2015 Sierra Swiss Army Knife - Fire/Rescue/EMS POV, Storm Chasing, Overlanding

[KyleGrant]

Hey all! Noobie to OB here, excited to get moving. I'll post continued updates to my thread as my build progresses. I like to call my truck my Swiss Army Knife. I'm fortunate to not drive this as a daily due to my job, though away from work this is my DD, it also serves as a registered emergency vehicle in my county for fire/rescue incidents and last but not least, it's taking new shape as what I hope to be a capable overland rig.

I will say this, due to some responses I've had in the past - the emergency equipment you see on my vehicle is 100% legal at my agencies, in my county and in Kansas. Some comments I've received from YouTube viewers abroad is that I can't have red/blue lights and sirens, that is simply false. Just bear in mind for your location it very well may be illegal, or perhaps you are involved in fire/rescue/EMS/LE and colors I use are not used in your area - also possible. Rest assured my vehicle is in fact legal and all equipment installed is legal, approved by my Fire Chief's, Sheriff, Emergency Manager and County Commission.

Vehicle:
2015 GMC Sierra Z71 4x4 SLE, Quad Cab - Short bed


Current Equipment Additions/Mods:
Ranch Hand Full Bumper Replacement
Front 32" LED bar (triggered by high beams)
ATC Camper Shell with cargo rack
House Battery in Camper Shell
LED Interior lights in Camper Shell
12v Fan in Camper Shell
12v > 120v Inverter in Camper Shell
12v Charge Controller for House Battery
48" LED Bar on Camper Shell (triggered by high beams)
Motorola XTL 2500 P25 mobile (public safety comms)
Yeasu FT-7800 2m/440 mobile HAM
Federal Signal Interceptor Siren/Light Controller
Whelen Liberty Lightbar
Whelen Dominator
Garmin NUVI GPS
Dell XFR XT2 Rugged Laptop (navigation, radar, HAZMAT, fire pre-plans, etc.)
HD Dashcam
Camper Shell Tent (extends 'interior' space for camping)


Planned Items:
Paint Match ATC Camper Shell - DONE
Cobra CB Radio - DONE
Uniden P25 Scanner
LT 10 ply tires
Fender Flares
Skid protection (in addition to OEM)
Front 2" Level
Rear Bumper Replacement
Front Bumper Hitch
Front Bumper Shackles - DONE (shackle)
LED Flood Lights on Camper Shell - DONE'ish
Secondary vehicle battery (third total)
Solar Panels on Camper Shell
Truck Roof Rack

As of today 12/1, my truck is in transition to add additional communications and a bit of revamping for lights/siren controls. I'm waiting on the camper shell to be painted to match the rest of the truck and I'll update my vehicle overview video. The one posted below is out of date and doesn't show any overland equipment, just an overview of emergency equipment. I'll post some still pictures from our first trip to South Dakota in September with the truck as well.

 

[KyleGrant]

Here's some relatively updated pictures of the truck as it sits currently. At least in comparison to my video above you can see the front bumper and basic camper shell setup. We took this trip to SD in September of this year as a one year anniversary. Our honeymoon was spent in Durango/Silverton, CO partially in a cabin, train rides and ORV in the Alpine Loop so this trip was right up our alley.

Our first night of ever camping out of the truck. Our mosquito net idea was an absolute and complete failure, this was the first and last day we did that on the trip.

Same first night with a back picture of our camper shell tent, works like a champ and sets up in about five minutes. Extends my short bed into a good sized tent my 6'0" self can actually stretch out in.

Here's some of the work inside the camper shell I did, very basics. I have a small fire extinguisher can (second on outside of camper shell), TP, paper towels, CO/Smoke Detector, 12v fan, LED light, dimmable reading light and the rest is a mess - not ready for sleeping. On this first trip we used a memory foam mattress topper which wasn't terrible, but I think we'll go for a legitimate memory foam mattress in the future.

Another shot of the interior packed for travel. This is later in our trip as I got a bit more savvy in packing efficiently. Notice the bed is rolled up in the back, so we arrive at a campsite and get the dogs out, pile the plastic totes in driver/passenger seats, roll out the bed, setup the tent, etc. We finally got our rhythm down by the second or third night. On the right is a makeshift curtain I threw up using some twine and an old window drape from our house.

