, I just had to enlarge the Renogy mount holes and boom, it was on! I need to get some real wire clamps but other than that it went great.


Very hazy/coudy day at 5pm Eastern in Michigan and still averaging 42 watts.

 

[Klutch7]

How have we still not seen a full side profile of this truck yet?

 

[Bigc3031]

Here’s a couple side shots. I see a lot more dirt from job sites than trails sadly but I’ve been getting out once a month.

 

[Bigc3031]

At 58k+ miles I replaced the stock Goodyear Duratracs with BF Goodrich KO3s in 285/75R18

Initial impressions after the first 1000 miles is that they are quiet and handle on the road better than the Duratracs did. One of the rears needs a little balance work, I’ll need to find some time to get jack to the shop.


I’m mulling over a suspension upgrade. I’m either going to get Bilstein shocks all around or jump up to the Carli Signature level with their torsion bar. Undecided as of yet.