Vanilla Gorilla: 2017 Power Wagon build

[marshal]

Its always so weird seeing your vehicle from someone else perspective. Friends sending you photos or seeing someone else drive its an interesting perspective

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

Its been a long time since i've loved a vehicle. Really, my 06 Wrangler was the last vehicle I loved. it was perfect and i had made it mine. everything since has always seemed like a compromise. This PW though is truly something else, i really do love this thing

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

The rear Expedition One bumper showed up at our local freight depot today. Instead of trying to schedule a time for me to be there for a residential delivery, i elected to go pick it up from Estes myself. Bill of lading shows the whole crate weighing in at 360lbs

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

First off i would like to really commend Expedition One on their packing job. Everything was wrapped in heavy plastic bagging and all the individual pieces in the cardboard box you see. additionally everything was well strapped down and bags of expanded foam were used to keep anything from shifting in transport

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

the bumper is truly a work of art. everything is built from 3/16ths plate and it is absolutely stout

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

the pin on which the carriers ride is huge and through welded into boxed sections. the pin isn't going anywhere, ever

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

here are the new frame horns that the bumper mounts to, fabricated from 1/4" plate. these things are absolutely enormous

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

first step was to disconnect the backup sensors, plate lights and and the trailer harness and remove the stock rear bumper

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

second was to make a quick slice on the stock hitch bracket that the bumper attaches to. while this may look like a permanent change to the frame horn, its not its actually a piece of the hitch. its pretty heavy gauge steel so if one wanted to weld the end back on it wouldn't be a big deal. Or, you could order a new hitch from Mopar and place it on

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

painted

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

then, bolted the new frame horns on

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

the end result is really really good looking. i love this bumper. this is as far as i got because i was loosing sunlight - but i'll have some more detailed shots up tomorrow afternoon as i get the swing arms on, and the tire mounted. I'll get detailed shots of everything including these super ************** latches

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

 

[Tex68w]

Their latch design is what truly sets them apart from the rest of the industry! I can't wait to see this complete, such a cool bumper.

 

[Mako1114]

Wow. That is a stout bumper and looks great too! What front bumper are you going with?

Cheers

 

[Kingsize24]

Awesome... Glad you got yours in. I'm still waiting on mine, so hopefully I'll get the call soon this week. It looks extremely beefy. I honestly can't wait to see yours with the tire/wheel bolted up.

 

[marshal]

Their latch design is what truly sets them apart from the rest of the industry! I can't wait to see this complete, such a cool bumper.

The latch is a real marvel of engineering for a small business like E-One. Its basically a super HD version of a striker and latch that the doors and tailgate use. My only suggestion at this point in time would be that a set of gas struts on the arms would have been a nice addition, however thats not to say i cant add them later.

Wow. That is a stout bumper and looks great too! What front bumper are you going with?

Cheers

I have their Power Wagon bumper on order as well. As soon as it's ready it will ship and go on the front. basically its the same design as the SEMA bumper they showed off, except that its been sucked back nearly flush with the grill and the front has been opened up for using the stock fairlead.

Awesome... Glad you got yours in. I'm still waiting on mine, so hopefully I'll get the call soon this week. It looks extremely beefy. I honestly can't wait to see yours with the tire/wheel bolted up.

me too! I'll be getting them on this afternoon. I need to pick up some bearing grease on the way home to pack the bearings for the swings arms, and some traction tape and then we'll be cookin'. The only issue i've had so far is i need to redo the furthest passenger backup sensor. I think i have the plastic shroud in backwards and it keeps going off as if there is something immediately in front of it.

 

[Dalko43]

Your truck is coming along nicely! Any plans for a front bumper?

I totally get what you're saying about 'loving' a vehicle. My 4runner gives me that feeling every time I drive it. I've sat in the newer Ram's and I can definitely seeing myself 'loving' those trucks as well.

 

[Mercness1112]

Loving the build page and the truck. Very well done and very clean installs on everything!

Wondering if you could do a mini write-up of the interior? I like seeing people's solutions for internal storage (noticed you had a black bag near the center console in one picture)

Sub'd for sure for future updates on this PW!

