Well, let's keep going with some more projects. First one is an easy one, because I've done it already on this truck: Limb risers. You'll recall the old ones went from the rack "horns" to the front of the fenders (though I only used them a few times). With the horns gone and new mount locations, those are the wrong length - plus I wanted to make ones that used slightly lighter cable and were fully detachable. The old ones only detached on one end and I had to string them outside the rack. So the new set will be totally removable and I can stash them inside the rig instead. I also switched the spring to the topside and left the turnbuckle at the base for easier adjusting/tightening. And used a screw-type caribiner to attach on the fender.
They coil up pretty small and fit in my gear pouch (with winch remote and other stuff).
After that, finally got around to installing a new GMRS antennal. My original one snapped off halfway up at some point (it's a 2-piece design apparently) and my reception was pretty lousy for the last few trips. So I got my hands on a slightly taller (1-piece) Midland antenna and replaced it up there - so hopefully that will improve reception.
Oh, while I'm thinking of it - checked RockAuto last week and as is often the case with old vehicles of which few still exist, they had some maintenance items for almost nothing (manufacturer's closeout). So I picked up 6 of the cone-style air filters for 3 bucks each, and 4 or 5 oil filters for 1.50 each. These aren't as nice filters as the Mann one I have in there now (which has more elements), but for 3 bucks each I figure I'll just replace it after every trip or two and still do fine. The boxes for the filters were all mis-matched, falling apart...like they've been in the back shelves of Joe's Auto Parts for 30 years and he finally unloaded them lol...
Now, the next project. I'll admit this one was a bit impulsive since I got a bonus at work last month (pretty rare for federal employees these days....) and put most of it in savings, but wanted to buy myself something nice (and yes, SWMBO got something too, don't worry...). You'll recall that for a couple years I've had a Badlands Apex 5500 winch on the front of this thing. My viewpoint was that I don't winch often, and on a small truck with not that much horsepower unnecessary weight is to be avoided. I used it a couple times and found it "sufficient" but not exactly confidence-inspiring. A buddy just got a new trailer and asked me about installing a winch, so I sold him the 5500 and got busy finding a replacement with a bit more capability. After a lot of researching and a lot of deciding how much I wanted to spend, found one that should suit my purposes (9500lb), with synthetic line, and at a place that had it a good bit cheaper than other places (with free shipping). And surprisingly (from the cheapest seller) it showed up 2 days early (Saturday morning).
This is the Superwinch Tigershark 9500. Superwinch has a pretty good reputation historically (though they've been bought and sold a few times over the years) and the reviews seemed generally very good. No, it's not a Warn Zeon 10, but that wastn' in my budget. It should be a good step-up from the Badlands ones (plus they only make a 9.5k in they lower ZXR line, not the Apex, IIRC). There were a few other choices out there but this one was the right size, price, and I like the control box on the side rather than over the reel, personally.
So, let's get to work. First things first. The old Badlands one was mounted on a UTV plate that I basically welded directly onto my "custom" crossmember under the bumper (if you're following this thread, it's an old Chevy Suburban junkyard trailer hitch, which is BEEFY). So out came the grinders and spent an hour getting that thing off and cleaning up the crossmember.
As you can see, there's a raised plate that's part of the original hitch assembly, which is great reinforcement (and ties it all together). However, it's higher than the rest so thought about various options as to how to make a larger plate fit "over it."
I ran down to harbor freight and bought their large winch mount plate, which is WAY too long for my uses, but just the right width/depth. So first I cut it down to 20" in length (I think it's 36"). I'll note that this thing is some thick metal, not cheap. I got it for $45 I think - which is far less than I'd spend to just buy raw steel and build one myself (and it's nicer than my work anyhow).
Plus I have leftover metal for future projects :)
Anyhow, I decided to chop out the center and basically fit it OVER the raised crossbeam section. This would allow me a lot of weldign contact points (including the ends) and keep it as low as possible as well (by like 1/2" but whatever...). That was a good bit of cutting...
but it fit up pretty well, and just barely left me clearance for the rear winch bolt holes.
Also if you don't remember, the OEM bumper was cut down in the middle for clearance. The bigger tray meant I had to cut it down a bit more.
And then out with the welder, which is a Hobart Handler and still took care of this thick metal with a good bit of slow work and multi-passes...
So with that done, I cleaned it all up, painted it, and put on a couple coats of bedliner. So let's install the winch now. It was pretty straightforward (other than cutting the too-long bolts for the fairlead)
As planned, just a bit of clearance between it and the grille to tuck it in as close as possible without any major cutting of the truck itself.
The winch came with a buss-bar for circuit breaker, but I couldn't find a good way to make it fit on the battery, and frankly don't want power to the winch when I'm not winching anyhow. So I re-used the Badlands on-off power switch (which is rated plenty high for the load of this winch), and didn't install the buss bar (though I may at some point, just as an extra safety step).
I also had to relocate my yellow fog/flood lights since they can't go where they were with this wider winch. In the end just stuck them upside-down below the winch plate, which actually worked out pretty well. We'll see if they get damaged down there but I think they'll be ok since the bumper over-riders stick out a bit further anyhow.
Note that the winch hook on this is massive...almost kind of funny how big it is ;)
So yeah, that's my self-congratulations for working my ass off at my job: A winch I'll use once or twice a year, and a full weekend of cutting, grinding, sweating, and welding lol.
