Yeah, I got it from a buddy of mine in Denver who is the President of the MVCC (Military Vehicle Collectors of Colorado). He called me and told me he bought a Stewart/Stevenson 5 ton. But there was only four spots in his hangar and one of his had to go. Did I want to buy his deuce. Well hell yeah. So I went out a couple of years ago and paid for it. It's sat on another club members property for that time. And during that time, after a really long search for new wheels, I finally found them and had another club member who is a master diesel mechanic mount them as super singles - tires are Michelin XYZ's...



And while I would consider selling it, as I doubt I could find a buyer, because I do have over $10k in it. BUT.... you know how that goes. Don't get mad at me, but I also own an MKT 75A military kitchen that is complete and works great. AND a MEP003a, my 10 KW generator on it's own trailer... plus a bunch of OTHER militaria including freshly issued three color green covers that come two to the set and two of those will hide my deuce. I have two sets of those. And a bundle of metal box's I use to store all sorts of things. I used to buy and sell surplus for about ten years, back in the late 90's, early 2000's.

 

I'm going to go ahead and write your next birthday card... And it goes something like this...

Happy birthday to the man who has everything. I could not find an appropriate gift with what I have left over after trying to replicate your stable of EMP proof vehicles. So all I have to offer is some advice: Mountain House tastes best. And if the next election doesn't go as planned, be sure to delete your posts on FT.com and HIDE YOUR STUFF!

Hahah. Nice!

I had an FLU419 (Unimog/Freightliner with loader and backhoe attachments) for about six months!! I got tired of chasing parts and pieces for it, and climbing in and out of it, and fixing it, and sold it in a huff, got more than I paid, then got an old city owned 87 Ford backhoe to take its place that's alot less tipsy but every bit as ugly. I miss the 419. But I love the Ford 555B, too. I've lways wanted a dropside LMTV and I still dream about a bobbed deuce I saw on YouTube years ago.

Props, envy, cred!

 

Nothing fancy going on here for getting wires behind the project board and spare tire. Here's what I have.




Those are just from a package of five desk grommets. I chose them for three reasons. First I need some grommets for a desk, so, two birds with one stone. Second the fingers in those grommets will keep the wires from falling behind the project board, hopefully.

All from Amazon.

I'm going to drill the holes in my desk first in case the project board aluminum chews the hole saw, then do the project board.

 

Just a quick note to let everyone know this is still working well. And a real world use-case or two.

First, at the farm. I always have drinks in it and due to my sissified, recent, medical intolerance for heat, I also keep a gallonzip lock full of wet wash cloths in it and they are better than air conditioning on a hot day. This weekend I had to work on the backhoe where it temporarily died, and I took a box fan with me, set it up on the back bumper (plugged into the inverter), and along with some water on a cotton tshirt and those wet/cold wash cloths stayed pretty darn cool and survived to write this post.

Next day, I was at Sam's Club and my daughter "invited me to [buy her] dinner" at 3:45 in the afternoon, probably because she slept until noon. Anyway, at first I declined because I had already checked out with some cold things, but we ended up having a great dinner after I remembered I could just stick the cold things in the already cold refrigerator. It is on all of the time. They made it home hours later, still cold.

The highest actual temperature we have had here, so far, is 97 and I made a point of parking in the sun (for solar charging, of course). The truck got hot but the fridge kept its temperature all day and all night.

No problems with the DIY roof rack.

No problems with anything, really.

 

Forgive the hijack, but back in May I took the X upstate on a solo camping trip. When I got there, it was raining cats and dogs. Not wanting to set up my tent, I decided I'd sleep in the truck. Turns out that the queen sized inflatable mattress I got for the tent fits in the back there with the seats down just about perfectly, with around 2 feet of length left over. I slept in there the rest of the trip. It was more comfortable than my bed at home.

 

Subscribing. You're my hero!!!!

 

A quick update.

I have a small update but having used the solar setup for awhile now I think the more valuable information is how it is working out and proving useful.

The small update is that I put some desk grommets in the project board and hid all of the wiring. The system is now run on 200ah of deep cycle batteries. The fridge has been on and run exclusively by the solar system since I first hooked it up; it works great. The inverter has powered everything I have plugged into it, including a 15 amp grinder and a small (5000BTU) window unit air conditioner that I tried to power just for fun; it worked..

I'm old and get too hot too quick, so I ran out of steam before remote mounting the batteries, and they are lined up against the project board. My wife hated this whole project (and I questioned the expense, which I still haven't added up) until a few things happened:

