RE: How to charge a battery as I'm driving?
I'm with Matthew_B. It's possible that your camper doesn't have a converter at all. Our first camper had no battery. I would charge mine up before we left home and set it in the bed after I loaded the camper. I had a short pig tail ran to where the battery sat. It never occurred to me to connect it to the truck for charging!
A person could simply use a typical relay/isolator setup and store the battery in the bed. Just remember to disconnect the battery before unloading it! (You'll only forget once!)
RE: Exteme TC'ing in a dually?
DJ - I like to take my truck and camper on some of the jeep trails and abandoned fire roads around here. During firewood season, the camper gets replaced with wood racks, but it probably weighs the same in the end. The biggest issues I run into are due to the length. My rear wheels will rarely track my front wheels because I have already changed direction by the time my rears get to the obstacle. Fortunately, the rears are so wide, that they will often hit it anyway. They also don't get stuck stuck between rock and in ruts as often.
The second problem is that the maneuverability of the long chassis makes it extremely difficult to place all of your wheels on rocks to clear obstacles. If you can't clear and obstacle with ground clearance alone, try and find another line.
Oh yeah, get ready to scratch the heck out of your fenders. I've kept the folks at Turtle Wax in business over the last few years with the amount of rubbing compound that I've purchased.
I've been scared a few times in mud with my camper on. I've never been stuck, but I seem to spin MUCH easier with the camper then I do empty or in any other vehicle. I'm not the type to floor it and fly up the incline or through the ruts, I build momentum and gently accelerate to maintain speed.
RE: Tyvek Cover
If you just want bulk Tyvek, look on eBay. There is a lot of it there. I'm not sure if you'll be able to find a wide enough piece, but there's a lot of it there.
RE: Oregon Cascades trip report
Great photos, thanks for posting.
Is there access to the water at crater lake? I would have thought we would see a kayak or two in some of your pics, but I didn't notice any.The sides of Crater Lake are straight down all the way around. There is one main trail that goes down but it is quite a hike. I wouldn't want to pack a boat down there. Actually, I wouldn't want to pack a boat UP from the lake.
RE: Walmart now has Eternabond
Don't tell me they're making Eternabond in China..........;)During the Olympics I heard that they have Wal-Mart in China. Does the sign out front say, "support local business"?
RE: Diesel SOOT removal
The black streak remover from RV stores and Fred Meyer works for taking the gas exhaust stains off of the aluminum skin of my camper. I was that side, then spray it on while it is still wet, wash the back, then come back and wash just that area. Works every time. I can't remember the brand, but it seems to me that most stores only carry one. It is in a white spray bottle with a black and purple label and it says RV Black Streak Remover in bold letters.
RE: I met my first Earthroamer today!
nobody even noticed the cool little nash metropolitan behind the ER!.... those are cool little cars. But...
What a sweet rig! They did an earthroamer build up/follow along in either four wheeler or four wheel and off road a few years back called the turtle expedition. They built an earthroamer and took it on some really cool adventures. What a neat rig! one day...... (dream dream dream)
Jontuna fisher 'caught' the Metropolitan. (pun intended)
At $200,000, that is a pretty big dream. I keep going back in forth on it. On one hand, it's wicked awesome. On the other hand, I could get a small airplane which is another dream. Maybe I could be Trump rich and have it all! Unfortunately, you'd have to work too much to really use it.
RE: How much mileage is too excessive for a truck?
I agree with the "it depends" answer.
I am unimpressed with the build quality of my Chevy K3500 with 80k miles. There are little annoying problems with things like door locks, little rattles, never ending coolant leaks, etc. I am VERY impressed with the performance of the engine, transmission, and suspension of the vehicle.
I had a 1986 F350 with 186,000 miles. The seats were horrible, it was incredibly noisy, the ride was harsh, the steering wandered, and the paint was very poor quality. However, it would pull anything with the 460, the 4-speed manual trans, and the low-geared rear end.
