jenandjon

That looks awesome.

Thanks, now you got the wheels in my head turning.

I don't know much about electronics but when I hit the switch my radio didn't lose its presets. Setting the factory clock is turning a dial. But yes I agree for a few weeks a solar panel is probably a good idea.

Where do you store it when not in use?

I did the same thing.

My bed came off a dully pickup. Its 3/8 thick. I would go thicker because I get some vibration from my generator. I have to lay some wood blocks in strategic places or it gets pretty loud. But it was free so I deal with it.

There really is no right or wrong way to do it. I remember being in your shoes. Trying to make all these decisions. I was short on time too. I Only had 3 months to get my truck built and on the road before we left on vacation. Really in the end there is only a couple things I would have done different.

I was looking at a tandem. I was just going to take the inside duels off and run singles. Then mount one of the ones I took off someplace as a spare. But I found this single axle truck and bough it instead.

I dont remember what it went for. 2 or 3 grand. If I remember right he was going to have a Travel Trailer instead of the 5th wheel.

I'm singled long. I wouldn't recommend. I bought it that way. Problem is I'm awfully heavy on the steers. I'm not overloaded but I'm right there. If I built it over again I would have move the axle forward to make it single short. Save your money for other things and leave it tandem. Yea its more tires to buy but its also more brakes. I mean its your truck you can do whatever you want so go for it if you want but I wouldn't mess with it.

There is a guy down in Texas that got a hold of one of these crew carriers off an old hotshot fire crew truck. I found it on an online auction and posted it on the HDT Facebook page as a joke. This guy bought it and is putting it on his truck to carry his large family. They have independent heat and AC. https://www.bmefire.com/apparatus/wildland/crew-carriers/

The plastic ones are junk anyway. Over time the chrome will come off then they turn white. Took most of them off our work trucks and left them off.

We had to have a mechanic some work on one of our loaders at the farm. As soon as he was done he was full of questions about that single axle freightliner down by the house. He has a 40 ft toy hauler and said that one ton just aint enough. He had already though about pulling it with his farm semi but never seen it done before. Well, now he has.

Minimizer fenders are really good. They take a lot of abuse. We have them an all our farm trucks. https://www.minimizer.com/product-category/on-the-truck/poly-fenders/

I will pass on some advice I got some years ago that served me well. When buying used you dont need the newest one you can afford. Get the highest quality built one you can afford. I have had Forrest river and Jayco. I would buy another one in a heartbeat.

I have the same problem my freightliner. I went to Napa and get a new radio antenna to put on the mirror bracket. It worked great. The hard part was finding a place to get the antenna wire out of the dash on the passenger side. I had to buy the antenna, bracket, and an extension because the wire on the antenna was too short to reach the radio.

Ultimately I would like to have one on our seasonal camping spot so I can keep the camper at home. I would have to pull it out in the fall and put it back in the spring not a big deal. But that takes money I dont have right now. Its a pain anytime we want to travel we have to pull the camper out and put it back. Ive been in and out of that campground more than anyone else this year and there is still 3 months left in our season.

Mechanics can get the software for the engines. Cummins, Cat, Detroit I am unsure about Mercedes. They just cant do anything with the truck its self. Mack will not release their software for the engines. I assume Volvo is the same being they are the same company.

I am very happy for once that the cattle in our pens does not belong to us. Several of our neighbors have fat cattle in the pen that is already sold. But have delivery dates pushed back several weeks or months out. They have to keep feeding those cattle out of their own pocket. One neighbor got lucky. He contracted his cattle to go out on such and such a date instead of selling on the open market like the guy I just mentioned. The date came and went and now the packer has to pay him for his feed. Anyway the packers slowed production drastically because of the virus. That is why there is no meat to be had. I suppose there is some hording.

Newer farm equipment has gps tracking. There is an antenna in the cab. Its used to send information directly to the computer in the house. If I am planting it tells what field and variety seed population and the date plated. At harvest the combine will send harvest data. Again what field I'm in, what crop I'm harvesting and the yield. But, it does one other thing. I can get on my john deere .com. log in to my page and find exactly where my equipment is. I can see if its running. I can see the gauges. Pretty much see everything. The scary thing is so can the dealer. If we miss a payment they push a button and disable it. Then they know exactly where to come get it. We don't have that problem because everything is paid off right now but you get the point. My AH HA moment was a few years ago when we got the new combine. The guy installing the business band radio accidentally cut the wire to the internal antenna. A day or so later a tech from the dealership showed up and said they cant find our combine. I pointed at it and said its right there. How can you not find it. HE said no it disappeared off the computer. AH HA. they are watching. This all ties in with our right to repair our own equipment. to diagnose a problem you need to plug into a computer. To do that you need Deere software. Only dealers are allowed to have that. They will not allow the public to buy it. So, they force us to go to the dealer for a lot of problems. But that is another story for another day. Just for fun I checked My John deere .com. a few minutes ago. The tractor I sold last spring is sitting in front of the guys shop outside of Albany Missouri. I forgot I need to get that off out account.

In Nebraska your truck plates (including pick up trucks) will say what you are right on it. Commercial, farm etc. I even seen one that says Local Truck. Anyway, My license plate says Mobile Home on it. If thats not good enough for law enforcement then nothing else will be.

Those wheel dollies are nice until it gets stuck on a rock. The trick is not jacking it up too high. Get the wheel in place and lean it over on the studs. Get a couple nuts started and if you have to jack it up an inch or so to get the rest no big deal. I have the beginnings of real bad back. I have to sit on a stool when I do truck tires. I cant even hold an impact bending over. Like maybe 3 or 4 lug nuts and I'm done. If I do have to lift the tire I get 2 bars on the bottom and I use my head to push on the top. Slides right on. But I am 47 now and Ive been doing truck tires since before I was in Jr high. My dad would buy trucks at auction for resale in Mexico. They would bring them to the "shop" A drafty wood shed with a dirt floor. My brothers and I would take the good tires off and save them for his trucks then throw scabs on and send them on their way south.

Finally got around to it. Should have done it sooner. It makes a huge difference.

This 4 door class 8 Freightliner was at the west coast rally a year ago. I cant remember the peoples name. Real nice couple out of Florida.

If you order a brand new one you can get whatever you want. But I think you can build one easy enough. I put seats in the sleeper for the kids. I'm glad its not a 4 door because it would suck standing out there on the step 4 ft off the ground trying to buckle in a kid. Its much easier to stand up in the sleeper doing it. Of course now they are old enough to buckle themselves but, thats besides the point. You have kids in car seats. As for the kennel you could add a 36 inch sleeper off a Pete or older KW. Attach it to the back of the existing sleeper with a rubber boot for the kennel. It will tuck up nicely between the cab fairings and color matched I doubt most people will even notice it. If yo come across a truck with a double eagle sleeper you should have plenty of room for kids and kennels.