I want to start a project page on my ongoing work on my XJ rig. I'll start with this post on new winch install.
Well, after winning the new Comeup winch at the ralley the end of June, I finally got it installed today! I had to modify my bumper and with the help of a shoe horn and a good amount of some slippery stuff, we got it in. Now I get to strip off all the rope and wind it back up under load so it fits nice and tight. I had to mount the controller in an akward place because it blocked too much of the radiator if it was mounted on top of the winch itself, but it will work just fine! I also took a page from Aaron's book and decided to not use a hook, but instead, chose to use a 3/4 shackle instead with a rope stopper from Comeup winch. Thanx Aaron!
I know the controller looks funny where it's at. If anyone has a better idea I'm open to sugestion.
My lisence plate used to mount on the roller fairlead, but now not sure where to put it. Is it legal to put it on the front of the roof rack above the windshield?
Went ahead and mounted on roof rack. Drove past several cops yest in Eburg, not one said anything. We will see, all they can do is tell me to move it! LOL
Warrior products makes a quick disconnect bracket for license plates over the hawse but it may not fit with the thimble.
Seth really got me thinking about the come up winch when I was checking his truck out at the rally. the way those things free spool is amazing. zero effort.
Byron, It's super nice having the free spool like that! My Smitty winch was super hard to free spool, almost easier to power out instead of pull out. I'm going to try and find a good hill today here to spool rope tight, using Vickis jeep as a pull weight.
Hmm..Now I may copy YOU with the rubber stopper so that my shackle isn't just hanging out in the weather....
Aaron, if you go to Comeups website and go to accs page, they sell for about $15. Way cheaper than the machined alum ones for $150.! My shackles won't be out there all the time. Just for the pics and trips. We are meeting up with Darin and his group sat in Packwood to do the Pack to Eburg stretch of the WABRDR. Does anyone know of a place where I can get a GOOD fitting cover so that the sun can't attack my expensive rope? One that is easy to get on and off when needed and doesn't look like you just wraped a gunny sack over it? LOL
Ooh machined aluminum one....good idea! :D
OK,Aaron, I know you have a mill, BUT, you need a lathe too so you can make an alum one! LOL. Maybe this is an excuse to convince Krystal you need a lathe too! What kind of mill do you have?
@Mark and Vicki Lennox I have a lathe! :D It's a ShopMaster mill/lathe combo
Aaron, I was talking to you at the Quillomine trip about how I want to do the glove box area in my jeep. Today is the day that project gets started. It will have a perminant mount for mt 300wt inverter and cigerette lighter multi port as well as the switches for overhead outside lighting. I will make two Kydex pockets for our phones etc. Should help to get all wires etc tidied up and a place for all things currently tangled. Also a pocket for new hand held radadio! I will post pics of that project on here. So many things I want to do with the Heep XJ this winter. And our off road trailer too. HMM, where to start.
repost from GUY MINOR m700minerCool! I like your Jeep, and it seems that it's about to get better!
Some of the things I need to add or upgrade, build a water system that mounts on rack to carry fresh water on one side of the spare and hot water for shower on other side of spare, mount side flood lights over front doors and spot LED lights on rear corners. I mentioned above about glove box area, also rear storage area will get a total make over with drawers etc for better access to recovery gear and a built in slide out table etc. One project I have been putting off far too long, is a set of quick discos for the front sway bars. We have a small utility trailer that we want to modify and set up so it can be more suitable for off road use and still be able to function as a utility trailer. Maybe even get a home built RTT that looks like a Conestoga covered wagon when set up. I hate things tangled and rattling in the rig! Lots of pics as we move along. I will post up some of projects already done soon.
The downside of Kydex (or any brand of PVC-acrylic) is that it's malleable at a fairly low temperature. Your Jeep on a hot day, especially where you live, could see some deformation.
Aaron, are you trying to burst my bubble? lol I've been making holsters from kydex for a while and it generally needs to be over 200* to get it to form where I want it to. But it always seems to move where I DON'T want it to! I hope it wont get that hot in the Heep. LOL. I'm having metal part of my glove box project made tomarrow, hopefully from aluminum.
Not intentionally 😛 I used to work fora holster manufacturer...we did more than one warranty replacement that was hot car related...
