im finishing up a build on my 94 ext pickup...arbs front & rear/sky bumper & winch/3"trail gear SAS/dirty 30's/35's/on board air & tank/aux deep cycle battery for aux components.

so ive been contemplating where to mount the arb comp. tank & battery.
I can no longer use my 31 tire spare mount...so just thought of putting it all in the same space as the spare and using the spare tire cable lift to mount it all under my bed.

I could use the lift to lower it and work on it/clean it, and it seems that it would fit perfect if i make it suck up under the bed just like the tire...maybe even cut out the center of the rim to use as the original mount to a fabbed box.

Im not that happy with running the battery cable from the alt to the aux battery in back, so am wondering what other yota-techers think. I havnt yet laid out the schematics of pressure gauges to arb solenoids and hoses as I havent been sure what I want to do yet so im throwing this out there for some input




PS: i dont want to take up any bed/cab space for any of this, and I want to keep dust out of it all. the eng. comp seems like it gets plenty of dust, and i hear that it is smart to put the arb solenoids somewhere where they dont get a lot dust or where you can clean them out easy if they do.

any inputs or pointing and laughing greatly appreciated.

 

oh, and that is not the battery i will be using, i just threw the biggest one on there to see how it all fit.

 

sounds like an interesting and innovative option. just have to make sure that the cables and hoses will reach without interfering and won't droop down and get caught on anything you drive over.
But I'm not sure you'll be keeping dust away from anything.

 

It gets really dusty under there too. I would say more so than the engine compartment. Plus mud and water get up under the bed.....

 

yes, this is what i was thinking.

thinking i could put extra hose in the compartment coming out through a foamed fitting to let it pull out as it drops, and when i put it up just stuff it back in. the thing that im pondering is how to make it breath well for the pump, and get some circulation to not get too hot for the battery, but not let in excessive dust and puddle spray.

 

maybe even put a few filtered by cloth openings around the outside, and make it so it seals on the top when you pull it up tight?

 

i hope u dont go mudding...

 

if you have a welder and a torch you could chop a diesel rim and seal the outside edge with foam, but i still think the mud and water would defeat almost anything you do.

 

... and the corrosive gasses from the battery would eat up things from the inside out.

 

"i hope u dont go mudding..."

and if i were, what would be the most creative way to keep it out...

im right there with you...it seems kinda ridiculous.

just trying to think outside the toolbox/eng. comp. idea.
if it was a great way to do it easy, everyone else would have already done it. but...if you have a pickup with no use for the spare tire area there is so much wasted space under there (and lack of weight)... so i figure a good shared brainstorm might result in something better than my oakie-rigged engineering.

one way or another, i will make it happen, it might be lame-tarded, i just want to consult the jury before judgement.

 

"... and the corrosive gasses from the battery would eat up things from the inside out."

i didnt know the bat let off gas. so the bat would have to have a divide from the pump/tank area...

 

you could always frame in the area between you wheel well and tailgate in the bed. that way you could keep the batt seperate. and it'd look pretty clean.

 

Never seen that fluffy white stuff around the battery terminals? What do you think causes that?

 

AAAACtually you can get a battery for a saturn ion, there designed to be put in the trunk so they have tubes hooked up for the vents, so you can vent the gasses out, and i think the idea would be kinda cool, and you would be throwin an extra 50-60 pounds back there that is well needed, ide make a sealed box with breathers for the bat, and the compressor

 

ive been tooling the idea around some more and looking at all the space and think I might frame in an old tool bed box (shortened of course) under my bed area & accessible from the bed. I can separate the battery and even have extra space for tools/maybe even a high lift. ill put in some vent tubes that come up and end under the lip that surrounds the bed to keep water out. im still working on my front end sas havnt put anything down on paper yet so keep the ideas rolling, and ill be sure to post some pics in my build thread soon to come.

thanks for the input.

 

i put my compressor right next to the brake booster, tight fit, but it doesnt take up any space that wasnt already occupied.

 

The guys on the F250 forums have been putting the compressors and batteries under their trucks with no problems at all. No matter how much you try to waterproof it, in a deep water crossing or mud pit if it goes under you're buying a new compressor though. I would be concerned with heat too. If the ARB compressor is anything like my viair, it gets so hot when it runs that if you even brush up against it for a second it makes burn marks instantly. It probably runs in the 180 degree range when it's running. It's unreal...

That said, I have my tank and the compressor in my tool box and they've been fine for the last few years there. Maybe you could just put the battery and the tank under the truck, and then fab up a smaller, vented box for the compressor to go in the bed...

 

Put the air tank and battery wherever, but you want to protect the compressor from the elements. On a pickup the easiest mounting locations are in a toolbox or the engine bay or a combination of both.

 

Drop the factory fuel tank and toss it. Buy an aux tank from Downey and put it where the spare tire hangs and plumb it in. Then build a battery/air tank box that will go where the factory tank was and use the factory fuel tank plate for some added armor. Put the compressor where the battery used to be in the engine compartment.


Problems solved.


Just noticed you were adding a battery so you might have to build the box big enough for two.

 

I think that the air pump can go into one of the storage boxes, but the tank i suggest posting the size i.e. length and width. I would do the same except that it would freeze the pump from moisture and the heated cab.