Ski Bum Truck V2.0, F450 Rough Road RV

Well another great PNW weekend done. Drove a few different road Friday night, and settle in here so we had enough phne service to stream the football game. Sometimes its nice :D No other people, no cars, will put it on the quick stop with service camp list.

Did a pretty good hike, almost 10 miles. Dodging some rain, but the weather held out pretty well. Snow wall behind the ladies..... Need to climb it next summer.

Back to out normal spot for this area for Saturday evening. Why people have to move fire pits I don't know.... But it got moved. Been coming here for 16 years now! Just a great night in the woods.

Bumper is at the powder coaters. Trying to find a winch to throw in it before it goes on..... May just do it later, but I hate to have to take it back off to get one in.

End of summer mode. Clean everything out of the back.

Holds lots of goodies. 7 pairs of skis, a full size shovel, all the dump equipment, axe, chairs and carpet.

Engage mobile ski cabin.

Not much snow, but the weather was good.

Really need to find water leak. Speakers making noise all night SUCKS. Not to mention it scares the 100lb German Shepard who then feels the need to jump in my bed...

Finally a day without meetings. Bumper time. Took the truck to work this morning and nosed into the shop. Unfortunately the door isn't big enough and neither is the shop....

Installation is the reverse of removal?

Brackets where close.... Reamed the holes to fit. Also the back one was single sided, they used a carriage bolt there. I drilled through the other frame rail to through bolt it.

Also had to cut the bolts down as they hit the intercooler.....

Swapped the Rigid fogs over to the outer holes.

Bumper mounted up!

Now onto the BD light bar. No way it fit period. I tired and tried no dice. 

So A little CAD later, and I made new mounts that used the body holes. Adjustment will come from the clamps that hold it to the bar.

And on the KC tube clamps, only thing I could find that fit 2 3/8" tube nicely.

Couldn't get much tighter!

Looks very nice, very nice indeed...

do you have plans for the round lights that came off of it?

In reply to Recon1342 :

Not in particular, are you interested? The middle one only half works oh, but I have a brand new in box 1, I just never installed it

In reply to java230 :

I only need two, but I would be interested depending on pricing. 

In reply to Recon1342 :

Perfect I have two. PM me. 

In reply to java230 :

PM sent

Finally some decent snow in the PNW! Baker got 38" in 48 hours. Go time.

Stopped and did some snowshoeing on the way up.

Pretty damn decent snow!

Hung out with friends by the fire until way too late....

Nearly no lines, great opening day.

Ski days 6 and 7!

Made it up to Baker to find an absolute disaster of a parking lot. 12-14" of new snow meant cars stuck everywhere, 3 loaders, a D8 dozer and two snow cats trying to clear things.... It was entertaining.

Woke up to another 8" overnight. Still nuking.

Light was a little flat, but the snow was decent!

Shoveled the roof....

Sunday cleared up and was pretty damn fantastic!

Great pics... I almost died skiing in a flat light situation in Colorado last year, haha.  Sent a muuuuuuuuuuch bigger ledge than I was anticipating in pretty tight woods at the runout, that I couldnt see.  Not to be messed with and extreme caution should be taken. 

In reply to golfduke :

Yeah definitely not to be trifled with. I did that last weekend.... Kneed myself in the chest when I landed. Lots of fresh soft stuff helps in those cases. It wasn't bad, just stormy, light always sucks when its puking snow.

Played ski cabin all weekend. 

Snow did not suck.

What a nutty weekend. Headed out late on Friday, with a big storm coming in.

Did not make it very far.... Highway closed. Tree fell and a car hit it. But they cleared in about an hour.

Made it to the pass as it was nuking snow. Parked finally.

Get up early! We got 4th chair Sat and 6th Sunday. Line gets big!

It didn't stop snowing..... This was Sunday 7am

So much snow :D

And then this..... Pass closed in all directions. I guess we are spending another night..... At least we have a nice spot to sleep, unlike the employees.... WSDOT did take a group down Eastbound, but quite a few slept in the lodge.

We moved to a different spot, and got a bunch more snow. This was Monday morning now. Luckily I just had to shovel the windshield and hood, and was able to pull right out of that spot. 4x4 low FTW! Waited for a couple hours in the morning, hoping they would open the road, but after talking to a truck that had run the West side it wasn't happening. Trees down, lots more threatening to fall. A car hit by a tree. Semi truck out of gas, no power, no gas. They did open East, so we started the long trip home.... Big loop with two more passes, but it was the only real option. Pass is still closed.

Stopped to shovel the roof off. The truck felt REALLY heavy with that up there.

Made it home finally. Truck is filthy from all the road grime.... Long trip, but great skiing!

For the winch.   I run a 12k Warn Powerplant on my stock 4x4 dually,  which has the added benefit of an onboard air compressor.  However,  for a Monster like yours I'd run a Warn 16.5k or a Superwinch 18k.

In reply to Cotton :

Yeah I am looking at a 25k Australian one.  Already have air, but big winch in the back is on the list still.

In reply to java230 :

My buddy works at Earthcruiser over in Bend and they spec the Warn 16.5 synthetic for their rigs. I imagine you're close to their weight.

Edit: They run around 12k lbs. Not sure what you're at.

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

That seems light for a 12k rig. General rule of thumb for winch capacity is 1.5x GVW. In situations like mud or snow, the 1.5x rule can be easily exceeded. 
 

Granted, it's pretty much impossible to find a 30k winch, but it's something to keep in mind. 

In reply to Recon1342 :

Yeah, I've heard that rule but Earthcruiser seems to do ok. Maybe they include a snatch block or something?

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

Rigging is definitely the other, lesser known piece of the puzzle. If you know what you are doing, it's very easy to multiply your mechanical advantage. A snatch block is a must on a full-size rig, IMHO...

Yes a snatch block is a must. 

I'm 14,240lbs 

Sherpa makes a 25k winch. I may go that route, or a warn 16.5 been watching for used. 

​​​​​I finally got all the parts needed for a good bridle set up. Everything rated for 8ton plus 

In reply to java230 :

Dang, you've got a big truck, haha. I've seen the Earthcruisers up close and personal and thought they were huge. But you've got a whole ton on them. Is that monster winch electric or hydraulic?

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

Yeah, I'm a bit bigger overall oh, and the hardside vs pop top adds a bit of weight.

It's electric https://sherpa4x4.com/collections/frontpage/products/stallion-25000lb-truck-winch?variant=14715532509302

Another great weekend done!

Skied with these two awesome ladies.

I love this truck. 

361lbs of batteries are scheduled for delivery Wednesday.

Time for new electrical. The batteries I have now turn out to be 10 years old. Picked up a new inverter charger as well.

As the saying goes, 10lbs of **it in a 5lb bucket...
Old vs new

Out with the old

New in place

High and negative low volt done ish

Too much E36 M3 to connect to the negative stud of the shunt....

And I shorted myself on wire..... So I started on the batteries on Sunday.

Old ones coming out

New insulation, I had a piece under the old ones, but it was thin and crushed over time. 1" of XPS used this time.

The old cases showed a little rub wear between them, nothing really to worry about, but I added a little protection anyway. Old inner tubes, should give just a hint of space/cushion

And all in place!

And wired up. Need a bit more wire, and one USB to VE Direct for the victron stuff. I didn't realize you have to leave the head of the BMV in place, I was going to pull it and use the color control only.