Flatbed,35’s and Mainly Parked For Repairs

Made up a new (and hopefully last) aux fuse panel tray. I needed more room for the big ass fuse for the winch. It ain't very pretty but for what it is, it will do. Hopefully get it all finished up and installed by the end of the week.

 

Just need to do some clean up, weld screws on for relays and paint. Then it's wiring everything it up.

Added the hole in the middle so I could easily access relays and bring wiring up to the fuse box.

 

All done the winch install with all the re-wiring.


The panel has 5 relays mounted to it, with room for 4 more. It has the fuse box and circuit breaker for all the accessories. The other is a inline fuse for the winch, which holds a 400amp ANL fuse. It was the right size compared to a larger circuit breaker.


All wires were covered in split loom and taped with couloured electrical tape to avoid mixing wires up.


to extend the wires for the winch solenoid, I got 150ft of 1/0 welding cable, and bought a cheap crimper off of Amazon. Adhesive lined heat shrink and she was good to go. The crimper was small, so each lug got crimped twice for a strong mechanical connection.





Also wired up two more switches.


All finished up with the LED light bar back on.


I have steel cable running a steel hawse. Also the engaging lever had to be sanded to be able to engage/disengage the winch. I clocked the winch so it was in this position, and could have reclocked it, but it was easier to sand the handle down.

 

I'm in the market for a winch and was looking at the superwinch you bought but with synthetic line. Have you tested her out yet? How do you like it?

 

Cant really say anything about it yet. For me it was a good price point (Amazon) and sealed solenoid that helped with the purchase. Smkytxn build has a pretty good review on the winch and ultimately helped me with my decision.

 

Went off-roading this past weekend. Have some video but that's going to take a while.

This was a pretty big ditch that i got through. Almost had to winch out.

 

During off-roading noticed my transmission temps were high so I ordered a trams cooler. Went with the

$58 Hayden 679 Universal 11” Rapid-Cool Add-On Transmission Cooler to Enhance Cooling (not for direct replacement of the factory unit)

Hayden 679, which is one of the bigger ones. Was a bit of. Challenge to get it to fit without having to drill a shit ton of holes and relocate a bunch of stuff.


Used some aluminum angle from homedepot. I would have welded up a bracket but I was in a hurry and used what I could easily get.

I used stock holes and luckily had hardware that fit to mount the bracket. The cooler is held with three bolts which should be sufficient since the instructions suggested using zip ties to mount it.

The horns got relocate to the passenger side
And this bracket had to be cut to fit the cooler
It was easily cut with Tim snips.

May add an electric fan to help with keeping things cool when there isn't enough flow. As of right now though my temperature is 50'f -60'f lower with normal driving. So should definitely help.

 

Awesome job on the trans cooler!

 

thanks Crom! the pictures looked better on my phone. I could have used the satoshi method for relocating the horns, however with the winch and bumper it wouldn't have worked for me. Only one hole had to be drilled to mount a hole. Getting that one horn grounded was a pain in the ass, but got it all mounted and everything is worked. Had to extend the wires as well which only required soldering a couple inches of wire.

 

Some maintence coming up in the next few days. Also going to be changing the halogen bed lights to led, and adding some rock/camping/fix shit in the dark lights. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

 

Well it took a while but I finished all my maintence and installed some lights

Plugs looked pretty good for 60k km on them.

Did brakes as well. EBC slotted rotors and green stuff pads (7000)


Other than the diffs, air filter and throttle body cleaner, I installed some rock/camp lights

No lights (flash on)


Lights on (flash on)


Under the truck I used the carrier bearing crossmember and close spots on the frame to mount the lights, 4 lights total.

On one side
Didn't put the skids back on since doing the diffs but hopefully I don't have to move the lights do to the skids being in the way.

The lights are cheap Amazon specials. 6 square pods for $100. Not too shabby.

Going to be getting the truck sprayed and double check everything over to make sure it's ready for winter.

 

well went over the truck today and cleaned and painted any worry spots. Painted and re-installed the skids. Ready for some winter wheeling!

skids got some work this year

back on the truck.

also here is a bit better picture of the rock lights. Going to make sure the skids are affecting the light output too much when its dark out

driver side lights

passenger side lights (not the best picture, but you get the idea)

With 120,000 km on the truck I have had all the fluids changed except for the coolant within the last 5000km. Pretty happy with how everything is running!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCX7hJSJyBU

 

I love the dakars. Did some work at the family farm and at some of our properties. Good way to spend the Christmas break. Only need snow now.

 

Nice truck, Peter!

I can butcher wood with the best of them, but I really need to learn how to weld.

Where did you buy your battery cage?

 

Thanks a bunch! I'm still learning the wood game. Usually just the mule, as I am not feeling to secure with a saw, and you really can't make a mistake with one of those. Welding is practice. I'm no expert, or wouldn't even consider myself a welder, but I can stick metal together lol.

The battery cage is from pelfrey built. It's all aluminum, and bolts right in. Fits the diehard 31m battery, but I think there new ones are a bit more flexible. Just have to be careful that your battery is perfectly flush on the top.

 

LOL, I meant carpentry in the wood comment, but I also have my loggers ticket.

As for the battery flush thing, "What do you mean by that?"

 

Sorry, the actuall battery on the top has to be flat or the cage won't close properly. Take a look at the pics and you kinda get an idea. I originally got an odyssey battery but the handle didn't sit flush so the cage wouldn't be able to close as nice. Hope that makes sense.

The top of the battery has to be flat. Lol.

 

OK, gotcha. I was thinking dual battery set up, but that can get really pricey for my future needs. I like the dual posts on that Diehard 31M. That simplifies things.

What is the part number that I see upside down in the pic on the left of the battery?
It looks like it reads 50131. Is it a deep cycle marine?

 

This is the battery here
http://m.sears.com/diehard-platinum-marine-battery-group-size-31m-price/p-02850131000P

Problem is you can only get it in the states. However I think northstar batteries are essentially the exact same and you can get them at most battery locations. Pricey though. I was going to school in a border town so it worked out for me. Now I would go with the northstar battery.

This one:
http://buy.northstarbattery.com/p/nsb-agm-31m-battery

Didn't check the specs that closely but they look pretty close. I also believe they are physically the same so they should fit fine in the pelfrey cage. marine batteries are the way to go since they can be completely drawn dead and be able to recharge quickly. This is easier on alternators and what not. Also the reserve capacity and cold cranking amps is generally higher which is great for those cold winters. Marine batteries essentially just have way more lead, or something so they are way heavier than there a comparable battery in the same group size (31vs 31m)

Also I went with this set up as it was cheaper, provided close to the same output as a dual set up (however very different with charging,house vs aux etc.) and was a tad lighter/cleaner install.