How would you outfit this custom LJ?

[jscherb]

That's a really slick setup - only reason I brought up cooling is my TJ would get a little hot (not overheating, but hotter than usual to where I'd see the temp gauge go over half way) in the summer with the AC on and a winch installed. As you have the narrower CJ grill and the winch much higher, I thought it might be an issue. I never had any issues with it actually overheating, guess it could have just been my particular Jeep, maybe some mud got in the condenser/radiator area or something that caused it to run a little hotter.

Thanks.

The TJ's radiator core is actually narrower than the slots in the TJ grille - the core is very close to the width of the slots in the CJ grille as it turns out. I've got the stock TJ radiator/condenser mounted in my CJ grille, so pretty much the full core is exposed to the slots, there's really no reduction in that from the TJ. Yes I've got the winch in front of it right now, but there's a lot of space below and above the winch for direct air flow, and there's several inches between the winch and the grille, so I really didn't expect any issues with airflow.

 

[jscherb]

I've stripped the original powder coat off the parts and Tuesday I'll drop them off at the local powder coat place to be recoated. They'll do a final sandblast and coat them in satin black.

I'm working on the wiring; I've got a plan that will allow the winch to be used on all 3 of my Jeeps, front and back. I don't have a front receiver on the JKU yet, but I've got a preliminary design that works with the factory bumper.

 

[Presto88]

..... I don't have a front receiver on the JKU yet, but I've got a preliminary design that works with the factory bumper.

Ooohhh! I can't wait to see this! I always enjoy reading about your work on the LJ, but I HAVE a JKU, so this will be interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jscherb]

Ooohhh! I can't wait to see this! I always enjoy reading about your work on the LJ, but I HAVE a JKU, so this will be interesting. Thanks for sharing!

I'm keeping my eyes open for a used receiver hitch on Craigslist that will be appropriate for the JKU front receiver project, as soon as I find one I'll begin the JKU front receiver project. A hitch similar to the one I started with for the LJ project would be perfect, hopefully I can find another.

 

[jscherb]

I've designed a modular wiring system for the winch that also doubles as jumper cables. Here's how it will work...

The winch comes with leads long enough to reach the battery, but those are inconvenient when moving a receiver-mounted winch around, so I'll replace them with shorter leads; the shorter leads will be easy to tuck into the winch cover I'll sew when not in use. (Note: wire thickness not to scale in these drawings.)

Each of the 3 Jeeps will have leads connected to the battery terminals, they'll be long enough to reach out from under the hood to the shortened winch lead.

When the winch is in the rear receiver, an extension cable will go between the short winch lead and the battery lead of the Jeep. The combination of all three is long enough to reach, but keeps the overall circuit length as short as possible.

A pair of jumper clamp ends will complete the system. These can be used with the extension cable to form a set of jumper cables roughly 20' long, but for jumping from or to my Jeeps, only one set of clamps is required because the extension and/or the jumper clamp ends will plug in to the battery lead that's already under the hood.

Since battery leads will be installed in each Jeep, as the winch moves between Jeeps no additional wiring is necessary, the short lead on the winch will plug into the battery lead already in the Jeep. The extension cable and jumper clamp ends will go in a separate bag which I can carry in whatever Jeep I'm driving, and I can carry them even when I don't have the winch on board because what's in the bag plugs together to form a long jumper cable.

I found a source to make all of the above components for me, I'm told I can pick them up Thursday.

Also, I dropped the receiver and winch cradle off at the local powder coat shop today, they'll be done sometime next week.

 

[jscherb]

I picked up the winch wiring today. I would have made up the cables myself but I found a place that would do it for a price that made it a better decision to pay them to do it. Top to bottom in this photo:

- Winch lead
- Two TJ battery leads and a JK battery lead
- Long extension for the winch in the rear or jumper cables (right side of photo)
- Jumper cable ends

The battery leads will be installed in each Jeep and the winch lead will replace the long leads that came with the winch. With that, the winch in the front receiver of any of the Jeeps will plug directly into the battery leads in the Jeep. When the winch is on the rear receiver the extension will be added and for jumping batteries the jumper cable ends will plug in, either to both ends of the extension for form a complete separate jumper cable, or with a jumper cable end on one end of the extension and the other end of the extension plugged into the battery lead of one of the Jeeps.

