well, my brother and I want to take a trip to moab next spring, we were going to go this summer, but he got deployed and some 2 star general thought she would appoint me as her aide de camp for the summer, so I am very busy now traveling all over the united states for meetings, conferences, etc. my life is not my own anymore. plus, I forgot to mention, I have my first un-born child on the way, due in Dec, so my life is so busy right now, but once my brother comes back from Iraq, we are going to hit moab hard in the spring.

Are there any good gatherings happening in the near future? wouldn't mind taking a test run if a group is going? I would like to go to some of those big annual events, like with all the jeeps and stuff.........would love to show this rig off a bit as it is so unique.

that is an awning, it pulls out and has built in poles that extend down to the ground. i also have a mosquito net that you can attach to it, the side lights are mounted under it so you utilize them at night to light up the area under the awning.

I have to re-fresh my memory, but surco makes ax/shovel mounts for their racks, I simply cut off the little prongs that the ax handle would sit on, grind them smooth, re-paint, and then drilled holes in the plate to mount the awning. I ordered the awning from a company out of south american I think, I will have to look back at my emails for the poc if you are interested. it was a couple hundred bucks I think.

Here you go...
http://campinglab.com/awning.html <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

yes, it was camping lab. thats it!

Jeeeez Scott, you over-do yourself everytime I see you post. I like the time you took to do this stuff, hell, you even took your time to post everything accurately and in order <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> Everything very well thought out.. I remember when you were visiting me to help with my Montero. You had planned it all out on paper before even purchasing everything, you neat freak! haha, but in a good way! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Congrats on the little one, I see you might have a new addition on the Christmas card, if the new addition is born on time, I'm happy for you bro. Hope to run into you again in the near future. I'm always amazed at the quaility work you put in, makes mine look like crap <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

I'll ship my Montero over, just do a complete overhaul on it and drive it back when you visit, ok, thanks! Niiiice accessories Scottie! Keep it up, oh and tell Allison I said whats up! Take care

Oh and in case it's not obvious...
'drooooooool'

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

So where'd you get the fuel tank? Australia I assume? What was the cost w/ shipping?

Also what exactly was involved with installing that 2nd battery? Did you have to remove or relocate stuff to get it there? Any issues with heat since it appears to be right above the exhaust manifold.

Angelo, I'm sure it's influenced part by his character + the other part by his military training.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

fuel tank did come from australia, it was 1600 bucks I think, but will have to look back.

I chose a relatively small in size second battery, basically, did not relocate much of anything, tipped it on its side (AGM type) and mounted it. the smaller battery is used for starting the truck only, the big battery in the factory tray is used for accessories, and I can kill it overnight. I just use the smaller 2nd battery to start the truck in the morning.

I am using a computer controlled isolator, there are much more simpler systems out there. like I said, my setup isolates the battery from the charging system when winching, this protects alternator.

Scottie, very cool.

Question: How long can you winch under load with only a battery running the thing? You are saying it would not receive an alternator charge while it's being used, but I can't forsee having any useable run time that way.

John B.

well, so far I have done a test with it: I winched my brother's 99 Montero up a steep grade the entire length of the cable and it showed no signs of slowing down.

but doing some math, we can estimate about how long it would last me:

Here is what the winch draws:

2000 lbs 145 amps
4000 lbs 185 amps
6000 lbs 230 amps
8000 lbs 270 amps
10000 lbs 315 amps
12000 lbs 370 amps

so with my 105 amp hour battery, I can winch for these lengths of time:

2000 lbs for 43 mins
4000 lbs for 34 mins
6000 lbs for 27 mins
8000 lbs for 23 mins
10000 lbs for 20 mins
12000 lbs for 17 mins

hows that for a calculated answer....I think I will be good.

I figured you'd have a thought-out answer to that. I don't have a winch, and from what I'd heard (obviously people hadn't taken the effort to figure it out), an electric winch wouldn't work for long without alternator support. Thanks for setting me straight on that. Plus, I kind of figured that if someone went to the trouble of making an isolator with that function, they wouldn't have done it without some forethought.

This truck should be featured in an article or magazine or something. Turn this into a money-making side-venture, Scottie....

John B.