The Mega Hauler

[77GreenMachine]

Do a quick Google search and you’ll find tons of reasons not to travel with your fridge running on propane. It’s not designed to run while in motion. The refrigeration cycle itself is designed to only be run when sitting on level ground. I know lots of people do it. Just educate yourself on the risks.

Makes sense, there is an open flame there. For no longer than the drive is I’ll just turn it off till I get there

 

[CLRracer]

Do a quick Google search and you’ll find tons of reasons not to travel with your fridge running on propane. It’s not designed to run while in motion. The refrigeration cycle itself is designed to only be run when sitting on level ground. I know lots of people do it. Just educate yourself on the risks.

I've seen arguments for both, but FWIW the owners manual for my parents RV fridge says it can be used while in motion, and the dealer confirmed, so they do .

Duane

 

[BigSouth]

I've seen arguments for both, but FWIW the owners manual for my parents RV fridge says it can be used while in motion, and the dealer confirmed, so they do .

Duane

Agreed. Something about within 3 degrees of level…. Propane should stop flowing if the pilot goes out…. My only comment was to educate themselves and act accordingly. Accidents happen and there are usually multiple contributing factors. I’m just overly cautious and try to remove as many of those factors as I can. In my case, it’s a Class C motor home and my entire family is sharing that space. I might would think differently if it were a travel trailer.

 

[NCJeeplover]

Makes sense, there is an open flame there. For no longer than the drive is I’ll just turn it off till I get there

I've always done this and never had a problem. Even on long 5 hour trips. That fridge, if pre cooled, stays cold for a pretty long time. I have been known to run the generator going down the road for 30min to an hour just to cool it down again.

For this reason (not to mention I've never been impressed with the cooling capability of the propane on a fridge) I'm just installing an electric fridge in my enclosed instead of a 2 way.

 

[BigSouth]

I've never been impressed with the cooling capability of the propane on a fridge

I’ve only owned 2 of the 3 way fridges and on both, propane is the absolute coldest. What hasn’t impressed you?

 

[NCJeeplover]

I’ve only owned 2 of the 3 way fridges and on both, propane is the absolute coldest. What hasn’t impressed you?

If you would precool it would be fine, but when you went to the grocery store and filled the fridge up it would take hours to recover if it ever did. It also didn't work much better on 110. Sometimes it wouldn't recover until dark, if it did.

 

[BigSouth]

If you would precool it would be fine, but when you went to the grocery store and filled the fridge up it would take hours to recover if it ever did. It also didn't work much better on 110. Sometimes it wouldn't recover until dark, if it did.

I see. Sounds like typical RV Fridge 101. I always precool about 2 days in advance. The items are already cold when I put them in the fridge. Order of preference:
12V = cold
110V = colder
Propane = coldest

 

[NCJeeplover]

The items are already cold when I put them in the fridge.

This works out great till your on a week trip and have to restock the fridge. Then everything from the store is warm. It got so bad I put all drinks in a cooler just to keep them out of the fridge and keep the door from opening frequently.

 

[shawn]

Try filling the fridge at your house up with warm stuff and then open the door every ten minutes to see if it's cold yet.

 

[NCJeeplover]

Try filling the fridge at your house up with warm stuff and then open the door every ten minutes to see if it's cold yet.

I have 3 kids all above the age of 10, this exact thing happens weekly at my house and I have no problems. Hell, it may happen several times a week.

I spend more on grocery's than my mortgage every month and alot of those go in the fridge, the freezer and garage fridge.

 

[77GreenMachine]

Well I got home today from the trip to Kairos. Thursday heading up was pretty stressful. The truck was getting to 217-220° just in high point trying to maintain 65ish. I was really stressing over it wondering “if it’s this hot now, what’s it gonna do on Fancy Gap and the rest of the hills on 77?”

I pushed on and just went slower than I hoped I’d have to and it would not get hot. So I then climbed Fancy Gap at a whopping 37mph, but the truck held 224° and good trans temp so it all worked out. It was working hard, and my IATs with 123° at that time too. I checked the coolant over the weekend and added less than half a gallon, no big deal.

