"Mothership"

There is a lot of wasted space inside the cab, particularly on the ceiling. Id like to find some ways to use that space, especially for map books and the like.
 
The next upgrade on the docket is a national luna aux battery solenoid (i had one of these on my old rig and loved it). After plugging this into the marine battery in the back of the truck, Ill be bringing my old Edgestar fridge out of garage duty and back into rig duty. This will require a modification to my shelf system.

EDIT: I modified the shelf and put the fridge in. Ill just use it as a cooler until I wire it in. I have discovered that all of my AAV event steekers are on the other side of the chuck box now... that just wont do...

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Im still waffling on getting a set of maxtrax to keep in the truck, especially since I dont carry a full sized shovel any more (although I do carry an entrenchment tool and a pickaxe).

I am not sure if the gazebo is going to stay in the normal kit for the truck any more (although it will stay in the winter kit and when I bring the trailer). It is easy and has handy accessories like walls and such, but it just takes up a ton of cargo space. I have been looking at returning to a setup that I used with the 4Runner... A collapsible awning with optional tarp poles (Kingscamp auto shade).
 
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Ive been researching winch options as well. I dont need a winch often and have had a terrible time with Warn winches. While I havent ruled out Mile Marker, Im looking more closely at Superwinch and (gasp!) Smittybilt XRC series. Im looking for something in the 12k-16k lb range. I plan to use quick connects so I can use the winch on the front or rear of the truck as needed. Most of the time the winch will live in the storage area of my truck, to be pulled out when needed or at the trail head if I know Im in for a thrashing.

Im not in a hurry to buy this, as I am more comfortable using wheel winch techniques than most... There are just some situations where a real winch outshines any other tool in the shed.
I bought a 12.5k from tuffstuff about 6 years ago, and the thing runs great, and the customer service was awesome. Comes with some basic kit and is less than 300 bucks. Their website is truckandwinch.com. you might want to check them out. They have some newer models now as well
 
As far as maxtrax. Take a look at gotreads... Www.gotreads.com

$100 for a set of 2. I've tested them with my truck in 2 feet of snow, in 2wd, and they have extracted me numerous times, and fold up nice and compact.

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Maxtrax, Treds, lots of different options. What I've seen, I prefer Maxtrax. Better materials and design. YMMV.
 
I finally got around to installing a dual battery system. In keeping with my flexible build concept, my requirements were as follows:

1) Use truck power to charge aux battery while the engine is running.
2) Provide enough extra power to the back to help power a winch, just in case I need to winch myself out backwards.
3) Use shore power to charge the aux battery AND the main batteries at the same time.

I found that with my truck, meeting these requirements was tougher than it sounds. For starters, my dual alternators produce a whopping 440 peak amps during operation, which would exceed specifications on most intelligent or automatic battery charging systems on the 4x4 market today. Second, #IGotWheelbase in spades, and if you want to get a bunch of amperage to travel that far at 12V without cooking wires / voltage drop, it takes a big wire to do it.

I searched and searched. Nothing that I had found would meet all of my requirements. I was about to strike an unwilling compromise when a buddy sent me a link for the Blue Sea Systems ML-ACR 12V DC 500A Automatic charging Relay with Manual Control (a mouthful, I know, and will hence forth be referred to as "the switch"). The switch links two banks of batteries when either is charging, and automatically disconnects them from each other when a drain is sensed on one battery bank AND the other is not charging, and keeps them disconnected for 10 seconds after the drain is no longer sensed (so that takes care of starting with the main batteries). I thought this was pretty slick, as it protects from parasitic drain, protects from a drain on both battery banks, and allows charging of ALL banks when EITHER is hooked up. Once again, a Blue Sea product designed for marine applications saved the day, and at a price of $200, matched or beat the price point of some of the other options available.

So I ordered the switch along with a fuse block and circuit breaker (because if something goes wrong, I would rather not have that wire weld itself to something on my pickup. Big wire? I chose 4/0 guage wire... definitely a little overkill for what I need.

