Beautiful build- I'd do it the same way. Is the TDI a relatively trouble-free motor? I know most of us want a diesel for the simple electronics and the fuel mileage but I never hear about actual reliability...

Compared to the Rover V8 it's a fantastic motor. Compared to a Mercedes Benz diesel it's an average motor. It's the motor that most of the rest of the world got in the Range Rover though, and this will let me keep it a Land Rover instead of a hybrid.

What year is your rover?

1989

Looking good Craig! I am working on the under hood wiring myself. Great post, were did you get your mil spec terminal lugs? Local?

I picked mine up from NAPA in Mt. Vernon, but they had to get them from another store. He didn't want to order a box of them since they come in boxes of 5 (negative) and 5 (positive) and he didn't figure he'd be able to resell them. All the parts are listed along with hyper links in the blog post. I'm not sure if you can order them online or not. I did find later that there are a number of places that make these terminals according to mil-spec.

It's coming along, Craig. I really like that welded hold down. I may have to get a couple of those.

That looks like it will be a stout set up. Nice work guys!

Looking good!

The goals of this project changed. I no longer aim to be able to carry Jerry cans. The shorter arm will make it easier to open when parallel parked in the city with another car behind me. It is designed stout enough to carry the tire, a tire cover w/ recovery gear, and a bike rack/bicycles.

The jerry cans will either go on the floor in the back seat or on the roof rack until I can install a second gas tank under the truck. Water isn't as necessary to bring in the PNW as there are plenty of water sources around when exploring in the mountains.

Craig

you could also do an opposing swing arm on the other side to handle the jerry can. short swing arm on the left and short swing arm on the right, each sticking out about the same as the tailgate being down. Just a thought.

Craig I haven't had any issues with my swing out arms being too long..... fyi

I considered that. It would need to be removable, as opening two swing outs would get old if I had to do it everything I picked up groceries. At the end of the day, I just don't use jerry cans enough to justify a permanent mount. I'm trying to avoid the extra crap I never used on my last truck. Jerry cans, hi-lift, and who knows what else. :)

Thx ken. Mike Oldani found his single arm design to be a pita. Yours is a dual design, right?

Yeah I have two arms that clasp in the center with one latch. When I am not on a trip I leave the can arm in the garage so I don't carry extra unneeded weight and the whole opening both is a PITA.

http://northwestoverlandsociety.org/Discussions/tabid/166/forumid/31/postid/62970/view/topic/Default.aspx

You probably knew where this was but ... here ya go anyway

Awesome, Craig. Really sweet write up on this. Still seems like the Kenwood is the way to go if one is going to do APRS and pass it through to some form of application sitting on your carputer. Be sure to post up some comments and pics on the final install in your RRC.
Dustin

The TT4 makes for a cleaner install in the end, enables tracking w/o a computer, and has additional functionality. In many ways it is superior to the Kenwood.

The benefit of the Kenwood is that it is turnkey. APRS made super easy. For that reason alone, it is why I recommend it. It is bulkier, requires the computer to be running, and doesn't allow APRS messaging.

In the end, it depends on what you want from the system and how involved you want to get with the installation.

Yep, I'll definitely take pics and post up the results of the final installation.

I am a big fan of the TinyTrak but wasn't aware of the support for a 2nd serial port in the TT4. Awesome!