My 2001 Pathfinder (R50 ) mild/budget build

[stioc]

^ good points. When I had my locker installed I was surprised to see (the installer pointed out) that the diff breather tube on my truck sits pretty high from the factory. I'd probably get water in the cab before it gets into the diff through the tube. I personally don't like mud and water...though I've had to cross hub level water twice with the Pathy...that's about my limit unless I'm being chased by zombies.

 

[stioc]

So my ABS plastic sheet arrived and I got the wrong size- I wanted a 2'x2' sheet and I ordered a 1'x2' doh! So not wanting to place another order and waiting another week or more for it I went to Homie Depot and picked up a 2x2 metal sheet used for household air ducts. Brought it home, had dinner then dove right in. Took about 20mins to cut and bend it, then fine tuning the fit took another 30 mins.

Not my best work but it'll do for now lol

 

[stioc]

I've been on the fence about the portable refrigerators for a while- I really want the ARB fridge - though most likely will buy a cheaper variant. However, the biggest con for me having a refrigerator is the weight (50lbs empty). So far we're getting by just fine with our 5-day Coleman Xtreme cooler. We've never had any issues with soggy food because we don't use ice. We freeze or semi-freeze some drinking water, gatorade, milk etc along with a couple of ice-packs. We try to eat the lunch meats, eggs and most of the milk etc by the first or 2nd day. It's not ideal but it's good enough.

However I recently came across a used 12v Coleman PowerChill cooler (not a fridge) for not much more than a basic cooler. I was skeptical at first so I did some research and turns out they're quite popular with the truckers. It definitely has its limitations but for the price I had to try it. It's 40qts (perfect size for 2 adults and a kid IMHO), weighs about 15lbs, not much more than our 36qt Xtreme. So far I've only tried it in my garage and it actually cools as it's advertised :Wow1: - and especially with our way of using coolers (pre-chilling) it should work great for most of our outings (more on that later). It can only cool the inside up to 35-40degs of whatever the outside air is, therefore maintaining proper outside temps (using a/c in the warm months) is key. In an SUV this shouldn't be an issue for e.g. if the interior temp of the car can be maintained at 75F the temp of the cooler would be approx 35F like a home fridge. The other drawback is that it draws approx 5A constantly so you can't just leave it running with the engine off for a long time. I have a single battery (though a big one) so I don't intend to run it for more than an hr (like when we stop for lunch) with the car off. At night it'll be unplugged relying on the insulation to keep things cold. It's designed more for road trips where you're mostly driving (and so drawing 5A is not a big deal) then when you arrive at a hotel you plug it into the wall socket. It should also work out well for a day trip or our expedition trips where we're driving most of the time. Where it won't work is if you camp for several days.

 

[mortonm]

I have one of these. They work pretty well for what it is. They can also heat...althought I don't think I have ussed that function.

The key like you said is to avoid ice (soggy and floating stuff) and freeze whatever you can and eat the risky stuff first.

Also, just for reference I left it running one night in my Xterra. I drove 3 hours then it sat for 3 hours running. Drove about 20 minutes to get some firewood. I left forgot and left it on all night. Over 12 hours before I remembered. Truck fired right up, and I have a **** battery that was in there when I bought the truck. Although temperatures were moderate (in the 60s at night) so it may not have been working too hard.

Take it with a grain of salt, but I at least know its good for more than a few hours while the truck is sitting

 

[stioc]

Good to know man. If the temps were in the 60s at night what were they during the day? The guy I bought it from said he used it in DeathValley when it was over 100F outside but with the a/c on in the car (which he said was on anyways) it was no problem keeping their food cold.

Regarding the battery life I've heard similar accounts on the 'net where it was ok for some people overnight. A few things to remember though unless the inside is pre-chilled with ice-packs etc and since there's no thermostat they consume about 40-60W trying to lower the inside temps by about 40F. 60W is similar to the factory headlights. If you leave the headlights on for a few hours the battery will be ok but overnight you may be pushing it. Now the thing about the batteries is that even if they're run down to about 50% after some rest they'll most likely allow you to start your car on a warm day but it will reduce the life of the battery.

On the Pathfinder the rear 12v socket is switched so I can't leave it on overnight anyway...I was thinking about running a constant power socket to the back with a 'battery saver' that cuts out the power to it if the battery voltage goes below 11v. But now I'm spending more than what I paid for the cooler lol.

