While I am waiting on the tom woods rear driveshaft, this weekends activities included building a new front winch bumper. I am big fan of tube bumpers, simply because I think they look better and are generally lighter than a plate style bumper. I tied into the frame using the stock 3 bolts per side from the original bumper, but added two more holes to the passenger side, and incorporated the driverside steering box mounts also for a total of 10 mounting bolts. It feels very stout, and should be sufficient for winching duties, it will also support the commonly weak mounting point for the stock steering box.
Dont really have any actual build pictures, but if I did it would just be raw steel, bent peices of tubing, and some plating for the mounts and winch plate, just use your imagination...
Here is the finished product, with my newly revamped winch/synthetic line, and aluminum hawse as apposed to the old heavy roller fairlead, and lastly the Hella 700FF HID lights from the Taco.
(I needed new avitar material, so I limped up to the top of the hill in 4 hi for some better poser shots)
A few months back, my wife and I broke down in her car in France (alternator went out) and had to be towed back to Germany on a rollback (free of charge, thanks to ADAC!!). When the tow truck driver arrived, the rollback had a 12000 pound warn winch, and he had a wireless remote for it.... My wife said, "we should get one of those for our winch..." After picking myself up off the ground, I made a mental note of the date, time, and conversation that just took place, then had her sign a written copy of affore mentioned statement. Then I ordered one. I love my wife.
So, I decided this weekend was a good time to install the new wireless winch controller from Milemarker. It is a very simple install, and should be universal for most winches. I have not had a chance to test it in the field obviously, but it works for me at over 75 feet away, even though it is advertised at a 50 foot range. It was a simple install, and I reccomend to anyone wanting a wireless system.
Here is what you get:
The handheld remote is a little cheesy with the pull out antenna, but it works like a champ.
Here is where I mounted the control box on top of the steering column for easy access. Simply flip on the power switch, and you have a wireless controlled winch. Of course, the normal hand held plug in control cable still works normally.
Thats all for now, ~James
