I haven't seen green grass like that here in several years now, F-U Mr Drought !! Good looking Chevy mate
Thanks Andy. We've had an especially wet year. This is the first time I've been able to get up the hill on our property since last summer. It's amazing how hard it is to get traction in wet grass.
Out here grass like that grows in "Black Soil" country....when wet it is notorious for trapping and not letting go of vehicles..!!! My worst bogging in history was only a couple of years ago but in dead flat "Red Dirt" country... drove forward and sunk to both axles in a vehicle length (ironically I turned off the track to do a 180 as the track ahead looked too wet and I didn't want to get stuck)...5hrs to pull myself out of that....
i'm planning a dual battery setup for my Bush Tracker - two massive commercial truck batteries , mounted in the rear cargo area, with 0/1 gauge copper welding cables for for battery cables, plus a 500 amp Mean Green alternator,and a roof mounted solar panel charger for when I park the rig for long times
...... that will do it but is perhaps overkill for a fairly small truck (that is a much bigger set up than I am using in my V8 TLC). You are adding a good deal of weight for ?? Unless you run a fridge (I do ) and other high draw electricals what you are trying to do is just ensure you have starting power. You can do that with standard sized batteries and a small/thin panel and not have to lug around all that weight ! If you were going to have an Engle in there along with an external lighting rig and inverter and expect the battery array to run it on overnight trips for you I would say go for it, use the carring capacity for more food and beer . Your battery management is also more important than the alternator size, you need a regulator that will ensure that when you are running, both batteries are being brought up to full power, a linked system (solenoid/relay) with no reg often sees the non-primary battery only charged to around 80% (I am no auto electrician either, just my understanding of the systems). I think you would be best with two standard batteries (one under-bonnet and one where you can fit it - not sure if you have the engine bay space) with a regulator to manage the charging, the original alternator will produce enough charge I would think to do this for you. The solar panel can go in via the regulator (that's how mine is beings set up - "ctek" system) so it looks after both batteries. Remember if you are putting a battery in the cabin you will need a fully sealed battery, lead crystal or lithium are the go now it seems.
its more "safety" (having an fully isolated charged battery) than anything else. I put Brother @Se7eN at risk recently over 15 KM up a mountain......because my truck had a dead battery, and my back up battery (loose) was 15 years old and half charged. .... my goal is the setup where you jumpstart the main batt with the remote batt (there is a kit available here that does that with neat wiring).
..... those truck batteries are way overkill and needless weight mate, you don't want to cause another issue (busted spring or the like from needless weight). If you all you are looking for is a back up start and you are not wanting the second battery to power anything I would do two things, replace the cranking battering you have with a quality sealed unit and get a solar trickle charge wired up. I would then buy myself something like this... https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/ad...MI5_a-gJLZ4wIVkYRwCh1ttw7-EAQYASABEgLotfD_BwE ....that is here in Aus but there are many also available in the US. They will crank a much larger motor than what you have and weigh nothing, you can also move them between your three vehicles so it is really three for the price of one. They can also supply you power for other things (charge your camera batteries/phone etc etc) and be recharged from a 12v socket for use again later in the day. Even with my dual set up I will be adding one to the garage for those times I head out with friends without a dual setup.
mmm good point on the weight..... that crawler has no winch yet......so perhaps overbuilt is too much.
Looking good !!!!!! Spent the day sorting out the rear bar/carriers on the truck. I will snap some pics tomorrow ...
I got rid of my fishing van for the price that I paid for it 6 months ago. It was nice, but the rear suspension needed to be fixed and the parts were too expensive, compared to the cost of the car and its ovreall condition. Now I'm back to my Audi A4 (2001) and left it at a shop to have the flywheel and clutch changed, along with the rear shocks and some parts of the front suspension. Expensive work and parts, but it is suitable for longer travel across the country and is permanent 4x4, so winter is not an issue with it. It's a lot harder to fit all the gear in a sedan, at least the rear sets fold out
Today's ride started off on the gravely zero turn mowing, it was definitely hot and muggy today. So I switched rides to cool off abit
Been busy as hell and some of the projects on the new truck got put on hold as a result…..!!! That and they are bloody expensive so I had to work my street corner hard to raise the $$s. Last week I got my truck back having had the back bar/dual wheel carriers fitted up, probably the single most expensive job I will do !! Still only wearing one spare as I am going to change the alloy pretty rims out for some black steel jobs, but when I do I need to buy eight of them (six for the truck and two for the trailer), so it is a little away. Till then the registration plate (blacked out) is hanging out the back like a fin on a 50s Caddy. Driver’s side.. [/URL] Driver’s side [/URL] Passenger side … [/URL] Passenger side open… [/URL] Both open …. [/URL] Lamp extended up (it turns as well)… [/URL] Back of the driver’s side carrier showing the jack mount etc (added some cable ties to the jack to reduce some rattle… [/URL] I am about 90% happy with this now. I still want to do some tidying up of the wiring for the LED lamp, the bracket for this came from my old truck and I replaced the wiring/switches and lamp unit (old one was about 12 and while LED, was only about ½ as bright at this for around the same size). The lamp is available to turn on from a waterproof switch behind the wheel or a dash switch. I also need to tidy up the mounts for the trailer plug and 12V power outlets under the back. They all work well but I can get them further under and better presented with not much effort. A job for another weekend however. Both swing arms are on gas struts that open them once you release the over-centre levers, they are strong enough to swing that driver’s side one out and slightly uphill even with the additional weight it carries, there are also manual lock to hold them in the open position.
@Andy the Aussie do the spares cushion the impact when you get rear ended? Since they obstruct your tail lights
The ULTRA bright stop, turn and reverse lights there in the bar it's self catch the eye of other drivers (and make it all ADR compliant) ....
Andy, your TLC is a dream come true! Really great car. Have you done any engine mods? A guy in the local offroad forum has a similar TLC for which he got some wicked Australian remap, which increased the torque quite significantly and made for 0-100 time of around 7-8 seconds. Not that it is needed for a TLC but it is impressive for sure.
thank you !! On my way home tonight I am collecting a alloy rim I got from our version of "Craig's List" (if I am lucky I will not be kidnapped and held as a sex slave when I arrive at the house and find out it is a ploy by some deranged sex fiend). It is a factory alloy (same as the five on it) that has just a little gutter rash, bought it for about 1/3 the normal used price so that will give me a second spare (there is already a tyre for it at home) on the same rims until next year when I change out all the alloys for steel.