The install went smoothly, and I added another Blue Sea fuse block to the back of the pickup to run the fridge and everything else that I want to run in the future. I plugged in my shore charger to the aux battery and checked the voltage on my main battery bank. Charging! I had my wife start the truck while I monitored the aux battery. Disconnected during the start, then charging shortly thereafter! I left the fridge running in the pickup for two days without shore power in the driveway. As expected, aux battery drained a bit, but main batteries unaffected. Great success!!! We were ready for our valentine's day getaway to Big Bend Ranch State Park!

Its good to have the fridge back. My cooler works well for solo trips, but just lost too much space to ice to be ideal for longer trips where more space is needed for consumables. Not to mention, with the 500+ mile range of my pickup and the option to carry several SCEPTER cans if I'm pulling the trailer, the fridge allows me to skip a re-supply and stay out longer.
 
I've had this pickup for over 2 years now, and almost 40k miles, an I'm proud to say that over half of those moles were earned on trips! :)

My thoughts:

1. The engine is spectacular, both in available power and returning great fuel economy for an 8500 lb vehicle.
2. The 68RFE transmission isnt very smooth shifting when not pulling a load, but is great when off road / towing.
3. The exhaust brake has been wonderful since I figured out how to dial in the settings to my current needs. When travelling twisty mountain roads, the "auto" exhaust brake setting works well in conjunction with the tow haul tranny setting. If things get really steep, the exhaust brake is set to "on" while leaving the tow / haul mode on.
4. The "auto locking" rear diff is controlled by the traction control system, which is disengaged when in 4Lo. What genius engineer figured that one out? Luckily, the tremendous amount of torque right off idle helps out in the twisty stuff.
5. The long wheelbase and 4 corner coil spring setup takes a little getting used to. It outperforms leaf springs in every way, but doesnt have that same "planted" feel.
6. I can see why AEV chose to use spacers and the stock suspension coils instead of trying to figure out new coils. Dodge really did their homework on the coils, so much that they offer a wide array of stock coil options depending on trim package. The shocks? Not so much. Cheap crap, but I dont hate it enough to throw $400 worth of Bilsteins at it before I'm sure on whether I move to the AEV 3" lift and 37s. Still waffling
7. The stock bumpers on the Tradesman are real steel and surprisingly stout. The front hitch arrangement will be permanent. No plans for a front winch bumper. The rear may need to be upgraded to one with an integrated hitch in order to make room for a 37" spare. Putting a 35" spare down there barely clears the rear track bar's travel path. A bumper with an integrated hitch would allow me to move the mount rearward an inch or so.
8. I really like having a stealthier build. Yeah, part of me still misses all the "nice truck, dude!" comments, but the rest of me likes that nobody thinks twice about my truck when they look at it, yet it still has it where it counts.
9. It is still feels really big on trails. I knew that this would be the case, but even after 2 years I still havent gotten used to it. It makes up for it on the dirt roads, though. I think the engineers at Dodge put a lot of work into making sure that their flagship work truck handles well on dirt roads. Arguably the best truck I've owned for this despite having the solid front axle. I've always been more of a soft roader anyways, though. The twisty stuff can be fun, but its a means to an end for me and I get frustrated when I can make faster progress on foot or mountain bike than in the truck, so it works out.
10. I am happy that I got a base model truck without much in the way on electronics (at least as few electronics as possible in a 2014 model). Not much to break, not much to fix.
11. DEF fluid. So I read lots of hypothetical scenarios and what ifs on various forums prior to purchasing the truck, and was a little worried. After owning it for over two years with only one non-performance impacting trouble code (which apparently everyone gets the first time the engine has to go through a regeneration cycle), I can say that its not a big deal at all, and that the DEF tank is so well protected by the transfer case cross member that it would take a stroke of bad luck that reached several standard deviations outside of normal limits in order to damage / puncture it.
 
