Front Porch Renovation

[Glenn-BJ74]

Pictures ???

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Renos Completed

I finally got to finishing my front porch renovation, which I started last year. I kept the stainless bullbar which I can’t do without for ploughing through dense bush (i.e Mackenzie). I raised the bullbar 2” to get foot clearance (and for tools) under the lower bar and higher deck plate.

I wanted a swept back design to eliminate the ridiculous extension on the OEM bumper.

PS. Matt - the Pacer Fender Flares are still in good shape after two years of heavy wheeling

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

This is a top view with the original porch in vertical alignment with the new higher deck. It is incredible how much that OEM deck plate sticks out.
The new bumper eliminates 11’ of overhang on the front corners and 3-4" on the front plate. This gives me way better cornering clearance.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

During the process I took off the winch drum and found the inside of the drum packed with fresh grease and so I cleaned up the shaft and regreased it and put it all back together and gave the winch a coat of paint.
I got the Masterpull Amsteel last year and recoiled it as tightly as possibe. I have used the winchrope 3 time since I got it and the rope is holding up well. The other thing I like about this rope is when the rope does get mashed down into lower layers you don't need a D9 to pull it out.

The two bars are tied into the OEM bumper support (middle pic).

The top deck is covered in Tape Grip used on skate boards - good for holding greasy tools, bolts and wet slimey boots

 

[sailor]

Great improvement! That huge front porch looks ridiculous on those trucks and the 60 series as well...

 

[Fantom]

I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to do anything else with that. Looks way better now. Out of curiosity, on the corners where the upper and lower tubes meet up, how much welding and grinding did that take?

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

The BJ74 comes with one OEM factory tow hook on the right side, which is reinforced with an inner plate tied back into the frame and sleeved with a big frickin bolt.
I replicated the right OEM inner frame extension reinforcment plate on the left side, including the sleeved frame with another big frickin bolt - so I now have two tow hook points on the front - both pulling straight on from the frame rails and tied together with the 3/8" checkerplate across the front.

I think I will replace those monster yellow IPFs with something a little smaller. Still need to put the plate on somewhere ??. When I relocated the hawse fairlead up 3" (the OEM is slot is too low and puts a severe bend in the cable) there is no 'nice' place to put the plate. Does not fit above, below or either side.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Oh - here is a shot of the 'brand spanky new' - 23 year winch.

And I changed out the worm gear oil (last time in 2009) and its was very dirty. I replaced it with the recommeded GL4 (not GL5) gear oil. I used Redline MT90 15W90 GL4, which I had.

 

[ForealBoreal]

looks really good!

Whats your plan with the fog lights? LED? Why replace them, are you having cooling issues?
Also curious what you figure the life of the synthetic rope. I think even if you have the rope covered the big abuse spot of the rope is the spot where its exposed on the thimble. Thoughts?

 

[LanceCruiser]

That looks great Glenn, nicely done. Are you going to put something to cover the synthetic rope so it wont deteriorate under the sun?

 

[neoworm]

That looks great Glenn. Nice work!

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

That looks great Glenn, nicely done. Are you going to put something to cover the synthetic rope so it wont deteriorate under the sun?

Amsteel has a UV coating since it was orginally developed for the marine industry, but I want to get a velcro attacahed cover to wrap the drum - more to keep the mud out of getting into fibres. The truck is parked in a carport so the drum doesn't see much sun, during the 'too long' non-wheeling season here.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Weight

I managed to keep the bumper to about 4 -5 lbs less than the OEM bumper.
Most of that weight savings came through getting rid of 23 lbs of ugly steel cable and hook.

 

[ForealBoreal]

I have often thought just feeding it through tubular webbing might be a cheap idea....
Mec will have rolls of that.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

I have often thought just feeding it through tubular webbing might be a cheap idea....
Mec will have rolls of that.

I don't understand - did I miss something ???

 

[ForealBoreal]

Feed the winch line through tubular webbing as a n extra cheap protective layer.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

OK - the winch line is only half exposed - I may just wrap it - I want fast deployment.

I had the rope in a 15' protective sleeve + the 3' Masterpull sleeve (Masterpull supplies a long sleeve for electic winches, to protect the rope when the drum gets hot - cooking the bottom rope layers), but it got in the way of the snatch block, when I was pulling out John Voo.

I put it back on the bottom layers - which helps prevent the rope pulling into the bottom layers.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Glenn,

Nice job on the front bumper. Makes the front of your vehicle look like it could handle anything.

 

[Cruisin']

I was wondering how you were going to finish the corners. That looks really sharp!

Nice work as usual Glenn.

-Jason

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Which corners?