So.... don't beat me up on vehicle choice as i am new to trucks in general, but here is my build thread for a 2014 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab with 5.8ft bed (wish the damn bed was bigger )
My main uses are driving my dog around with me, camping trips, and doing a cross country trip from MA to Cali across the norther part of the US then follow the southern part home.
Here are some pics of my current build progress.
I have removed the back seats and put in a carpeted subfloor made from 1/2" plywood with some supports underneath. Then i bought some hog panel from tractor supply and made a dog crate that fits behind my seat. On the other side of this, i will be installing a dometic fridge (CF50) and later an inverter.
I happened to have an empty battery tray in the engine bay of my truck so i got another group 48 battery from sears (die hard AGM) and and in the process of hooking that up to an isolator to charge when the truck is running, but not draw from my main battery when its off. This will power the fridge and anything else i decide to hookup in the cab. Sears markets this battery as "deep cycle" but i know its not a true deep cycle or the best battery for this application. It's got a 2 or 3 year warranty so not too worried about abusing it, i will just stop at a sears and pop a new one in along the way until i have money and time to design a better setup.
Using 0/1 gauge wire between the batteries, and running 4 gauge into the cab to power distribution blocks that have 4x 8 gauge terminals for me to add things.
Getting a cab height cap installed tomorrow (another thing i wish was bigger, but that damn short bed limits my cap options). Once this is on i can start building a bed and storage in the back bed. Already have a 2" gel infused memory foam mattress topper i plan to use back there with some teton sports sleeping pads underneath. My cap also has a roof rack on it so thinking about adding a solar panel up there and more batteries in the bed.
My main uses are driving my dog around with me, camping trips, and doing a cross country trip from MA to Cali across the norther part of the US then follow the southern part home.
Here are some pics of my current build progress.
I have removed the back seats and put in a carpeted subfloor made from 1/2" plywood with some supports underneath. Then i bought some hog panel from tractor supply and made a dog crate that fits behind my seat. On the other side of this, i will be installing a dometic fridge (CF50) and later an inverter.
I happened to have an empty battery tray in the engine bay of my truck so i got another group 48 battery from sears (die hard AGM) and and in the process of hooking that up to an isolator to charge when the truck is running, but not draw from my main battery when its off. This will power the fridge and anything else i decide to hookup in the cab. Sears markets this battery as "deep cycle" but i know its not a true deep cycle or the best battery for this application. It's got a 2 or 3 year warranty so not too worried about abusing it, i will just stop at a sears and pop a new one in along the way until i have money and time to design a better setup.
Using 0/1 gauge wire between the batteries, and running 4 gauge into the cab to power distribution blocks that have 4x 8 gauge terminals for me to add things.
Getting a cab height cap installed tomorrow (another thing i wish was bigger, but that damn short bed limits my cap options). Once this is on i can start building a bed and storage in the back bed. Already have a 2" gel infused memory foam mattress topper i plan to use back there with some teton sports sleeping pads underneath. My cap also has a roof rack on it so thinking about adding a solar panel up there and more batteries in the bed.
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