The Camano Experience

[Gary Lewis]

The starting battery is a 31M-PC2150 with CCA's of 1150, and the auxiliary battery is a 34M-PC1500 with CCA's of 850.  

[kramttocs]

Phew. Now that is one impressive starting battery.

Got a couple deliveries today. A guy at work bought a 96 that had these hooks on the bed and I would always tell him that one day they'd disappear. Was killing time on eBay one night and came across a nos set.

They may not be all that practical and will likely go back in the box for a later date but were one of those wishlist items.

The other thing that came in was the lock for my in bed spare time. Have all the parts now, just need to install it.

[1986F150Six]

Cool, Scott!

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, the battery is impressive - especially when you are lifting it into or out of the truck.  Imagine my dismay when I was showing the grandtwins what those things protruding from the radiator support are - the turn signals.  I pulled the headlight switch to On and the marker lights didn't come on.  On no!  There's no way my 72 year old hands were going to get back there w/o pulling the batteries.  Boy was I happy that a 9 year old has small enough hands to get behind the batteries and change out the bulbs!

Anyway, I really like those tie down hooks.  But, like you, have wondered how practical they are.  Will be looking for a report on them.  

[kramttocs]

Haha I can imagine. Even the much smaller 34 has some heft to it.

The hooks have a max 400lbs limit on them but I don't know if that is straight up or towards the center of the bed.

I figure using them for stretch netting to hold stuff down that way is probably the extent of what I'll do.

[FuzzFace2]

What are the hooks from and do they sit flush to the top of the bed rail?

I think the hooks along with one of them spider type load cover for an open bed.
I have given some thought of getting one of them covers but I don't have any hooks and don't know if I want to break up the bed lines by adding them.

I do have 4 "loops" that came on the truck that fit in the pockets and you turn the loop that expands a rubber to hold them in place.
But there are times when taking the trash that I would like to cover the load so it does not blow out.
Dave ----

[kramttocs]

Dave - the picture above is a little hard to see but is that like the spider cover?
I think I should have ordered the next size up though.

The hooks are Ford and if I were to make a complete guess purely based on my buddies truck, they were an option for Eddie Bauer trucks.

Part number F5TJ 9927740 BA

They aren't entirely flush but not bad.




I've seen those rubber ones as well as a kind with loops that pull up when needed or are recessed when not.

[FuzzFace2]

kramttocs wrote

Dave - the picture above is a little hard to see but is that like the spider cover?
I think I should have ordered the next size up though.

The hooks are Ford and if I were to make a complete guess purely based on my buddies truck, they were an option for Eddie Bauer trucks.

Part number F5TJ 9927740 BA

They aren't entirely flush but not bad.




I've seen those rubber ones as well as a kind with loops that pull up when needed or are recessed when not.

Yes that "spider cover", I saw your post just after I posted mine.
Being my truck is a short bed and only 2 pockets I would not need a large spider cover.

I do like them hooks and they are pretty close to flush.
My loops do not move they are up all the time, guess better than nothing.
I will have to keep an eye open for more hooks like them.
Dave ----

[grumpin]

Yes, I like those. I have the ones that are up like Dave mentioned.

I use them for dump runs. Guess I have a garbage truck too!

[Rembrant]

Love those flush mounted hooks in the stake pockets...and that spacious shop...

[kramttocs]

Did some 3d printing work this weekend that I'd been putting off.
Finally finished the radio bezel trim ring to go around the head unit. Tried to make it look as close to the factory design as possible.



Then worked out the ring to go around the aux battery so the stock holddown would fit it.





Did find out that I have the wrong core support bracket though so on the lookout for the right one.

[grumpin]

That’s slick Scott, looking good!

Bummer about that support.

[Gary Lewis]

Those trim pieces are great, Scott.  They sure seem to have come out nice and smooth.  And that battery trim ring is a problem solver as I ran into that same problem - the hold downs won't fit.

On the bracket, I'm pretty sure I don't have a spare, but I'll check in the morning.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Is it possible to make the slots a little longer so the brace can cock over to the side?

Or would that cause the front to hit somewhere?
Sorry if this is a dumb question.   I don't have dual batteries.

[kramttocs]

Thanks guys.

Jim - you are right, that could absolutely be done. Unfortunately the crookedness would drive me crazy

[ArdWrknTrk]

But the diagonal of the battery hold down doesn't bother you at all....

Maybe a couple of riv-nuts in the radiator support?
You wouldn't see them under the bracket.
But you couldn't sleep at night knowing they were there!  😉

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

But the diagonal of the battery hold down doesn't bother you at all....

I wasn't going to mention it, but that was one of the reasons I wasn't too upset that I thought I needed to make my battery hold downs.  That angled hold down just bugged me.

Sorry, Scott.  

[kramttocs]

Missed the angled hold down jab a month ago
I think because it's factory, I am ok with it.


Got to work on the truck some this week. As seen earlier in this thread, I am using an Eaton ssVEC relay/fuse module on the passenger inner fender to take care of the various hot triggered relays (blower, choke, highs, lows, driving, backup camera, etc). And I am sure I've said it before but am a big fan of these little boxes.

When I made the platform on the drivers inner fender I left a spot open for another box alongside the dsII and the large fuse box thinking that someday I'd need one. Well, with the addition of the security system, that came sooner than expected.

The problem was that the 000 box (see differences here) can either be triggered by 12v or ground but not both. I needed some ground triggered relays but didn't want all 8 of them to be that. Called up Eaton back in May and spoke to the guy that designed these, telling him that I really needed a mix of 4/4. He told me they didn't have that but they did have a new 004 box that had 6 linked relays and 2 free relays. Couldn't complain about that. Due to the pandemic though the factories were shut down so it was unknown when they'd ship them. Plus no supplier knew about them so no orders were placed yet. Called CCI and after they did some checking on it they allowed me to place an order for one although the ship date was still unknown. CCI was great to work with especially since something like 12 units was the minimum order and I only needed 1
Fast forward a few months and a box shows up with the new 004 unit.
Installed it this evening but haven't hooked any accessories to it yet. The 6 linked ones will be ground triggered with two of those already spoken for as well as the two free ones.

[Gary Lewis]

I wondered why that 004 box had the "uncommitted relays".  Now I see.  Cool!

And, I like those boxes.  It is great that they have connectors on them as opposed to the Ford boxes.  I guess I should have added some connectors to the Ford box I used to make it removable.

But, CCI?  Have you provided a link to them?  Somehow we need to capture this info for future reference.

[kramttocs]

Hey Gary. I am torn between these and the Ford block you used. Both have pros that are appealing.

Connector Concepts Inc. They were very pleasant to work with so would recommend.
I've also purchased from Waytek Wire and really like their selection but haven't worked with anyone there on a personal level. I'll update that Resources thread with mention of both of them as options for those interested.

You and I have talked about this and I'll purposefully keep it vague for now but an uncommitted relay comes in handy for security purposes :). So having that but still having it contained in the box is nice.
A scenario that's a non-issue with your Ford box (definite pro there).