Lee's '04 Chevy Silverado 2500HD and Radica MoonLander camping shell
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
Thanks!
It turned out better than I originally thought it would, having extra time to think about it helped simplify the final product.
I have considered a mechanical switch under the hood to disconnect the winch.
There are a lot of examples out there using a solenoid to switch the main power off but I think a mechanical system would be more reliable (trading off a little convenience).
The final word in reliability is to re-wire around the switch if it fails.
I haven't looked in to it too much but Blue Sea makes a switch that looks about the right capacity.
I'm not sure if it is appropriate for under hood application (I'm guessing if it is marine rated it will probably be ok)
A switch would allow cutting off the power if something happens to the winch controller and it is stuck 'on'.
I have not seen this personally but I have seen two YouTube videos where this happened, and one of the guys at work had his winch suddenly turn on.
He was using the winch to hold a small boat on the roof - kind of a back up hooked to the front.
Apparently unbolting the battery post power in a hurry on the side of the road isn't fun.
As for soldering cables I'm not a fan.
Wires and cables on a vehicle are subject to a lot of vibration over the life of the vehicle.
A soldered joint is more likely to have a fatigue failure at the end of the solder.
Basically, how far the solder penetrates is not easily controlled, where a crimp with a boot or heat shrink tube has a more controlled strain relief on the wire / cable.
Also it's difficult to control the heat application when soldering a large cable.
I've tried to solder the battery leads on an older GM diesel before, the results where not good (obviously my lack of skill is a factor).
In the end I bought a OEM cable from the dealer.
My 'fix' had corrosion in the copper both sides of the solder, the combination of the stiff splice area and the copper strands disintegrating with green corrosion lead to a quick failure.
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So, if you have been following along, there was a flurry of activity getting ready for our summer adventure to somewhere other than Ohio.
My employer shuts the factory down to do maintenance for the week at fourth of July and the engineering staff also gets off, there’s no reason for us to be off but I’m not complaining.
So I made plans to drive hard to New Mexico, two nights at Chaco Canyon and four nights in the Santa Fe National Forest with a few stops on the drive back to Ohio, all stuffed in to ten days (I added one vacation day at the front of the trip).
So, Friday morning we headed west to St Louis then I-44 South-West for Tulsa.
First tank of fuel with the new 52 gallon tank we went 650 miles before looking for fuel.
With the Moonlander shell, tires etc I get roughly 14 mpg, I need to recalculate with the addition of the hanger bars on both sides holding the awning and the shower tent, I expect some small reduction in mpg.
We stayed in a hotel in Tulsa so day two was going to be another long drive day, or not.
Starting out it was raining heavy but it soon cleared up, and when the road wasn’t wet I noticed we were smoking, grey smoke mostly on the right side.
So I pulled off at the next exit to check it out.
Everything was soaked in diesel from the engine back to the tailgate.
I spent several hours figuring out the exact source, it’s amazing how difficult this was to find and the 95* F with 95% humidity was not helping.
I started by checking everything I touched when I modified the fuel system – it seemed the logical place to start.
I even pulled the fuel filter off to make sure I didn’t leave the old o-ring on the fuel filter housing (I didn't).
Finally, I was sure it was coming from the right side of the engine, so I got a few cans of aerosol brake cleaner and washed that side of the engine.
Sitting in the park and ride lot at the toll road ramp I just couldn’t see any new fuel leaking but after driving one mile to the auto parts store the fuel was everywhere when I stopped.
Finally, with the engine cleaned off I revved the engine to 1500 rpm and went back to check.
Sure enough, it only leaked at elevated rpm, the jumper pipe from the diesel common rail to the injector was leaking at the injector connection.
So, we were in Chandler Oklahoma on a Saturday morning with a busted truck.
There was a Chevy dealer right at the exit ramp, my wife had walked over to use the facilities, and the sales guys had pity on her and entertained her in the air conditioning, but the service department would not be open till Monday.
Chandler OK is not large but they had everything we needed within walking distance.
We limped the truck over to the hotel in town, it’s one of the old hotels along route 66 with individual cabins.
It was old and a bit worn but the A/C worked great (probably still had R-12 freon in it).
We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday wandering around town, they have a Route 66 interpretive center and a few restaurants (check out the enamel signs and old gas pumps at the bowling alley).
On Monday we walked to the Hertz office and rented a car, then took the truck over to the Chevy dealership.
Transferring stuff to the rental, I grabbed our clothes, food, anything with a lithium ion battery and the propane bottles, I figured there was no need to bake these items in the Oklahoma sun.
At this point we decided to go home, there was little prospect the dealer would get to our truck for a week or two and I didn’t have it in me to plan a rental drive and hotel trip on the fly.
And besides, I had had enough 'adventure' for the week.
On the drive home we did stop at the Chain of Rocks bridge over the Mississippi river just north of St Louis.
