TheCochese's Project Con Queso

Which ones are these?

 

They got yeeted off the forum because a vendor abused their status.

Allegedly

 

I think that’s a great idea.

 

Smittybilt X20 synthetic ordered. Unless there's a huge surprise, it'll be here well before the bumper.

There's a really good chance that the winch and light will be installed with the bumper but not wired up while I research the best path forward. The winch can be wired directly to the battery but I was thinking about a kill switch as it won't be used often.

 

Exactly 52 weeks later, finally took the V6 badge off.

 

Not now! That 2.7 isn’t gonna like all that weight you’ve been adding to the truck.

 

Picked up a magnetic pickup tool, tomorrow I will attempt to get the forward to slider bolts installed. Then put some blue thread lock on all the bolts. I have to figure out if there are more than four mounting points on the driver side. After that I will be doing the 15k service, I need to find my torque wrench for the driveshaft. And get the leaky grease gun out and hit zerks.

Winch shipped, probably be here next weekend. I have to decide if I’m going to do the bedliner again or have it powder coated. Leaning PC.

Also found a dent on my passenger roof arch, a branch must have fallen down again, this has happened on every one of my vehicles since we moved here. I hate that tree. No paint chipping, perhaps PDC can fix it but it isn’t a big deal. Every time I wash the truck I find something, so no more washes.

 

If you remove the plastic you should be able to reach your arm down the frame. And put the bolt in the hole.
Unless you have super fat arms.

 

I was about two inches too short of reaching when I tried.

 

Dang.

 

try taping it to a box end wrench, works well!

 

I finally got the two forward bolts in, but my ring finger paid a price. I used a pickup tool to get the bolts in, then was able to put the wrench up in the frame and get them tightened. The passenger side was again easier, the driver way worse. The brake lines interfered, plus the mounting hole was ever so slightly off. Just enough room to get the bolt through with a little bit of work, but attempting to use the needle nose to grab it, I caught the pad of my ring finger in the cutter. Didn't break the skin but I will have an awful blood blister.

So I have four thicker bolt/nut/washer combos on each slider - two at each end. I have I think one more big and one or two more little bolts on the passenger side, and only the black box/grey bracket stock bolts going through on the driver side. There's absolutely no other stock mounting locations to go through on the driver side, I could probably fit the remaining smaller bolt provided through a spot on the passenger side. Hope it's all enough. Oh, and the bottom frame bolt on each side, but I still need to buy a longer bolt and chase the threads to get that installed back.

It was too cold to try to fit the TC skid or do any of the 15k maintenance. 25 degree drop plus wind from yesterday.

 

OK, going to post something separate in a couple of days for more eyes, but I wanted to workshop it a little bit here before I do. And it involves power.

Here's where I'm at and where I think I'm going.

• Smittybilt X20 winch (direct wire to battery through cutoff)
• Heise SL2014 bumper light

Potential future

• ARB compressor
• roof light
• hood lights (eh?)
• scene lights
• front heated seats
• front camera

There's always the prospect of doing a fridge and more overlanding stuff, but I'm really seeing the benefit of doing a trailer when it gets to that point. And it would have its own power distribution node.

One thing to know about me is that I am wanting to do this very neatly, very stock-like. At least as it relates to wiring, and in-cab presentation. So that means a very neat wiring loom, factory color switch setup or SwitchPro that can match RGB. No weird add-on mounts, no massive amount of shitty wiring behind the dash. It'll be done neatly, and professional, even if it costs a bit more. I'll likely temporarily wire up both the winch and bumper light if I haven't settled on a solution by then.

What I need to figure out is if I should do it with something like a Switch Pro or factory-type switches. What my distribution under the hood looks like. Will I need to plan for a second battery, etc. I have three stock switch spots available in the middle dash, and could do multiple ones in the roof (only have TC up there). I could do three more instead of the driver side cubby, or I could put the Switch Pro there (but I need MESO to make one with a four switch bottom to match what I have).

So I have a decent plan, I just need to figure out how to execute it.

 

What do you mean hood lights? Like the ditch lights?

I like the look of factory style switches, just depends on if you have room. I used 2 in the center for my heated seats, and plan to use one on the left by the cubby for a light bar. The switch pros are pretty slick though, and if you are going to keep adding, they give you a lot of versatility moving forward. I totally get why people go that route.

 

Switch Pro is kinda pricey but most definitely the way to go imho. I'm just a little concerned about how it will perform in extreme cold. I need my stuff to work out in the field. Got no time for down time. Heated seats are a must. Wish i had heated mirrors but that's comin' too. Hood lights like most of mine are KC's. Been lovin' 'em for over 40 years. Front cam plugs right into my Pioneer deck with switching on the front panel. Lastly, Air compressors. Lots of thinkin' into that install again bc of the extreme cold. Gotta have the lines sloped right with lots of points to drain moisture/condensation. Don't really matter what brand. My single Northstar AGM battery seems like more than enough but I don't pack a winch. Not sure if I will.

 

Yes. Not sure I'll get them but I thought I would throw that in.

The Switch Pro seems really cool, but also is a huge dunk of cash at once when all of these things will be done over the course of a couple of years, realistically.

As far as switch locations, three in the lower middle dash, and I can add up to five in the overhead console if I go with a MESO 3D printed unit. I think I could add three in the cubby.

Realistically, isn't the main benefit of the Switch Pro having them all in one unit and the wiring ready to add more accessories easily? If I go ahead and run all my planned accessory wiring at once, and all I have to do is pop out blanks and put the switches in...doesn't that get me to basically the same place? Since I'll need to have relays for all the switches, all the wiring from the switches to under the hood should be the same, right? I could twist up five sets of wires for the overhead console and pull the interior trim for that once.

This is good conversation.

 

I think you thought that out correctly. Everything wired to one panel, and easy to add to in the future. But it isn’t cheap. And if you plan it out, you could pre wire to your stock locations. So yea, I think it comes down to if you want to spend the money on it or not

 

Since you mentioned neat wiring the switch pro eliminates most of the space problems of large looms. As you said, start wiring in mulitple accesories & wires add up real fast. Not a whole lot of room to space behind my dash & a lot less now. I like that Meso panel as you're not hackin' up the truck to install a hand full of switches. I like to keep all the lighting in one place/row. The rest is based on how often i use or need to adjust it.

 

When I made the harness that I used for my panel, I included extra wiring in the bundle for potential changes and growth down the road.