REAL MAN TRUCKWORKS & SURVIVAL
VEHICLES, CAMPERS, and BOATS => General Vehicle Related Discussion => Topic started by: Flyin6 on September 15, 2014, 07:28:11 PM
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This will be my John Deere Gator 825i build thread. My hope is to take an already capable utility vehicle, and build it for use as a farm utility vehicle and a security/recon vehicle for possible bad times
I'll focus on suspension, lighting, redundancy, extra range, horsepower, weapons, and a good selection of auxiliary equipment
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Mostly still stock
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Then the parts started to arrive
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You see how it is configured stock.
I have the following parts either sitting here on the floor or enroute from all over:
1. Tempered Glass windshield with an electric wiper
2. Rear side tubular slider/armor
3. Rear tubular bumper
4. Hi perf stainless exhaust
5. Seat belt extenders
6. High back racing bucket seats
7. Hella long range lights, 2 ea.
8. Roof mounted flood lights
9. Front facia long range pencil beam lights
10. Front 4500 Super winch with:
50' of synthetic line
Bobbin
Poly roller fairhead
11. Frame to mount stock 21" buckets into the bed for passengers
12. Rear head rest and back protector
13. Poly roof
14. Fox coil-over shocks w/remote resevoirs
15. front and rear steel CV guards
16. RotoPax 3 gal gas can
17. Rotopax first aid kit
18. 2ea 2 gal RotoPax water cans
19. Rotopax gear box
20. M4 carbine mount
21. Fire extinguisher
22. SHovel
23. Axe
24. Self Recovery kit
25. some more stuff, but my brain is getting fried...
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Easy build day today.
Got the exhaust , seat belt things and the CV guards installed. Tomorrow thinking about tackling either the windshield or Fox Shocks.
The muffler replacement was about as straight forward as it could possibly could be. The factory muffler does a descent job, but the aftermarket one supports more flow which gives a 5% power boost right now up to 52.5hp. That estra flow rate will get a lot more important when it comes to turbo time.
Here's the before shot:
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THat is all pretty heavy stuff in there. I was not all that happy to find the aftermarket exhaust was also pretty weighty. Makes me think it just might go bye-bye sometime in the not too distant future!
Here the box of stuff before I started removing things:
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First you remove the heat shield which is an easy removal of 4ea 8mm head bolts
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With just the removal of 2 bolts, the muffler can be wiggled free and removed. Here it is side by side with the new stainless replacement:
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John Deere does not use, nor recommend using a clamp. THey just use this "fuzzy bushing" and the muffler simply slips over the old exhaust pipe
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Reversing the process the muffler installs easily and just like that I am as done as I am going to make it. I decided I don't need no stinkin heat shield! Extra weight carried around to protect some bonehead from burning himself because he's not smart enough to avoid hot stuff. In this case we'll allow the law of natural selection to deselect such a person. (Now having made that statement, watch the bonehead be me!)
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Reversing the process the muffler installs easily and just like that I am as done as I am going to make it. I decided I don't need no stinkin heat shield! Extra weight carried around to protect some bonehead from burning himself because he's not smart enough to avoid hot stuff. In this case we'll allow the law of natural selection to deselect such a person. (Now having made that statement, watch the bonehead be me!)
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Earlier we were joking about my seat belt extenders. You'll have to read almost 2.5 thousand posts over in my other build thread to get what I am talking about, but these extenders are actually seat belt re-positioners.
Here's where we will be working next:
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With a quick removal of the stock bolt and the addition of this length of nylon, the belt is reconfigured for rough terrain useage.
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All righty, moving to the swing arm CV boot(s) guards. I learned with my older 850D gator that you need a lot of protection on the swing arms. I have busted a number of boots on that gator so literally the first thing I speced with this purchase were the front and rear guards. Here's what it all looks like stock.
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You just get a small plastic guard covering one side of the outer boot. Much more is needed. I'm holding the old one in front of the new one...Any questions?? Here are the new steel guards:
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There are a little gymnastics to get everything bolted up, but it goes pretty fast. A third hand or a jack is necessary for this step.
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Next comes the front
These are much easier. THe new gators have a factory long travel suspension already installed and feature cast steel lower control arms which are predrilled for the CV guards!
Here's the stockers:
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And the new cool parts:
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Hmmm, seem to have pulled a blackhawk pilot, err, I mean a bonehead. I forgot to snap a shot of those guards installed. Oh well, owe you all that. Anyway, here's the thing in it's current state of modification, which will change again tomorrow!
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Installed a windshield and wiper kit today. Still wading through John Deere parts and have a ton more before I start getting all custom.
Here's the box and what's in it:
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And the before pic
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First I removed the top. Accessories like the poly top is held in place with a cool cam lock roll bar clamp that allows you to pop off things like the roof and windshield in a minute or two. Pretty stout as well!
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Clear working space!
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The windshield is held in place by way of the same cool cam lock system
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Installing it is about as simple as it can be. THe bottom piece swings up for ventilation if you so desire, I have mine down as cold weather ah cometh. I reattached the top and just like that, I was done with this step of the process.
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From Ashley:
Don, where is the switch located for the wiper motor?? Is it up high, next to the actual motor itself, or is it down on the dash? Or maybe you havent even gotten to that part yet. I may be jumping ahead too far...
Just curious. I like the windshield. The bottom section does flip up. I was about to call you out on that one, because the majority of them, the top folds up, and the bottom stays put. But, you are right. Bottom piece folds, not top. Maybe you already know this, maybe you dont, going to interject it either way...
In the summer, when it is dusty, when the windshield is down, all that dust and dirt will come around the sides, and settle in behind the windshield, right where you sit, and fall out all over you and everything there with you. When you raise the top, or in your case, the bottom, it allows the air to flow through, and carry the dirt with it. Now, you will still get some dirt on ya, but, not nearly as much as what will fall out on you with the windshield down. We had these issues out in west texas where we were hunting. Even though it was winter, it was bad dry. You pack about 6 guys and gear on one, and take off. After we all got to our destination, we would be covered in dirt, as well as our guns and gear. So, we opened up the windshield, and battled the cold air, but not the dust.
