So MrsBigblue and I (meaning me) finally pulled the trigger on a new front bumper and winch for our FJ.
Really, REALLY wanted the Warn bumper. I think it just has that classic, old school look to it. Beefy, but not too much, single hoop.... (but can't find it anywhere) so we went with the Smittybilt M1 and the SB 12K with synthetic rope.
Pretty pleased with how it came out. Mostly pleased with it...had to buy some longer winch tray to bumper bolts, but other than that, a very good product.
Install went smoothly (other than above mentioned bolts) and everything fits great. You do have to do some permanent cuts.... so probably no going back to the old bumper. But in the end I'm pretty happy with it.
Of course, it did add close to 300 pounds to the front end, so now I'm looking at Old Man Emu stuff. But hey...you wanna play?....you gotta pay.
It looks good enough that SWMBO now wants to get the matching rear bumper. It's OK, but I'm looking at a few others with swing out tire carriers and such.....
I replaced the fairlead and hook with a Factor 55 Hawse fairlead and Flatlink E .
But then reality set in..... you will definitely spend as much, or more, on winching accessories as you did on the winch/bumper....
So why not go full on winch mode....?
Ended up getting the Warn "Large recovery kit", added a couple more shackles, a couple of soft shackles, the Factor 55 splicing kit, and a couple of winch line blankets (which Warn should have included for the price of that kit).
Also (since we're deep into this....) got 4 ARB TredPro recovery boards.
Yes, the Warn kit was expensive. And yes, it should probably have included a couple of winch blankets. And yes, I could have gone Ebay or Amazon cheap..... but when you're out, in the middle of BFE, with just you and SWMBO, and you're really, really stuck...like up to the frame in uber sticky mud stuck, doing a double line 12K pull (24K on your stuff), do you really want to rely on that $15 shackle?
(I can do a full on 'nother post about buying rated winch gear....)
And since there aren't a ton of trees where we tend to camp (northern Nevada....mostly high desert), we ordered the Deadman Earth Anchor as well (pretty stoked to try this out!)
Side note: Ordered the Deadman and the next day got an email from Bryant (one of the creators and owners of Deadman Off-Road) telling me thank you for the order. And another email the day after telling me that they're waiting for the soft shackles to arrive so my order would be a few days late. I'm OK having an order be late when the f'ing owner of the company is telling me it's going to be late!
The Warn kit is very, very nice. And it comes with a very nice backpack that can hold everything in the kit (too small for the blankets I ordered), but crapanopulous..... I wouldn't want to backpack it very far....holy shit it's heavy.
And... since Amazon has things..... I got some graphics for the FJ....taillight guards, and a billet fuel door.
I think the graphics look really nice and were very easy to apply. The light guards and fuel door had a bit more of an install...but nothing most people couldn't handle.
I think it gives my truck a unique look (around here) and the graphics breaks up the solid (concrete/cement) color.
Here's a few pics....
Really, REALLY wanted the Warn bumper. I think it just has that classic, old school look to it. Beefy, but not too much, single hoop.... (but can't find it anywhere) so we went with the Smittybilt M1 and the SB 12K with synthetic rope.
Pretty pleased with how it came out. Mostly pleased with it...had to buy some longer winch tray to bumper bolts, but other than that, a very good product.
Install went smoothly (other than above mentioned bolts) and everything fits great. You do have to do some permanent cuts.... so probably no going back to the old bumper. But in the end I'm pretty happy with it.
Of course, it did add close to 300 pounds to the front end, so now I'm looking at Old Man Emu stuff. But hey...you wanna play?....you gotta pay.
It looks good enough that SWMBO now wants to get the matching rear bumper. It's OK, but I'm looking at a few others with swing out tire carriers and such.....
I replaced the fairlead and hook with a Factor 55 Hawse fairlead and Flatlink E .
But then reality set in..... you will definitely spend as much, or more, on winching accessories as you did on the winch/bumper....
So why not go full on winch mode....?
Ended up getting the Warn "Large recovery kit", added a couple more shackles, a couple of soft shackles, the Factor 55 splicing kit, and a couple of winch line blankets (which Warn should have included for the price of that kit).
Also (since we're deep into this....) got 4 ARB TredPro recovery boards.
Yes, the Warn kit was expensive. And yes, it should probably have included a couple of winch blankets. And yes, I could have gone Ebay or Amazon cheap..... but when you're out, in the middle of BFE, with just you and SWMBO, and you're really, really stuck...like up to the frame in uber sticky mud stuck, doing a double line 12K pull (24K on your stuff), do you really want to rely on that $15 shackle?
(I can do a full on 'nother post about buying rated winch gear....)
And since there aren't a ton of trees where we tend to camp (northern Nevada....mostly high desert), we ordered the Deadman Earth Anchor as well (pretty stoked to try this out!)
Side note: Ordered the Deadman and the next day got an email from Bryant (one of the creators and owners of Deadman Off-Road) telling me thank you for the order. And another email the day after telling me that they're waiting for the soft shackles to arrive so my order would be a few days late. I'm OK having an order be late when the f'ing owner of the company is telling me it's going to be late!
The Warn kit is very, very nice. And it comes with a very nice backpack that can hold everything in the kit (too small for the blankets I ordered), but crapanopulous..... I wouldn't want to backpack it very far....holy shit it's heavy.
And... since Amazon has things..... I got some graphics for the FJ....taillight guards, and a billet fuel door.
I think the graphics look really nice and were very easy to apply. The light guards and fuel door had a bit more of an install...but nothing most people couldn't handle.
I think it gives my truck a unique look (around here) and the graphics breaks up the solid (concrete/cement) color.
Here's a few pics....
