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Ryoken's 89 Crew Cab Tubebed build... aka Mutt....
- Thread starter ryoken
- Start date
it is really nicely done though
Absolute work of art, Brother. It’s just so clean.
Where did you end up buying a lot of your wire and terminal ends?
if it's not tinned marine stuff from Ancor, it's GXL cross link from DelCity... and thanks mang!
thanks... I think that picture epitomizes what I've been alluding to, this whole endeavor was a ton of planning, and forethought.. combined with build flexibility as it went..... no just slamming some sheetmetal screws in temporarily or anything like that.... everything had to have a place, or it wasn't gonna work...
I'll just be amazed that nothing hits/rubs!
a couple sunday night build musings...
one thing I've been constempating for a while now is how bad I may have screwed myself when it comes time to pull the bed and install the fuel tank....
it went from 8 bolts and rip the bed off with the Lull, to a wiring nightmare.. been thinking about the minimum amount to take apart to get the bed off...
the other thing is I may actually have a few weeks after this project before I go back to work and I'm thinking I may rip the factory heat/AC out in prep for the 12v.... allow me to really set up for the wiring and such... plus having no heat would be a motivator to get to that project next winter...
one thing I've been constempating for a while now is how bad I may have screwed myself when it comes time to pull the bed and install the fuel tank....
it went from 8 bolts and rip the bed off with the Lull, to a wiring nightmare.. been thinking about the minimum amount to take apart to get the bed off...
the other thing is I may actually have a few weeks after this project before I go back to work and I'm thinking I may rip the factory heat/AC out in prep for the 12v.... allow me to really set up for the wiring and such... plus having no heat would be a motivator to get to that project next winter...
boy, I've been working on boats too long.... talk about 27 lb's of sh*t in an 8 lb bag...
while the harness worked out perfect down in the recess behind the slider, man, what a clusterfug to get the slider in....
it makes me glad that i waited to do the winch power till last.... all this time I was gonna run it down at the bottom, next to the other harness...
but now with that grd buss in there, I don't think I can go down off the solenoid... maybe.. might have to go back to the original plan to go on the ceiling next to the aux feed to the front...
Looks real pro!
just to reiterate the 28 lb line...
T2 tray is back in.. need to do final trigger bundle hookups an inverter grd, etc, but I just had to see how tight it all is with the inverter in... it'll come back out to finish the wiring...
it's tight enough that I didn't want to run boots on the solenoid wires in fear of them rubbing the track.... but everything clears easily.....
pleased with the engineering of it all.... the box aspect will be done tomorrow...
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T2 tray is back in.. need to do final trigger bundle hookups an inverter grd, etc, but I just had to see how tight it all is with the inverter in... it'll come back out to finish the wiring...
it's tight enough that I didn't want to run boots on the solenoid wires in fear of them rubbing the track.... but everything clears easily.....
pleased with the engineering of it all.... the box aspect will be done tomorrow...
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red EOD
1/2 ton status
a couple sunday night build musings...
one thing I've been constempating for a while now is how bad I may have screwed myself when it comes time to pull the bed and install the fuel tank....
it went from 8 bolts and rip the bed off with the Lull, to a wiring nightmare.. been thinking about the minimum amount to take apart to get the bed off...
the other thing is I may actually have a few weeks after this project before I go back to work and I'm thinking I may rip the factory heat/AC out in prep for the 12v.... allow me to really set up for the wiring and such... plus having no heat would be a motivator to get to that project next winter...
Wondered about the challenge of future bed removal. What about bulkhead fittings at the rear of the drawer?
Way too late for anything like that.. that's one of the reasons why I did the grd that way... but I didn't want more fail points on the hot sides... plus you've got 2 large bundles of trigger wires and 3 winch ones... kind of defeats the purpose by adding all those fail points..
I think I can do it by leaving the light bundle going thru the back panel for the most part, and just snake the back panel out of tube when I lift the bed off... obviously the drawer/track would have to come out, etc... it's mainly that light one that's biting me in the arse a bit..
It's not like I ever plan to pull the bed again after the tank is in... I already allocated some extra wire in the tray bundle to redo the connections a few times...
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Slides smooth for how much weight must be on there! Looks very nice (as always). 
-G
-G
Slides smooth for how much weight must be on there! Looks very nice (as always).
-G
thanks...
they're 250 lb slides so i figure i'm good... the tray, without bats is prolly, 20 to 25 lbs...
how we roll at The LAB™ ......