1. It has been a conversation starter and is totally jackassed, so right up my alley.
2. Having cold drinks with you is more handy than it sounds, in our situation; the fridge holds temperatures well even in the Texas heat. I keep it full. I need so many cold drinks I literally gave myself a kidney infection last week and am on antibiotics this week. Antibiotics are cheap. Heat stroke is expensive.
3. It makes ice, both with trays and the plastic ice cubes that I use to stay cool and not die, go blind, or have a heart attack. Our big fear at the farm is needing and not getting timely emergency medical care. It is a valid concern. I got *severely* overheated putting in some fence posts--OKAY IT WAS ONE POST--and I grabbed some ice cubes, a VERY cold drink, and a towel (wet towels in zip lock bags in the cooler) then stood in front of a box fan plugged into the inverter and, with a wet shirt, actually got cold in 107 degree real feel conditions. It was amazing. I lived.
4. We go to town (big town, not small town near the farm), put the cold stuff in the cooler, and can eat out or go shopping elsewhere. We have had a real problem with MEAT from Sam's being spoiled when we take it out of the packaging at home. That's a thing of the past. I am back in the Blue Bell ice cream at the farm, which is really nice.
5. We were moving a desk into one of our storage buildings that has a metal grate at the door, and an old boot scraper welded to the grate was denying me that last inch to fully open the door. Out came a 15 amp grinder and that POS scraper was GONE in thirty seconds flat. Desk moved.
6. Work lights whenever we need them (I carry LED ones in the Excursion), along with yellow bug lights for general seeing. You can leave them on all night and not kill the batteries.
7. I like leftovers and hate waste. I usually gather everyone's leftovers when we eat out and they always make it home now. Heaven.
8. We skip the extornionate cost of gas station and fast food fountain drinks now, and drink iced tea--which we like better anyway--when away from home.
10. I vacuum my truck more often because I don't have to mess with an extension cord.
9. Our travel trailer battery was dead (so, no lights) at the farm at an inopportune time. I hooked up jumper cables to the back of the inverter. The lights came on and the battery charged very quickly. I then jump started my tractor from the same setup.
10. Relatives just got flooded again in south Louisiana again (not as bad as 2016, but in the house), and this time we had electricity for lights, cold drinks, and power tools for the short time I could help and was needed.

If the S really ever does HTF I guess we might have the comfort of a little electricity that doesn't require fuel to generate in the ten minutes or so we would survive.

If I got super excited I could run up to 20 amps of 12v power off of the load terminals on the controller to quick charge a battery or run a DC freezer or whatever, straight from the panels instead of through the batteries.

After all of that, my wife decided I was a genius jackass. The truth is after so many years of marriage little things like being a smart donkey in your wife's eyes really do light up a day.

I'll add that the panels do provide useful shade to the truck (it is cooler to the touch under the panels than on parts of the roof in full sun, for sure). In a cruel twist we found out last week that my best friend, Bleu the dog, didn't get bit or stung on his neck, but does have terminal cancer, so I am making this his best month ever, and his favorite thing to do is ride in the truck. He has to stay cool, so I leave it running when he is with me and it stays REALLY cool, even in full sun and 90 percent humidity.

Negatives?

Not many.

The expense. I still haven't added it up and probably never will. The batteries are the biggest pill to swallow. And more batteries are more better.

Since I used the spare tire to mount the project board, and because the battery wiring has to be consistent and short, all of the weight (200 pounds of batteries, approximately), is on the driver side.

It takes up some room in the cargo area because I haven't moved the batteries.

I can't think of another negative at the moment.

I'll add that I was really hot to get one of those "solar generators" for moving tools around, until I realized that they are insanely expensive when you actually add the solar panels. This setup is better, in my opinion, because it is scalable, modular (so if something dies, you just replace that part), very robust, always where I need it, and always charged or charging up. I will also admit that I am jealous of those expensive lithium batteries (I am using AGM) but I have neither the conditioning or desire to carry any of this stuff around and the 4 ton Excursion doesn't seem to mind the extra weight. Also, if the solar system somehow gets overtaxed and the batteries don't have sufficient charge, I can just run jumper cables from my truck batteries to weather that crisis.

The solar panels really should be wiped off. I just don't do it because I'm old and it they are high and it is hot. I will someday.

So, that's it. I'm happy with the setup and it has been useful in unanticipated ways, not least of which is that I didn't die of heat stroke. Win, win, win.

Best,


Charlie V

 

I keep coming back to this. There is no fitment noted for an Excursion but there is one for 93 to 07 f250/350. It is the A7703. Surely that's the same frame width.

Did you ever get one of these and was A7703 the right one?

Unfortunately the Econoline ones referenced above are a little too small for a the battery I have.

 

I haven't upgraded the battery system yet on mt T/T. I am actually looking at the Power Armor battery box for the top of the tongue frame. But I keep having costly and time consuming issues getting in my way. My current L brackets for my existing plastic battery box need to be spaced apart by a half inch or so before the Power Armor box will fit. This will require grinding one of the angles off, and welding it to a new spot. July 4th, which was my 3rd use of my 2019 travel trailer and I noticed when on the roof to cover the ac unit, the Dicor lap sealant has peeled off of the roof at the forward roof vent, and was flapping around while towing. Since I will have to further disturb the rest of the sealant to re apply new, I am going to remove and upgrade the current cheap vent and go with the MaxxAir one. I'm also looking at possibly removing everything from the roof and sheeting it with aluminum and be done with the whole rubber system while it's still new.

 

I'm in the same boat. My TT is doing just fine but it always is right before there is a problem. I'm eyeing my roof as well. Good luck with yours.

 

Nice job, been intending to do this on my f250 cc. Ive had an inverter and an electric cooler but been to occupied otherwise to do it.