The thread of The Frank

[Springs505]

A shot during bedliner application:

Two and a half cans of spray on bedliner later...The winch solenoid box was a bit bigger than I had expected, so I had to modify the brackets. Unfortunately, no room for my HF spot lights. Fortunately, there seems to be enough room for some sort of LED lighting. During winch install:

And Finished! Time for a beer.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Awesome man! Can't wait to see this in person. Maybe you can winch me off a rock tonight!

 

[karas]

That is sweet. Great choice with the color and using Bedliner.

 

[Springs505]

Awesome man! Can't wait to see this in person. Maybe you can winch me off a rock tonight!

That is sweet. Great choice with the color and using Bedliner.

Thanks, guys.

I took a few minutes on Saturday and tested out the HF winch. I thought I would post my initial impressions for anyone else considering this winch:

• Free spooling was pretty easy. Once out of the winch, the 3/8" cable handled well with minimal twisting. However, the cable did try to coil under itself when unwinding the last layer, causing a bit of trouble. After a minute of fighting, I got things back in order.
• It's a bit slow. I dragged my truck up a fairly steep hill, wheels locked up for a few feet. I'm guessing I got about 5 ft/min (1 layer on drum). I went another ~40 feet with the truck in neutral, it was noticeably faster with 2-3 layers on the drum. This is about what HF advertises for performance.
• There is noticeable gear noise. It's not extreme, but you can tell by listening that things aren't as smooth as they could be. I have seen some posts about re-packing the gears on these winches, and I may look into doing that sometime soon.
• On the way back in, the spring-loaded tensioner seemed to encourage the wire to wind up neatly on the drum, one layer at a time.
• The thermal circuit breaker that comes with the winch has 2 uninsulated buss bars on the bottom. I wasn't fond of this, so I shrink-wrapped it to reduce the chance of something contacting it, causing a short. I do like that it comes with a breaker.
• There is a ground lug on the bottom of the winch. The instructions aren't clear about this, and it's easy to overlook connecting the ground wire before bolting the winch to the bumper.... This is what I did, later realizing that the ground wire did not connect to/through the solenoid box.
• At this point, I am pleased with the winch. I will update when it gets more use.

 

[karas]

For the price you probably can't beet it. I am probably needing to go through mine sometime as well. I think a winch party is in need.

 

[Springs505]

I got some garage time in today. I finally put in my budget OBA setup:

The compressor is the MV50 that I have been hauling around for a while. It now has a wiring upgrade to my fuse block under the dash, and a pressure switch attached to turn off automatically at 100psi. The compressor will be wired to a switch on my center console, as well.

The 2 air lines run to a quick connect on the front bumper and to a 3 gallon tank in the rear of the truck.

The air tank has a safety blow-off valve installed. I wish I could have installed the tank such that the drain was right at the bottom, but I wanted it up as high as possible, to reduce the chance of popping it on a rock. I've been working on a LED rock light setup, and I added 2 LED lights to the bracket I built for the tank. The extra wire coiled up on the left side of the bar is for a couple more rock lights that I will install later.

I also got around to repairing my busted exhaust mount (from the car accident in March). I just cleaned up the broken hanger and welded a new tab onto the bottom. The old clamp was too rusty to use again, so I cut it off and bought a new one:

 

[black95]

Can't wait to check out your rock lights, might have to copycat you We'll have to get another night run together. My cherokee is wired for rock lights as well, just haven't put any research into finding some good cost effective options on lights. Nice job on the air setup. Do you have a way to let the water out of the tank?

 

[Springs505]

The drain is about an inch above the bottom of the tank, so I can drain it to some extent. I will just have to unbolt the tank and right it to drain completely. I'll keep an eye on it and figure out how fast it fills up.

Here is what I used. I think that 8 10 or so is the right number for a nice rock light setup.

EDIT: changed from 8 to 10. I'm pretty happy with the results and will post a picture up when I get a chance.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FEZEVQK/?tag=ihco-20

 

[Springs505]

HF winch update:

Overall, I'm still pretty happy with the winch. The winch included a circuit breaker that tripped very quickly during the Reynolds Wrap/Eagle Rock trip. In fact, I removed it while on the trail to get the winch going again. The circuit breaker is a thermal type and my truck was running hot (everything under the hood was very hot from slow speed and hot weather), but I was disappointed that the breaker tripped so easily. I don't think that I will re-install the breaker.