 

[rehammer81]

Awesome! Super interested in that bumper. From your build, seeing how the swing arms go on is alleviating my only issue which was if I needed to haul something long on a very rare occasion, how hard would it be to remove the swing arms so I could haul with the tailgate down? From your pictures it doesn't look like it would be too bad. Your thoughts?

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[Tex68w]

It's good to hear that they will be offering a PW specific front bumper that allows you to utilize the factory winch mount. I was set on using the Kinzer front bumper for that very reason as previously they were the only ones that offered that option, but now I believe I am leaning towards the Expedition One bumper simply because their design and build quality is second to no one.

Sitting here impatiently waiting for the completed install pics lol.

 

[Tex68w]

Duplicate delete!!!

Stupid forum software

 

[marshal]

Loving the build page and the truck. Very well done and very clean installs on everything!

Wondering if you could do a mini write-up of the interior? I like seeing people's solutions for internal storage (noticed you had a black bag near the center console in one picture)

Sub'd for sure for future updates on this PW!

Its actually a rolled up shell jacket lol. But yeah, i'd be happy to write up my storage stuff and interior. Its not advanced or revolutionary or anything though

Awesome! Super interested in that bumper. From your build, seeing how the swing arms go on is alleviating my only issue which was if I needed to haul something long on a very rare occasion, how hard would it be to remove the swing arms so I could haul with the tailgate down? From your pictures it doesn't look like it would be too bad. Your thoughts?

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yeah you could take them off. the shaft is permanent, and then the arm's hinge is an oil/grease gasket, a bearing, another bearing and then a washer and huge nut. I think if i absolutely had to haul something long and couldn't put it on my rack i would just pull the spare of and run the tire carrier locked open with the tailgate down. The arms are the same length as the tailgate when its down so its not any odd protrusion. I'll let you know how this works next week when i pick up my 10 foot long sliders from SAIA when they get delivered.

UPDATES!!!

heres another shot of the bumper with no carriers

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

close up of the hinge and foot tread

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

the swing arms are fully mirrored/identical

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

first thing i needed to do was get the tire carrier setup. Thanks to the swing arms being identical, you can set up the tire or any of the accessories pretty much where ever the hell you want it. Since im right handed i decided id mount the tire on the right side

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

i placed the plate inside the wheel and set up the mount so that there would be about 1/8th of an inch of compression available when i tightened the lug nuts down to make sure a super snug fit.

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

the way the hinge works is an oil seal, two tapered roller bearings and then a big ass washer and nut. Here are the bearings, which was taken right before i packed them with marine lithium grease. i was going to take a photo of my awesome pack job, but my hands were gooey and blue and looked like i just jerked off a blueberry soooo...

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

here is the big ass nut

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

I realized after i was most of the way through this that the largest socket i owned was a 1 1/4" socket. then i remembered that i have a 36MM socket from back in the day when i was replacing the front axle shafts with chromoly's on my wrangler. the wheel bearings use a 36mm nut to hold on the stub shaft.

well, imagine my surprise when i discovered my 36mm socket was the perfect fit. F me right?

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

i forgot to snap a picture of my nuts for you guys, but it looks exactly like you think it would. then you put this fancy aluminum cap on with a rubber gasket and anti seize

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

finished product

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

opened

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tailgate down

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profile

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some detail shots

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr

 

[marshal]

hinge and lockout pin/release

Untitled by Will Marshal, on Flickr


bummer was that i couldn't mount my spare tire because i need 3 lug nuts, and i dont have any extras. so i just ordered some which should be here friday hopefully. I still have my hi-lift mount to get on, plate lights and do the camera relocation. Im also having a problem with the backup sensors picking up phantom objects that im trying to work out. this thing is ************** awesome.

 

[Ravenmad]

I stand in awwwwwwwww...... Did you get exc. mounts for the driver side? If so what???

 

[chet6.7]

That looks great.
I have a shell with barn doors,they open fairly wide,do the swing out on the bumper open more?
Thanks.

 

[Tex68w]

Well it's as ************** as I expected it to be, no one comes close to the attention to detail that those guys put into their designs. I'm gonna have to call them soon and order that front bumper now, dammit.