Bought a Predator

[markb5900]

Well I bit the bullet and bought a Predator 3500.
Never have had a portable one before, always had Onans.
Question to the group is, does anyone run your generator in the bed of your truck?
Thinking just have it in the middle of truck bed, so I don’t have to take it in and out.
Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Marcm157]

I run mine for the bed of my truck. I have a solid tri fold cover that I will fold the last 1/3 back and have the genset running at the tail end of the truck. I did an exhaust modification and extended it with flexible piping so if I have to close the cover I can direct the exhaust out the tailgate. I always leave at least the tailgate open to help with heat dissipation and air flow.

Be careful which way you have the exhaust pointing as it will get hot enough to leave burn marks in the paint of the bed.

 

[markb5900]

Thanks
That’s exactly what I was thinking of doing.

 

[Route 66 Traveler]

The problem I had in the heat of the summer(112 degrees) was overheating when it was in the bed of the truck with the tailgate closed. Once I opened the tailgate and moved it to the rear of the bed it ran fine. The air intake for running and cooling is on the bottom front of the generator.

Also, when it’s been running and then shut off and you want to restart it, do not start it in START, start it in RUN. Start engages the choke and it will easily flood the engine.

I also bought a Harbor Freight hoist to load it into the truck…my wife just had shoulder surgery and cannot help me load it.

 

[Old and soft]

Think it is a 5500 bolted down on the right side just inside the rear doors with the exhaust pointed out, and just enough room to reach in on the right side to plug in my fat 50' cord that runs a hobart handler 140 welder. Point the exhaust the right direction and you should be golden.

 

[markb5900]

Thanks again for the input, will sleep a little better knowing others do it also.

 

[Broncbuster]

These are great little Generators. I have had one for about 5 years now. I run my Jayco Seneca Super C off it when I do not need to run much more than 1 A/C unit or just need to keep the batteries up while at the race track. I have over 1500hrs on mine. If you can run non ethanol fuel in it.
I know about 20 people who use them at the track.

 

[RogerR]

Saw one in a little dog house at a street fair. Had a small box fan on one end pushing extra air through which only takes maybe 50 watts to keep it extra cool.

 

[pconroy]

I'm on year 3 or 4 of the Predator 3500. But it sees light use. A suggestion that I saw online was to run it, when new, for 15-30 mins and then do an oil change. Some owners were saying the initial oil came out a little too shiny for their liking. So I did it too. After that it's an O/C on the recommended schedule.

I don't have a P/U - but our camping friend puts their Honda 3000 in the bed of their pickup. I noticed it also has an effect of knocking the noise done a bit more. Makes a quiet generator even quieter.

 

[Happy wife / happy life]

We run ours gate down. Exhaust pointed to the back. Never have had any issues. I do keep my gas can out of the bed when using it.

 

[Bandit12]

When I bought our Predator 3500 about 4 years ago, I broke it in by first servicing it using an ounce of Lucas oil stabilizer and running it for 1 hour, no load. Changed the oil again with the Lucas. Ran it another hour, no load. Changed the oil again, but this time I used the synthetic oil I plan on using for the life of the unit and adding Lucas. Ran it for another hour with a light load of about 500 watts. The I put the spurs to it. Hooked it to the trailer, turned on the fridge, all the lights, water heater, and A/C. Ran it like that for about 20 minutes without a hiccup. Been running fine ever since. I also talked with a lot of techs I'm familiar with from my job, I work in auto parts sales. The consensus was to be careful with the fuel. As such, I came up with my own mixture for all my small engine equipment. I buy the highest-octane fuel I can get from Chevron or Mobil. I prefer Chevron. I only buy two gallons at a time. I add 1 ounce of Seafoam Motor Treatment per gallon, and 1/4 ounce of Lucas Ethanol Treatment per gallon. Since I started using this fuel mixture, I've had zero fuel related issues with any of my small engine equipment.

 

[JB13502]

I have run mine from the bed of the truck if doing a quick overnight. As others have said, point it with the exhaust headed out and the tailgate down.

Keep in mind it WILL be louder from the bed of the truck due to the echoing off the bed walls.