Atticus, a 2001 Tundra build
- Thread starter TravelsWithRalph
- Start date
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
I chose these specifically for the ball joint. I can't imagine the damage our winters, with the heavy applications of magnesium chloride, would do to a uniball. Should be another week or two until I get these parts in.
JCMatthews
Tour Guide
This is where i relocated mine after i smashed it on a trail.
Attachments
pirates712
New member
Do you mind sharing what the alcan leaf springs cost?
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
The Alcan's were a bit over $800 and change + shipping.
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
. Prep'ing for the winch and bumper install. The winch is a Superwinch Talon 9.5s and draws 430Amps at max draw. Fusing that would be a crazy big 500A unit so I did what everyone else does and went direct to the battery and got a fire extinguisher. However, I still wanted a manual power shut off. This is a Marinco EZ-mount on/off switch from West Marine. It's rated for 400A continuous and 600A intermittent. Battery cables are marine grade #2, also from West Marine. It sure helps to have a store right down the street. Now on to the winch and bumper.
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
As this build seems to be going ridiculously slow, progress is coming along. With the ARB bumper in hand, I decided to prep the bumper before pulling the old one off so the truck, a daily driver, isn't down for too long as I meander through this at my own slow pace. I've never done this before so I'm kind of winging it and reading other builds. It seemed correct that the winch needed to be mounted to the bumper before the bumper went onto the truck. Pretty straight forward; 4 holes, 4 bolts and nuts. The ARB bumper has the winch bolts facing forward where other bumpers use a base plate and the mount bolts come from the bottom. That meant I needed to rotate the clutch release handle 90* counter clockwise so the handle would point UP when the winch is bolted in with the bottom bolts facing forward.
To do that meant taking out the correct bolts. Six bolts closes to the clutch housing were easy to identify but the two bottom bolts I missed and it wasn't coming apart. Eventually, I spotted those and it eased open. Careful, superwinch says only open it 1/16th of an inch so you don't separate the gears. I used a razor knife to separate the gasket and then the rotation was easy. Success!
3 bolts on each side of the handle, and 2 on the bottom.
Bolting it in, as I said, was pretty straight forward. I put the ARB on saw horses where I could tilt as needed. Then I decided to spool the synthetic rope. Following the Superwinch instruction I had about 8 wraps on the spool and ran out of room to turn it by hand. So I hooked it to my battery jump pack and powered up the motor to spool it the rest of the way. Success.
. Relocation of the Solenoid pack is pending.
Now time for the Hawse Fairlead. Well, not so fast. Test fitting it revealed that the big indent that ARB builds into this bumper doesn't work well with the low profile Hawse. Clearly hard angles would subject the line to hitting the bumper's sharper edges. So I could either make some spacers and get some longer grade 8 bolts or just switch to a Roller Fairlead. Now I'm glad I picked Superwinch. They're from my home state of CT and I had the Roller Fairlead by noon the next day. I suppose this is the point where we debate the merits of synthetic line with Roller Fairleads. I've read the conventional points of rollers for wire, hawse for synthetic. But for now I'm not buying all that. The rollers have a much bigger diameter and seems to me, as long as they're not all banged up, heat build up in the synthetic line will be reduced with rollers. The pinch problem seems mitigated with the tight joints that Superwinch has on their rollers. I did have to flip it over to get it to fit in the bumper though. The extended bolt ends fit better pointing down. Looks better too.
Although I really do like the way the Superwinch Hawse looks. I'm really impressed with the Superwinch Talon and don't mind advertising it for them. This set up may change, but then everything is changeable.
To do that meant taking out the correct bolts. Six bolts closes to the clutch housing were easy to identify but the two bottom bolts I missed and it wasn't coming apart. Eventually, I spotted those and it eased open. Careful, superwinch says only open it 1/16th of an inch so you don't separate the gears. I used a razor knife to separate the gasket and then the rotation was easy. Success!
3 bolts on each side of the handle, and 2 on the bottom.
Bolting it in, as I said, was pretty straight forward. I put the ARB on saw horses where I could tilt as needed. Then I decided to spool the synthetic rope. Following the Superwinch instruction I had about 8 wraps on the spool and ran out of room to turn it by hand. So I hooked it to my battery jump pack and powered up the motor to spool it the rest of the way. Success.
. Relocation of the Solenoid pack is pending. Now time for the Hawse Fairlead. Well, not so fast. Test fitting it revealed that the big indent that ARB builds into this bumper doesn't work well with the low profile Hawse. Clearly hard angles would subject the line to hitting the bumper's sharper edges. So I could either make some spacers and get some longer grade 8 bolts or just switch to a Roller Fairlead. Now I'm glad I picked Superwinch. They're from my home state of CT and I had the Roller Fairlead by noon the next day. I suppose this is the point where we debate the merits of synthetic line with Roller Fairleads. I've read the conventional points of rollers for wire, hawse for synthetic. But for now I'm not buying all that. The rollers have a much bigger diameter and seems to me, as long as they're not all banged up, heat build up in the synthetic line will be reduced with rollers. The pinch problem seems mitigated with the tight joints that Superwinch has on their rollers. I did have to flip it over to get it to fit in the bumper though. The extended bolt ends fit better pointing down. Looks better too.
Although I really do like the way the Superwinch Hawse looks. I'm really impressed with the Superwinch Talon and don't mind advertising it for them. This set up may change, but then everything is changeable.
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
Not liking the low hanging trailer plug of the OEM style set up I copied Cletus26 and relocated it to the bumper where the left side license plate light was. Used a hole saw on the metal bumper behind the plastic cover, mounted the plug in the plastic cover and used stainless steel #10 bolts and nuts to attach it to the plastic. Some trial and error in fitting it all back together required widening the hole in the bumper a bit with a die grinder. Thanks for the idea Cletus26. 
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
Now I'm trying to decide where to mount the solenoid for the Superwinch. The original position, on top of the motor, is not an option with the winch tucked down into the ARB bumper. Under the hood would be slick but seems like a lot of work. Maybe I'll look for a place on top of the ARB but out of the way of any additional lights that would be forthcoming.
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
Yeah, I think I'll leave it out front and use some angle aluminum to mount it to the top of the bumper, over top of the winch motor. Need to stay out of the way of those for the light brackets. Maybe I should wait till I mount the bumper so the solenoid mount doesn't interfere with the opening of the hood (remember the grill is attached to the hood of 1st gen tundra's).
TravelsWithRalph
Adventurer
If I keep it on the bumper, dead center, where your light bar is would keep it out of the way of the hood but that partially blocks the view of the spool. Would be nice to be able to see the line as the spool. A lot easier than peeking through the fairlead opening when dressing the line. I noticed something completely different in your photo: Does it matter which way the chrome bar is mounted? As I have it now, I have the slight lean going forward, opposite of yours.