Again, just interjecting a small point, in case you were not aware... Not trying to hijack. Keep up the good work. You're going to convince me into buying one now!!!
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Posted by Armalite View Post
Don, where is the switch located for the wiper motor?? Is it up high, next to the actual motor itself, or is it down on the dash? Or maybe you havent even gotten to that part yet. I may be jumping ahead too far...
Just curious. I like the windshield. The bottom section does flip up. I was about to call you out on that one, because the majority of them, the top folds up, and the bottom stays put. But, you are right. Bottom piece folds, not top. Maybe you already know this, maybe you dont, going to interject it either way...
In the summer, when it is dusty, when the windshield is down, all that dust and dirt will come around the sides, and settle in behind the windshield, right where you sit, and fall out all over you and everything there with you. When you raise the top, or in your case, the bottom, it allows the air to flow through, and carry the dirt with it. Now, you will still get some dirt on ya, but, not nearly as much as what will fall out on you with the windshield down. We had these issues out in west texas where we were hunting. Even though it was winter, it was bad dry. You pack about 6 guys and gear on one, and take off. After we all got to our destination, we would be covered in dirt, as well as our guns and gear. So, we opened up the windshield, and battled the cold air, but not the dust.
Again, just interjecting a small point, in case you were not aware... Not trying to hijack. Keep up the good work. You're going to convince me into buying one now!!!
Good one Ash, but here in the tucky we don't have no stinkin dust! Only this strange blue grass clippings getting all stuck in your hair, nose, ears, mouth and so forth.
OK, a bit of an exaggeration there we definately do have dust, although not Texas sized. Good call, didn't know that...
The switch is right on the motor. THe harness is not hooked up at the moment. SInce I ordered every concievable light made for this thing, I had to order an electrical distribution panel as well. I plan to pull the 35W Halogen bulbs out of the headlights and replace with HID's to lower the amperage draw. But it has a huge 70+ amp alternator.
Just wait until I turbocharge it...it is gonna absolutely fly!
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From Shawn:
OK, I'm going to watch this thread closely and if Don gets into any custom fab stuff may even be able to help him out with a project or two. I am interested in purchasing one of these side by sides next year but have not really taken the Green seriously thus far. So here is the challenge Don, convert me from Orange (yeah I'm an Allis fan even though they don't have a dog in this fight) to JD Green......
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OK, got some more stuff done today. Got some more armor installed and added some lights. Let's start with the simplest addition, stuffing a tow strap into one of the storage cranny. THis is a 12K, 25 foot strap folded and stuffed, burrito style.
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Next for the rear bumper install. It's a simple 4 bolt 10 min max operation. I like this because the kids or rear passengers now have a step up into the bed.
Here's the before shot and the bumper alone installed:
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John deere makes some neat side armor pieces that bolt right up to the bed. Not as strong as a tubing roll cage or rock rail, but this thing only weighs 1600 lbs so this tubing is more than up to the task of rubbing up against trees or hyundais.
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You can see it fits well and integrates well with the body work and the new rear bumper. Here it is all assembled:
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Next up was the lights. To install them, JD requires the mounting of a nifty self contained switch panel and the routing of a couple of per built wiring harnesses. It's a simple plug and play assembly is nothing more that tedious. Here's pics of all that going in:
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With the inner holes drilled you mount the lights and thread the wires up through the hollow studs and assemble the wires into the supplied plugs
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Here's a shot of all the lights on.
I still have to mount the two Hellas and the two eyeball long range lights. THat will have to wait until tomorrow.
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Here's one thing that's going to have to either go completely or change. The dash lighting is red/orange.
I need it to be a NVG friendly blue green. I'll have to figure out how to fix that while I tear into this little monster!
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Lots of posts showing up!
I put a marathon day on el gat-tor. It now has so many lights, I had to buy stock in a power company!
Let me see:
Tracks: No
Light bar: nope, already have enough lighting
Motor: THis gator is a gasser. I own an older 850D which has a 24 HP Yanmar 3 cyl diesel. At the time JD called it high performance due to it's 31mph top end which was pretty fast for 2007. These days, it's a lead sled!
OK on to today. I did so much stuff that I'll just post one thing per day for awhile until this thread catches up with the mod state of the gator.
Next I will install some Hella off road spot lights onto the front brush guard.
Here's what came in that box:
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The lights are very robust in construction. Quality was evidient everywhere. You really do get what you pay for!
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To gain access, you unpin and fold the front guard forward. Then you lift out the nifty storage tray under the hood, exposing the wiring harness and the backside of the dash.
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Next you simply plug the auxilliary lighting harness into the existing factory harness and route the wires according to instructions, then zip tie it all in place.
The dash has slots already for multiple lights, so I selected a slot and glued on the label trim and installed the switch.
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Next, the Hella spots were bolted in place and the harness connected.
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A simple test confirmed everything was working just fine.
No time to waste, onward to installing the intermediate range spot lamps next.
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Originally Posted by GreatLakeOffRoad View Post
That gator doesn't even have a winch from the factory? I know they have a winch option for this unit, where is yours at? Or do your pics just suck that bad I can't see it????????
Your letting me down early Don, this is not a good start!!!
No yellow seat either, what gives?
First of all, yellow (based on yesterday's game results) is for hoosiers
Camo is for Kentuckians, since there are no royal blue seats in the JD inventory. THere are no camo seats either, so... Black it is.
I don't want to give the whole build away just yet, but if you look at the list I published of parts you will notice some high back heavily padded sports (racing) seats listed. When thise jewels get here they replace the front seats and those cool 21" high back seats already installed move to the back. I plan to mount those in the bed with seat belts of course for the future rnagers I am currently raising.
Winch: Yes they do offer a Warn 3500 lb winch with steel cable. They charge something like $800ish for that winch. I went the custom route and ordered a 4500 lb winch with synthetic line which is now sitting in the garage near the Fox shocks.