I had learned that this was the crossing for the old Route 66 even though it was a private toll bridge at the time.
Chain of Rocks bridge has a kink in the middle to accommodate where the bed rock would support the piers.
Must have been fun to meet a semi just as you got to the kink, yes trucks where smaller back then but still…
Today the bridge is maintained as a bicycle / foot bridge.
Three and a half weeks later the dealer called and told me the truck was ready to pick up.
The only issue was the jumper pipe, the injector end had split and simply replacing it fixed the issue, $430 was all but it's a system I am not familiar with so I don't regret letting the dealer take care of it.
I rented a car to run the trip in reverse, drove down Chandler, 823 miles, on a Thursday, picked up the truck and dropped the rental off on Friday morning.
I asked the parts guy if some one could pick me up at the rental place, one of the sales guys showed up with a brand new 2500 HD Silverado - if my wife had come with me I might have asked what kind of a deal could be made.
I spent $10 at the self car wash place trying to get the diesel off.
Then headed for home.
Along the way, I noticed the Green County Oklahoma Adventure Tour came within 12 miles of the Ok toll road.
I downloaded the GPS track from Overland Trail Guides to my Garmin and made a detour to catch about 25 miles of the GOAT (I know there is a missing letter but it’s what they say).
I stopped in a fairly remote area for this picture, it looks wide and well graveled but this was a repair to a washout.
I’m still getting used to east coast / mid-west overlanding, this trail was a basically a GPS track stitching together any dirt roads in the area.
There was one section that looked like my drive way – two dirt ruts with grass in the middle and, some guys house on one side and his barn on the other (I hope it was a public right-of-way).
But it’s fun to see the back side of the small communities along the way, there was a water hole with a dozen local kids having a swim.
One day I’ll go back and do the rest.
My employer shuts the factory down to do maintenance for the week at fourth of July and the engineering staff also gets off, there’s no reason for us to be off but I’m not complaining.
So I made plans to drive hard to New Mexico, two nights at Chaco Canyon and four nights in the Santa Fe National Forest with a few stops on the drive back to Ohio, all stuffed in to ten days (I added one vacation day at the front of the trip).
So, Friday morning we headed west to St Louis then I-44 South-West for Tulsa.
First tank of fuel with the new 52 gallon tank we went 650 miles before looking for fuel.
With the Moonlander shell, tires etc I get roughly 14 mpg, I need to recalculate with the addition of the hanger bars on both sides holding the awning and the shower tent, I expect some small reduction in mpg.
We stayed in a hotel in Tulsa so day two was going to be another long drive day, or not.
Starting out it was raining heavy but it soon cleared up, and when the road wasn’t wet I noticed we were smoking, grey smoke mostly on the right side.
So I pulled off at the next exit to check it out.
Everything was soaked in diesel from the engine back to the tailgate.
I spent several hours figuring out the exact source, it’s amazing how difficult this was to find and the 95* F with 95% humidity was not helping.
I started by checking everything I touched when I modified the fuel system – it seemed the logical place to start.
I even pulled the fuel filter off to make sure I didn’t leave the old o-ring on the fuel filter housing (I didn't).
Finally, I was sure it was coming from the right side of the engine, so I got a few cans of aerosol brake cleaner and washed that side of the engine.
Sitting in the park and ride lot at the toll road ramp I just couldn’t see any new fuel leaking but after driving one mile to the auto parts store the fuel was everywhere when I stopped.
Finally, with the engine cleaned off I revved the engine to 1500 rpm and went back to check.
Sure enough, it only leaked at elevated rpm, the jumper pipe from the diesel common rail to the injector was leaking at the injector connection.
So, we were in Chandler Oklahoma on a Saturday morning with a busted truck.
There was a Chevy dealer right at the exit ramp, my wife had walked over to use the facilities, and the sales guys had pity on her and entertained her in the air conditioning, but the service department would not be open till Monday.
Chandler OK is not large but they had everything we needed within walking distance.
We limped the truck over to the hotel in town, it’s one of the old hotels along route 66 with individual cabins.
It was old and a bit worn but the A/C worked great (probably still had R-12 freon in it).
We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday wandering around town, they have a Route 66 interpretive center and a few restaurants (check out the enamel signs and old gas pumps at the bowling alley).
On Monday we walked to the Hertz office and rented a car, then took the truck over to the Chevy dealership.
Transferring stuff to the rental, I grabbed our clothes, food, anything with a lithium ion battery and the propane bottles, I figured there was no need to bake these items in the Oklahoma sun.
At this point we decided to go home, there was little prospect the dealer would get to our truck for a week or two and I didn’t have it in me to plan a rental drive and hotel trip on the fly.
And besides, I had had enough 'adventure' for the week.
On the drive home we did stop at the Chain of Rocks bridge over the Mississippi river just north of St Louis.
