As mentioned, we finished it by the grace of God. The more difficult 4x4 sections all went well, the place that we encountered the biggest challenge was in the last few miles out along the river. There had been some pretty significant rain events not too long before our trip that had resulted in some washouts on the track. In one spot the washout dropped down maybe 40' to the river and on the passenger side was rock wall. We had to use my ax and stand on the hood to chip rock off of the wall and use a maxtrax to bridge over the small washout. Driving an 18K# rig over space with only a maxtrax to carry the load was one of the more terrifying things I have ever done. My buddy Chris was guiding as I drove and I could hear the wall scraping what turned out to be my awning and I asked him what it was and he said just keep driving; he could see the flexing Maxtrax. Awful. Never again in the Roamer.
Builds Wyoming HE Build
- Thread starter residualboulders
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Small(ish) fuel tank is a bit of an issue in these; how are you feeling about the LRA tank? I am considering adding the 12 gallon.
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- #83
Oh man, I know the section of trail you are talking about. That would be super stressful. 18k lbs and not an inexpensive rig either.
As far as the LRA tank, I have loved having it. The fuel tank is too small for the MPG the 200 gets. The extra tank is nice on a long trip and daily use. I debated the 12 gallon tank. But in the end I had already scraped my stock rear bumper and knew I'd be on trails that might scrape it again. So i decided on the rear bumper and went with the 24 gallon because it costs almost the same as the 12 gallon. If you want to keep the spare underneath and not add a rear bumper the 12 would be a great idea. I admit the rear swing out is a bit of a pain for daily use accessing the cargo area. Worth the tradeoff for me right now though.
DesmoPilot
SILVER Star
I'm running the same Solis lights. I didn't use their harness, as I wasn't interested in having the dimmer switch. Mine are wired to the Switch-Pro. I haven't had any issues.
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- #85
Did you document how you wired that? I need to make a change. They seem to have issues more than they don't using that factory harness.
DesmoPilot
SILVER Star
I didn't take any pictures or anything. From what I recall, the lights themselves have three wires. Pos/Neg/Dimmer. I cut the plugs off of the lights and installed a 2 terminal Delco connector. The third wire I just snipped off. I threw the entire harness with dimmer switch away. If any doubt on which two wires to use, just hook them across a battery to make sure the light turns on.
read thru this thread, beautiful build. You have some serious skills. I just picked up a 2019 white LC and am condsidering the ARB bumper. Thought I was set on going with an Ironman (no cutting needed) but your setup looks very nice. Safe travels, your photos are great as well! Cheers.
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- #89
Thank you. The ARB bumper is great. The cutting wasn't that hard with the right tool, the hardest part for me was mental. It was difficult to take the first cut into a brand new vehicle. Install was not too bad, just time consuming.
I did at the time, unfortunately I don't have it anymore. He lived in Boise even, maybe you'll see it around. Not too many painted forest service green. His was a 91 or 92 3FE and had around 300k miles on it.Did you get his contact info by chance? I may be interested in an 80 series
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- #90
I finally installed the Switchpro. I was not looking forward to trimming my dash for the Slee dash mount, and fishing the wire through the firewall is always a pain too so I kept putting it off. As usual, I put off a project because it seems intimidating if you've never done it before. In the end it was no big deal and only took a couple of minutes to trim the dash. The Slee dash mount for the switch is pretty solid.
A while ago I bought a drain snake and broke it somehow before I even used it. So, I cut out the stainless flexible cable and kept it because it works great for fishing wires through walls or firewalls or frames in vehicles. I sent that through the firewall first, then taped up the small connector end of the switchpro cable so it was more conical in shape. I lubed it up really well with dish soap and it slid through the grommet without much trouble at all.
I mounted the Switchpro on a Slee accessory tray. I know alot of guys use a power tray or something. I may do that eventually but for now I just decided to wire directly into the Switchpro leads as they recommend.
I also installed a second AMG battery and the Redarc BCDC1225D. This has been a nice addition for running the fridge. While I was in there in installed a NOCO shore power unit.
Wiring up the switch pro was a bit of a pain. I bought a quick connect harness that is supposed to just plug into the arb harness and you're good to go. Unfortunately the one I bought was pinned incorrectly by whoever made it. So I monkeyed with the wiring for hours before realizing the pinning was wrong. I should have checked that, lesson learned. Thanks a lot to @DesmoPilot who advised me on how to wire that. I ended up removing the quick connect, cutting off the end of the arb harness and wiring it directly. Works great now.
A while ago I bought a drain snake and broke it somehow before I even used it. So, I cut out the stainless flexible cable and kept it because it works great for fishing wires through walls or firewalls or frames in vehicles. I sent that through the firewall first, then taped up the small connector end of the switchpro cable so it was more conical in shape. I lubed it up really well with dish soap and it slid through the grommet without much trouble at all.
I mounted the Switchpro on a Slee accessory tray. I know alot of guys use a power tray or something. I may do that eventually but for now I just decided to wire directly into the Switchpro leads as they recommend.
I also installed a second AMG battery and the Redarc BCDC1225D. This has been a nice addition for running the fridge. While I was in there in installed a NOCO shore power unit.