Don't worry friend, I'll work overtime if necessary just to keep you from getting angry. Then, later on we're going to work on that anger issue one on one over coffee and tea. When you become difficult to work with or angry, then you get to learn about pain control as well, until you become calm once again, and see the benefit to drinking the coffee instead!
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Shawn wrote:
don't drink coffe or tea, what then? On a similiar note I ordered in for one of my friends a warn 4500# a few years back for his polaris side by side, it wasn't long before he burnt it up. You may contemplate bigger is better, or longer lasting at least? I also understand at some point you will be stressing the frame into breaking in half, say if you tied off the rear to a tree and were pulling from the front......
I also spoke with the warn winch rep at KOH in 2011 and those cheapo M8000 units they sell for $500 are the best selling and one of the most durable units they have. Just info to feed you with from the horses mouth so to speak.
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Originally Posted by GreatLakeOffRoad View Post
I don't drink coffe or tea, what then? On a similiar note I ordered in for one of my friends a warn 4500# a few years back for his polaris side by side, it wasn't long before he burnt it up. You may contemplate bigger is better, or longer lasting at least? I also understand at some point you will be stressing the frame into breaking in half, say if you tied off the rear to a tree and were pulling from the front......
I also spoke with the warn winch rep at KOH in 2011 and those cheapo M8000 units they sell for $500 are the best selling and one of the most durable units they have. Just info to feed you with from the horses mouth so to speak.
I concur, when it comes to Warn, the extra you pay in no way seems to reflect how long the winch will last. The T-Max 9000 I have on my truck I first bolted on my Tundra maybe 7-8 years ago. Then I had it on my Hummer H2. Then back on the tundra, and finally on my current HD2500.
When I bought that one I compared every aspect of it to the warn 9000. Warn had a 4.6HP motor, the T-Max had a 6.6HP! The line retrival speed on the Tmax was faster. The planetary gears in the t-mas were larger and it had more splines. Almost everything was stronger with the T-Max, and now all these years later it still works like new. I just winched a Gazebo up to level which was on a pond and leaning heavily. I'm sure I was exceeding it's max ability, but I didn't see so much as a puff of smoke.
I purchased a ProMark 4500 this time. Why? Because it was very inexpensive, and I'll just bet it will get the job done quite nicely. Would have liked to install a 6K however I thing the mount is different than the smaller ATV bolt patterns.
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Originally Posted by Armalite View Post
Have you debated on installing a seperate back up battery supply? I only ask because I know in the past, with my utv, I was checking out a few things on the lease. Had a low battery, but was enough to crank. Needless to say, I got stuck in a creek. Tried to winch out, and utv died on me. Not enough power to crank, or run the winch long enough to pull me out. Had to walk back to truck, get it in there, and pull myself out using the truck. Bought a new battery the next day. A deep cell battery would have helped a ton. Just curious if you've debated this, with running all the aux lights. And apparantly you have enough alternator to keep a charge on a deep cell aux battery...
That's a very good idea Ashley!
I was initially eyeing the roof for one of those solar panels you sent me, but after I decided to fill up the bed with all two seats, aux fuel, some storage containers and the dog, I canned that idea. The roof will now be the future site of a roof rack.
As I develop this project in my mind I am seeing big changes. I will definately need about 100Hp on tap to move it around more quicklier (as they liked to say in the SERE course I went to once) especially with all the extra weight.
I think the vehicle might end up operating at near gross weight, hence the need for mo-power. After rulling out a duramax as a possible powerplant and the LS1 will not fit either, I have to stir up the soup in this little screamin' me-me! I figure a good head port, intake work, maybe a blueprinted bottom end and a turbo with an intercooler and mugo bigger injectors capable of sucking the fuel tank dry in a single throttle burst...that should be about right.
Did I ever mention I used to own a business? Called it Harward Performance. Know what our motto was?
"When too much is not enough!" Yep, seemed to retained that philosophy...
So looking at it, after I complete this bolt on blitz of JD happy homeowner pieces parts. I'll add the cool gas can parts. OOH, you haven't seen that, sorry, I have Yep, cluttering up one end of the garage. I think I am going to trash the whole air intake system. THis thing needs a custom airbox, Don built along with a snorkle, big K&N and tubing much larger than the current straw it is sipping through.
Then the more I look at it the more it is screaming for a full cage, as in over the rear as well. If I roll it over and one of the future rangers gets wiped out, I am possibly damaging our nations future security. so I have to take steps, based on our national security to keep those numbskulls somewhat protected.
Besides, with a roll cage, I'll have more room to bolt stuff onto the tactor. (That's Tac for tactical, and tor from gator)
So by the time you guys decide I's gots to have one, I'll have it all ciphered out! Maybe I'll sell the design to my SF buddies in one of the groups!
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Couple shots of the aux lighting fired up in the driveway. Using the flash does not do it justice. Suffice it to say there is an abundance of light, more than necessary!
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Bobby wrote:
Chief,
I decided that my inaugural post should be in your build. Since I can't sleep at anyway I was thinking about what I'd do if I had a gator like yours. Remember those ODA humvees with the TC side mounted 240? More specifically the mount?? Or the DPV's the seals had? More specifically the MG mounted in front of the TC (yet removable so you can use the windscreen)... I think you see where I'm going with that line questioning. If anyone can make it work on a gator I'm sure you could. Shouldn't be hard to make a mount for a 12ga or M4, with your metal skills.
That would allow the vehicle to be used in the recon mode, but allow the TC to fire accurately, with out inujring themselves or others in the gator.. Now that I left you with an idea on top of your other ideas, I'm off to hunt down that woodpecker that woke me up.
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Bobby, welcome!
I'm sticking a cool M4 mount in front above my knoggin...Tht's as far as i'm going with that idea for the moment. Idea is to scout, stay out of trouble and use speed if i gets into some...
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Lets do another light install. This time I will be installing the John Deere pencil beams in the facia panel below the brush guard. Here's what came in that box:
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These are very similiar to the roof mounted lights, however the green dots tell a different story.
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These lights attach to a heavy duty bracket which in turn bolts to the main uprights of the brush guard with carriage bolts
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This wiring harness plugs into the main harness as well via jumper terminalslocated on the last aux light set I just mounted.Once the wires were plugged in,I carefully ran and secured the wiring harnesses and pluged it all together.
