The Cactus Red mod thread.
- Thread starter crawler#976
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crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Figured I'd show my current recovery gear. It's a process - a piece here, a piece there, and with two winch equipped vehicles (JKUR has an 8K on it), duplicating the kits isn't easy or cheap either. The JKUR has roughly 3/4 of the items in the truck. When we do snow runs, I throw the JK bag in the truck too to have extras.
So, in addition to the new 80' of 7/6" rope from Winchline.com, we have three 20K snatch blocks (ARB 9000, Warn 88899, Smitybuilt 9000), one 50' 3/8" extension, two ARB tree savers, a 10' winchline.com rigging line, 30' ARB snatch strap, two Rope bones, two 4' chunks of 3/8 grade 8 chain, five 6.5T 3/4" shackles, three 6.5T 7/8" shackles, two hi-vis safety vests, leather gloves, three gear bags, and a fid. Not shown is the 14K PulPal - it's buried deep in the truck...
I will be making a couple soft eye extensions from the good sections of the old 7/16 rope to add to the kit. Splicing 12 braid rope isn't hard at all compared to all the Sampson double braid I did in the USCG, lots of mooring lines, and tow ropes, some of it 5" dia stuff.
A Power Wagon rarely gets stuck, but when it does, it's stuck. Having a large and varied selection of gear is critical for me - most pulls when I'm stuck involve redirected pulls to get a good angle and anchor point.
Of all the line pulled, 90% of it is either moving trees in the spring, helping others in the winter, or removing stumps at the house or for neighbors.
So, in addition to the new 80' of 7/6" rope from Winchline.com, we have three 20K snatch blocks (ARB 9000, Warn 88899, Smitybuilt 9000), one 50' 3/8" extension, two ARB tree savers, a 10' winchline.com rigging line, 30' ARB snatch strap, two Rope bones, two 4' chunks of 3/8 grade 8 chain, five 6.5T 3/4" shackles, three 6.5T 7/8" shackles, two hi-vis safety vests, leather gloves, three gear bags, and a fid. Not shown is the 14K PulPal - it's buried deep in the truck...
I will be making a couple soft eye extensions from the good sections of the old 7/16 rope to add to the kit. Splicing 12 braid rope isn't hard at all compared to all the Sampson double braid I did in the USCG, lots of mooring lines, and tow ropes, some of it 5" dia stuff.
A Power Wagon rarely gets stuck, but when it does, it's stuck. Having a large and varied selection of gear is critical for me - most pulls when I'm stuck involve redirected pulls to get a good angle and anchor point.
Of all the line pulled, 90% of it is either moving trees in the spring, helping others in the winter, or removing stumps at the house or for neighbors.
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verdesardog
Explorer
Hey Mark! that's a lot of stuff you have there. Probably the only thing I don't have is a third pulley.
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
It's real handy for redirected pulls. With trees down across a road, I can usually pull it 90 degrees from the road to get it completely out of the way, and still keep the line straight coming into the winch.
Socialism: A stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.
Socialism: A stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
We're towing heavy these days. Recently got an Outdoors RV 24KTS. Dry weight is 6900, add in 90 gallons of water our "stuff" as it were, and it's about 8500 lbs. So it was time for tires anyway (got 30K on the ST Pro's - excellent tire by the way), so the truck is back to stock 285/70-17 using the ST Maxx tread. Also have added a second AT cooler and AFE rear diff cover for heat.
If you haven't seen an Outdoors RV trailer check them out. MorRyde CRE suspension with shocks, 8" I beam frame, fully enclosed and heated underbelly, dual pane windows, 2" walls, screwed together cabinets, and 235/80-16 Goodyear tires, and 160W solar power are all stock items.
If you haven't seen an Outdoors RV trailer check them out. MorRyde CRE suspension with shocks, 8" I beam frame, fully enclosed and heated underbelly, dual pane windows, 2" walls, screwed together cabinets, and 235/80-16 Goodyear tires, and 160W solar power are all stock items.
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
No radiator cooler, just two external. Also added an AFE diff cover to help keep that oil cooler as well. Yeah, previous tires have been 315's. Truck looks dorky on stockers, but it shifted the power band into a more usable range of speed.
Had the new rig up near Perkins Tank in Feb - it did great considering the condition of White Horse lake Road. They are logging up there, and the trucks have beat the road into 5 to 6 inch tall washboard. Once we turned of it, it was a wee bit sloppy as well... We got the 235/80-16 tire option on the trailer - what a difference that makes from the old trailer on wee little 14" tires!