We enjoyed ourselves so freakin much all weekend just relaxing that we even decided to stay an extra day. So after reading about fan clutches, cleaning the radiator, thermostats, water pump, auxillary radiators and more, I’d decided I’d start with a good cooling stack cleaning and a fan clutch when I got home. But it was like a whole different truck coming home today. No issues, climbed the hills much better and the temps were similar, however I was driving it without caring as much after realizing that 220°-225° was as high as it would go and it was only on long climbs. Even small hills it would hit 217-219 but it would just hang out there for the most part and go back down. I could actually hear the fan really engage at 220 and it would start going down even while still climbing a grade. So after I was used to this and accepted it as “normal” it was fine and the truck was quite enjoyable to drive.
I got 8.3mpg and I’m okay with that. A lot of that mileage calculated was on the hills of 77.

I also had to learn how to drive it, as I was treating it like a gas truck and just don’t pull the same. Figuring that out helped a lot.

I also learned I cannot turn the truck as sharp as I thought, as I now have a huge hole in my camper

All in all, epic trip and I’m happy with the truck. It’s heading to @Chris_Keziah shop for a custom headache rack this week. After that the #1 focus is fuel capacity. I would much rather have a 500-600 mile range than deal with fueling up every 175 miles.

I also weighed the whole setup which was 23,100

 

[jeepinmatt]

It’s heading to @Chris_Keziah shop for a custom headache rack this week.

While you're at it, extend the tongue on your camper.

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

While you're at it, extend the tongue on your camper.

I was gonna say cut the corners on the bed and make what ever chang s needed for loading. Anything but a wedge enclosed is gonna be tight from the sound of it. Or investigate the hitch point on the rear of the truck a little.

Or both.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

I was gonna say cut the corners on the bed and make what ever chang s needed for loading. Anything but a wedge enclosed is gonna be tight from the sound of it. Or investigate the hitch point on the rear of the truck a little.

Or both.

This is what I was thinking too.

as far as temps go, and what you are talking about, I wonder if it might be running slightly lean? That will cause it to run hotter. If you felt you needed to add cooling capacity, and engine oil cooler might be a good option.

 

[Caver Dave]

I also learned I cannot turn the truck as sharp as I thought, as I now have a huge hole in my camper

dayum bro, sorry to hear that!

as far as temps go, and what you are talking about, I wonder if it might be running slightly lean? That will cause it to run hotter.

Didn't think a Duramax (or other comp-controlled diesel) would run "lean"... at least any leaner than it took to power it?

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

dayum bro, sorry to hear that!

Didn't think a Duramax (or other comp-controlled diesel) would run "lean"... at least any leaner than it took to power it?

From the factory most of them (diesels) are programmed to run a little lean to help with emissions. In alot of cases adding fuel can help to make the engine run more efficient, and increase power, economy, EGTs, etc.

 

[77GreenMachine]

I will consider a light tow tune on the truck later on down the road. But I don’t want just a canned tune or something, so it’s pretty expensive. At moment it’s getting the job done so I can live with it. I might consider the Hayden severe duty fan clutch. Many say it makes a world of difference. However it engages at 175° do that’s basically all the time. I accidentally put the same clutch on my 8.1 truck, and while it does in fact keep everything significant cooler, it robbed some power and dropped me down 2mpg. I was only getting 8 to start with so that hurts.

 

[LBarr2002]

I will consider a light tow tune on the truck later on down the road. But I don’t want just a canned tune or something, so it’s pretty expensive. At moment it’s getting the job done so I can live with it. I might consider the Hayden severe duty fan clutch. Many say it makes a world of difference. However it engages at 175° do that’s basically all the time. I accidentally put the same clutch on my 8.1 truck, and while it does in fact keep everything significant cooler, it robbed some power and dropped me down 2mpg. I was only getting 8 to start with so that hurts.

Not sure if it makes much difference that it's a 5500 vs 2500 as far as the tune goes, but the hypertech max energy tow tune woke up my LB7 and increased fuel mileage when unloaded.

