Ski Bum Truck V2.0, F450 Rough Road RV

Tried to get to one of our regular spots. Ran into 8-10" of wet sloppy snow that was more than we wanted to try to get through solo.

Oh well. There is a nice quite CG close by
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Snow wasn't far off.
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This was a first long stretch of gravel we had done, not too bad on the smoother sections but the pot holed areas were brutal. Like 10mph crawl at best, otherwise I thought I would break the truck. This has me thinking about wheels/tires/lift/springs etc. Ill take any input here....

A couple things, these are G rated tires (IIRC!) 14 ply sidewalls. Great on the highway, fine on smooth gravel, ouch in potholes. Has anyone had experience going from a 19.5 tire to a 20" LT? Or too a less load rated 19.5?

Or will a spring change (kelderman airbags in the front?) make more of a difference? It felt like it was front end for the worst of it....
 
BTW the Rinse thing works great! Shoots straight to the back of the tank.

Propane tank mud flap is done, man are those things hard to cut!

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Bolted to the body on the outside
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and a piece of cable on the inside. Hopefully this keeps it off the tire. Handy slot/hole was already in the spring hanger, I think it will stay put.
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Finished up the last big wall panel, still lots of trim work, and skinning the door. But this piece keeps the insulation in place and give it a much more complete feel.
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Caulked in the back side, this is kinda a "wet room" skis, ez up sleds etc. That should keep the water from running under the floor into the living space. There is a fair bit of storage back there, but I wish I had made it 1" deeper....
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Got the inverter mounted, and the hot side cable done. Man everything takes FOREVER! Climb under bed, forget some little piece/tool, climb out, walk to garage, climb back under bed. Repeat ad nauseum.
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Long overdue update ........


Charger is wired. Ran a piece of flextite conduit between the tool box on the drivers side and the battery area. This is so I can run my incoming power cable from there. Also ran a pair of 8 gauge wires for the solar hook up. The solar controller will likely be mounted next to the batteries though. The other two glands re for my 2/0 DC power wires.
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And in the box I have about 20' of 20 amp cord, and the two solar wires. Tools and fluids live there too.
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And wires up to the inverter charger.
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Also started on my 120V breaker box.
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Then it was time for more holes..... Water heater intake/exhaust.
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I even managed to get the hole from the inside and outside to line up
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Its a concentric vent, intake around the outside, exhaust down the middle. All stainless which is nice.
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And all done.
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And since It was almost 90 yesterday we thought we should give sticker peeling a go! Man it came off so much better than when it was cold out! No more sponsor names, just the number either side now. There was even a second layer of blue on the front!

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Been having such a great summer, not enough time to post here.

It has been a good one!

Water tank is in, strapped in place, and hopefully stays there. Glad I didn't get a bigger tank, no way I would have gotten the fittings on the end.

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Water outlet, drain valve on the right will need to go down though the floor.
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And in place, it fit exactly tight against the wall.
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Water heater mounted, the blue can will be the grey tank.
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I did get the water ran to the other dinette bench and to the valve before the water pump. But that was it. Man its tight and takes forever! All the rest of my pics are blurry....
 
Glad your enjoying it! I'll post some more updates soon

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Here is a recap on the thrash that was Friday. Whoever decided I needed to get the water done before we left was a little nuts.... Needless to say, the three hours I had planned for it wasn't enough. Oh well, I dragged my *** out of bed at 6:30 and got to work.

I had to connect the tank to the water heater, both of which were installed at this point, then do all the tank fill side of things, install the water pump, wire all that stuff, and do the grey tank. (yeah typing all that out reminds me three hours were not nearly enough, planned to work 7-10, cleanup and pack and leave at 12)

So to start we have to install the faucet. Kids oil based clay works great for making a dam.
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Now you hope and prey you don't break the tile.
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Breathe again....
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And drop the faucet in. One thing checked off the list.
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Run water lines.
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Hook up water pump, used flex here to try to keep noise and vibrations in the lines down.... Pump is god damn loud. Its a used one I have had in my garage for years now.
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Install fill and vent.
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Add water. Chase leaks. I hate threaded fittings!!!! PEX is awesome though.

Hot water coming out!
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Apparently I took zero pics of the grey tank. Its the blue jug, its a hose barb fitting off the end of the strainer basket, a piece of 1" vinyl tube. Works really well actually.

Also made a drawer latch. Drawer holds a lot of stuff and likes to fly open when you turn! Yeah not good. Ball detent pin, drawer stays closed.

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Reinforcement/latch plate on the inside.
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Truck drove great all weekend, towed the boat at 70 no problem.
 
Who doesn't love a fresh roll of 2/0?! House battery wiring day
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It took 25' to get front to rear. Wow that was not fun. Its oiled up well underneath.

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Disappearing into the beast
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But its loomed and run the whole way! Need to get come more end connectors and run the ground.

Ground run to the frame. Ground the paint off and used an existing bolt/ground spot.
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All the electrical goodies to make it all work.
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And a curtain happened too. Yes the truck is dirty.... we are using it....
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Dinette Table acquired! A little skinny, but man it's going to look awesome!

It's from a local 98 year old Lebanese Cedar tree.
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