scooter99

What kind of truck is it?

I've got one at home, I was going to run my DC 8 mid bass on, but I've not gotten it hooked up yet. If they're built like the 2500's I can't imagine they're anything short of great. I'm hooking up my 1.2500D on them now, but I'm sure i could get the 1600 in there after it's hooked up and see what it's like. Don't know how to, or have the tools to, clamp though. Sorry. BTW, what are those subs rated for wattage wise?

Woops. My bad. Thanks!

I've never seen the temp gauge thing before. How exactly does it work, or can you give me the name of it, and I'll look it up myself. Really sick build man!

Ok thanks. For some reason I thought the full area. So I'll have to redo my design. Glad I asked.

This is great information CJ. Question for you. Do you figure out port size per ported section, or the whole enclosure?

Nice truck! But HOLY HELL! Is that a fire in the background of the last pic!?! Sooooooo when does the build start!?!

Ok good enough.

Why do you say that? Especially about these batteries? I'm going to encase them. So why would that be any different than a battery under the hood which is still exposed to the elements?

How is it pissing money away? Can you explain a bit more? Don't I need power to make power? I've got 5k just for the subs, and that's not including what might go in for the future. Obviously I've got a big mid bass amp, and otherwise that's all the "major" power I have. But if I didn't have the batteries and a good H/O alt at least, wouldn't I be having voltage drop issues? I'm just trying to understand. I also get that snafu could make me stuff, and I'm sure I'll check that out with him, but what would be making me stuff for? That's what I'm trying to figure out. At some point, yes this truck will be a trailer hauler. I plan to get a big travel trailer in the next couple years for my family to travel camp with. Until then it's all audio and future possibilities.

Ok guys, a little update. I got home tonight and took a little bit closer look at the truck and the area around the alt etc. This is what I've found! THERE IS A TON OF SPACE UP ON TOP! First here's a picture of how the belts run. The front belt goes to the alt etc on the left side (passenger side) and the rear belt goes to everything on the right side (driver side). Wider picture of that area. The stock alt is right at the very bottom of this picture, you can see where the belt ends at the bottom, it's rounding the alt pulley. Here's a pic right on the alt, under the big hose on the left. I tried to edit it so I could easily point it out but since photobucket updated I can't seem to figure out how to edit photos! Oh well. Anyway, the stock alt is there under that hose. You can see to the right of it, in front of the distributor cap, that there is a ton of space to put a bracket and a second alt. Better pic of the alt. Here are some measurements of space. This is about how high I can go, approx 13" according to where the top of the air intake tops out at. And after closing the hood, I can see there's probably about 3 - 4" to work with between the hood and the top of those hoses. This one is about the middle of the tensioner, which looks like it needs replacing, and the bracket bolt for the stock alt. This bolt is the sliding bolt for the alt. This is the one, I'm sure you can see by the pic, that if you loosen it, you can loosen the alt and it'll slide down. It's about 9 1/2 to 10" give or take. The piece to the right of the tensioner is the AC compressor. Having issues with that as well but that's another story. So, if this in fact will work and I can get a bracket made or make one (DOES ANYONE WANNA VOLUNTEER TO MAKE A DUAL ALT BRACKET FOR ME PLEASE) then I have a plan in mind. First, the alt in there, I just confirmed tonight, is a 2g alt. I'm not sure the amps of it, but from what I understand by reading its somewhere around the 90 range. No good for me. So the first thing I'll be doing is removing that, and installing a 3G 130 amp oem alt. That will more than suffice for the stock gear. Next my thinking is this and i have no idea if this will work this way, but that's just me trying to think it out and learn on the fly. If I have two alts in there, say the 130 and a higher amperage maybe 300 amp alt. My thought was this: 130 Amp Alt: Stock duties, what the current alt runs The 2 4.600 amplifiers for mid range and highs The 1.1600 amplifier for the mid bass Charging 1 XS Power D6500 Battery in the main battery compartment under the hood. 300 Amp Alt: The 2 1.2500's for subs Charging 2 XS Power D6500's in the custom rack under the cabin. Would that work, am I thinking that out correctly? If so how could I make that work? I'm trying to feel my way through this as best as I can guys. I appreciate any help and suggestions. Thanks!

