flylow4500
Observer
American Force Wheels makes the adapters
wow, looked this up on |
http://www.americanforcewheels.com/accessories/adapters |
and sure enough they now have 2011+ F450/550 19.5 to 22.5 wheel adaptors $1200 for 4. they appear to be identical to what is on earthroamer, can anyone confirm? |
According to their site these adapters work with: 22.5-Rear Inside Steel Wheels with Aluminum Outers 22.0- Rear Inside Aluminum Wheels with Shaved Faces Or 22.0- Both Rear Inside & Outer Aluminum Wheels with Shaved Faces 24.0- Rear Inside Aluminum Wheels with Shaved Faces Or 24.0- Both Rear Inside & Outer Aluminum Wheels with Shaved Faces 26.0- Rear Inside Aluminum Wheels with Shaved Faces Or 26.0- Both Rear Inside & Outer Aluminum Wheels with Shaved Faces |
that would have been a great option for me to consider, certainly going to be much lighter and look better - although the look of black wheels is kinda growing on me. |
4-21-15:the adaptors are hard to find but still there: http://www.americanforcewheels.com/AFZ170 note their site says their products are for 3/4 and 1 ton only. use google to find the adapters - I have to wonder why it is so difficult to find. |
A bit of summary: |
The Alcoa 89365 is the 'super single' style, Inset 3.12, and cannot be run as a dual and is the wheel earthroamer apparently uses all around, which makes the front 10" wider than stock 19.5. The 89465 wheel has Inset 5.96. flylow4500 told me: on his dodge he "chose to use different wheel for the front and rear. I used part number 89465 (dish in) for the front and 89365 (dish out) for the rear" and he says it is about 8' wide in the rear. but earthroamers don't look 8' wide to me. |
Alcoa wheels that work: http://www.alcoa.com/alcoawheels/no...p?q=h&cat=758&system=&size=22.5+x+9.00&circle= |
At any rate I'm not changing, but the combo Alcoa/American force would have weighed 10 to 20 less than all steel. ALSO the cost would be very similar to the Steel wheels - maybe a bit cheaper for the aluminum option. Of course with the steel you can get exactly the inset you want. |
It is interesting to see new options appear. |
After attending winching class at overland expo I felt I needed an in-cab emergency shut off and not just rely on the fuse. So I needed a place for a Blue Sea 7701 ML Solenoid (relay) that wouldn't involve rerouting or adding any 4/0 cable and while I was working on my fenders the perfect spot presented itself. Little orange line is air: |
The solenoid requires power only to turn on or off, no power used once switched. The switch itself is lit. After install (sorry such a bad picture below), with smaller red cable to the front winch, and 4/0 cable from fuse. The solenoid not only kills both front and rear winches but also the motorcycle crane/winch and all the accessories in the garage, truck bed boxes, aux tank fuel pumps, as well as the connection to the camper and its 12V input / 12v output charging system - but not vehicle lights. |
Remote switch in dash mounted included in Blue Sea #7701 (5 little wires go from here to the solenoid): |
Below are the 4/0 cable connections from the truck Aux battery, front winch ground cable, and fuse holders (see next photo) |
At left you can see a small black box above the firewall - a wireless receiver - (blue wire is antennae) that allows me to turn on the 4 (mounted in bumper) Rigid Industries D2 LED lights. There is a set of relays I installed near the bumper to allow me to isolate the remote control and in-cab function of driving lights allowing me turn on the driving lights and floodlights separately from the cab but one fob turns on all 4 of these LED headlights. |
The same fob also actuates a wireless receiver in the garage controlling the Rigid Industries 96411 M-Series SR-Q White Floodlight Flush Mount backup lights (and similar relay for their use as backup lights). |
A different fob controls left and right (independently) M-Series SR-Q Floodlights that are (or will soon be) mounted flush high on each side of the camper (approximately above the truck rear passenger doors). This allows remote control, with 2 fobs: 1) all front and rear LEDs 2) left only camper side mounted LED and/or 3) right only camper side mounted LED. |
All of these lights are off-road only legal and remote control fobs allow me to use them for security from inside the camper or while parking the rig in some remote place or walking up to the truck and want a LOT of light shining on any bad guys. I should wire in the air horn too |
Below: |
Wireless receiver on left |
Small fuse holder system made with ABS plastic attached to firewall. Mounted blue sea (various amp #7050 #7054) (3 little white) push button reset only circuit breakers for various things - with room for more breakers. |
Blue Sea Systems #5503 ANL fuse holder (500 Amp ANL fuse not installed and cover not on) battery connected on right, big solenoid connect to left. |
power connections on the hot side of the ANL fuse going to the small fuse holder with spare wire for future. |
That's it. Up next: Mexico |
Last spring I gave in and installed 2x68 watt solar panels. These are very light (7 lbs each?) and attached directly to the roof. I followed the unisolar PVL-68 panel instructions, pretty straight forward. I used 10/2 SEOOW Portable Cord to connect to the CTEK d250s Dual charger (which includes MPPT controller) already installed. I punched a hole through the roof (left on picture below) and installed the 10/2 cable. I used painters tape on the ceiling to seal it up then used 3M Marine 5200 Adhesive Sealant in blue package (not the quick cure 5220 stuff in red package) the 5200 sealant 'flows' slowly for about a day into any cracks and crevices. Most of the flow occurs over the first 2 hours, you may have to 'top off' the adhesive or you'll have a depression. If you don't close of the bottom opening thoroughly with tape or something it will flow right out. It takes 7 days to set up but wow it works great. What can I say the panels work. But not terribly useful. In Mexico last summer I'd estimate that we got an extra day out of the batteries for every 3-4 that we camped. Since we didn't use A/C, or microwave, or stay in one place longer than 4 days we never needed the generator. With 80 degrees at night and 95 to 105 during the day the fridge ran almost constantly and we kept fans running most of the time too - so we had a pretty good load. The panels below might look oddly spaced and we have room for more but we want to be able to walk on the roof and you are not supposed to walk on the panels so that is probably the limit for us. View attachment 255299 View attachment 255300
Not surprising that you didn't find solar very useful; 130w of solar is a sneeze in a hurricane for a rig like yours - and you went with less efficient panels. Get your solar kit up to around 500w of free mounted glass panels and you will be seeing well over 30A of charge in good sun. What I am basically trying to say, and not succeeding, is that your solar kit is so small that it is a bit like putting a lawnmower engine on a semi and deciding that internal combustion engines aren't practical.
The one great advantage of solar, even a rig as small as yours, is that it continues charging late in the day, giving you a better absorb/acceptance charge and this will contribute to better battery life in the long run.