Here's one of two drawers I fashioned in the bed of the truck. I used 2x8's for the vertical supports you see on either side of this drawer, 2x6's for the platform and 2x4's with plywood for these drawers. This was a stupid simple setup with lumber from Menard's but it works great and I'm not concerned about it getting torn up (as it ultimately will). I left either side of the drawers open for easy access to bungie-cords, twine and other items - these cubbies have a piece of wood in the back to keep items from sliding forward. The drawers only go about 4 feet deep, the remainder of the front are hidden cubbies I can remove the flooring to gain access to. I plan to keep extra fluids here (oil, antifreeze, etc.) and some tools we'd only use in an emergency. The platform served its purpose well on our trip, it was inexpensive and effective. I did put a TON of polyurethane on the 2x6 platform to create a nice sealed surface without splinters. Maybe in the future I'll shell out a grand for a Decked system, but for now this does the trick.

Here's a shot of the driver side exterior cargo area. Obviously front and center is our water jug, fits perfect here and makes for easy access - I may add a pump to this later on if I'm feeling frosty. Inside I keep another fire extinguisher, medical supplies, rain gear, extension cords (for camp site power if we want), house battery, charge controller (in place of solar power source I use the primary battery/alternator on a switch), 120v battery charger (if camp power exists), 120v inverter and a few misc items.

Another up close shot of the inverter, fuse block, etc. - still a lot of work to complete here. I threw this together a couple days prior to us leaving. Doesn't look pretty but it works and everything is safely fused!

 

[KyleGrant]

Interior has a lot going on, due to partially my geekiness (I love my tech, to an extent) and the amount of uses my truck sees. As I mentioned before this truck is used for emergency response, daily driver, storm chasing and now overlanding. Some of the equipment overlaps in function, some doesn't - so it's a busy cabin. I'll have a lot more on this later. Right now I'm in the process of removing the stock center console and replacing with aftermarket console with locking safe, CB radio, scanner, different switch panel and new siren.

Here's our youngest boy, Aspen; checking out us setting up camp. No kids for us yet, just fur babies. Out of focus but you can see a black partition behind the seat. We want to travel with our dogs as much as possible but they're both 80 pound lap dogs. I found this partition and a seat cover on Amazon which keeps them comfy but allows us to focus on driving, great for travel. The only issue we had was hair - a GSD and Golden Retriever combo makes for some wicked shedding. I found myself stopping a couple times a day to open both rear doors and with the help of wind, shake off the seat cover and watch fur fly out.

Our final campsite in South Dakota on the way home. By this night we had our stuff down to a science, camp setup quick, we cooked with the help of my makeshift wind block and all went well. This night we did end up sleeping without the tent up due to high winds. In a short bed it's certainly do-able if you're tired enough to not care about stretching out. What I ended up doing was leaving the window unlatched so if I had the urge to stretch I could just push my feet out the back for a few minutes and curl back up. Worked alright.

 

[KyleGrant]

I'll preface this by saying, sorry for the crappy pictures - I'll work on those next round :)

Truck continues to receive some upgrades. I use an all-in-one siren/light controller for emergency response, but I was growing frustrated with the lack of customization. I also had a better 200 watt dual speaker siren laying around and wanted to incorporate that for responses. So, being that I had the siren taken care of I needed something cost effective, reliable and customizable for switching.

What I started with was a HAVIS console 1.5" blank piece of steel they use 14ga for most of their brackets. I scoured Amazon for a few days to stumble upon the perfect switches that I felt were heavy duty enough but also didn't look ridiculous or take up too much room. Work began by measuring out equal spacing for the switches, drilling and roughing in the switches (yes they're a bit caddywhompus currently and need adjusting). Here's how it looks.

Switches: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012MYR8C4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now that the switches are in the plate, comes the wiring. I'll cover my functions from Left to Right - note the five left switches are dual position three pole - on/off/on.
1) UP - Emergency Lighting Mode 3, DOWN - Emergency Lighting Mode 2
2) UP - Emergency Lighting Mode 1, DOWN - Amber Only
3) UP - Traffic Advisor Left Arrow, DOWN - Traffic Advisor Left Arrow
4) UP - Lightbar Cruise Mode, DOWN - Interior Light Enable (when the camper shell isn't installed)
5) UP - Primary Battery Voltage Check, DOWN - Secondary Battery Voltage Check
6) Secondary Battery Tie (solenoid)
7) Interior Equipment Always Hot (default is on ignition)
8) Camper shell Offroad Bar Enable
9) Left side work lights
10) Right side work lights