I was just razzn ya Aaron, I have no doubt that could happen. Which manufacturer was it? Ill have to show you some of the ones I have made. I designed and have made several true kydex pancake style for several different types of pieces. It does'nt have the big funky add on square belt loops like so many of comercial ones do, more like a leather one does. I used to do leather work for many years but leather is getting so expensive and hard to find anymore.
I worked for Blade Tech Industries
@Aaron Kravik Have you ever seen one made this way?
@Mark and Vicki Lennox I actually designed a product line that was similar to that. Federal Air Marshalls came to us once and wanted a pancake holster made out of plastic.
Ok, update time. I finally got around to re-winding rope on tight and found a had a minor mod to still do. While spooling the rope back on under load, I discovered it was leaving a small amount of black residue on the bottom of the Hawes fairlead. HMMMMM! I called Come-up winches and talked to a tech guy. Explained the issue with him. He asked a few questions and it was decided the fairlead was too high. It was in the same location as my old Smitty winch roller fairlead, about centered with drum vertically. This was putting too much down load on the lower side of the rope slot. We decided I needed to move fairlead down so the slot was located so the bottom of the slot was at about one wrap from full drum and this put the top of slot about one wrap from an empty drum. Works far better now! Not a big mod, but it saves my rope from undue wear.
On our trip last weekend on the Stevenson WABRDR run, We discovered we had a U-joint on the front axle, driver side going bad. We had to put the glove box/ electronics project on hold untill I got the new joints installed. Went ahead and did both sides. Good thing too, as both were rather dry. Now that this project was completed, we were able to resume work on the glove box wiring project. I had an aluminum plate sheared and bent at a local HVAC company, as they have a sheet metal shop. I ordered some electrical bus bar/ power strips and started getting it layed out. We used to have a tangled mess of wires etc. We run a 300wt power inverter, a cigerette lighter multi outlet, Phone chargers etc, so with no organisation, it was a royal mess. I had some LED mini light bars to mount on top, one on each side and two on the rear, for side work lighting and two in the rear for back up etc. So I got those mounted up and wired in and ran the wires through the roof with a rubber grommet all sealed with cylicone adhesive sealer, then down the A pillar behind the trim. Horid job dropping head liner and trim without any damage! Mounted the bus bars, one for ground wires and second one for power strip. All insulated and organised. What a novel concept, something this old redneck is not used to! LOL. Mounted four lighted switches even though we only needed three for lights but you never know when another may be needed. The inverter, new power plugs with USB ports and cradle/ charger for new hand held UV-5R are all mounted with automotive trim double sided foam tape. All the connections and wiring are all behind the pannel out of sight! So kewl as no more tangled wires and it looks gr8!. I had removed the original glove box lid and latch to make room for new setup. I saved all old parts so it can be put back to OEM if ever needed. Next project will probably be the roof mounted water system. Two tanks, one for washing and general use the second will be flat black for hot/ warm for showers. Should be about 11- 12 gallons total. 6 inch PVC pipe.
showing side work light. The same flood light on both sides over B piller. Nice to use for setting up camp in the dark!
Spot type LED lights, mounted on both rear corners. It's so nice to finally have back up lights that acually do let you see whats behind you. So nice when backing a boat trailer down an unimproved dirt ramp in the dark into a steelhead river! ( also when that jerk behind you with his HID or super bright LED head lights on high beam!) LOL
Tried to show how wire goes through roof . Rubber grommet sealed with cylicone adhesive caulk. Used part of an old extension cord as it sealed up so much better than individual wires. It's the only place you can see wirring as the rest is clamped inside aluminum framming on rack.
Showing the final location of the fairlead on new winch. All winch bumper mods done now. Ready for another Douglas creek "winch out Canyon trip". LOL
Next project I have done is the quick disconnects for the front sway bars. It used to take me about 10 minutes with a socket wrench and zip ties to unbolt bottom of the connectors and tie them up with a big zip tie. Even then, most of the time the connector bars would fall down becouse the zip ties would break. Now it litterally takes me 30 seconds on each side to pull a cross pin, swing connects up and reinsert cross pin into a bracket welded to frame. I made them so I can do one side complete, then go to other side and repeat. No need to run back from side to side unbolting and tying up. I made and welded on an additional lower mounting bracket on each side so there is no twisting torque to the one mount there from factory as most purchased kits do.