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I finally got around to installing a dual battery system. In keeping with my flexible build concept, my requirements were as follows:

1) Use truck power to charge aux battery while the engine is running.
2) Provide enough extra power to the back to help power a winch, just in case I need to winch myself out backwards.
3) Use shore power to charge the aux battery AND the main batteries at the same time.

I found that with my truck, meeting these requirements was tougher than it sounds. For starters, my dual alternators produce a whopping 440 peak amps during operation, which would exceed specifications on most intelligent or automatic battery charging systems on the 4x4 market today. Second, #IGotWheelbase in spades, and if you want to get a bunch of amperage to travel that far at 12V without cooking wires / voltage drop, it takes a big wire to do it.

I searched and searched. Nothing that I had found would meet all of my requirements. I was about to strike an unwilling compromise when a buddy sent me a link for the Blue Sea Systems ML-ACR 12V DC 500A Automatic charging Relay with Manual Control (a mouthful, I know, and will hence forth be referred to as "the switch"). The switch links two banks of batteries when either is charging, and automatically disconnects them from each other when a drain is sensed on one battery bank AND the other is not charging, and keeps them disconnected for 10 seconds after the drain is no longer sensed (so that takes care of starting with the main batteries). I thought this was pretty slick, as it protects from parasitic drain, protects from a drain on both battery banks, and allows charging of ALL banks when EITHER is hooked up. Once again, a Blue Sea product designed for marine applications saved the day, and at a price of $200, matched or beat the price point of some of the other options available.

So I ordered the switch along with a fuse block and circuit breaker (because if something goes wrong, I would rather not have that wire weld itself to something on my pickup. Big wire? I chose 4/0 guage wire... definitely a little overkill for what I need.

The install went smoothly, and I added another Blue Sea fuse block to the back of the pickup to run the fridge and everything else that I want to run in the future. I plugged in my shore charger to the aux battery and checked the voltage on my main battery bank. Charging! I had my wife start the truck while I monitored the aux battery. Disconnected during the start, then charging shortly thereafter! I left the fridge running in the pickup for two days without shore power in the driveway. As expected, aux battery drained a bit, but main batteries unaffected. Great success!!! We were ready for our valentine's day getaway to Big Bend Ranch State Park!

Its good to have the fridge back. My cooler works well for solo trips, but just lost too much space to ice to be ideal for longer trips where more space is needed for consumables. Not to mention, with the 500+ mile range of my pickup and the option to carry several SCEPTER cans if I'm pulling the trailer, the fridge allows me to skip a re-supply and stay out longer.

:pics
 
x2 from me! Exactly the setup I'm after and I love the stealth concept. I have had concerns about the DEF setup as well but I very glad you've had no trouble with it. What kinda of MPG's are you seeing on your travels? How often do you have to do a regeneration on these newer light-duty diesels or is that not even an issue? Amazing pictures as well!
Take care, Alex
 
Thanks for the kind words, Alex!

I typically get around 18mpg on the highway now (loaded for a trip, on 35s). I used to get over 20 regularly, which is why I'm going to regear when I lock up the axles. It turns out that 35s is just a bad size for the 3.42s, although 34s isn't a problem. Just enough to spin into the turbo at 1-2 lbs of boost on flat ground at highway speed, yet enough to see a noticeable drop in fuel economy vs. 0-1 lb. of boost previously when I had 34s. Around town mileage is usually 14, +\- depending on conditions and traffic. 4Lo on two tracks I'm looking at 7-9 mpg, which is great for a truck this big.

Regeneration? My truck has only done it twice that I know of in almost 40k miles, but I don't tow heavy stuff often. It initiates on its own during a long idle, and just warns you ahead of time so you can avoid should you choose.

I forgot to add that the diesel preheater works well for cold days. A far cry from the chug a lug for the first 60 seconds of operation in the engines of yester year.


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Good to hear! Trying to decide gas or diesel still when I finally pull the trigger, I've been hearing the 6.4 Hemi is getting near the same mpg as these cummins, but half the torque:) Got to love the torque!
 
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