Hodakaguy's Overland Tacoma Builds - on to new adventures.

Manual Control over the factory ACR: I want to be able to force the camper to stay separated from the truck batteries under certain conditions. I'm currently running 4 AGM batteries total, two in the camper and two under the hood of the truck. Currently I have 180W of solar on the roof and the solar charge controller will bring all 4 batteries up to 14.7V which is great for proper charge/maint on AGM batteries.

When I'm camping in the same spot for several days and not driving the vehicle and there is limited sun I want all the available charge from the solar controller going into the two camper batteries only, with limited sunlight I don't need any current going up to the truck batts. You can force the factory Blue Sea ACR off by disconnecting the ground wire going to the ACR. With the ground disconnected the ACR cannot sense voltage on either battery bank and will go open, thereby disconnecting the battery banks and separating the camper batteries from the truck batteries.

Since I have my ARB fridge located over the access door to the ACR it makes it inconvenient to access the ARC and lift the ground wire.....Time to install a switch. This morning I installed a Blue Sea Manual ACR switch that I can easily access without moving the fridge, with the switch located in this position I can reach into the camper from the door and turn the ACR on of off in needed. The switch just connects/disconnects the factory ground wire going to the ACR.

Another option would be to replace the factory ACR with a Blue Sea M-ACR that has full manual control. With the M-ACR you can use the same switch I installed to force the ACR Off, On or place it in Automatic. With my power usage I don't expect the need to manually combine the truck aux batt with the camper batteries so the factory ACR and my manual switch should do the trick.


The Blue Sea M-ACR Switch. Any switch will do for this application, I already had this switch so I'll use it. I like that the rocker portion is guarded to resist against accidental switch changes and that if I decide down the road to install a M-ACR I'm all ready to go. Here I'm starting to fabricate a mounting plate for the switch, the wood is to thick for the switch to mount into so I'll fabricate a plate to attach the switch to then screw the plate onto the wood.








All painted up and ready to install.




Hole drilled in the wood and all mounted up. Switch is wired up to break the ground going to the ACR. You can see the rest of the factory spaghetti mess wiring here as well lol.




This location is easy to access and out of the way. It's nice having easy manual control of the ACR when needed.








I need to start getting my fathers electrical system caught up to mine. Starting today by installing the NorthStar Group 31M on the drivers side. Here's the factory battery setup.






Factory battery removed.




Installing the PelfreyBilt Stainless Steel group 31 battery tray.....fits like a glove! In these shots you can see the stainless studs that we welded onto the top portion of the retaining strap to mount the ACR onto.






The Blue Sea M-ACR mounted into place on the battery tray.



More to come soon.

Hodakaguy

 

I wondered if the factory valve would be long enough to get through the bumper and the plate and the plate holder and still thread on with enough meat to still inflate. I ended up ordering an extension thing. It should be more than long enough. Airbag kit should arrive tomorrow. If early enough, I'll do the install. Otherwise I may have to wait until next weekend.

Thanks for responding!

 

Sub

 

The factory valves are long enough for the most part, as you tighten the nuts down it will crush the plastic and metal together and allow the valve to extend out a bit. Depending on what type of air fill nozzle you are using there may or may not be enough threads exposed. I have a digital air gauge/filler that latches onto the threads on the fill valve, with this filler the threads are a tad short.

My solution to use my preferred air filler was to add some small 3/4" extensions on the end of the factory valves. These are double seal extensions that don't use a cap, you just plug and fill. I like that they have a double seal as well since it will help prevent any air loss through the Schrader valve.

The 3/4" extensions. Even though they stick out slightly they are protected under the lip of the tailgate or camper when it's installed.

Extensions available here: CLICK HERE






Hodakaguy

 

Installed the passenger side Group 35 Northstar Batt in my fathers truck this morning.

First up I drilled a hole and inserted a Rivet Nut to secure the bottom of the OffGridEnginnering Aluminum Mount. As I found out on my mount OffGridEngineering made this mount for the second Gen and decided not to relocate the lower hole to the proper location for the 3rd Gen trucks. The mount seems to flex more than my liking without the lower bolt so adding the Rivet Nut allows the mount to be secured properly again.

The Rivet Nut Tool, here a Rivet Nut is inserted on the end of the tool and ready to be put in the truck.






And the Rivet Nut installed in the truck. There is a hole very close to where the Rivet Nut needs to be inserted, the hole just needs to be enlarged towards the rear of the truck a bit to accept the Rivet Nut.




Battery Mount bolted into the truck.






And the battery securely in place.






Wiring to come soon....

And now a Quick fix for the factory screen door slider: The factory clear plastic slider on our screen door is frustrating at best. When you go to slide it I've found that you have to put even pressure on the upper and lower finger holds while sliding otherwise the slider often binds and doesn't want to slide..... Time for a fix.

Here's a few pictures of the clear factory slider panel. You can see the molded finger grabs in these pics, they work ok if you grab both of them at the same time but the slider often binds when using only one.








And now the fix. I Went to the hardware store and picked out two matching drawer pulls. Pick ones that have a wide flared base for better support.





I cut one of the bolts down so that each half of the bolt threads almost completely into each pull. Screw the bolt into one of the knobs and mark where it bottoms out (Black marker), then doubled the length and cut the bolt just shy of the total so it leaves enough space to tighten the knobs together tightly without them binding.