I have a 1991 Chevy Corsica with 169,000 miles that I bought for $300 six years ago. I can't bring myself to sell it even though it is our fifth car. Even my mechanic says it should have died long ago.
Our 1983 GAS VW Rabbit has approximately 250,000 miles and is on its original clutch. I can confirm this because my wife has owned it since 1985. Rabbits don't exactly have the best reputation.
My 1999 Infiniti QX4 has 119,000 miles and the ONLY things wrong with it is that the light for the driver's side heated seat doesn't work and the the tape deck is possessed. Seriously. It doesn't leak a drop of oil and it has zero rattles. I love every mile I drive in that vehicle.
I guess my point is that one can't rely solely on the number of miles to determine the reliability of a vehicle. I bought my K3500 with 60,000, my F-350 with 145,000, my Corsica with 117,000, the VW had 35,000, and the Inifiniti had 111,000. My wife and I are currently looking for a Jeep Wrangler and we haven't driven one with less than 100,000 miles yet.
RE: Adding a Second Battery
How did you make the box bigger? It looks like it is a piece of molded plastic. I was going to use 2 Group 31 batteries.
If I put it on the passenger side, I could run the wires up the passenger side and cross over where the fresh tank is. Should be an easy run.My box was a wooden box lined with aluminum sheet metal. I simply cut a hole in the back of the cabinet, built a longer box, and slid it into the cabinet. It happened to be right in the end of a small cabinet so it looks like it was made that way. I ran my wires exactly like you did. I also bought two heavy duty quick releases to make installing and removing them easier.
The note on the batteries is exactly right. I bought two brand new Group 27s when I upgraded.
RE: I met my first Earthroamer today!
Good point. By having single wheels in the front and back, the wheels will run in the same ruts. Much better for maintaining momentum through mud and sand.
RE: Adding a Second Battery
When I installed my second battery, I ran a second pair of wires from the battery all the way to the converter. I did that because I was also adding a 1200W inverter and I wanted to be able to handle the current load from the batteries. If I was simply looking to add capacity, I probably would have just tapped into the wires at the current battery and extended them to the new battery. I can't remember what gauge I used, but it was big. I believe I used 6 gauge.
P.S. I made the original battery box bigger so it wold hold two batteries by expanding it into a neighboring cabinet.
RE: Another Tire ?
I had 285's on my stock rims with no problem. I don't know what the width of the rim is, but the stock tire size was only 235mm. I can't see how a tire that isn't even an inch wider is going to cause a problem but I don't know squat about fitting tires to rims, I just do what Les Schwab tells me (yes, I trust them!)
RE: I met my first Earthroamer today!
The Metropolitin(?)with the trailer in the last pic. is cool too,in a differnt way...Like I said, they were tailgating. There are a lot of folks here with blue and orange cars (and RV's!) that show up on game day. Old cute cars like that metro are always fan favorites.
RE: I met my first Earthroamer today!
Now that one makes much more sense. Adequate suspension and enough tires to match the truck's carrying capacity.I don't know, after standing next to those wheels on that truck, I don't doubt their ability to handle a load. 22.5" tall by 12" wide tires are pretty stable. I like the idea of a single rear wheel because it allows for a wider floor inside. If you look at the pictures, you can really see how wide the stance of the truck is. I wish I had taken a picture of the suspension, it was massive.
RE: I met my first Earthroamer today!
I'm not excited about the diesel appliances though.I thought it was pretty slick. Aside from convenience, it frees up the space needed to store two propane tanks. I don't know if the appliances draw from the truck's tank or if the camper has a separate tank. Nothing vents inside. The stove is a smooth top stove so there is no exposed flame. The oven is actually a microwave/convection oven electric unit.
RE: Is there mini propane generator available in North America?
Ragasco has one tremendously safe tank with many advantages....Now, to find an outside mount!It appears that the Ragasco product is simply a composite propane tank. Lite Cylinder also makes a composite tank that is readily available in the US. http://www.litecylinder.com/
As for the outside mount, they are mounted on the front of nearly every trailer on the road. Get on of those mounts and build a small platform for it to rest on.