Thanks Snafu. I've seen your work, and it's stellar! Beautiful stuff man!

Ok guys here's what's going in, you're welcome to check out the threads in my sig as well: Soundstream Rubicon 1.2500D x2 powering 4 DC Audio Lvl 4 12's Soundstream Rubicon 1.1600D powering 2 DC Audio Lvl 2 8's for mid bass Soundstream Rubicon 4.600 x 2 mids and highs front and rear I have currently a pair of XS Power D6500's. Here's my plan. I'm not going to be sitting and demoing this for the most part. It's mainly for me, the big bass, and then the only time the truck will be playing with no motor on, would be camping, and places like softball tournaments and the drive ins. At those places the 12's will be off and the sub or bass would come from the 8's. Ford has this thing called the 3g swap. I was planning on getting one of the alts, cause I can get them relativity cheap from a few different places. It will boost my amperage from 90-95 that I have now stock to 130 and I think there was one for 160 amps. I'm also planning to move the battery from the original spot to under the cabin to make room for a second alternator and bracket. My question is this: A - Do I need a third XS Power D6500, or will the two suffice? B - Is the 130 - 160 amp Alt going to be enough for my applications to take care of the batteries, or do I need to go to a second one? C - If I do add a third battery, should I install a relay so that one of the batteries is used for the motor, and thus never leaving me stranded? Would suck if I was out camping and had dead batteries. D - If the 130 as a second alt isn't enough, does it matter what kind of alt I use for the "system" alt as a secondary alt? If I have the 130 as the stock alt, then the second one, doesn't the wiring have to match up? NOt sure how a secondary, or in some cases 3rd or 4th alts, all hook up to work correctly. Can someone enlighten me? I'm already searching as we speak to find out more. Obviously I'll be doing the Big 3, or 4 or whatever this truck has on it. That will help things out. Thanks guys for any help with this. My plan for a battery rack was going to be some thing like this: http://www.dieselpow...0/photo_10.html However, my thought is I don't like seeing them exposed. So I was going to build a box enclosure with a hinged outer piece that folds down, not with the batteries but there being a frame to hold the batteries, that way I can work on them as needed, if needed. This link shows two, but I was thinking of the 3 D6500's in there. What do you guys think?

Wow that's way easier than I thought it would be. Thanks man! I'll look into the firestone bags, but out of curiosity, can you pm me what you guys would offer for this, if any? Thanks Rodney! I appreciate the help buddy!

That sounds like a good deal. How hard would it be to remove those springs? Air bags like the Firestone ones I've looked at. Seem pretty simple. Thanks for the info.

With bags you'll have to weld too. Without any experience welding I WOULD NOT learn on something like the suspension of the vehicle you haul your family around in not to mention have on the road with other people. Sure it's not rocket science but if you don't know what you're doing and jump into a project like that you're going to kill someone. As for linking it, I mean like a 4 link setup or similar. This completely goes without saying. I'd never jeopardize my families lives like that. No what I mean by learning how to weld is, learn, do some other stuff, and then possibly tackle a project like this down the road when I know how to do it. I'd never try something like this without the knowledge first. But I do appreciate it being said none the less. I know people out there would have no problem doing so! Just not worth it to me to take my families life in danger for something aftermarket. No this is simply a recon mission for myself to know what I would need and what would need to be done so I can get on picking up parts for down the road. I know a couple people around too that could help me weld and assist me and teach me along the way.

Those do look good. I'll have to look further into them and get more info. I'm wondering if the cost is for just the rear, or just front, or if it's both front and rear. Yes, this! This is what i'm looking for. But I'm not sure I want to go to the expense of it. I'll email them and see what they say. They only go down to a 1999 Ford though. I don't really want a lift kit, well really I do but I know my wife wouldn't be happy about it. But the ride comfort is the most important thing. Iv'e been told I have a 4" lift already, but I don't know about that. I don't see anything that would indicate I do, on my truck that is. Well going to coils means I have to weld brackets on etc, cause I don't have coil springs on my truck now, they're only leaf springs, but the bottom line is I don't know how to weld. I shouldn't say that, I'm sure it's not rocket science, I just don't have any experience in welding. For whatever reason I never got into it. Maybe it's a good time to start. But yes Coils would be great!! What do you mean by link it btw?