Next I Drilled a hole in the door slider right between the two factory finger holds






Applied LocTite on the threads and installed the new knob assembly onto the slider.


















The slider now slides smooth every time using the new knob since your applying pressure evenly on the top and bottom of the slider, it's also a lot easier to grab than the factory finger holds. The knob has plenty of clearance and doesn't interfere with anything. This will make the screen door a lot nicer to use and cost only $3!

Hodakaguy

 

The air line the airbags came with was plenty long, but it didn't have a T union. I'd kinda rather have one valve to fill both. I likely won't need to balance side to side all that much, and won't be frequently carrying load anyway.

Here's one side:



The threaded end on the air line was about 1.5-2" long. Had plenty of meat. I tested filling and it worked fine. I like the idea of putting them there. I'll have to get a nice set of metal caps. Right now it's just got the black plastic ones that came with the kit.

Thanks for the response, and for posting all the cool shit you do!

 

Looks great, That location is handy.

Hodakaguy

 

What’s better on the rear camper door than...well a vinyl graphic of your own truck lol. A member on another forum made up a graphic out of one of my photo's and sent it to me, I used that image to cut the sticker out on a Plotter.

Doesn't look as plain now.








Hodakaguy

 

Now that’s pretty cool !

 

hahaha you should sell those stickers!

 

I'll be doing up a batch of stickers and patches soon

Hodakaguy

 

Sticker Version #2. While I liked the sticker on the camper door it wasn't quite what I wanted. It was missing the Snorkel (The graphic is from a photo before the snorkel was installed) and I didn't care for the swirly lines behind the truck/camper......sooooo off the sticker comes. Did a bit of work in the editing program and added in the Snorkel then cleaned up the lines behind the truck & Camper.....Diggin this version

I'll be making up a batch of patches and stickers soon as well Fun stuff.

First Version:




Removing the sticker is a pain...heat gun and patience.




And Version 2 installed:




Hodakaguy

 

Cab mount chop time.....

As the suspension has settled in and we've added more weight to the front of the trucks we've been getting occasional rubbing at full turn on the cab mounts. Time to trim back the cab mounts for more clearance.

Starting on my dads truck first, drivers side.




Tire removed. You can see the marks where the tire has been rubbing on the cab mount (Blue Arrows).






We covered the suspension in a heavy plastic bag to keep metal dust off during the cutting process, we also loosened the bottom of the inner fender liner and tied it up out of the way.






Marked out our cut lines. Will be trimming as much as we can for max clearance.




Getting down to business with a Skinny Wheel.






Cutting finished.








My father cutting out a paper pattern so we can make up a new metal plate.






Cutting out the new plate.






Getting ready to weld the plate onto the cab mount. My father wrapped a piece of leather around the cab mount bushing to help protect it from the heat, he then routed it down through the lower access hole. After the plate is welded in place you just pull on the leather and it will come right out.




Welding the new plate in place.








Primed and Painted.




While I was here I decided to fold over the factory pinch weld a bit for extra clearance, hasn't been rubbing here but it's extra insurance and easy to do.






Next is to re-install the inner fender liner. The liner had been touching the tire slightly in one spot, there is a bulge that sticks out but has nothing under it. I used a heat gun and re-shaped it by pushing the bulge in and holding it till cool. Instant clearance.






And the tire back on the truck. Plenty of clearance now on the cab mount. I got a little sloppy with the paint on this one....I'll mask it off better on the passenger side.

Out of time for today....More to come..

Hodakaguy

 

Best build thread!!

 

Nice job! Both trucks look great! Really cool that you and your dad are doing this together.

 

@Hodakaguy love this thread! You are a pro! I thought you might be able to answer a question since you are running a 3 battery setup. I want to wire a 3rd battery in my bed and I’m not sure exactly how I should connect it to the other batteries . I have two group 35 odyssey batteries in an offgrid engineering dual battery side by side kit with MLACR under the hood. I was thinking of having a redarc dc charger take care of the charging of the 3rd battery. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

For sure, I really appreciate the time we spend together!

Hodakaguy

 

A RedArc DC/DC charger would be the best bet. It will also give you the advantage of eliminating voltage drop from the wiring run and prevent you from having to run larger wire. Locate the charger close to the rear battery.

Hodakaguy

 

Made a quick trip down to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum and water park this weekend in McMinnville OR. The Museum is defiantly a must see...although this time we were after the water park for the kiddo

Arriving at the Museum...you can see the Spruce Goose though the glass.




At the water park before opening, all the tube rides originate from up inside the 747 on the roof! Very cool.




Out back of the Museum is a Rutan Starship! This plane is way to cool and rare to be sitting out in the rain.




Setting up "camp" for the day at the water park. The camper is nice for a home base.




Inside the water park. The air and water are both very warm....nice!






We didn't have time to go into the Air and Space museum this time around but I've been there several times in the past. If you haven't been here before it's a must see. Here's a couple shots of the Spruce Goose from a previous trip.






On the way home we stopped for a few quick photos along the way

The first picture is straight out of camera with an in camera filter applied, Olympus EM1 and Oly 75mm F1.8 Lens (had a couple questions about the camera setup). Mt Hood in the background.










Fun stuff.

Hodakaguy

 

Did you evet geg OVTune installed and how do you like it?