 

[txfactor76]

I couldn't stand that my cigarette lighter didn't stay powered when the key was off. I fixed that though...

Couldn't run this battery down if I tried...
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/892330_10100199231068134_93653248_o.jpg

 

[mortonm]

It was only early june. So 75 to 80 at most.

And everything had been cooled down in the fridge before I left and the cooler on overnight inside.

As you mentioned it really struggles to cool wwarm things but does well at keeping cool things cool.

In the Xterra there are 3 12V outlets, 2 up front and one out back. 2 of those are always hot hot thankfully, very convenient even if only to charge a cell phone while away from the vehicle

 

[XPLORx4]

I used to have a thermoelectric cooler, but I found it had these issues, which prompted me to stop using it, bite the bullet and get a 12v fridge/freezer (Waeco Coolmatic CF-40):

1) As you've mentioned, it consumes A LOT of power. It cannot be left running overnight, or your battery will be dead the next morning. You will not be able to start your car, and after you do, you'll need to keep the engine running in order to keep your food cold during the day. Plus, if your car isn't parked in the shade, interior ambient temps will be well above 100° (making the cooler's interior temp a balmy 60° or more).

2) It can only cool to 40° below ambient. That is, the external heatsink on the cooler needs really good ventilation in order for the air around it to be the same as ambient. "Ambient" temperature in the cabin varies widely, especially in the rear cargo area, where the HVAC effectiveness is nearly non-existent.

3) If the items in your cooler are frozen (0°F) or are fresh out of the fridge (35-41°F), using the cooler will actually warm up the inside if the ambient temperature is over 75°.

YMMV. Report back how well it works for you.

 

[stioc]

Thanks for the info/discussion guys. A fridge is definitely my next big purchase and all this talk about it is making it hard for my 'instant gratification' personality not to just pull out the good ole Mastercard again lol. If I didn't have to buy plane tickets this summer I would've had a nice ARB fridge sitting in my garage.

In the meantime this thermo-cooler should be a step above the plain ice-chest though right? I have no doubt that it'll work for our day trips where the truck is running most of the time anyway and I have enough info and a couple of accessories (indoor/outdoor temp meter, battery pack etc) that I can make it work for overnight camping trips too. I'll report back once I've had the chance to use it. If nothing else it definitely sparked some geeky interest in me for hot-rodding it with a 12v thermostat etc but I'd have to be just a little more crazy to do all that lol

Alex, how'd you hot-wire the rear 12v socket? Is there an easy way of doing it from under the hood? I'd love to do that to mine for the reasons Mortonm mentioned.

 

[txfactor76]

I didn't mess with the rear 12V outlet because it was too much a PITA. I remember looking at a wiring diagram and there is no easy way to hotwire it other than running a lead all the way to it from your new power source. For the front cigarette lighter I just tapped into the thickest Always-Hot wire I could find in the area. I only run a USB charger (for phone/camera) through it anyway, so I'm not concerned about burning any fuses or melting any wires.

 

[txfactor76]

As for keeping food cold on extended trips, I use a Yeti cooler and a brick of dry ice. I keep the dry ice separated in a styrofoam-lined box, so as not to freeze everything else in the cooler. It works pretty well, even in the west Texas desert in the summer.

 

[Allof75]

Interesting CAI mod and nice score on the cooler! I'm very interested in seeing how you like it over the months, sounds perfect for my roadtrips coming up, so please report back

 

[XPLORx4]

For me, using an "always hot" lead under the dash or elsewhere in the cab caused too much of a voltage drop at the rear socket, and the low-voltage-protection circuit of my fridge kept engaging when the engine was not running. Ultimately, I hotwired the 12v plug in the back of the center console by running a fused 10AWG wire from the battery, through the firewall, under the carpet and up into the center console.

I did something similar to add a 12v power socket to the rear cargo area also.

 

[stioc]

Thanks XPLORx4, I was hoping to avoid running a think cable from the hood all the way to the trunk but sounds like that may be the only option. Unless I can utilize the trailer hitch wiring somehow.

 

[stioc]

Got the SpeedBleeders installed and bled the brakes...there's definitely an improved pedal feel. I noticed my front rotors looked glazed so that may be contributing to the overall underwhelming brake performance. The rotors aren't expensive but does seem like a more involved job having to remove the whole hub.

For anyone interested in the part#s since they were hard to figure out, they're:

Front……SB1010
Rear…….SB7100