With the lighting I wanted the higher lighting modes to be mutually inclusive to lower modes. IE, if I activate Mode 3 I wanted that single throw of a switch to also activate Mode 2, 1 and Amber - BUT, I didn't want an activation of Mode 2 to activate 3, only 1 and Amber. Easy to accomplish using 15amp diodes which allow power to only flow in one direction. By chaining these together in this fashion Mode 3 > Mode 2 > Mode 1 > Amber, it's a simple method to activate lower modes. Not to worry, the power being drawn here isn't over 5 amps total - the majority of my lighting wires on these switches are sense wires only for lightbar functions. Please fuse your stuff!! Below is a shot of the switch wiring thus far and diodes in place. Larger gauge wire is the primary fused hot coming in, smaller wires are function outputs.
Diodes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CXOQMJ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just for grins and giggles, here's a couple shots of the truck interior right now - it's a mess and these didn't turn out well anyway. But! Take a gander, the wiring when complete won't be a big mess and the consoles will be populated with radio equipment, emergency controls and a locking 'safe'. The Dell XFR laptop is in a locking HAVIS dock for security and ease of connectivity to accessories - I use the laptop for emergency calls (HAZMAT info, preplans, notes, etc.), storm chasing radar during severe weather season and navigation on long trips.

Here's the newest console addition. In the shot above you can see to the bottom left, an angled front console and then towards the bottom middle a second angled console. This is the same console but looking down, the only piece of equipment installed in this picture is the siren controller. My switch panel will sit below the siren controller and in the future a scanner will sit below the switches. In the flat rear space will be the locking safe.

One last shot of the mess in progress! Left here is the forward most console with a public safety radio installed and nothing else, rear console pictured above to the right.

All I have for the time being, hope to have the switches for emergency lighting functional this week, getting my Yeasu FT7800 reinstalled and will look at getting a CB on the way.

 

[Vyscera]

That is a very impressive truck. All that wiring makes me dizzy though. Look forward to seeing what else you come up with!

 

[KyleGrant]

That is a very impressive truck. All that wiring makes me dizzy though. Look forward to seeing what else you come up with!

Thanks! More goodies and better pictures to come.

 

[KyleGrant]

March Update!


Completed Projects

1. Interior equipment consoles. Most of the equipment is mounted and ready to be finalized in their positions. As of now I have a Motorola P25 radio for public safety use, Yeasu FT-7900 dual band and a Cobra CB radio in the top console. Second console currently houses my siren, switch panel and a safe. Looking at adding a scanner and GMRS mini mobile at some point in the future.
2. Camper shell has been painted to match the truck, looks a TON better.
3. Added third brake light on the camper shell which is actually a hidden emergency light. One mode operates as brake/turn while the secondary mode makes it flash red/blue under those instances.

Next Up

1. Hoping to trade a buddy locally for some 17" GMC wheels. Currently I still run the stock 275 55 20's on GoodYear SRA's and I'm hoping to move to 275 70 17's in a BFG AT KO2. Tires is one of the biggest hold-ups for me not wanting to get too crazy on trails, once I have some quality 10 plys under me I'll be a bit more adventurous and not sweat so much about a puncture.
2. Dual batteries. Stock starter battery is beginning to weaken, I currently have a secondary house battery in the camper shell to run some LED lights, 12v fan and a small inverter as needed. It's topped off using a solar charge controller connected to the running electrical system. Fortunately the truck has a second battery tray from the factory, I plan to install a deep cycle heavy duty battery which will replace the house battery, using a voltage sensitive relay it will isolate from the starter battery while the truck isn't running. If for some reason I need to tie them together to jump start the truck, I'd be able to do so as well.
3. Window tint. Still need to tint the front two windows on the cab, I hate the factory tint - may as well be no window there.
4. Front winch. Running the Ranch Hand but need to work on some sort of front hitch. I'd like to get a hitch mounted winch I can move front/rear as needed, if anybody has any suggestions here I'm all ears.
5. Recovery equipment - Need to get a good suite of recovery equipment on board realistic for what I'll face. Will probably pick up some Maxtrax, tow strap and some other items if I get a hitch going. Realistically if I stick in groups I should be good on most trips without the winch, for now.
6. Skid plates. As I continue to grow in comfort level I'll look at stiffening the under armoring of the truck. It's been difficult to find skid plates for a stock ride truck, this is one of the other big reasons I shy away from crazy departure angles and technical obstacles. May need to accompany this with a small lift kit in the future.

Started working on an in-depth YouTube update video which I'll have up in the next couple weeks. For the time being, here's some recent pictures from an OB outing (with RideFlyDriveJeep and jasonjlamb), a weekend trip the wife and I took, camper shell painted and quick video of the third brake light flashing away.

 

[KyleGrant]

New "overlandy" shoes and a level for the truck today! 2" Rough Country level coupled with 275/60/20 KO2s, I'm officially not as freaked out about getting out to explore. Our stock SRAs didn't exactly instill confidence..

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[Murphy Slaw]

Nice truck, indeed.....

 

[KyleGrant]

Nice truck, indeed.....

Thank you sir!

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