Chux's 2013 Beach Buggy Build

Been making more soft shackles. Sold some locally but still holding back on general public sales till I get them certified.. Even tho I’ve put them through the ringer in a bunch of real life recoveries and they have handled each task with ease.

 

Damn that looks fun and rutted. Any other damage that that water in the cab caused?

 

Beach creeping..

 

https://youtu.be/zv2lhsC4IDY



I mean the lights look festive right..

 

Oh that’s fun. Looks like something ABS related to trigger all that stuff. I’d start with fuses. I think IGN1 would be the main culprit but I could be remembering wrong.

 

Hahah right! Super fun day right there. I realized on my way fishing and didn’t look into it till the next day. Went threw all the fuses and everything looked good. Pulling the battery cables fixed the speedo, ODO, and all the lights.

Got a free 28 miles on the truck that isn’t accounted for

 

I installed a 12v/volt gauge/USB outlet behind my center console a while back.. If and when needed I can pop my head back there truck on or off and read my battery voltage. Has never bothered me till a trip to Vermont early fall. Usually I camp for a night and move to the next site never having battery issues. I stayed at one site with family and friends for four days without moving. Going in and out of the fridge and using lights at night had me thinking bout the battery by day 3. I feel like I can kill some stress and monitor the battery by adding a digital volt gauge in the bed. I got one from Amazon and looked at it next to my bed switches (driver side) and by the outlets (passenger side).




I think I prefer next to the outlets..

 

+1 next to the outlets. Keeps the shapes uniform.

 

Doesn’t your fridge have a battery cut off? If it gets below X voltage, the fridge shuts off so it doesn’t drain your battery and you can still start the truck. I’ve hit mine a few times and truck fires right up. I like the voltage monitor though, I may do that too.

I also vote next to outlets.

 

while that does help. if a battery is on its way out you still end up S.O.L.had it happen to me, daily drivung truck ran fine. used the fridge for a weekend and it killed it enough to not start the next day.

 

That’s where that litttle noco jump starter would be nice. I have one I carry in my Subaru but maybe I should bring it on trips too, just in case. Way easier than hooking up jumper cables.

 

This is my next mod. Had to jump a lady yesterday, and wrangling thick battery cables in the cold was less than fun. Plus the spare paddle when you are up a creek is a nice peace of mind as well.

 

Certainly worth it. I had to use it a few times on my wife’s car last winter. Hooked it up and car fired right up. Tempted to get one for each car.

 

I just wired up a power panel in the bed to run the fridge that I still have to install. I looked at them heavily anyway, but I think the time is now...

 

Yea my fridge has a cut off, but there’s more electrical draw going on than just fridge. I have two sets of rear camp lights, interior cap lights and pods facing out. At nightfall in camp they can be on for a while while cooking. On the Vermont trip I was on my wife was pumping breast milk cuz she was drinking and we also needed to warm clean breast milk we brought with us. As well as charging accessories, awning lights, etc.. the truck is like a power sub station..

 

Installed the volt meter yesterday. Pretty straight forward tapping off of the 12v plug port I have next to it. I did notice once installed it was 0.1 off from the volt gauge behind my center console. I think that has to do with the length of wire needed to feed power to the rear of the truck off the blue sea under the hood. Overall happy with it and shoulda did it a while ago..






Went out fishing after dark as the tide was filling in. Took some homemade white chili with me for dinner. Setup at the back of the truck it was great to use the new mini mod and monitor the battery voltage at a glance.

 

I no longer drive my truck day to day bekuz of work truck. But I left my fridge on from the weekend one time and by like Thursday I think it was I tried to drive it for the first time of the week and my battery was dead but the fridge was on. I was confused by that.. So at least in my experience the fridge cut off isn’t fool proof.

 

I have the old all4offroad battery jump pack. Not so trust worthy anymore being 5 years old and only charged on trips. But when it was new I did jump a car that was nosed into a parking spot with two cars parked on either side of it. I wasn’t able to get my truck near it for cables so it was awesome to have a portable jump pack as plan B. I’m looking at getting a new jump pack soon. As well I’m slowly putting together a solar panel kit.

 

$88 NOCO Boost GB40: 1000A UltraSafe Jump Starter – 12V Lithium Battery Booster Pack, Portable Jump Box, Power Bank & Jumper Cables - for 6.0L Gas and 3.0L Diesel Engines

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B015TKUPIC?ref=em_1p_0_ti&ref_=pe_256570_375032940

 

This thread is right up your alley.
Amazon Gems Thread!