...the beer said,......"we no need a/c in AK".

 

^what he said.

But it's not the beer talking- this isn't Jersey, it doesn't get that hot. I appreciate the info thus far, but AC here is rediculous. Now a low profile bumper with a winch/ onboard air compressor are far more valuable, and I might add MasterRoverTech, had Rover invested more in hardware, less in electronics, these would not be depreciating so badly. Mind you, their target market would be much smaller, but the rub isn't that I can afford one- its that someone initially overpaid for the Three Amigos with leaking sunroofs. Electronics always depreciates faster than hardware, I am interested in the later.

 

Dave, I'm assuming the machine I can rent at Autozone that puts a vacuum on the AC isn't going to actually capture any residual gas? That's my only concern.

 

You do realize that with him being in Alaska, he probably paid twice the going rate of what a Disco 2 would cost in the lower 48, right?

 

you can remove the radiator, turn the condenser on it's side and slide the cam out.
you can not reclaim refrigerant by yourself at least in the states you are required to have a HVACR license. of course the are people out there that do, their are also people who just dump the charge, that's only a $10k fine.
How did this go from putting cam in to removing your AC to put on a winch?

 

Turn it clockwise, I see it now. Thanks!

The winch was always going on the truck, but I wanted to mount it behind the bumper where it's out of the way until I need it. This shelters it from the copious amounts of road grime we have here, and closer to the front wheels is better for recovery situations if you have nothing to winch from directly in front of you. With the AC condenser off, the truck gains another four inches towards the firewall, at which point a 10000 lb winch could be mounted behind the stock bumper if one so chose. But, although a brilliant thought, along with onboard air, it was merely "making lemonade with lemons," as I was not going to recharge a system I never use. With your insight, it looks like I won't have to disconnect the AC. So thanks again!

 

http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/...psd4abae2b.jpg

I finally finished up, and in the spirit of closing threads, figured I would update this. My Rover had overheated when, unbeknownst to me, a piece of old TStat broke away and lodged in the water pump. The nature of it prevented a good diagnosis, so I went with a complete rebuild, new cam, lifters, chain and sprockets, etc. While waiting for the heads to be refinished I also swapped the tires and suspension.

A few final thoughts- the cam can be changed once the AC condenser and all it's hoses are loosened and rotated clockwise out of the way. I held the components out of the way with a bungee cord and was able to slide the old out/new in successfully.

The upgraded Crower cam allows for 265 75 R16 tires with little or no noticeable power drop. I have stock size summer tires and wheels that should calm the road noise of the heavy lugged tires down a bit.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for all the advice, it made a lot of this much easier.

I have a trickle of a coolant leak that I am tracking down, and a few codes relating to O2 sensors I just changed, but other than that, everything is running well.