I had learned that this was the crossing for the old Route 66 even though it was a private toll bridge at the time.
Chain of Rocks bridge has a kink in the middle to accommodate where the bed rock would support the piers.
Must have been fun to meet a semi just as you got to the kink, yes trucks where smaller back then but still…
Today the bridge is maintained as a bicycle / foot bridge.
Three and a half weeks later the dealer called and told me the truck was ready to pick up.
The only issue was the jumper pipe, the injector end had split and simply replacing it fixed the issue, $430 was all but it's a system I am not familiar with so I don't regret letting the dealer take care of it.
I rented a car to run the trip in reverse, drove down Chandler, 823 miles, on a Thursday, picked up the truck and dropped the rental off on Friday morning.
I asked the parts guy if some one could pick me up at the rental place, one of the sales guys showed up with a brand new 2500 HD Silverado - if my wife had come with me I might have asked what kind of a deal could be made.
I spent $10 at the self car wash place trying to get the diesel off.
Then headed for home.
Along the way, I noticed the Green County Oklahoma Adventure Tour came within 12 miles of the Ok toll road.
I downloaded the GPS track from Overland Trail Guides to my Garmin and made a detour to catch about 25 miles of the GOAT (I know there is a missing letter but it’s what they say).
I stopped in a fairly remote area for this picture, it looks wide and well graveled but this was a repair to a washout.
I’m still getting used to east coast / mid-west overlanding, this trail was a basically a GPS track stitching together any dirt roads in the area.
There was one section that looked like my drive way – two dirt ruts with grass in the middle and, some guys house on one side and his barn on the other (I hope it was a public right-of-way).
But it’s fun to see the back side of the small communities along the way, there was a water hole with a dozen local kids having a swim.
One day I’ll go back and do the rest.
@rgv, you got that right.
When I initially stopped and I saw how much diesel was covering the underside of the truck I was a little sketched out.
I told the wife to grab the fire extinguisher and hop out, but honestly, if it had started to burn I doubt we would have saved it.
I’ve only been present for one serious car fire many years ago (another person in the group).
There truck had a new engine put in it before a trip to Baja, engine caught fire on the toll road returning from Ensenada.
Four or five fire extinguishers later the truck burned to the ground, even the alloy wheels where consumed.
I’m thinking I need to up my ‘what it’ game.
First I need to think more seriously about a bail out bag, what do I need to survive if it all goes south while remote.
Also, what I would want on the side of the interstate might be different than what is needed in Death Valley in July (pro tip, don’t go there in July).
And I am thinking I want to invest in a few of the ‘Element’ fire extinguishers, it looks like a road flare where the smoke deprives a fire of oxygen.
In a case were the underside of a vehicle is covered in fuel and burning this type of extinguisher could be tossed underneath letting the smoke rise and spread out under the vehicle.
(if someone has knowledge of that type of extinguisher or a good reference feel free to comment)
Oh, and, next time I’m pulling over right away, not the next exit…
When I initially stopped and I saw how much diesel was covering the underside of the truck I was a little sketched out.
I told the wife to grab the fire extinguisher and hop out, but honestly, if it had started to burn I doubt we would have saved it.
I’ve only been present for one serious car fire many years ago (another person in the group).
There truck had a new engine put in it before a trip to Baja, engine caught fire on the toll road returning from Ensenada.
Four or five fire extinguishers later the truck burned to the ground, even the alloy wheels where consumed.
I’m thinking I need to up my ‘what it’ game.
First I need to think more seriously about a bail out bag, what do I need to survive if it all goes south while remote.
Also, what I would want on the side of the interstate might be different than what is needed in Death Valley in July (pro tip, don’t go there in July).
And I am thinking I want to invest in a few of the ‘Element’ fire extinguishers, it looks like a road flare where the smoke deprives a fire of oxygen.
In a case were the underside of a vehicle is covered in fuel and burning this type of extinguisher could be tossed underneath letting the smoke rise and spread out under the vehicle.
(if someone has knowledge of that type of extinguisher or a good reference feel free to comment)
Oh, and, next time I’m pulling over right away, not the next exit…
When I added the 52-gallon Titan fuel tank I was not impressed with the vent hose situation (full disclosure – it’s not what I am currently doing but I have years of experience designing these systems for my employer).
The instructions say something about running the two hoses up hill and keeping the end above the top of the tank.
In my case the hoses didn’t seem long enough so I compensated with more zip ties to stretch them out as long as possible.
When filling the tank a little fuel sloshed out, the hose has a check valve but the slosh was not sufficient to trigger the valve.
Also the end fitting was a screen that seemed appropriate to keep out small birds but not dust.
The problem with working for an OEM auto maker is I can easily design what my employer would use to vent the next million cars off the assembly line.