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At this point I am lights complete in the front except for converting the headlights to HID. Next for lights is a "scene illumination which will turn on 360 degree floods and then som aft worklights and finally a dash light mod to NVG compatibility
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Some pics of what it looks like at the moment
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A few more:
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Here's some of the parts that are stacking up for the Gator
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There will be a bunch more photos of this ProMark 4500 winch when it gets installed
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OK, back from vacation, so it's time to get back to having fun!
This time I am going to install a rear head guard then follow up with the installation of the John Deere sports seats.
Here's the rack sitting out of the box:
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It's laser cut out of a piece of maybe 11 gage mild steel, or a tad lighter. Anyway to install that you just open the clamps, losen the poly roof, slap in in place and lock it down. Here it is going in:
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The metal grid is sufficient to keep you from being slapped in the back of the knoggin or keep the brain case enclosure group inside where crushing isn't taking place in the event of a rollover. Mostly I wanted it to be able to mount stuff onto it!
Nest is the seats.
Here they are:
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The factory supplied seat only has a 21" back which I think is sufficient for passengers, however I would like more in the front. THe stockers tilt forward exposing the 4 - 13mm head bolts which I quickly removed.
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Here is the sport seat next to the stocker,each mounted in this pic:
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One very pleasant surprise was the ability to move the mount around to achieve 4"-5" more leg room which is important in the space restricted Gator.
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Stock and Sport seat
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And here's the new seats fully installed:
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Here is the approximate location for the factory seats. I plan to build a square steel tubing frame to mount the seats onto and a console in between with a battery under one seat and something under the other (Aux fuel?)
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Here's the knuckleheads already occupying their new homes. I took them for a ride with the seats sliding all over, they didn't seem to mind!
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OK, got the Fox coil overs installed today. They are great quality, high tech lighter and mo-spiffy than the factory units which BTW rode very well themselves.
Here's the stuff in the box:
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As you can see, these things are fully adjustable for rebound and compression and of course ride height (Can anyone say "lift"?)
I started with the left front, then noticed the directions started at the right front. Significant because the picture of where to mount the resevoir mount is all reversed if you're on the wrong side...
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The stock ride height was 31 5/8" to the center of the fender guard. I cranked the shocks some to get me a little over 32"
I neglected to show these pics of the nifty spanner/combo tool and the resevoir mounts that mount to the frame and hold those cool Fox resevoirs out of harms way.
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knocked out the right side, then took some time to paint the rotors and touch up any area that was not factory painted
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I bolted the rear shocks on then lowered it to the ground. I had almost a 1.5" rear lift before doing an aggressive test ride. I loaded up my two biological dead weight units into the bed, then went tearing off across the countryside. In summary, I am amazed! Fear nothing except for the neutral zone and a Romulan bird of prey with these suckers bolted in place. I can generate just about any speed I want cross country and the suspension just soaks it up!
Now I feel the need for speed!!!!!!!!!
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Originally Posted by KensAuto View Post
I really like the seat upgrade. First thing i noticed was how thick the bottom cushions were compared to the stockers, i bet that combined with the shocks will make it ride Caddyish
Ken,
Right you are, the ride is already great, but I will tune it after I add a few more pieces parts and get the thing up to fighting weight.
Still going to add a spare tire, some pioneer equipment, extra battery, winch, roof rack, gas can (s) and a couple widgets. I want to space the wheels out about 1.5" on all four corners, so after I get there, I will start screwing with the shock settings to get it to be able to terrorize the local terrain with reckless abandon!
But those seats do help. And the numbskulls sitting in the back don't weigh enough to need a lot of padding, and besides young bones heal quickly!
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Originally Posted by KensAuto View Post
Can't wait to see those new gas cans installed to give me an idea for my ranger....not to worried about extra fuel (right now i can run 2 days on 9 gal in the stock tank) but i always carry water in the desert...and shovel, high lift, tools, icechest, etcetc
I bought one of everything they had so I could evaluate them on the Gator. I plan to rack out the truck and will have a half dozen or more of them swinging around back there somewhere. Here's a peek at what's coming:
Orange is the first aid, red is gas, OD is storage, white is water, drinking type...
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Yessir, they are good looking, sturdy, and now I can say, easy to install.
So, I just pasted the Roto-Pack first aid kit onto the roof of the Tac-Gator.
Here's some pieces parts of the latch kit:
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I wanted to fit it to the inside of the roof above the passenger's head, sort of out of view (since it's orange) and yet easily accessible. So I held up there and picked a spot, then laid down some tape, and marked through the opening to get a reference,
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My first marks were too close to a seam so I moved everything to the left a tad, checked the fit, then while holding the lock device in place marked the 4 mounting holes locations.
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Next I assembled the base unit and then bolted it to the roof
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Next I assembled the base unit and then bolted it to the roof
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That didn't take too long so I moved on to fabbing up the rear seat mount. The bottom of the seat has 4 bolt holes which used to attach to a steel plate. So me thinks if a steel plate was good enough for the deere, then by golly, its be good enough for me!
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No, Shawn, I did not use 1/2" A400 (or whatever that stuff was) plate. just a piece of steel about as thick as, well, who cares...
After that I took notice of a couple bolts ah' holdin' that bed together. What better place to use as an anchor point me sez! So's I's duz just like the picture:
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I then laid in a piece of box tubing connecting the two sides
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decided to keep the seats mounted low to keep my CG as low as I could get it. I figure as the biological asset consuming units grow, they are only getting heavier. Right now I want to keep them safe in secure. In about a decade I'll want them to be ejected on a hard corner about a thousand miles from here, but for now we'll keep them as snug as a bug in a rug!
I built the frame 1.5" above the floor and fabbed up the aft mount
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I tacked 4 legs of 3/4" square tubing to the plates affixed to the seat's undersides, then tacked them into place on the front and rear frames
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Next came the knucklehead retention system. I went to summit to get some lap belts and shoulder harness made of 2" webbing which I vastly prefer over the way over done 3" stuff you see. Heck I flew most things that can produce lift and they all had 2" shoulder straps, so me thinks, ya know, that must be good enough!