Detail on lower bracker. Both sides are pretty much the same with the difference being, passenger side was already boxed in where the track bar mounts. I used a piece of 1/4 inch flat steel to box in the front of the spring mount and fabbed a second bracket for cross pin.
detail of upper end showing offset bracket to align top and bottom of connecting bar. I had eliminated spacer on lower end so I could get brackets closer together so it is stiffer and hence, stronger. I used a piece of 3/8 flat bar, drilled and tapped to accept original flat head 1/2 inch bolt. I then welded U-bracket to the flat bar.
Project under way now is a fully articulated coupler for the trailer. Not good at build pics, but will post up pics when finished. Like everything I build, it's probably way overkill. LOL.
Finally got the articulated hitch coupler made and installed. Works wonderful, a bit snug to hook up, but not bad at all. I discovered that I will need to replace my safety chains with longer ones, as the trailer end of the coupler is enough longer than stock, now chains are too short, not a big deal. All pivot locations have greasable zerks to reduce wear and tear. 360* rotation, 90* up and down and 90* side to side. I will be adding a far more solid tongue jack with a large inflatable wheel so it will be easier to move around. I will start more mods on the trailer in the next week. lowering the tall sides and welding in stake pockets so it will be more versatile. Then it will be time to start the RTT build. That will be a fun build as it will end up looking like a covered wagon when done! I am no good at doing in progress pics, so will post a few maybe and then a complete walk around photo series when tent is done. Hope to have it all finished in time for the RALLY!!!
Close up showing it hooked to Jeep. I know Aaron, it still needs one more zerk. I ran out! The gold colored pin unhooks it from the Jeep.
Showing complete new coupler. The pin on the trailer end can be pulled and coupler extended about another 8 inches. Pin can also be removed and a standard ball coupler installed on the trailer end to drop onto a std ball on the tow vehicle so it becomes legal to tow on hiways. the articulated coupler is not DOT approved even though it is undoubtedly stronger.
Another view of coupler. The 1/2 inch bolt on top of trailer end is so I can snug it down to negate any rattles. All bolts are grade 5 or better. A grade 5 5/8 inch bolt has a shear strength of just under 19,000 lbs, so I am in no way worried about anything breaking on the trail, my trailer will be under 1000# total. The pivot bolt is a 7/8ths grade 5 bolt. wanted to use grade 8, but didnt want it getting brittle after welding. Pivot knuckle is solid 2 inch steel! I may drill large pivot bolt and put in a cotter pin behind nylock nut, just for peace of mind. A bit of touch up paint and we are good to go!
Showing verticle movement and also shows coupler in extended location. Angle of drop is approxomatly 45* with about the same still to go. A standard ball hitch will only move about 15*. This would destroy a ball hitch!
Rotation is about 45* in this pic. NO, the Heep isn't going to fall into the ditch! LOL
This pic shows Sasquatch is alive and well in Kittitas valley! LOL
Hey you're missing a zerk 😁
Looks great !
Also shouldn't 5/8s grade 5 be 38 kips not 19 ?
Your right, when each cross pin has two shear locations it will double .
Another project done and ready for the trail I think. I built a basket to hold my Xbull trax on the rear of our XJ while on the trail. I bought some 6061 1 1/2 X1/8 flat bar and bent up the pieces. I bolted it all together with 1/4 20 stainless bolts with nylock nuts. The cage is mainly to hold the Xbull trax untill the attached straps are cinched down or when accually using them on the trail. A few pics to follow from Vickis phone, cause I can't seem to make mine work downloading pics. GRR.
I am going to make up some longer cinch straps to make it easier to get all buckled in. These were just a pair I had on hand. A while back I ordered 300 ft roll of 1 inch nylon webbing and 40 buckles.
I made basket big enough so trax will still fit with mud on them. I hope! Lime green is Vickis favorite color, she chose the color! LOL
Now I will have to take spare tire off the side instead of the rear, but oh well, maybe with my tire patch/plug kit won't have to use spare!