Stormchaser - Project Storm Chase Truck Build

Chevyguy85 · March 2, 2015

Youtube channel? Facebook, Twitter, and whatever the other social media crap is now.

StormChaser · March 23, 2015

Working on making a switch panel for my interior and exterior LEDs and whatever else I may need switches for!

Fun fact: The plastic I used for the panel is cut from a plastic piece that's meant to go under a toilet.

GPGuy · March 24, 2015

That's a beast of a truck.

StormChaser · March 25, 2015

I need some quick help here. Two nights ago I was re-wiring my interior LED strips, when I accidentally grounded them out (yeah I know, I forgot to remove the fuse). I had the auxiliary power on in the truck, ie. lights and radio, and everything completely shut off for a second and then some came back on - the lights were dimmer, and the radio would not start. I tried starting the truck and barely got a click. I gave it about 15 minutes, tried to start again, and it tried to turn over, but didn't have enough juice, so I jumped it. After the jump, everything has been working fine, and all of my electronics are working, with one problem. When I had my HAM radio installed, they tapped into the power source that powers all of the electronics into the drivers door. This is where I added my fuse tap, being that the led strips used almost no power, didn't think twice of it. Never had a problem with it, even when I accidentally left them on overnight. Now when I add the fuse tap to the HAM power wire and flip the switch for the LEDs, they flicker on then die. I used a multimeter and read .6V coming from the fuse socket in the HAM radio power wire, which is extremely low. I've tried powering the LED's with a fuse tap in all of the other fuse sockets in the interior fuse box, with nothing working. The HAM radio however will turn on and function fine (although I do not have the antenna hooked up so I couldn't text transmitting and receiving). I have checked all 50+ fuses in the interior fuse box, as well as the fuse box in the engine bay, and they're all completely intact. Does anyone have any ideas? I feel like I've tried everything!

The LED's do work, I powered them straight from the battery and they work fine.

StormChaser · March 25, 2015

Welp.. Unplugged the negative terminal to the battery and used the multi-meter to see if I had any shortages and didn't any so I hooked it back up. Then went inside and checked the volts in the fuse slots inside the truck and to my surprise they were back to 12.5-13! So all is well now. Not sure what was wrong, but as long as it's working I'm not going to complain.

StormChaser · May 1, 2015

It's been a few weeks since I've posted so I thought it was time for an update!

Hardwired a 1500W power inverter

And built a set of pull out drawers for organizing the cab and bed!

sahls01gmc · May 1, 2015

Looks awesome! How are those drawers "locked" when they are closed?

StormChaser · May 2, 2015

Looks awesome! How are those drawers "locked" when they are closed?

The friction from the carpet on the drawer face is strong enough to keep them from moving, even when I punch it, but weak enough to pull out by the handle, or pull up and out if I want

StormChaser · May 15, 2015

Couple big updates tonight and more to come tomorrow!

First off, I lost a hub cap. After looking online and finding that the prices are outrageous, and not wanting to go through the trouble of finding an old used one, I ended up plastidipping the rims, and I absolutely love how they look. I actually wish I had done them to start out with. Also took a little time to paint the suspension parts black.

Added an on board air compressor. Wiring up something so simple was much more complex than I thought it would be.

I've run out of room on the camper shell windows for sponsor decals so I had to remove the www.stormcruzzer.com decal from the camper window... And painted it on the side! The guys at Rhino Linings of Hampton Roads hooked me up and did an amazing job.

And my neighbor offered to take a few awesome shots of the truck tonight!

StormChaser · May 16, 2015

Also dipped the rear wheels to match the front

StormChaser · May 16, 2015

It's finally that time of year again! In just two days, we will be heading out West, chasing the meanest storms that we can find. We've made a lot of adjustments to the truck since last year, making it even more reliable and capable. Now that we have experience chasing in this truck and know what it's capable of, we'll be able to get in better positioning and get much better footage of each storm. We are also going to test out live streaming through YouTube, so make sure you're subscribed to our page so you can see when we go Live! We currently have 648 followers on Facebook right now, and would love to hit 1000 before we leave on Sunday afternoon.. If you wouldn't mind, please head on over and like our page to get us closer toward 1000!

www.Facebook.com/StormCruzzer

8.1HD/ALLISON · May 19, 2015

Awesome looking build! Be safe out there.

StormChaser · June 1, 2015

No method to the madness because I'm in a hurry, but wanted to upload a couple photos of this past storm chasing trip before we go back out there again this week!