[A/S] B&M and Overlander goodies

[Stan Nicholson <stan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In response to David Crook from last Tuesday --

We just returned from several days at a very pleasant family reunion 
at an RV park - one of the real joys of having such wonderful toys.

The B&M aluminum pan I put on our Suburban is indeed from the same 
company that you bought a Hydro-stick from in 1976, and I bought a 
Trans-Go kit from in 1970. I was concerned about protecting the trans 
from heat load as much as reasonably possible, but Step 1 was finding 
out the operating temp.  Couldn't do that without paying to have a 
fitting brazed into the steel original pan.  The B&M pan has drain 
plug, but adapters can be an issue (I'm still seeking a solution for 
putting a sending unit in the engine oil pan - dropping it apparently 
involves dropping much of the front differential, and I've had zero 
luck finding a 12mmx20 pitch drain plug adapter that will convert to 
1/8 inch NPT thread of a sending unit). So I wound up getting the B&M 
pan from Summit Racing (about $165, if memory serves).  It's heavy 
duty, has mild finning on the bottom (mostly for looks is my guess), 
and adds three quarts of capacity (which just increases briefly the 
time it takes to get the whole load of fluid hot, again in my 
opinion).  It's pretty thick and hard aluminum, but it was possible 
to drill out a hole big enough for a temp fitting.  Besides looking 
great, for  those few times I'm under the truck, the big hope is that 
it's more efficient than the factory pan at transferring heat out of 
the trans.  Because I didn't have a way to measure fluid temp before 
the installation, I can't address that one for sure.  I can report, 
however, that it takes a couple miles of So Calif grade (e.g. Cuesta) 
to get the pan temp above 200 degrees.  That's low enough that I'm 
not tempted to add another cooler to the circuit - yet.  I may change 
my mind when we get heavily into the Sierras.

Regarding the Overlander, ours has a 120 watt solar panel, which is 
quite wonderful, mounted over the rear vent.  This lead to replacing 
the center vent with a Fantastic fan, which also is working 
wonderfully (we've very seldom had occasion to use the air 
conditioner yet).  We also have a propane catalytic heater on a 
swing-out mount on the wall just in front of the 'fridge.  It 
certainly puts out lots of heat, but we haven't yet had to use it on 
a trip.  We just bought the Overlander and Suburban (from separate 
sources) in February;  the solar system and catalytic heater were 
installed by the previous owner (along with lots of other great 
stuff).

Since you have a very similar rig, both tow vehicle and trailer, I'd 
be happy to share/exchange info about them, on or off the list.

Stan