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From Shawn:
Next came the knucklehead retention system. I went to summit to get some lap belts and shoulder harness made of 2" webbing which I vastly prefer over the way over done 3" stuff you see. Heck I flew most things that can produce lift and they all had 2" shoulder straps, so me thinks, ya know, that must be good enough!
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Ah I see part of my security system got into the pic. Here's the other biological units. These eat about the same as the ones which ride around with me, don't wear clothes, seem to like me and never complain.
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Anyway, I'm done for the day, here's the "state of the mess" at the moment!
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Originally Posted by bkleinhans View Post
Lookin tough! It looks like the headache rack could be molle compatible.
How long is it going to be before you start working on some sort of tactical trailer thingy for this little monster?
Remember you mentioned the head guard rack might be MOLLE compatible?? Well, it is! That was a great idea BTW, so you get the credit. I dug around my kit bags and came up with all sorts of pouches and mounted them in there.
Here's part of the selection of stuff now hanging on that rack:
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First to go in were three M4 30 round double mag pouches. Not sure if they will sport double mags, but they sure as heck will fit something!
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Then everything else wnet in. All total I have 3ea. M4 mag pouches, a radio pouch a double pistol mag pouch a small cargo pouch and a medium cargo pouch all neatly woven securely onto that screen. Be fun filling them up with M&M's and er, I meant hard core survival stuff...
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I had just washed the floor so welding on the seat frame was a no-no. Therefore I decided to start mounting the pioneer equipment. First to get tacked on is a shovel. I will carry a shovel, an axe, and a jack as a minimum along with the rest of the recovery gear that I'll throw in when I bolt on the winch.
I started by bending up some steel strap to form two stud base mounts.
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I prefer to drill 1/2" holes in my gear so that it just slides onto a dedicated stud where it is secured with a wing nut that I can get off in a hurry. Here's how it all works:
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I have also learned to soft mount anything that could vibrate onto a rubber base to prevent buzzing from harmonics. You get the shovel vibrating the same frequency as say the tire tread at 35mph and you will no longer be having fun. It's the helicopter thing. Buzzing is always bad!
Here it is temporarily mounted on the back of the poly roof out of the way. The fit was good and my only concern is for the left seat occupant. There is possiblity of head contact to the shovel blade, but the knuckleheads will be wearing OD green Pro-Tec helmets so bang away
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Using my favorite John Deere blitz paint and gun lube, I gave them a coat or two
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I used some kool stainless button head screws, nylon lock nots and large stainless fender washers to mount the dried parts
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So here it is looking all show car pretty. Might have to splash some of that black paint onto the handle of that rescue me now yellow signal device!
I followed up the install with another rubber bisket under a large fender washer and the stainless wing nuts...All done and pretty as a spring rose!
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Got the seats installed today. I welded the frame yesterday and painted it last night. After letting it dry overnight it was ready for assembly this morning. Here's the frame painted
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I bolted on the seats with new hardware, then started on the seat belts
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Here is the seat assembly all put together and ready to drop in the bed. I don't have to drill any holes or make any changes to the stock Gator to run this seat assembly.
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Next I built some custom mounts to bolt the axe to. I started with the front mount. I am using the same technique as I used for the shovel, i.e. drilling a hole in the head to slide over the stud and secure with a wing nut.
Here's the front mount being fabbed.
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And here it is with the axe secured with the wingnut
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The handle mount affixes to the long studs sticking up from the seat mount. It is a simple cradle which will have a layer of rubber pad glued in place to keep the handle from wearing. The handle will be held down in the cradle with a simple bungee chord.
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Here's a shot of the seats and axe mount completed after I painted the axe mounting brackets. I placed the head of the axe behind the seat where it could not possibly injure a passenger, then aligned the handle to run roughly above and inline with the existing bed rail. This serves as an occupant hand rail and helps retain body parts as well while romping in the wilds of the tucky.
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Here's some views of it all put together with the tail gate up
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OK, got a lot done today.
The main project is to install a second battery, a deep cycle unit, which is protected and can be manually isolated from the battery used to start the vehicle. This battery will charge off the main circut, but will be electrically isolated when winching. That way if I kill the battery doing a couple long winches, I will still have a battery to start and drive off.
Before I started on that, however I wanted to get a couple of small things done. First as promised, I painted the bright yellow fiberglass axe and shovel handles OD green.
I also glued some protective rubber over the aft axe handle mount to prevent injury to the passengers
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Here's a partial collection of all the parts going in
They include:
A solenoid
Master battery switch
Inverter
2 gage copper cable
Mega fuses and other stuff
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Next I mounted a nifty 400 watt inverter.
This cool little unit comes from autozone and is the pervect size for the glovebox, which is a waterproof location. Inside the glovebox is also a 12V power receptacle which the supplied cigar lighter adapter fits.
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It also has a 5Vdc USB port for charging some electronics like my I-Phone
Here is where it now resides:
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With 110 VAC now available, mostly for contingiency stuff, on to the battery mount.
I began with exactly that, a battery mount using a heavy duty plastic group 27 battery box. I constructed a frame of 3/4" square steel tubing around it, and I will weld that inbetween the seats in that now dedicated dead space.
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The plan will be to strap the battery in the box and strap that to the frame allowing it to float a little on a rubber pad to prevent fatigue cracking of the plastic.
That is about as far as I needed to go for now while I figure out where everything else is going.
There isn't much real-estate, and I have to get that solemoid, a mega-fuse block, the master battery, and later on some electronics secured and out of the elements. Looking around, there just isn't such a place, so I bit the bullet and decided to create a dedicated electrical control box. There is space between the front seats mounted to the aft firewall. I have just enough room to mount a compact 10" X 5" X 6" deep box.