Wiring up the switch pro was a bit of a pain. I bought a quick connect harness that is supposed to just plug into the arb harness and you're good to go. Unfortunately the one I bought was pinned incorrectly by whoever made it. So I monkeyed with the wiring for hours before realizing the pinning was wrong. I should have checked that, lesson learned. Thanks a lot to @DesmoPilot who advised me on how to wire that. I ended up removing the quick connect, cutting off the end of the arb harness and wiring it directly. Works great now.
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- #91
I have also been dreading drilling a hole in my arb bumper for the shore power outlet but I finally sent it. I drilled the small holes for the mounting bolts and tapped them rather than use nuts on the back side. We'll see how that holds up - tightened up nice and solid. Decided to install on the drivers side front to decrease likelyhood of driving off without realizing it's plugged in. In the summer months I just leave my fridge running so It's been nice having shore power since I don't drive my 200 every day. However I have found it tends to shut off after about 3 days. Noco thinks the unit might be defective so I may have to swap that out. Always something.
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- #92
ARB Solis Spotlights Direct Wire
I have always hated the rats nest of a harness that came with the ARB solis lights. I basically cut the whole thing off and wired them directly to the switchpro. Each light has 4 wires. I first matched the colors from each light, then spliced/soldered in the yellow to black and the green to the red. I used a bit heavier guage red and black up to the battery and switchpro. Seemed to make sense rather than running yellow and black to the ground and red and green to the switch pro. I'm not sure if that's how it should b done, but that's how I did it. They work great - no dimmer but I didn't use the dimming feature a single time. Also I think you can set up the Switchpro switch for different intensities. I probably won't.
Here is a diagram of what I did. Follow at your own risk.
I used a 35 amp button (5-8) on the Switchpro as the lights draw just bit too much for the 20 amp switches (1-4).
I have always hated the rats nest of a harness that came with the ARB solis lights. I basically cut the whole thing off and wired them directly to the switchpro. Each light has 4 wires. I first matched the colors from each light, then spliced/soldered in the yellow to black and the green to the red. I used a bit heavier guage red and black up to the battery and switchpro. Seemed to make sense rather than running yellow and black to the ground and red and green to the switch pro. I'm not sure if that's how it should b done, but that's how I did it. They work great - no dimmer but I didn't use the dimming feature a single time. Also I think you can set up the Switchpro switch for different intensities. I probably won't.
Here is a diagram of what I did. Follow at your own risk.
I used a 35 amp button (5-8) on the Switchpro as the lights draw just bit too much for the 20 amp switches (1-4).
I'm assuming the Switchpro lead on your red/green is a relay controlled?
We so do the same often with controller units via this method:
Red to battery positive
Black to battery negative
Green to 12V trigger from switch (draws only milliamps so the switch can be tiny)
Yellow to be terminated as it is the dimming PWM line and is not necessary
We so do the same often with controller units via this method:
Red to battery positive
Black to battery negative
Green to 12V trigger from switch (draws only milliamps so the switch can be tiny)
Yellow to be terminated as it is the dimming PWM line and is not necessary
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- #94
From what I understand Switchpro has built in relays - they say relays and fuses are not needed. Maybe I'm putting too much confidence in their product.
Thanks for the outline of how you wire them up. When you do this you are also not using fuses or relays? (because the controller has them built in)
Depends on the build but you can take the red direct to the battery and just trigger from a small device or switch
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- #96
Cool thanks.
Does your fridge have a dedicated 115v plug? I did this same thing and ran a power wire to my fridge for the 115 so that it switches to 115 when plugged in and goes back to battery when I leave home..
Super simple setup, just another wire through the body
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- #98
I'd like to hear more about that. I have a dometic 75. I has a separate plug for the wall not independant from the plug used to plug into the vehicle. Maybe it can be adapted somehow. Honestly it's too big for most trips I'm able to squeeze in. I went that route because we live in the boonies so it's nice to have a fridge in the summer when we are out of town and want to stop at Costco or something. I have been thinking about getting a different fridge. If it would switch to 115 when plugged in, that would be nice.Does your fridge have a dedicated 115v plug? I did this same thing and ran a power wire to my fridge for the 115 so that it switches to 115 when plugged in and goes back to battery when I leave home..
Super simple setup, just another wire through the body
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My snow master has two plugs. If the 115 is plugged in it takes over. Super handy for this type situation. Mine went on shore power every night.
You could run a cord Y and run your noco to one, and the other back to the fridge. Allowing your battery to stay topped off and the fridge to stay cold as long as it needs.
I’d be willing to bet the current noco can’t keep up with the fridge demands unless it’s pretty good size.
Also do you keep anything in the fridge while it sits? Or is it empty? Mine always had some cold packs and drinks stored in the fridge side to help regulate temps. And the freezer side stayed filled with frozen goods.
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- #100
I wondered about the size of the Noco. My bro had the same setup in his Land Rover and said it kept up with it fine so I ordered the same one. Mathematically it should keep up with the draw, but for whatever reason it shuts off. I contacted Noco about it and they thought it might be faulty.
I do keep the fridge at least half full most of the time and it's parked indoors where it's fairly cool - so it's not working overtime - I don't think. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to look into it some more.