#bezelbombFTW
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#bezelbombFTW
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There enough airflow for the heat that inverter is gonna put out?
thanks......
i think it has plenty... it has at least 1.5" to 2' all the way around.. including the bottom...
the other factor we haven't mentioned is the fact that it'll be easy enough to slide the tray out and have all the air ya want the majority of the times I'll be using it... not like it's generally gonna be on while I'm driving around..... maybe in a pinch charging the cellphone or sumfin...
while I wait for weather to clear a bit, trying to get a plan going on stuff I've been hemming and hawing about......
tho I'm going with my bezel/Pro Comps, I'm undecided on whether to just combine a very simple stripped down aftermarket fuseblock, like a ron francis, american autowire, painless setup for space reasons, now that I'm rethinking my kennel floor project/noisefest... or creating a full breaker system would require me to look at doing another glovebox breaker setup...
I'm now thinking i may do a "forward only" center console deal under the dash, just back to the shifters. out of fiberglass...
really, the smart place to spend money next, would be Vintage Air, for multiple reasons...
I'm thinking this might be just what I want... no wire, perfect... save me a ton of time, $$$$$ and headaches....
always liked the look of his stuff.... hmmmm, Pennsy company....
https://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=JP-8
always liked the look of his stuff.... hmmmm, Pennsy company....
https://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=JP-8
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What size are the trigger wires and how many are there? You could use a molex connector for those wires. I installed one for my main harness when I cab swapped several years ago and it's been great.
while your breaker panel in the k5 is badass, I support your idea of going with a fuse panel for now on this truck.
doesn’t seem like the added complexity of the breaker panel is really worth the effort right now. You have lots of other big planned changes on this rig.
Battery pullout came out sweet!
I'm not overly worried about it.. the tray bundle isn't a concern, it's easily removed... the light bundle is 3 #12's, 7 #14's and 7 #18's.... .. but 1/2 of those are butt connected right at the tubebed...
pretty certain I'm gonna do that Francis piece at some point... i like the pricing and it will make my life vastly easier.. I don't necessarily plan to do new wiring before the 12v goes in, but if not, it will be immediately after... and heavily in the planning stage now that I have a direction......
I'm gonna be running one of my earlier columns... 78, no tilt, turn stalk only with floor beams.... wipers, lights, etc will all be conturas between the dash and whatever console idea I come up with...
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while your breaker panel in the k5 is badass, I support your idea of going with a fuse panel for now on this truck.
doesn’t seem like the added complexity of the breaker panel is really worth the effort right now. You have lots of other big planned changes on this rig.
Battery pullout came out sweet!
yeah, it'd be a permanent decision and I'm fine with it... it's just circuit protection in a tidier package... the fact that all the rigs system wiring will be done by me is what I was mainly concerned with...
and thanks for the props... I'm in the 200 to 250 hr range, but it's basically done... I did my front engine hookups today... tomorrow rain all day.. but next I need to do that tray trigger bundle and do final bat hookups there...
I was gonna put the line on the winch today, but it started raining again... I went orange btw...
bored build babble...
did the trigger bundle today before it rained... just need to do the inverter wires to button up the tray... started running the 2 harness's to the front...
finally came up with an interior plan...
keeping the stock floor.. i'm building a frame for buckets, and incorporating the rear kennel with it... basically the whole thing will be bolt-in... seat bracket, and kennel bolt's to it, and the rear most section of the cab...
up in the dash area, obviously I'm running my bezel.... the gauges will be fuel, volt #1, volt #2, oil pressure, water temp, EGT, Boost and fuel pressure... 5 conturas to the left, and the right is 4 conturas split by the throttle control....
I'm currently building a custom 3 switch setup in the ashtray for the bat/ACR Conturas.. just to have em outta sight..
I'm also doing a small overhead console... basically between the 2 visors, above the rear view mirror.. it will house the conturas for all the lights... there will also be a similar width, small console under the dash that will house the heat/AC control, and maybe the stereo... but i may run the stereo up in the middle vent like the K5 used to have if I don't run dash vents... I'll see how it's all laying out...
I've also decided that I'm gonna do the rockers this summer.. they're getting pretty bad...
did the trigger bundle today before it rained... just need to do the inverter wires to button up the tray... started running the 2 harness's to the front...
finally came up with an interior plan...
keeping the stock floor.. i'm building a frame for buckets, and incorporating the rear kennel with it... basically the whole thing will be bolt-in... seat bracket, and kennel bolt's to it, and the rear most section of the cab...
up in the dash area, obviously I'm running my bezel.... the gauges will be fuel, volt #1, volt #2, oil pressure, water temp, EGT, Boost and fuel pressure... 5 conturas to the left, and the right is 4 conturas split by the throttle control....
I'm currently building a custom 3 switch setup in the ashtray for the bat/ACR Conturas.. just to have em outta sight..
I'm also doing a small overhead console... basically between the 2 visors, above the rear view mirror.. it will house the conturas for all the lights... there will also be a similar width, small console under the dash that will house the heat/AC control, and maybe the stereo... but i may run the stereo up in the middle vent like the K5 used to have if I don't run dash vents... I'll see how it's all laying out...
I've also decided that I'm gonna do the rockers this summer.. they're getting pretty bad...
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