ARCHIVE WITS' END Hidden Hydraulic Winch Install

[NLXTACY]

PART SEVEN: The Rope​

Now it was time for the winch line. I knew I didn't want the steel cable. There are plenty of discussions of synthetic rope vs. steel line and there is no point discussing it here. Synthetic was the only option for this project. For this install it was Yankum Ropes' synthetic rope instead of using Warn. Why? Because they are local to me and made in the USA. More to come from Yankum Ropes and Wits' End.

The decision was made to go 7/16" rope vs 3/8" @100ft. Why go the thicker rope? Because it was stronger and it fit my drum. Simple as that.

The winch rope itself doesn't come with a lug. Turns out that decision was made because there were so many mounting options available. Could have done clevis knot or duct tape or crimped on a battery lug. Ultimately we decided to go our own route because although the battery lug made the most sense, we wanted something more malleable that could be shaped to the drum. As it turns out there was some copper pipe handy that fit around the rope perfectly. Tried crimping it first but that wasn't ideal. So we moved to instead use the press to shape the copper flat after drilling a mounting hole thru the copper. Worked great.

Now that it was in the shape we wanted AND the copper was pre-drilled, it was time to get the hole into the rope so that the bolt would go thru. Easy fix, used a soldering iron and melted the hole into place. This also prevents the rope from unraveling.

Now the rope can be slide thru the RED WINCH PLASMA LOCK to literally lock the first ten loops of the winch into place AND screw the bolt into the drum. This rope will NEVER come undone. Its secure for sure without gumming up the rope with duct tape.

Once the rope was taught enough, the copper lug was "suggested" into place using a dowel and a hammer to form it to the drum. Came out awesome. The first spool up was done by hand and not under load. The second spool in was done under load. This is when a huge problem was noticed...

But first we had to notice how bad ass it was all starting to come together...

 

[NLXTACY]

Looking BAD ASS!

 

[NLXTACY]

PART EIGHT: The Teardown​

BUT... it turns out the winch was getting VERY hot!

I know what you are thinking, "Wait, I thought hydraulic winches don't overheat?!"

This is normally true...when its not been sitting for a decade unused. Like any tool, it need maintenance and that part was skipped.

Not only was it heating up bad but we were getting noise in one direction.

 

[NLXTACY]

We narrowed it down to a few culprits but ultimately it was removed and taken apart. Turns out the TINY nylon guides on the valve stem were all missing or in pieces. Mostly missing. It made the winch very unhappy because the valve wasn't working correctly. A conversation with Mile Marker and $175 later, we had a new valve and solenoid pack in hand.

 

[NLXTACY]

Couple of minutes later and the valve assembly was swapped out and it was time to bleed the system for air. It took no time at all. Just turn on the truck and cycle the steering wheel a few times. A little bit of bubble time in the power steering reservoir and it was done. Tried the winch again. Guess what? Zero heat and zero noise in either direction. Problem solved.

 

[NLXTACY]

PART NINE: The Fairlead​

Next up is dealing with the hawse fairlead. Typically the fairlead is mounted on a flat surface of the bumper that is sandwiched between the fairlead and the winch face. But we are dealing with the OEM bumper that has compound curves. The bumper won’t be sandwich but will instead be notched out to slide the fairlead in and mount directly to the winch face. The fairlead we went with was the Factor 55 1.5 Hawse Fairlead.

Once cut out everything on the OEM bumper was CAREFULLY measured out several times, it was finally cut. All that measuring sure pays off when it fits right where its supposed to and looks pretty slick with the bumper back in place.

 

[NLXTACY]

Throughout all of this there ONE glaring issue that needed to be dealt with: how to operate the hi/low and free/lock controls found on the winch? There are two levers that need to be actuated when operating the winch for various functions. The problem is there is an OEM bumper covering everything and thus access is gone. How to deal with it?

PART TEN: The Spool Handles​

It started with an idea to machine a wedge to act as a ramp to pull in/out the plunger as needed to operate the gearing. We went back and forth with all sorts of different scenarios. This idea was eventually scraped.

Went thru a bunch of ideas but ultimately settled on trimming one of the legs of the lever. Now its all tucked away behind the bumper.

 

[NLXTACY]

PART ELEVEN: The Bumper Brackets​

Out of everything going together on this project there was only ONE thing that was totally overlooked. But only because the bumper towers were taken off at the beginning of the project and weren’t needed until the end stage of the project. That "overlooked" thing being the hitch pin for the shackle mount. It turns out the bumper towers, once bolted back on, slightly cover the hole for the hitch pin that we added at the beginning of the project.

Doh!

Now we could have just drilled a hole right through the bumper tower. But would have looked like complete ass. There was another way, cut some grooves and a notch and then weld and grind.

 

[NLXTACY]

Damn it looks freaking fantastic and looks factory. Very proud of the work. Now the hitch pin has a clean path.

 

[NLXTACY]

But, the next “whoops”...

The hitch pin worked perfect through the receiver the way it was drilled out. The trouble was when I got the Factor 55 Hitch Link 2.0 and test fit it. at first the hitch pin didn’t work at all. Crap. So a rat tail file and an hour later and yay, the hitch pin works…

Only in one direction on the shackle mount. If you turned the mount 180 it doesn’t go in. WHAT THE?!?!?!

As it turns out the Factor55 Shackle mount is not drilled out perfectly perpendicular. Its off by enough to not make the shackle mount work. Now I could go nuts and increase the receiver hole to say 3/4” but that’s lame. If the shackle mount was true, this would be done. Oh well, gotta rock what I bought. Time for a die grinder and all is good again.

 

[NLXTACY]

Future post

 

[NLXTACY]

Future post

 

[NLXTACY]

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[NLXTACY]

future post

 

[Jeepster09]

Looks good, but also looks like a lot of weight added to front.

 

[NLXTACY]

Looks good, but also looks like a lot of weight added to front.

Huh? Compared to what? A different 100# steel bumper and 80# winch? hahaha

 

[Rifleman]

NLXTACY VERY NICE!!!! I would just like to add one thing from looking at your photos. You might want to check the lower hose going to you're transmission oil cooler. I could be wrong, but it looks like that hose has slide back and is bearly being held in place by that hose clamp.​

 

[NLXTACY]

NLXTACY VERY NICE!!!! I would just like to add one thing from looking at your photos. You might want to check the lower hose going to you're transmission oil cooler. I could be wrong, but it looks like that hose has slide back and is bearly being held in place by that hose clamp.​

View attachment 2689260

At the time of the photo it was a temporary placement. Had other ideas for that cooler but wound up going back to OEM. Its fine now.

 

[Jeepster09]

Huh? Compared to what? A different 100# steel bumper and 80# winch? hahaha

Compared to a Warn winch with synthetic line....like on my Jeep WK2

 

[Jeepster09]

I did the same thing on my Landcruiser.