So I have a 1994 Ford F350 Crew Cab Long bed. It's a big boy truck. I love it, I love how it feels, aside of the loose steering issue that I have. But that's another episode! When you own a big boy truck you deal with big boy things! Here in Northern California our freeways, while changing over now, are all concrete and irritating if you'r not used to driving in one of these trucks. Those with 3/4 or 1 tons know what i'm talking about. After 10 minutes on one of these roads you feel like you've been in a bounce house with 50 wild kids. It's nutz! But I'm used to it. My wife and kids however, not big fans! So in my ever long quest to make them happy, I'm trying to find a way to soften the ride of this beast a bit. I've heard people talk about leaf spring swaps that have a softer feel to them etc. I don't have coil springs on mine, they're all leaf springs. It is a 4wd btw. But I'm not sure about that. Maybe a combination of things will help, that being one of them. What I'm wondering is, if air bags all the way around will help soften the ride at all? I'm sure this would have to be a 100% custom set up, and frankly while I'm pretty damn handy, I'm a general contractor and good with tools and mechanical things, I know nothing really, to say I have no experience is more like it, about this department. So first the question, will bags help my ride? Second, what would I need to make this happen? I'm not trying to make it go up and down and "sit rail" or anything like that. 99% of the time, it will be set in one spot and left there. Not sure if that matters or not. Just thought I'd throw it out there. This is not a daily driver, btw, it's our families "fun truck" that we take camping and stuff like that. I appreciate anyone's help and look forward to what everyone has to offer on this! Thanks!

Quick question, that I'm thinking about. Someone brought up sealing the sealed from the ported sections under the plexi. I know there are ways to do it, and I'm not 100% worried about that. However, my wonder is the flex possibilities. Is the 3/4" acrylic/plexi going to be stronger than wood or should I try and do a dual 3/4" panel to stiffen it up?

There are ways to seal it all up. I'm not the first person to do plexi over a 4th order. However, I did think about doing dual sheets to make it 1 1/2" instead of 3/4" thick.

This is what's going in my 94 Ford F350 Crew Cab, with 4 DC Audio Lvl 4 12's. I have a tool box, no shell like you, so I wanted to confine everything in there. The 4th order allows me to cut minimal out of the cab and bed which is what I wanted. A few designs I drew up on sketch up. This is the original design, with straight baffles. The stand alone piece that's on the back side about 3 inches away is the panel that will go on the interior wall for the amps. Don't know if that makes sense. Then I did another one angling the baffles so the subs don't face each other. Subs will be inverted to the ported section (cones to the sealed section). With the plexi window on top so when you open the tool box you can see the sexy ass subs! Build thread is in my sig if you're interested. Just suggestions, how I'm doing it anyway.

Man, just got my 2 XS D6500's and the buss bars from the FedEx DUDE! Thanks bro! everything in outstanding condition! Can't wait to get these boys installed!

Well this is my camping vehicle among other things that I do with it, so the bed has to be accessible easily. The truck box doesn't take up that much room, essentially makes it a standard bed truck. So I really need to keep it contained in there. Is there something specific you don't like about the design? Old one or new one? It's pretty heavy gauge steel. I'd honestly say it's about 3/16 to 1/4" thick. Ok maybe not 1/4" but it's a toughly built box. I'd hate to cut a side off, BUT I'll DO IT DAMN IT! I'm just being silly now! Sorry guys, I'm in love with my design and I want it to work! Thats probably not steel, im guessing aluminum. Goodluck though man you seem excited about it so im all for it. You're actually probably right, aluminum, but either way it's pretty thick. Obviously aluminum isn't as strong as steel but it is still pretty strong. I am excited about this. I hope it works out.