Had the new rig up near Perkins Tank in Feb - it did great considering the condition of White Horse lake Road. They are logging up there, and the trucks have beat the road into 5 to 6 inch tall washboard. Once we turned of it, it was a wee bit sloppy as well... We got the 235/80-16 tire option on the trailer - what a difference that makes from the old trailer on wee little 14" tires!
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crawler#976
Expedition Leader
We had a very bad experience towing with the Cooper ST Maxx 285/70-17 tires. The exhibited some extreme tread squirm under load, and have been replaced with Toyo AT2's. They performed very well this last weekend in similar high winds.
The trailer tows exceptionally well on dirt - we stayed at the Pine Flat meadow off the Great Western Trail at the junction of FR 354/105 south of Williams, AZ. With nearly no snowfall this winter, we were able to access an area usually close by wet conditions until May. It is going to be a very, very bad year for the wildlife. Elk are already starting to congregate around the few remaining sources of water. In three days we had over 100 head of Elk go thru the area heading for Pine Springs tank.
The trailer tows exceptionally well on dirt - we stayed at the Pine Flat meadow off the Great Western Trail at the junction of FR 354/105 south of Williams, AZ. With nearly no snowfall this winter, we were able to access an area usually close by wet conditions until May. It is going to be a very, very bad year for the wildlife. Elk are already starting to congregate around the few remaining sources of water. In three days we had over 100 head of Elk go thru the area heading for Pine Springs tank.
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Well, this is it for Cactus Red. It's time to move on - we have decided to sell the Power Wagon. It's been an awesome truck, but the new trailer taxed it heavily on our summer trip to Glacier NP. It did the job, but with a loaded 8500 Lb trailer we averaged less than 6 MPG. Seems like every where we went was up hill...
It's been replaced by a very, very slightly used 2017 Ram MegaCab 4x4 Laramie with the Cummins option. We found one locally with only 12360 miles on since Feb of 17 when it was originally purchased.
It's been replaced by a very, very slightly used 2017 Ram MegaCab 4x4 Laramie with the Cummins option. We found one locally with only 12360 miles on since Feb of 17 when it was originally purchased.
toddz69
Explorer
Wow! Truly the end of an era! Sorry to see Cactus Red go down the road after so many great trips with you in it. Sounds like the MegaCab will surely make a nice tow rig for the new trailer though. I was re-reading some of your last posts and saw you put an aFe diff cover on it. I was watching 3 Gale Banks videos yesterday where he's doing some interesting testing on stock vs. aftermarket diff covers - the results are not yet in but they're good viewing.
Todd Z.
Todd Z.
Do you plan to mod it out like your last truck? If so, where can we find the thread!? GL man.
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
Well, Cactus Red has sold. One of my neighbors son's owns my old '98 Taco, and now the father will be driving the PW. Gonna be kinda strange to have them both close at hand...
Yeah, it doesn't even know it's back there. Set the cruise control at the speed limit, sit back and let the truck and Blue OX hitch do the rest. We got 9.8 MPG from Chino Valley, AZ (4620' elevation) to camp south of Williams AZ. (7190' elevation) at 52 miles one way with most of the elevation from Ash Fork to Williams. Around town it's getting 15.5 MPG, Hwy is at 18.0. No complaints on that!
Yes, I will be doing some mods, but not to the extent of the PW. Already wired it for the ARB in the bed, and will be doing a leveling kit to increase front up travel. Looking at either the Bilstein 5162 series 2.3" kit, or Icon Vehicle Dynamics basic 2.5" kit. The stock Firestone HT's have been replaced by GoodYear DuraTrac 275/70-18's on the stock rims. We've had great performance with those on the JKUR, and hope it repeats with the truck.
Yeah, it doesn't even know it's back there. Set the cruise control at the speed limit, sit back and let the truck and Blue OX hitch do the rest. We got 9.8 MPG from Chino Valley, AZ (4620' elevation) to camp south of Williams AZ. (7190' elevation) at 52 miles one way with most of the elevation from Ash Fork to Williams. Around town it's getting 15.5 MPG, Hwy is at 18.0. No complaints on that!
Yes, I will be doing some mods, but not to the extent of the PW. Already wired it for the ARB in the bed, and will be doing a leveling kit to increase front up travel. Looking at either the Bilstein 5162 series 2.3" kit, or Icon Vehicle Dynamics basic 2.5" kit. The stock Firestone HT's have been replaced by GoodYear DuraTrac 275/70-18's on the stock rims. We've had great performance with those on the JKUR, and hope it repeats with the truck.
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