I've got some travel coming up so I won't be able to install the wiring for about two weeks; by then the receiver and winch cradle will be back from powder coat so everything will be ready to install.

Also today I picked up a receiver I found on Craigslist; it's similar to the one I based the LJ receiver on and will make a great starting point for the JK version - I've come up with a design for a front receiver that works with the factory bumper and is a quick install/uninstall so it only has to be on the Jeep when needed. Also got a Harbor Freight receiver tube for the vertical storage receiver.

 

[Lucky j]

I would be curious to know how much was all your cables. Last time I looked form the right size handerson connector to do someting like that, my jaw drop to the ground.

So maybe your source is worth sharing.

Keep it up.

 

[jscherb]

I would be curious to know how much was all your cables. Last time I looked form the right size handerson connector to do someting like that, my jaw drop to the ground.

So maybe your source is worth sharing.

Keep it up.

I paid $120 for everything in this photo, including the extra pair of Anderson connectors at left, and one more black dust cap not in the photo (3 are in the photo). A total of 36 feet of dual conductor wire was used to make these cables.

 

[Presto88]

For the price, I can see why you didn't bother putting these together yourself! It all looks really good.

 

[Lucky j]

Wow, that is a great deal, the place I looked at, was way more than that just for the quantity of connectors that you have. Do they sell on line?

 

[jscherb]

Wow, that is a great deal, the place I looked at, was way more than that just for the quantity of connectors that you have. Do they sell on line?

He's in he Buffalo area, but he sells on ebay under the name audiohighway. He'll make whatever configuration you want, he's a great guy to deal with - his name is Gary. I sent him a dimensioned drawing of what I wanted him to make for me and two days later I picked up everything at his place. If you contact him you can mention my name, I told him I would recommend him if anyone was interested.

He sells the connectors separately for $14.87 per pair plus $3.78 shipping: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PC-Anders...wRaBPZC:sc:ShippingMethodStandard!14905!US!-1

 

[jscherb]

i have been using the warn remote for both my front and rear winch. The winch unit is plug in on any warn winch. I keep a 12 foot cord remote just in case, but after 4 years, I am still on the same set of batteries.

One of the best winch related purchased I ever did. A fun one anyway.

I bought a Warn wireless remote today. On my way through Orlando I stopped at the 4Wheel Parts store, I wanted to see a Warn line damper in person to decide if I should buy one or sew one myself. While there I saw they had the wireless remote for $113. Knowing they usually sell for a lot more, I grabbed it. It scanned for a much higher price at the register, so the manager called corporate to get them to authorize the $113 price in their system. I think it used to be the lower price and the price went up but they never changed the price tag on the shelf. And I also bought the line damper, I decided that while I could easily sew an equivalent one for maybe $12 in materials, I've got too many other more important projects on my list to be spending time sewing one to save a few bucks.

 

[Lucky j]

You will like the remote.

The full wireless remote when it came out, was cheaper than the hardwire at winch/ wireless handheld remote. Go figure. And the 113$ you paidis about what I paid at the time. The other older version (hard wire to the winch) was about 180$. So when the new one came in, I could not help my self and jumped on it.
And good deal with the damper. I perso made mine, cause I had the time, made it out of nylon with pocket to hold 500 ml water bottle for weight. So I keep water bottle as emergency and a very light damper format.

So again, good job and tank you for the cable guy link!

 

[jscherb]

I picked up the LJ front receiver from the powder coat shop today. They did a nice job. The receiver looks like it could have just come out of a box from a factory, which is nice considering I started my construction with a used receiver that was a bit rusty.

The other day I also picked up a Harbor Freight tow bar ($55.99 with 20% coupon). I'll adapt the brackets to the d-ring eyes on the ends of the receiver and then I'll be able to tow the LJ or the pickup easily.

Next for this project is to install the winch on the cradle and check everything out on the Jeep.

I've also begun work on a JK front receiver, my design for that one allows it to also be installed/removed in minutes; it'll also have a vertical receiver for storing the winch out of harm's way when it's not in use.

 

[jscherb]

I mounted the receiver on the LJ this morning.

Haven't had time to install the winch on the cradle yet, but here's the cradle in both positions.