The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Ya it's the heavy gauge wire running to your CTEK that had me confused. I have a CTEK installed in my truck too and it only calls for #10 AWG wire.
So you just ran the heavy gauge wire so that you can disconnect it from the CTEK and connect it directly to your deep cycle to jump start the truck from the second battery without having to remove the battery from your bed?
Neat idea.

 

Thanks!
This is now officially on my list of things to do: I'll install the Blue Seas fuse box in the cab with Pos and Neg cable from my aux battery to power up accessory doodads. Blue Sea recommends up to 125AMP circuit protection between the fuse box and 12V Battery.

 

Have you already installed the new bushings and reinstalled the arms? I'll be adding some energy suspension lca bushings soon. I'm curious if there's any trick to getting the poly bushings in.

 

I looked at the ES ones, but passed on them because they require you to disassemble the old rubber bushing by cutting or burning to recover the metal bits to use with the new poly bushing. It involves somewhat complicated work using a large ball bearing (customer supplied) to reflare a washer to bond with the inside metal sleeve. Ummm... No thanks! That is just too much manual work for me. Why ES can't manufacture a complete product is beyond my comprehension, but hey, whatever floats their business boat.

If you decide to go through with all that, it's my understanding you can press them in by hand / pressure from a bench vice. From pictures I saw, there is no outer metal sleeve with ES. So installing should be easy.

In my case, I have not yet put in new bushings. I have in my possession a set of brand new

$146 Whiteline w53312 Front Control Arm Bushing, Black

Whiteline w53312. They are a complete product. It's a very high quality polyurethane bushing bonded to a outer metal sleeve. These absolutely must be pressed in with a heavy shop press.

For a number of years it was believed that the Whiteline W53312 were incompatible with the Tacoma. However, I know of three persons who have successfully used them in a Tacoma LCA, and one of those persons has shared with me that they have built five (5) trucks with them.

Anyway, my plan is to have a reputable shop in my area press the bushings for me. Probably in two weeks time. If I have any trouble with them, then I'll return them, and find another way.

 

Oooo. I wasn't aware of that about the ES bushings. I just now figured out that it's the lca bushings causing my clunk, and I hadn't looked that far into it yet. I assumed they were a direct replacement. Appreciate the heads-up. I believe I'll hang around for a while and see how these work for you.

 

Awesome! Give us a report after some off road use. Any difference in tire rub? Those may be on my short list. At 2-2.5" lift do you think they are necessary and make much difference? (I know noob question)

 

Nick - My ARB twin landed on my doorstep and need your advice... again.


1. Will be permanently installed in an old pistol case. No plans to hard mount.


2. Power will come from the power that supplies my portable tray mounted winch. Aux Batt to Blue Seas switch to 2 AWG cables front and rear of truck.


I will attach the appropriate Anderson Quick Connect to the dual red wires and the dual black wires of the Compressor Harness (instead of the battery clamps that you used). Similar connectors are on my jumper cable.



Questions:
What is this jumper wire that you speak of?

I'd prefer a switch because those Anderson connectors are not easy to disconnect. Takes real effort to pull them apart.

If you were going to install a switch. Where would you put it and what kind switch?

What else would I need to do to make this work?

Thanks so much!!!!

Lloyd

 

What winch set up is that? Going that direction. Like the second battery location, too. Sweet.

 

I like it a lot. Just finished the final details last week.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-batterys-thread.295653/page-58#post-12645180

 

How's your battery mount working out? Mine broke loose and I have yet to figure out a solution.

 

It pretty solid. I used the three studs on the fender, the threaded hole at 2 o'clock on the pic, and also the threaded hole that's used to secure the air intake. Its about 4 o'clock in the pic. I cutoff the plastic mounting arm of the intake.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/off-grid-engineering-dual-battery-trays-wiring-kits.420680/

 

Of all the topics in the forum we discuss, none are perhaps more difficult to speak to than electrical. I advise making your own thread, because answers often lead to more questions until an understanding is reached. If you do make a thread, you can tag me in, and I'll try to help.

What I did in my portable install probably isn't that relevant to you, but I will explain what I did...

I rejected ARB's switch and wiring harness and didn't use it all, I rolled my own instead.

In my case, a jumper wire is a small piece of wire used to complete an electrical circuit.

I used a short piece of 16 AWG wire.



The jumper wire was inserted into the switch harness connector, to create an electrical path between the red wire (which supplies +12v), and the purple wire.

The red wire is not used at all in a normal install of the compressor. It's only there for diagnostic purposes so ARB can validate the product sans wiring harness, at assembly time in their factory, or warranty diagnostic, etc.



In this configuration, the compressor will run, and only the pressure switch will interrupt the circuit and stop the motors.

Once upon a time, I pulled the compressor apart and took this photo. I just marked it up for you.

Hope it makes sense.



You can't see the switch harness connector in this photo; it's tucked in there, but the jumper wire is still there! I secured it with some dry vinyl tape then normal electrical tape. My own hillbilly engineering!

 

I just finally read through this whole build page man is it awesome I'm gonna steal a few ideas if you don't mind

 

That looks exactly like mine. Mine broke free from numerous off-road travels.

 

Hard core.

 

Thanks Crom - I'll do that. In the meantime, I thank you again for taking the time to answer my pesky questions.

Damn- you aways do a great job explaining these things...

 

Hi Nick, I must say this is an amazing thread. You do such a great job with all the little details. I saw earlier in your thread that you were looking at replacing the bushings in the shackle side of rear leaf shackle. Did you end up replacing those with a polyurethane bushing? If so which product did you end up using? Thanks for your help!

 

Congrats on reading the whole thing! You're welcome to duplicate anything you find in here.

Welcome. Glad to help.

Thanks!

I have some poly bushings in a box that I got from Headstrong Offroad about 14 months ago for the shackle. I'm not certain who made them, they have a stamped number in them 2041. Here is a link to them. I never installed them, because on install day, I didn't know how to get the old rubber bushing out, and didn't want to damage the shackle experimenting, and render my truck non-op.

To date, I have never seen anyone on TW post about replacing it, and I did a lot of searching on the subject.

If I was going to do it, I think I'd buy a used take off to work on, so no risk... I think I would set the old bushing on fire and let it burn out. Then pry out the metal shell. It's kind of a pain, but certainly manageable.

EDIT July 2016: Finally after years, someone has taken this task on and posted about hardship and finally their success with this in this post here.

 

Hey @Crom , posted this in the Indel Fridge thread but wanted to see if you could help me out. I'm planning on buying the Arkpak 715 and stuffing the biggest battery it can accommodate, do you think with it's dc charging capability I can leave the pak connected to the dc receptacle in the back of the Tundra's center console and run the Fridge full time??? Thanks buddy!!!