Chux's 2013 Beach Buggy Build

Helped a local buddy out yesterday putting in a toytec spacer lift.
Fellow beach buggy everything was rusted/corroded. Pulled the lugs and the wheel didn’t wanna come off. Also had to unfortunately inform him his LCAs are seized..



Test fit 255/80/17s

 

Garage

 

Did you have your table mounting to your topper in here??

 

Yeayupp

 

Why Buy an Engo winch..





From the very beginning prior to having my own winch I heard good things about Engo, the main thing being great customer service. Seemed easy to say that would be the winch company I’m going with. As I did 11/30/16 with a hook up at Southeast Overland. Fast forward 3 years later and I’m even happier then ever with my purchase from Engo.

My 10kS winch was put to work a lot over the years.. moving trees off forestry roads in Virginia, getting unstuck from the deep snow of the White Mountains NF New Hampshire, saving a family in a F250 with box trailer on a forestry road in Wyoming, locally helping a contractor get his skid steer out from being bogged, and testing recovery gear like the recovery ring for safer application for winching.

The last photo in sequence is where my winch died, trail 20 Rausch Creek offroad Park in Pennsylvania. I blame myself for death to the winch.. It was a very stressful situation to say the least. After a few hours of trail damage and self winch recovery I came back around on the trail to winch my buddy. I went from being in front of him to now behind him. Lack of rear recovery points we looked to snatch him from the front with the recovery ring. My winch line was up against his door wrapping around the fender and head light, he said he didn’t care but that didn’t sit well with me, so I moved the tree saver higher and higher till it cleared over the hood. Ready to winch everything was in motion... then disappointment set in.. My winch stopped pulling and my buddy was still stuck. I didn’t realize till we talked about it hours later I setup the line in a way that had too much stress on the winch. The setup with the tree saver too high wanted to pull the front end of the truck off the ground instead of just a forward motion.

Now home days later it was time to diagnose and fix the winch. My first thought was that the solenoid was fried given a little research. Ordered a new solenoid and replaced it, still didn’t work.



What I should have done from the beginning was call Engo. I’m not sure how Engo operates behind the scenes but every time I called them a guy named Joel answered the phone and called the shots to rectify the situation. So on the first call to them I explained what happened and we discussed a solution, ended up ordering a new winch motor. Relatively cheap I’ll add but a little steep on shipping given the weight. When it arrived I temporarily wired everything together and it worked! Thanx Joel for the advice, customer service and being easy to talk to.

Before installing the functioning winch back in the bumper I took apart the gear box to clean it up and regrease everything. To my surprise right off the bat some muddy water came out. Upon further dissection I found out one of the gear sets in the assembly had two seized smaller gears. I cleaned everything up best I could and even soaked the gear set in PB blaster for a couple days. I was able to get the small gears to move but barely and with force. So I got back on the phone and called Engo. Joel picks up, I said hey and explained we prior talked about my winch and ordered a new motor, now I have an issue with the gear box.. After a brief talk he said “are you the original purchaser?”, “when did you order it”, “we’ll send you a new one”. I had to repeat him out disbelief.. “your gonna send me a new one!?”. So no hiccups I explained exactly how I purchased it from Steve at Southeast Overland, through FB messenger, with PayPal. Joel asked if I picked it up or it was shipped to me. SEO is in South Carolina, I told Joel it was shipped to me. Joel responded “then we sent it to you, I’ll find the invoice for proof of purchase and just send some pics via email of the gear box and corrosion”.




5 days later Joel is a man of his word.






After everything is reassemble I’m excited to get back out on the trail and push the limits. I can’t thank Joel at Engo enough for all the help he had given me calling from New Jersey all the way to Washington, personally picking up the phone after two or three rings (never missed a call) and supplying expert advice. The level of customer service I received is unfathomable for business nowadays. I’ll always remember how good they were to me as a customer and will continue to spread the good word about Engo.

 

Chasing the fall run...

 

Keep it in the fam. #ToyotaFam

 

First mod

 

Zig digs that cargo space haha

 

He better.. that’s gonna be his spot if we get a second car seat

 

...but why would Luna need 2 seats???

 

Hahahaha I was wondering the same.

 

Chux be like with mrs chux

 

Broke the swing out holding pin today, anyone have a link or know a source for replacement? Called Pelfreybilt but the lines are disconnected...

 

Hey Chux it’s Chux..

Just found this check it out

https://www.4xinnovations.com/Spring-Pin-and-Weldable-Barrel-_p_144.html

 

You might be able to find a replacement at McMaster-Carr.

 

And so it begins..




First trip in the wife’s truck





Next up..

 

Yea that site is great.



For the record..
the 4xinnovations spring pin is a direct replacement to the Pelfreybilt swing out

 

Need a new build thread for the runner lol