Since there is no such animal. I decided to just build one. Using high grade aircraft sheet aluminum, I started with forming the back and the sides
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The sides
You may notice a ton of special tools. Clecos are aircraft sheet metal holder together thingies that do a pretty spiffy job, of, well, holding things together. Drill your 18" hole, then using the cleco pliers, insert a cleco. Now no force in nature can remove said parts without those nifty pliers
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Here they are being used as I mark and drill rivet holes every inch
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Here's where the box will be mounted
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Don't worry, it's gonna get pretty cool lookin before the fat lady sings.
Here's more shots of the box being assembled:
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And a couple more:
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That's it for the box assembly tonight, will pick back up on it tomorrow.
While I was cleaning up, I tested out the inverter on a drop light.
That's battery alone powering the 115VAC light.
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Speaking of knuckleheads,
Today I worked on Gator rear defense.
Picked up some Army ACU's and a Ghillie suit.
I'd say Those two have it going on!
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OK, got to spend a couple hours on project Tac-Gator today.
The theme is still electrical system, that is aux electrical system. My exide was all but dead so I took it in for a trade. Unbelievably, I got a 100% refund on an 18 month old battery so I went a little crazy and bought this red top Optima. It has so many cranking amps and such a long reserve that it just blew away every deep cycle heavy marine battery I looked at, so I owned it!
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Back to the electrical box construction. There were a bunch of rivets to pull. I did not buck these, but used steel pop rivets which are more than adequate for this construction. It has taken over a hundred so far and the front cover is not yet built!
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I plan to mount an isolation switch to the outside of the box so that I can manually isolate the battery if I so desire. Looking at it, that switch would have been difficult to access with a flat top, so I added an angled top surface which places that switch in a great position. Here's the angle part coming into existience:
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And here is about where the master battery disconnect switch will fit:
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And here is how it will all fit once the box is finally installed:
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From Ashley:
How about that electrical box build? Pretty impressive there. Have to admit. Why move our jobs to china, when we can move the production to Don's ? Build him a new shop, hire a few labor hands, and before long, Don will have the assembly line re-invented... He would be turning out products left and right, quality parts that is, built right here in the U.S.A. Don could just work for free, save the company money, and donate the proceeds to Wounded Warriors... But, then the libs would step in and tell him he cant donate his money to a good cause, need to give it to the neighbors that sit on the porch, and watch. They are complaining, because they can't feed themselves. Don has to give half his earnings to the neighbors so they can survive as well..... Where was this going anyway??
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You crack me up!
On the donation piece I also like the Fisher house at Fort Sam Houston in San Anton. That is the Army's burn center where IED victums go to recovery. THat process is a very long one, so the Fischer house is actually a bunch of apartments where the families of the injured soldiers and Marines can stay for free. A very noble cause and great facility. I think my biggest and best dream would be if my book or the next one could be movieized where I could get enough money from it to actually build another apartment there for the families of future soldiers. How cool would that be!
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All right knuckleheads, lets get on with more of this ever widening aux electrical power project.
Last I was building the electrical box. Well finally, except for it's front cover, it's done and mounted with a lot of stuff inside all neatly organized.
So I continued to build the thing up, adding a solenoid, some mega fuses, and cables out the yazoo. Here's some build up pics:
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The Mega fuses come in all sizes. I placed a 450amp for the upcoming front winch, a 40 for the lights I know are coming and another 40 for the inverter and something else.
Next I found a place and drilled the holes for the master primary battery disconnect. By closing this switch, I can isolate the big optima to drive the winch and accessories while never tapping power off the vehicle original battery. So if she runsd the optima down surfing the web, charging the phone and drying her hair, I'll still have cranking power to get through my favorite mud hole!
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Next the dual battery solenoid was mounted and I added a 2 gage ground strap with soldered brass ends
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Next the extensive wiring began. I used battery cable especially developed for race car applications, a 2 gage copper, which WILL NOT lose any amperage along it's length. There are grommets installed everywhere, adel clamps, chaf tape and every other concievable item which will hopefully make this box trouble free forever
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The wiring build up continues. There will be a cable coming in from the main vehicle battery which will charge the second battery through the solenoid. There will be another cable coming in from the aux battery which will do all the stuff it will do. Then there will be that big honkin ground to get us to earth as the europeans would fancy saying.
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Mo pics
Aient it prudy?
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I then mounted it to the front of the bed on the steel bulkhead. I drilled 3/8" holes then used 1/4" bolts on rubber sway bar bushings. Remember that helicopter pilot vibration sensitive thing? Well, that's going on here. Don't like things to vibrate in harmony. Harmony = Buzz!
With that all snugged up, we might recall the bed tilts.
We might also remember one of newtons laws of physics. I'm refereing to the one that states two pieces of matter can not ocupy the same space at the same time. OK that meant that if I tilted the bed, either the electrical box would be scraped off, or that pretty head cage thing would get all mangled, or perhaps both. So one had to go. Since I just built the box, I decided it should stay. With the handy cut off wheel. I adjusted the rear piece. then welded stiffners back to it.
These pics actually show when I was pre fitting it without the pretty box condition (PBS) existing.
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Here's where it all sits now. Box is installed, rear head guard is modified.
I need to mount the battery, hook it up, make the primary battery connection and fab up a door for the box and I can call this project complete. Maybe that will happen today, who knows...have laundry yet to do, and trunk or treat candy wrappers the Ranger left laying around to pick up. If you're wondering, yes, that will cost him. Punshiment in this house for little rangers usually involves cleaning a toilet...not a favorite task at all!
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Today, I got it almost finished. At this point the whole thing is installed and working as advertised. I started with fitting the battery frame and box and final welding it in place:
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Optima supplies cool little plastic snap on pieces which made the battery a snug fit in the marine battery box I used. With this done it was time to start connecting cables and running the couple remaining ones.
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From the last pictures you can see I paid a great deal of attention to detail. I welded a bolt to the vehicle frame where I connected the aux battery ground and the ground strap from the electrical control box. I found a switched hot lead for the solenoid and plugged that wire in. I ran a hot to the battery, and onother to the main vehicle battery.
Additionally I canned the Inverter cigar powered connection in favor os hooking it directly to the mega fuse block with some heavy wires. It will have no problem drawing all the current it (I) need.