But to design something for a one off that I then have to fabricate with the skill set I have (I’m an engineer so that would be ‘very limited skill set’) takes a little more thought.
I settled on a bracket to hold the vents up inside the front end of the bedside with K&N crankcase vent filters on the end.
I’m usually not a fan of K&N but in this case the 2” diameter fit what I needed and with very low air flow requirements it should be ok.
I ordered fuel hose to match the vent hoses, brass couplers and crimp on hose clamps and, while I was at it, vent tubing to match the rear diff breather and a brass coupler for the breather.
The bracket is a simple plate with the edges turned up to add stiffness, and two platforms are welded on to hold the filters, the bracket is bolted at the bottom (where I have room to get my hands in there) and it extends up inside the bedside to get the vents above the waterline.
On the back side near the top is a piece of rubber weatherstripping to prevent the end away from the bolts from vibrating and making a mystery noise while driving down the freeway.
The filters are high enough that if they are submerged I have bigger problems than water in the tank.
Cutting out the platforms:
The hoses will be zip tied to the edges of the bracket.
For deburring holes I really like these counter sinks.
They do not chatter like the old style counter sinks that have four or five fluted cutting edges.
With only one cutting edge they are a little slower at removing material – making it easier for me to control.
The hose and the filter sandwich the bracket platform with a rubber gromet to hold the assembly together.
To reduce the risk of fuel sloshing up, washing the filter media and then back flowing to the tank the brass coupler extends above the bottom of the filter.
Here the bracket is fully dressed, I connected both ends of the fuel vent hose so I could cut it to size in place and have one leftover piece.
Also you can see the diff breather hose sneaking up the center of the bracket, the stock end cap is located beside the upper vent filter.
I have the parts to move the front diff breather and the transmission/transfer case breathers (although I have not checked to make sure they use the same size tubing yet).
This is the finished installation, looking up from below (and you can see my magnetic work light on the inside of the bedside).
It looks a little more sanitary up there.
The wire harness is for the ARB compressor mounted inside the bed.
I used a zip tie in a figure 8 configuration with a short length of fuel hose to attach the harness to the fill hose.
I don’t think the performance will be noticeably different but I feel better without the rat’s nest of zip ties under there.
The instructions say something about running the two hoses up hill and keeping the end above the top of the tank.
In my case the hoses didn’t seem long enough so I compensated with more zip ties to stretch them out as long as possible.
When filling the tank a little fuel sloshed out, the hose has a check valve but the slosh was not sufficient to trigger the valve.
Also the end fitting was a screen that seemed appropriate to keep out small birds but not dust.
The problem with working for an OEM auto maker is I can easily design what my employer would use to vent the next million cars off the assembly line.
But to design something for a one off that I then have to fabricate with the skill set I have (I’m an engineer so that would be ‘very limited skill set’) takes a little more thought.
I settled on a bracket to hold the vents up inside the front end of the bedside with K&N crankcase vent filters on the end.
I’m usually not a fan of K&N but in this case the 2” diameter fit what I needed and with very low air flow requirements it should be ok.
I ordered fuel hose to match the vent hoses, brass couplers and crimp on hose clamps and, while I was at it, vent tubing to match the rear diff breather and a brass coupler for the breather.
The bracket is a simple plate with the edges turned up to add stiffness, and two platforms are welded on to hold the filters, the bracket is bolted at the bottom (where I have room to get my hands in there) and it extends up inside the bedside to get the vents above the waterline.
On the back side near the top is a piece of rubber weatherstripping to prevent the end away from the bolts from vibrating and making a mystery noise while driving down the freeway.
The filters are high enough that if they are submerged I have bigger problems than water in the tank.
Cutting out the platforms:
The hoses will be zip tied to the edges of the bracket.
For deburring holes I really like these counter sinks.
They do not chatter like the old style counter sinks that have four or five fluted cutting edges.
With only one cutting edge they are a little slower at removing material – making it easier for me to control.
The hose and the filter sandwich the bracket platform with a rubber gromet to hold the assembly together.
To reduce the risk of fuel sloshing up, washing the filter media and then back flowing to the tank the brass coupler extends above the bottom of the filter.
Here the bracket is fully dressed, I connected both ends of the fuel vent hose so I could cut it to size in place and have one leftover piece.
Also you can see the diff breather hose sneaking up the center of the bracket, the stock end cap is located beside the upper vent filter.
I have the parts to move the front diff breather and the transmission/transfer case breathers (although I have not checked to make sure they use the same size tubing yet).
This is the finished installation, looking up from below (and you can see my magnetic work light on the inside of the bedside).
It looks a little more sanitary up there.
The wire harness is for the ARB compressor mounted inside the bed.
I used a zip tie in a figure 8 configuration with a short length of fuel hose to attach the harness to the fill hose.
I don’t think the performance will be noticeably different but I feel better without the rat’s nest of zip ties under there.