Helping JimT out with an inframe ...

[JimT]

oh, forgot to mention, in the past year I've also replaced both front springs and shocks, all rear shocks and both torque arms on top of the diffs. I also bought 8 new but cheap batteries to replace the 4 deader than dead ones after 6 months being disconnected from the truck. Yes 8, the first 4, DieHard brand from Advance Auto, all newly manufactured, were dead upon installation and needed to be charged before they would try to turn over the engine. Overnight they would drop down at or under 12 volts with no load. So a few days later I got some equally cheap ones from Napa that have been working just fine. not as good as the optima yellow tops that I had been using, but all 8 together cost less than 4 optima's and it's about all I had access to in stock at the time. I've always used the optima's in this truck since I bought it and they maintained a low end charge around 12.6v, only dropping lower if/when I heavily drained them overnight. Maybe it's just a normal difference between AGM and Flooded batteries, but these new ones always settle down to about 12.4 or 12.3v over night or a weekend, even when disconnected from the truck. IDK if thats normal, especially in 25-35 degree weather, but they have been working just fine though I've been careful to minimize the load on them when the truck isn't running, just in case.

Can't wait until I have the time to implement my redesign to the electrical system in this truck. Bigger alternator, 7 batteries, start module and shore power hook-up to my xantrax inverter which can also charge and equalize the batteries. Should provide enough power for my overnight hotel loads without excessively cycling/discharging the batteries (which is why I've only been getting, on average, about 18 months out of a set of AGM batteries). I'm typically on the road 4 night a week, monday through friday, so an APU would be overkill, not to mention hard to find space to mount. But I try to be 99% self sufficient with food (fridge/freezer), water, single cup coffee maker and microwave (just can't take a shower, yet), often spending the night in my customer's parking lot or a simple highway rest stop. So my batteries need to handle more then just starting and running the truck. Right now I spend up to 30 or 60 minutes a day (not all at once) idling the truck so I can use the microwave or coffee maker with less of an impact to the batteries and that's a cost I'd like to eliminate, both fuel and maintenance.