I did find an interference issue with that access I cut for the control box through the head guard. the Cables were touching when I raised the bed, so I cut another corner off that square access and welded in a 45 degree angle brace. I will finish grind it and pretty it up in the morrow.
That leaves me with building the front cover/lid tomorrow and this project is officially in the bag!
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From Shawn:
Don, have you thought about using a sheet of aluminum and extending it backover the knuckleheads seats in the rear? This way if you were driving in the rain at least some of the water would get thrown back past them? The idea reminds me of the bikini top on my jeep in the summer, kiddos in the back will still get a little water rushing around the sides (they always lean to center to avoid it) but at least it will not be coming down from above. Looks like a pretty simple upgrade with some sheet material and a piece of rubber sandwiched between the plastic top and the aluminum front side........
Would make a good sunblock on hot days as well.
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Hmmmm....
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Shawn wrote:
I think that was your shortest post to date. New record, not even really a word either......
Mark it on the calendar, Don is speechless!
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Nate Wrote:
i dont think don is speechless, i think another 100 ideas just rolled through his head and is now trying to work it all out. lol
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Originally Posted by GreatLakeOffRoad View Post
Close enough for me!
Well. not that you mentioned it
I was working out the roof rack which is going to have some unique differences. I was working out how I would extend tubes from inside the frame of the rack. I was working up something for the back as well. Here's the cool part. Stop the vehicle, pull out the tubes in all directions, then IN THE RACK is a tarp with a cammo net attached! Just roll it out and you have shade, shelter from rain, and some cammo. Then you came up with that bikini top idea for the back end, and it just threw me for a loop!
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I just got finished installing the ProMark 4500 winch.
It's a good install, but not nearly as fast as I was hoping.
Anyway I started thinking I could drop it in from the front, but that was not to be. The winch installs from the backside very much complicating things.
I have had the winch for weeks. That was one of the boxes partially obscuring the red maple tree outside the garage windows. I like that tree, so that motivated me to actually tackle this particuliar project. Here's the winch plate and where it fits:
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So the first big step is to unbolt the front end and pull all that protective stuff and lights out of the way.
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The winch plate goes on first, then the winch bolts to the plate with some bolts going through the bumper and plate. I substituted longer bolts instead of using the too short Pro-Mark supplied fastners.
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Attention to detail always makes the difference between a problematic install and a great one. I used the bobbin on the winch line which will prevent too great of a break-over angle. I also substituted a spring clip for the gaudy cotter pin.
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When it comes to electric wiring and cables and in an off road application, I always pay close attention to routing and chafing points. My favorite technique is to use a rubber donut to secure a cable to adjacent solid mounting points. Here is how I did that with the winch cables:
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You may recall the auxilliary electrical control box I created some time ago. Well, within that box was a 500 amp mega fuse, just waiting for the winch. Normal long winching will surely tax the circut, but only a jammed motor or short will cause that large of a fuse to burn and cut the circuit. I double insulated the power cable which is wired in such a way, that a simple twist of the master battery switch will isolate the winch to the aux, optima batery only.
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I wanted to double fuse that critter so I dropped a 450 amp mega fuse inline and installed it under the factory console. That way, I also have a power source for future electrical growth. IR spot light???
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You may also recall that I welded a stud to the frame when I did the electrical control box. I welded another ground stud to the frame under the hood in the front to provide a good ground for this voltage and amp sucking winch
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The winch can be operated through a rocker switch or by plugging a hand held controller into the circut. Initially, I opted for option one, while retaining the option of also dash mounting the rocker switch at a later time.
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With all the wiring run, the front end reattaches with 2ea. large bolts, a lower skid plate and the two side rub rails. That went pretty fast and before I knew it, it was done! I also added a tree saver strap to the accessory gear stored under the hood. I'm now self recovery ready!
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Turkey day!
Great weather, like mid 70's, sunny and wrenches were all a' gleamin'!
So to burn off some of the calories I consumed, I did some Gator projects, pushing that ball down the field a bit more.
I have that bok of Roto-pack gas, water, and storage cans, so I mounted a couple more.
The first to go in was a general equipment container, olive drab, which I needed to store various things.
The location would be onto the underside of the roof just like the existing first aid kit. THis time, however, I am using locking handles so the stuff in there just doesn't go marching off.
Here's what that looks like:
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The mount boss and locking handle mounts to the base the same as the non locking handles do:
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Actual mounting is a snap. Line it up, drill 4 holes, secure the hardware and add a stiffening plate to the top side and you're done!
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Next up was the mounting of the 3 gal gas can.
I am not allowing convention to drive the train here. I will think out of the box whenever I think I need to and with regard to the gas can mount I did just that.
You would think I should mount it in the bed. But if I did that, then less room for the Rangers and stuff like sleeping bags, 81mm mortars and things like that. So I decided to go outside but try to place it in such a way as to flow into the vehicle lines affording it some protection while not taking up valuable space. I wanted to keep the CG of the thing between the wheels and close to a suspension point so I wouldn't have unusual gyrations with the 20 extra pounds hanging on out there.
Here's where I decided to place it. Passenger side outside of the bed, above the brush bar and slightly forward of the rear wheel. I wanted it to be strong so I started with a sheet of stainless steel and bent it into the piece you see here:
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I mounted it to the roll cage bar with 2ea. 3/8" bolts resting on rubber blocks to isolate vibration and used a U-bolt to capture the round steel tube on top of the truck bed.
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Those were rose welds to keep it all fairly neat, yet super strong. The fuel can fits right on and inclines the gas can intoward the vehicle at the top to follow the contour of the front of the vehicle. I am not done yet, but just this slight tilt should help it clear some wait-a-minute vines.
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I decided to use locking handles on the gas can as well. Since I'll have three keys once I mount the white water cans, I decided to just spray paint the keys the same color as the cans. Green, red and white. Simple enough for a pilot!
