Install of Hidden Winch Mount, Bigger Alternator, & Battery

[fallvitals]

Heres the start of my CK Welding Hidden Winch Install.

The guy who made the mount said that one hole was off by 3/8" on each side. Well I discovered it was a bit more then that when mounting it up. (picture is post drilling).






Using a make shift square, you can see where the oil lines are in relation to the Mount.



Worst case, I can take some round tubing, just like supplied in the oil filter relocation with a body lift, and space it back about an inch if needed.


The front skid had to be hacked to get it to fit, which made me sick considering I bought it new for what, atleast $135? the first cuts were around the mounting holes. And here you can see the issue with the front lip of the skid plate.




You can see I really hacked this side up getting it to fit.




The worst part about hacking the skid plate is the oil filter access door will no longer open becuase of the front "beam" on the winch plate. But that can be fixed by drilling and taping the door itself to the skid plate. Not my favortie fix but it will work.




After the cut, not the best picture, but its hard to take em like that! lol.




Here it is mounted up, im gonna take it off tommorow and get to painting it. Order the winch tonight or tommorow, a Smittybilt XRC-8.Im thinking, and hoping this was the worst part of it.








I plan on doing the rest of the install over Memorial Weekend. It wont arrive till after the isntall is done, but I am also ordering a custom winch in cab control panel from 12voltguy.com and plan to mount it where the coin holder is located.

[14x4]

Looks great! But what about that front-end slouch?

[F9K9]

A nice mod in progress! Thanks for the update.

[gocntry]

Winch Mod Is Looking

Now You Just Need Some Custom Sliders And A ZR2 Rear End And Your Set

[fallvitals]

Well I was hoping to install this 3 day weekend, but the winch shipped from California. There's a chance it could come into thr hub tonight and a coworker could pull it off to te side for me to pick up tonight. I work at UPS, FYI. Not to confuse any one, lol.

Oh well it'll give metime to get the little things like the grade 8 bolts, dremel accessories, whatever together.

[fallvitals]

Well, Didn't get lucky. It didn't make the last sort of the week, but it is setting in a trailer at the hub right now though! lol..... Oh well, next weekend.

[fallvitals]

Its here! And I already tore into the selonoid box. The selonoid looks pretty well sealed up. And I dont think theres any way I will get that big huge box in there with the winch. So... what i think i am gonna do is bolt the selonoid to these mounts that connect to the tie roads of the winch, and mount it over the drum. Should leave me plenty of room to clear every thing and just crimp wire to the remote control plug in and probably mount it in a recess of the grille.

Do you all think the selonoid will be just fine out of its case? Its not sealed up, and IIRC lots of ZR2usa guys did it similer to how im saying.

And the clutch handle seems to move pretty easily im gonna run some kinda rod from it, through the grille, so i can access that handle without removing the grille to do so.

[F9K9]

.........Do you all think the selonoid will be just fine out of its case? Its not sealed up, and IIRC lots of ZR2usa guys did it similer to how im saying...........

Can you post a link to their thread on it? If, needed, I'll ask for an update on how it turned out after some time has past. HJ and I are members there.

[fallvitals]

Errr I ment it looks pretty well sealed up.

I'll get that link tonight on my iPhone and getting ready to start work. I appreciate it.

I actully sent someone a email there asking to be a member told em of. My zr5 mml and referanced you and brule and haven't heard back....

[fallvitals]

Heres the thread, http://www.zr2usa.com/mboard/index.php? ... l=relocate oil&st=80

The very first post in that link contains his mounting location.


I think I just found a issue ill have to deal with I didnt foresee.


Thats the old XRC 8.

If you you scrool up and look at the handle location on my winch... its gonna cuase some clearance issues.... Im sure I can rotate it back some that may help... I drilled a hole through the ball of that lever tonight so i can at the least run a metal clotches hanger through it and engage it without removing the grille.

[fallvitals]

Took longer then I thought it would, as always, but im pretty much done.

Dual tow hooks with 10.9 grade metric fasters and flange nuts for extra safety.





First problem after cutting the frame horns. Oil filter BL bracket in the way.




Solution was to remove the bracket, flip it around and upside down drill out the holes and remount. Worked perfect. with maybe .001" of an inch clearance between that bolt and the winch! The cut frame horns can also be seen.




Now, the problem was the clutch lever was in the frame horn hindering the abilty to engage it. So I rotated the handle.




Now it is behind the frame horn.




To be able to engage and disengage the clutch lever, I drilled a hole in the lever and put a metal clothes hanger through it and run it up and through the grille. Suprisingly it works pretty well.




I didn't think the entire selonoid box would mount with the bumper but actually it did. But I had to relocate the remote plug in. You can also see the clothes hanger coming up, lol.

[fallvitals]

The selonoid box after the bumper was mounted back.



