Battle

Damn. I miss east Tennessee so much (born and raised in Knoxville). Where in Soddy Daisy is that road? That's not Signal Mountain, is it?

JCR bumper looks good but I must say, I want an ARB soooo bad for my rig.

thetastelingers

That road is on Mowbray Mountain. Called Window rock Rd.

The ARB gets picked up today.

Winch mount should deliver tomorrow or Tuesday!

thetastelingers

Got a good bit of work done over the break.
The winch mount got here when it was suppose to. Looks like a good quality unit.
Everything packaged up well.

It fits well. There are a lot of holes to line up and for the most part it hits all the marks. There are a couple of holes that are instructed to drill out. I imagine that is due to the fact this will incorporate an Anti-rock.

I cut the front as instructed before mounting the winch mount. I wish I had put it up there and looked at it before. I would have cut less, but it shouldn't hurt anything. Just cosmetic.




Mounted





I ordered a PS fluid cooler. It should be here Wednesday. I'm going to install it in front of the condenser. My boss is making some hydraulic lines for it.

I moved some things around in the engine bay. The Solenoid box for the winch is going where the overflow was. I went to the LKQ and picked up an overflow from a nissan pickup and also picked up a windshield washer tank from a Comanche. (The stock washer tank is in the wheel well and the tire hits it upon compression) Both look like they will work out well. Have to move some wiring and hoses for the washer tank.

Here's the bracket mount for the Solenoid box.





Here is the overflow mounted and the washer tank where it will go.





I'm going to have to add some material to the lower portion of the bumper. I'm going to wrap it under the winch mount, then I'll have to cut out the hole for the fairlead. I designed it yesterday and will get it burned out here at work this week and bent.

Waiting for some battery cables to arrive from Summit Racing, so I can extend the winch cables to the solenoid box, then I can permanently mount the winch and wind the cable.

I have in cab winch control, but am going to extend the wiring for the exterior plug, so I won't have to open the hood to access, should I need to operate it from outside.

thetastelingers

Summit delivered the battery cables yesterday, so I got those shortened, got some ends crimped on them and installed the winch mount, steering brace and winch line. Everything is working as expected so far.







Horrible picture, but there is the incorporated steering brace.



Meow I am waiting on the steering cooler to get here, hydraulic lines to be made, my work to burn out the lower bumper extension that is going to be welded on, then I can send the bumper off to powder.

LED Pod lights should be here today. I'll wire those up after the bumper gets coated.

thetastelingers

Got the lower lip of the bumper trimmed off and got my pieces burned out and broke for the extension last week.
Here it is mocked up.






Side shot of the amount I trimmed off of the sides.



Took it over to a buddies house and let him weld it for me. I have a stick welder, but it's been forever since I've welded and I know he would do a better job.




Here is the extension welded on. I'm waiting for the hole saw to arrive and I'll cut the hole for the fairlead and then send the bumper to powdercoat this Friday.

thetastelingers

Well the bumper got prepped and is off for powder. Should be done Friday.







Oh BY THE WAY.... The comp winch mount isn't centered in the frame. I looked it over and with the secondary fairlead, it'll still work as it should, I'll just have to watch spooling it back in on the passenger side.



I got the power steering cooler mounted and hoses routed. I have to source the fitting to go into the PS box. The one we thought would fit wasn't correct.

Whaanga

Great to see three generations - Son - You - and Dad.

thetastelingers

I love wheeling with both of them. My dad loves being in the woods. My dad would drop whatever he is doing to go wheel with me.

SatiricalHen

Are you just running 2 fairleads for the winch? I have a bumper that doesn't have a winch mount, but I like it. I was thinking of how I could use a boostwerks mount/steering box brace and my bumper with a winch.

thetastelingers

Yes. I am running the fairlead that comes with the comp mount and I will be fabricating a larger fairlead for the bumper.
Since it has a gap between the bumper and winch mount, I wanted to be able to put the hook behind the bumper.
But if you just wanted to use another standard fairlead, that would work as well.

thetastelingers

Well I picked up the front bumper Friday morning. Did a good bit of running around and started putting it together. Didn't get it fully bolted up until late Friday night.

Bumper condom!



Satin black





Got my nut-serts put in for the lower attachment point.



While I was adding a relay for the bumper mounted lights, I found these Battery post connectors that I purchased years ago for the RX7 swap I completed, but ended up using something else. Turns out, they are going to work just fine for what I have. I also have some left over 2 gauge wire that was being used on the winch, so I am going to replace the engine to body ground and the positive to starter wire as well.



Got these lights from superbrightLEDS on a black Friday special.



Bumper mounted and ready to go!









I was having issues with the 4WD staying engaged while in 4WLO, so I purchased a boostwerks shift linkage.
OUT with the old



IN with the new!



I'm waiting on ONE more fitting to complete the power steering cooler addition.
About to go out and remove the OEM windshield washer tank and get to installing the one I picked up from LKQ.

OH and I found out that the tub is already lined with bedliner. (Saw that when I peeled back the carpet to remove the shift linkage.)
That's good to find out.

thetastelingers

Got a few things for Christmas.
Better in cab Winch controls.







While installing the controls, I found out I have a couple of dead solenoids for the "Winch Out". Guess I'll be ordering some replacements. May as well replace all of them.

Factor 55 winch Shackle.



Truck Lite headlights.





Cut out the fairlead for the front bumper. It looks kind of haggard for the first one and I'm not happy with it, so no pics of the finished product. lol



Finally replaced the passenger side bolts for the beadlocks. (The bolts that Fuel sends are garbage) I just ordered enough for one side to make sure the bolts were good quality...





Oh and I JUST picked up the fittings needed to FINALLY button up the PS cooler lines. What a debacle.

I'll be driving it to work tomorrow. Whew!

thetastelingers

I was able to spend time on the washer reservoir. Removed the OEM, shortened the hose and wires then deleted the wires that weren't needed.






I used an 88 Comanche Washer reservoir, opened the hole for the pump and used the OEM cherokee pump.

thetastelingers

My "OUT" solenoids were bad, so I decided to replace them all.



Got the jeep outside between rains and shot a few pictures of the new set up.



I love how the front bumper tucks now.



Head on shot.

thetastelingers

Got out yesterday with Chattanooga offroad and went to Franklin County State Forest. Mainly just a bunch of power lines and no rocks, but it was a beautiful day to be in the woods!











Stopped for some lunch and to let the kids fish for a little.



Hit the cruise button on the way home



Nice sunset to finish the day.