 

[skyhighZJ]

So someone correct me if I’m wrong but a hot situation in a diesel has always been too much fuel and not enough turbo to blow it out the pipe compared to a gas motor where not enough fuel (gas) was a lean/ hot situation. ??

 

[77GreenMachine]

Not sure if it makes much difference that it's a 5500 vs 2500 as far as the tune goes, but the hypertech max energy tow tune woke up my LB7 and increased fuel mileage when unloaded.

Everything I’ve read says I have to have a tune specific for a Kodiak/Topkick as it is a little different.

So someone correct me if I’m wrong but a hot situation in a diesel has always been too much fuel and not enough turbo to blow it out the pipe compared to a gas motor where not enough fuel (gas) was a lean/ hot situation. ??

I really have no idea myself, but I did read that low boost can cause it to run hot, and going up I was easing the throttle trying to keep it cool. After reading that about the boost I drove it different coming home and kept the boost up and it did seem to do much better.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

This is what I was thinking too.

as far as temps go, and what you are talking about, I wonder if it might be running slightly lean? That will cause it to run hotter. If you felt you needed to add cooling capacity, and engine oil cooler might be a good option.

Stoichiometric for a diesel is quite different. Then can and do run "leaner", but it can't run TOO lean.

Less fuel means less heat. More fuel, more heat. Opposite of a gas setup.

It's already got an engine oil cooler, but I did notice a difference when I swapped over to a 2020 L5P cooler. It's twice the size of an LB7 cooler. 20 plates vs 10. Not to mention, the entire lower end of basically any engine is oil cooled, if you think about it.

Once you get an EGT probe on it and (if) it were to ever have an oil temp gauge, you'd notice that higher RPMs will generally result in lower EGT, but higher oil temp/lower pressure. This is dependent on engine load, to a point.

FWIW, @77GreenMachine those are pretty normal coolant temps. The Kodiak/Top Kick trucks have a different fan clutch than the pickups already. I tried one on my truck and, Gooood Lord, was it serious. I wound up sticking with the Hayden 2886. Tighter than stock, but didn't sound like a turbo prop airplane or suck down all my fuel. Yours could just need to be replaced.

Another thing you can do is a larger transmission cooler. I'm not sure if those are the same coolers and routing as the pickups, but if so, it'll help. If it runs through the side tank on the radiator, it'll basically give you another place to shed heat from the cooling system. I also noticed a solid 30 degree drop in trans temps.

So, Hayden 2886 fan clutch, PPE transmission cooler, and a 2020 L5P oil cooler is my whole cooling system setup. The highest I've ever seen my coolant temp was 197 degrees headed uphill in West Virginia.


Also...clean the cooling stack. You'd be surprised at how much crap gets caught between the transmission cooler, condensor, intercooler, and radiator. If there's an area of any of the coolers you can't see without removing it, that's probably where it has the most crap caught up in it!

 

[77GreenMachine]

I still have to touch up some paint and install the lights, there will be red/amber/clear up in the tops. Big thanks to @Chris_Keziah for knocking this out. @Joe J. and @adamk for the help, and @CasterTroy didn't waste an opportunity to paint something black.
The bed was not flat, it was a rough project with some challenges. Getting the bedliner off sucked. Then there were some serious gaps to weld. Chris got it knocked out though. I have bought the lights already but not sure when I’ll get them done with this heat

I also plan to strip the bedliner down the sides of the bed, and on the vertical surface of the sides. It will look better, and match, plus I have 3/4” round amber flush mount lights to space evenly down the side. I’ll paint up the frame and everything at that time too.

I’m looking for an auxiliary tank to go behind the rack, and will have one race can holder on each side for the Jeeps fuel. I decided to go that route vs a saddle tank for the simplicity of gravity feeding it to my main tank.

 

[R Q]

That's a headboard, not a headache rack. I like it! Glad to see friends working together.

 

[doc]

Looking good!!

 

[77GreenMachine]

Scooped up a killer a deal on a 37 gallon aluminum auxiliary tank today. It’s not the shape I wanted but I couldn’t turn down the price. Letting it gravity feed the main tank should give me about a 400 mile range.