panther-
yup, i posted on there a few times, but its been a while. i got my motor in and fired it up, but thats it so far. dam 725 is so tall it won't fit through the door of my pole barn-and to cold outside, so she sits. right next to my W500 2 ton 4x4 69 dodge crew cab, and 52 GMC M135(on 16.00-20's)-all to tall. I need to get a bigger barn!!!
that is Until today-and i'm gonna need a bull dozer to fix the ruts i made dragging it up to the driveway tonight. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Anyway-the factory heater-i was pleasantly suprised to find mine complete and intact too.
On steel soldiers(SS from here on out) i called a guy that used his 725 as a deer hunting camper in michigans U.P.-in the winter. he said it will run on gas, diesel, or kerosene. haven't tried it yet though.
The 12 volt issue-ain't. another guy on SS said they make a inverter/converter-mil issue, from 12 to 24 volt that will power the factory heater. check on ebay-they run less than $100
Also-those things are a 30,000 btu torpedo heater! they take about 1 minute to start blowing heat, but as far as i've found, its full blast or nothing. but i have seen temp controls for the 2 1/2 and 5 ton radio trucks, so i think you MIGHT be able to hook them up. and they are loud!! just like a full sizekerosene torpedo heater. hmmmmm
As for the stove/heater-well, $2,000 is a lot. BUT-it heats and cooks, and the guy at Scan said you can run one all day on 1 deep cycle battery with no worries about draining the battery. also-fuel consumption is like 30 oz running at full blast for 24 hours(don't quote me on these numbers please)