I winched 3 times on that trip and (aside from the breaker issue) the winch performed well.

I was also happy that the cord for the controller is long enough to reach through the window and into the cab during operation.

 

[MrMoose]

Winch performed great once that breaker was gone. A bit on the noisy side, but maybe that can be fixed with some thicker grease in the gear set.

Time to cool that truck down on the slow trails with some good vents!

 

[Springs505]

Winch performed great once that breaker was gone. A bit on the noisy side, but maybe that can be fixed with some thicker grease in the gear set.

Time to cool that truck down on the slow trails with some good vents!

I think my cooling issue may have been due to the fan clutch slipping at low engine speed. I think it's time for a rebuild/fluid change.

I have to admit that the vents do add some style to the truck!

 

[karas]

That is nice air set up. Could you drill and tap the tank and add your own drain into it? Just me thinking out loud again.

 

[Springs505]

Slider installation...

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a set of Trail-Gear 67" rock sliders, after my recent rocker-busting shenanigans. The sliders are shipped welded, but the legs are not cut to length or welded, so this is a generic kit. I wanted a bolt-on installation, so I ordered some steel flat stock and some large u-bolts. I put in some garage time tonight, so the project is under way. Here are the results so far:

I decided to beef things up a bit and run 2 u-bolts on each of the outer slider legs and a single u-bolt for the center legs. I think I will chamfer the lower corners of these plates, making them less likely to snag on a rock. I put one of the sliders on jack stands to check the fit to the truck:

I think the length and size is pretty good for the truck overall. They could be about 2 inches longer, but I'm pretty happy with how things look so far. The slider is flat in the picture, but I do want to angle it up around 15-20 degrees.

I did find another 80 running these sliders on 'mud, but I am surprised that they are not more popular, especially considering that the cost is much less than other options.

 

[ajordan1975]

nice build! I have that same compressor and have been thinking about doing the same. Can it run air tools?

 

[SAS]

I have the same T-G sliders on the FJ60. Happy, happy, happy.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Lookin' good Andrew. Curious, with your welding skills, why'd you opt to bolt them on?

Going to paint them to match your bumpers?

Give me a call if you need me to come over and supervise.

 

[Springs505]

nice build! I have that same compressor and have been thinking about doing the same. Can it run air tools?

I have not tried yet, but it should be able. I'll have to connect my impact wrench and see how it goes. It would be a nice thing to have on the trail for a tire change. Mostly, I wanted the tank so that I would be able to seat a bead if I lost it on the trail.

I have the same T-G sliders on the FJ60. Happy, happy, happy.

Good to hear. It looks like they can take some abuse.

Lookin' good Andrew. Curious, with your welding skills, why'd you opt to bolt them on?

Going to paint them to match your bumpers?

Give me a call if you need me to come over and supervise.

I wanted bolt-on install for a few reasons:

• I don't have to weld upside down under the truck.
• It should be easier to weld gussets on. it would be tough to weld plate to the top of the legs while mounted on the truck
• I can paint them off of the truck
• If I total my truck, I can sell them

I am going to paint to match the bumpers. I might try some clearcoat on them. I've been thinking of doing the same on the bumpers.

I could probably use some stupervision. I will probably put in some time on these next week. I'll hit you up. I picked up a growler from Rocky Mountain the other day. Maybe I'll get a refill next week.

 

[MrMoose]

I have not tried yet, but it should be able. I'll have to connect my impact wrench and see how it goes. It would be a nice thing to have on the trail for a tire change. Mostly, I wanted the tank so that I would be able to seat a bead if I lost it on the trail.

Or you could just carry some starting fluid, a ratchet strap, and a lighter. Waaay more fun that way.

 

[ajordan1975]

I have not tried yet, but it should be able. I'll have to connect my impact wrench and see how it goes. It would be a nice thing to have on the trail for a tire change. Mostly, I wanted the tank so that I would be able to seat a bead if I lost it on the trail.

I've used that compressor and a ratchet strap to rest a bead before...

 

[Springs505]

Or you could just carry some starting fluid, a ratchet strap, and a lighter. Waaay more fun that way.

Yep, we did that for one of our tech nights at Redline a while back. Works great, but it's a little more drama than I think I want when things are going wrong on the trail. I already stuff every kind of fluid that the truck might leak into the back when I go out. No need to add ether since its a FI engine.