You can see the wires I ran for the remote plug in, I also screwed on a piece of plastic to cover the hole. In the next week or two when I do my next mod, I am gonna silicon that hole up just to do it right.




Remote plug in relocated to the driverrs side bumper.




Bigger alternator, and battery. Diehard Platinum 34/78. Big 3 wire upgrade next weekend!






Finished!









Next weekend, I think, will be the Big 3 upgrade, In Cab winch Control, and installing front Bump Stops.


Now I had an issue firing up the winch for the first time. Plugged in the remote and the started turning the line in without my operating the remote! Tried it again, same thing. Re checked my wiring, it was good, made sure which wire was what. Reinstalled it, did it again! I could press out and it would feed out, but let go and it would feed in automatically!

I smacked the remote against the ground and,,, it stopped! Played with it some more and it would started feeding automatiacly again, smack the remote, no problem.

Took apart the remote and dint see anything wrong. But this is making second guess buying a Smittybilt and not a Warn. I am calling them tommarow and expect a replacement remote ASAP. That is dangerously unsafe.


Anyways, I mounted the remote plug in on the bumper.. Not my favorite idea, but it worked. I didnt see where else to put it, but it does blend in nicely. And I still need to mod a way to remount the oil door access back onto the skid. Guessing drill and tap.

[HenryJ]

Does moving the lever down engage it? bouncing around down the road the lever may fall victim to gravity and move downward on its own. As long as it does not disengage and free spool your cable down the road , you should be golden.

I like my Superwinch remote better than the Milemarker remote. A added a plug so I can use the good remote on both winches.

[fallvitals]

Nope, didn't think of that. Down is Free Spool, up is Engaged, naturally

I thought about getting another brand remote and just using the same plug in. I also am doing the incab mod, and figure that will be how the winch is operated for the most part. And the remote plug in as the back up, or stand by.

[HenryJ]

Figure out a way to secure the control lever in the up position. That should not be hard.

If you don't like the supplied remote, there are lots of possibilities.

[fallvitals]

I kinda like the supplied remote... but its faulty. It needs to be replaced.

I cant think of any real way to keep the handle from falling.... well I havent been thinking long, but take a black zip tie to match the grille, and make it long enough so the clothes hanger wire engagement handle (lol) "sets" in it keeping it up. When time to use just slide it out.


I dont have a picture of the handle, but you can't see it, its behind the driver fog light, and it kinda "up" in the grill with just a little bit hanging out, enough to lift up or push down on and engage it. You can't see it unless you are looking for something small and out of place, and from a odd angle.

[F9K9]

It's coming into play and bugs will be found but, it looks like you're getting close!

[fallvitals]

So far no issue with clutch lever disengaging, and if hit some nasty pot holes accidently, lol.

Alright, this weekend did an oil change, and some other finishing touches.

Big 3 Upgrade. 4awg and heat shrink with adhesive (badass stuff).



Looks like a octopuse attacking my battery.




You can see the negative to ground, and ground leading to engine block. As well as my PIAA relays.




Power wire connected, and engine ground to alternator bolt.



Bump Stops.



Brule helped me out on getting me this set of bump stops, thanks!

Jacked the truck up and after a couple minutes of scratching the head decided that wouldn't work. Lowered it turned the wheel. Still couldn't get a wrench in there to lossen in.

So I drove around the block, put one tire up on the curb and got to it. Slowly. Why do I never take Reed's PB advice? The drivers side on was rusted really good. Once the "ear" was out of its hole, I had to hole it with pliers and turn the wrench, which every turn equaled about 1/8 of one turn. And I somehow got it going backwards

Finally got it off, passanager side wasnt as bad. I made sure to tap/die the full size bumps before installing them to make sure it threaded easily. Had to put the truck back on jacks yo get em on, and once again drive around the block, and put it in the curb to tighten em up.

So with those bump stops my MML is offically done. Last mod I have planned is my in cab winch control panel, whenever I get it from 12voltguy. He gave me a 1-2 week lead time. Which was 3 weeks ago, and he was out of town last week, lol.

[Jongo88]

Sorry for all the rust.. That is the one thing I like about Florida. I have zero rust on my truck.

[fallvitals]

Got the in cab switch panel today. It mounts up to the coin holder perfectly. two of the 4 mounting holes dont have any place i can drill a hole and run a through screw material... but i figure I can get a small thin piece of wood, and run 2 bolts through it and it will have a clamping action holind it firmly into place looks good.




I know it looks upside down from that shot, but when in the drivers seat looking at it it isnt, lol.

[HenryJ]

Looks good.
Maybe some hobby plastic or something like that to act as a piece to screw into to clamp it in place.

[F9K9]

[paintballrocker]

i like the switch mount idea

[fallvitals]

Heres a picture installed.

[F9K9]

Clean! I like it.