I have not finished the installation, owing to some more rubber sway bar bushings which I like to use, various lengths bolts which I could not find in the Don shop, and some other hardware, but this is what it looks like at the minute:
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I still have to rubber line the mount, trim off the U-bolts, and round off the stainless sheet edges, but it's coming right along. Here's a few more shots:
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Since I still had time and no more hardware to complete the gas can mount, I decided to finally decide where to mount the rifle.
Since I am going to use the Gator down on the farm initially and then who knows where afterward, I think the perfect weapon to mount there would be a M4. So that's the gun I used to model the mount up, however I will ensure it also can secure an AK-47.
Here's where I decided to mount it:
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Obviously, I still need to fab up a lower mount onto which, I can attach the gun-butt holder seen in the pic. I think a simple aluminum L bracket with some generous feet to spread the load and some fender washers, and that should get the job done.
The upper mount bolts directly to the factory steel handhold with two stainless U-bolts. I will trim off the ends of the U-bolts soon as I close in on finishing this little project tomorrow.
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The upper gun mount is pretty cool. It has a slot and thick rubber jaws. You need to twist a jaw up or down then press in the weapon. while releasing the jaw. The rubber closes around the barrel, and just like that the gun is pretty secure.
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I'm used to storing guns next to the door. We locked our M4's part inside and part outside in the doorway of the littlebirds I was flying around Baghdad. Worked fine. And if you were getting out, there was that gun right there so you wouldn't forget it.
Here's a couple more shots:
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Same-same with how I secured my weapon in the bird in Baghdad, I like the use of a clip on halo which then is attached to the vehicle with a carabiner. That way if all hades breaks loose, say a rollover at speed for example, the weapon will be retained even if it comes out of the mount and beats your face all up!
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Tomorrow I'll finish with the details and the base mount, but here's how it looks as of beddy-bye time tonight.
And the weapon secured to the vehicle:
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Well I finished up the M4 mount and added some pioneer equipment as well.
First while shopping for some bolts (On black Friday, what was I thinking???) I came across this cool brush clearing chopping device. I immediately saw it in my minds eye mounted to the over-grossed rear head protection.
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I picked up some emergency flares and tucked them away for some future use:
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While I was out at Harbor Freight, I picked up a bunch of cheepo LED lights. I thought I'd slap them all over creation to use as an expedient dome light that you could grab and go with.
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I got a little light happy, trying to reach my goal of having 300+ on the Tac-Gator. They had these cool hat bill clip on LED's which I picked up and slid home in a couple spots. Same thinking as the work/dome lights.
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While there spending my money while we can all still do that, I picked up some things to start outfitting the cargo utility box I installed yesterday. I forgot to put the roll of 100mph tape, but I bought it never the less
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Next I finished the construction of the gas can mount. It's plenty sturdy now. I welded in another brace, a stiffner, and bolted in another U-Bolt. THere is no wiggle in the mount what so ever now, and it is rubber isolated from the rub rail/cage thing. I downsized the hardware to 5/16" since the full gas can will not make it to 30 pounds.
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On to the M4/gun mount. That was a quick fab project where I used (T-5???) Aircraft aluminum. With some quick cuts and a few simple bends I had it. Later I decided to double it so I bent up another piece to lay over the base.
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Those were rivited together on 1" centers
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Next the rubber gun base was screwed into place with some stainless hardware and nylon lock nuts. That assembly was then secured to the fender with the same hardware
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It now holds the rifle securely in place!
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So here's what it all looks like at the moment:
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Originally Posted by GreatLakeOffRoad View Post
Don, have you purchased tires and wheels yet? If not think steel wheels and custom weld on b-locks.........
Nope and for now I'm now 5 wheels deep into the John Deere product line. Now having said that, I could swap these wheels/tires onto the wifes Ga-Tor and free up some room for some steeleis...
You making them (yet?)
Hint: go 15" since the Ga-Tor has a 5 on 4.5" pattern same as you jeepers, the tire size selection would be pretty good. And me thinks you drive over a kia and get your tires all crunched up, find yourself a dead jeep, there should be olenty of them along with the fords to source a tempo spare...just sayin...
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Originally Posted by nmeyer414 View Post
looking mean Don, i like it!
It's gettin an attitude, that's for sure.
So one day I was flying resupply to all those FOBs along MSR1 from Kandahar going out toward Bastion and Lash. I landed in that one on the Wadi about half way, a Canadian FOB me thinks. ANyway while sitting there a Polaris all cammoed out with a M240 mount comes motoring by. Why was I looking at it so closely, you ask? The guys drove under my rotor system, and I was in a AW-139, an aircraft they were not familiar with! They had multi-cam on before anyone had it, so you know who they were, but that little vehicle struck me as pretty cool. So that's where I'm going with this one. More suspension, more lift, more engine, more range, more stuff...Got a lot more stuff to bolt on there!
Here's my actual AW139 based out of KAF, ever see it?
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OK let's get busy on the Gator again.
Previously it was destroyed when multiple layers of dust settled over it rendering it inoperable!
I started it anyway and it roared to life!
Well, even with the dual batteries, the voltage had slowly trickled away requiring a bump from a battery jumper pack.
So, since it is parked in a garage next to a window, it should get some sun and therefore a daily charge, trickle though it may be.
After some research I found some 5 watt solar panels on sale, so I purchased a few. One went on the Case Track loader this morning and the second onto the Gator.
Here it is:
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The panel itself mounts simply by drilling 4 holes which I did into the poly roof. Using #8 stainless screws with nylock nuts I laid the panel over the studs which also had 4 rubber isolation bushings fitted between the panel and the roof.
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I got out a can of the John deere flat black to touch up the shiney parts, and that's when I got a little crazy!
Before it was all said and done, I was looking at this:
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A few more
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Oh Tactigator you were never forgotten !
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Yea, and after reading how Ken ciphered out a turbo on his F250 Polaris, I want to turbo this one!
Think about it, I already have a big auto engine, which ought to respond to turbocharging pretty well.
But that clutch thing is something that is a black art known to but a few...
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Surprised I've just now found this build, pretty cool. Do you still have it? A turbo on this puppy would be sick.
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I probably should have looked before posting haha. Just saw the thread saying it's gone.