Next Potential Jeep Upgrades

[CarsOfFortLangley]

Exciting right? Just what everyone was wondering about on this Tuesday evening.

A winch plate for my plastic bumper (don't @ me!). Unless I can secretly steal @ClassicDatsunDebate's wife's steel bumper of her new 4xe Rubi one night in the next city over, I'm going to stick with plastic.

It's a bumper and if I hit a rather big tree, they're always for sale on craigslist for cheap.

For sure getting a winch sooner than later, after using one this past weekend, I can see how handy they are for everything from recovery, to debris removal....to hauling a 3rd row out of a Ford Aerostar up a cliff.

Some sort of reverse lighting setup, maybe a Baja Design RTL-M with a spare tire mount?

I also have my eye on this very fancy rear tire mounted propane tank holder. This way, I keep it out of the cabin of the Jeep and I can snake the hose over the tire directly to my stove.

[annoying_salman]

@carsoffortlangley said in Next Potential Jeep Upgrades:

...I can secretly steal @ClassicDatsunDebate's wife's steel bumper of her new 4xe Rubi one night in the next city over...

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@annoying_salman I need to train Targa as a bumper removal dog.

[annoying_salman]

@carsoffortlangley Borrow your dad's dog to help Targa too.

[Longtime Lurker]

@carsoffortlangley Do you have a rear hitch receiver? Because if you do you could get a front receiver and a hitch mount winch, then you have the option of using it on the front or back. It could easily be switched to a different vehicle if you wanted to switch in a couple years, or if you borrowed someone else's vehicle.
Also I like the idea of keeping the stock, easily replaceable bumper.

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@carsoffortlangley
The farm ute has a winch. Big old Ramsey. Sitting inside a TJM bullbar. I put it there three years ago. Still haven't connected it all up...no idea where the controller is.

I use a load rated chain and low range more than I'd use the winch...

[gmporschenut also a fan of hondas]

@carsoffortlangley that seems like a bad place for a tank, in the event of a rear end collision.

[dejock]

@carsoffortlangley really thought you had buried the lede on this one and the pictures were going to be a new 4runner that you had bought

edit: get a winch with a synthetic line

[Highlander]

@carsoffortlangley I can’t think of anytime I’d have used a wench over 4 low and a proper rope/chain. It just seems overly complicated to me.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@gmporschenut-also-a-fan-of-hondas I dunno, still seems safer than having it in the vehicle. If it broke loose in there, it's probably more dangerous.

[gmporschenut also a fan of hondas]

@carsoffortlangley it should be secured where ever it is. breaking loose isn’t the issue. Crushing and leaking highly flammable gas is a problem. If it’s secured and crushed inside the vehicle, the flammability isn’t an issue as you’d already be crushed to death.

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@carsoffortlangley You'll want to be cognizant of how much weight you're putting on the tire carrier and door hinges. Unless you have a separate swing away tire carrier you're putting a lot of extra weight back there.

I'm starting to see guys build heavy oversized tire mounts with integrated hi-lift, extra kitchen sink ect... mounts for their new Defender tire carriers. I'm sitting here thinking, "brah, you're adding 100lb+ extra to your rear door. Do you really want to trash your door hinges that badly?"

[benjrblant]

@carsoffortlangley there's lots of good applications for a winch, side loading, pulling at angles, stabilizing a vehicle that's being pulled in another direction, pulley blocks to change loading and pull rates. Having worked in a 4wd shop, I'd recommend against Warn products and suggest you go with a Superwinch or a Comeup. You'd typically want 1.5x vehicle weight in pull capacity (we would spec a 9000lb winch for 6000lb trucks all day long), and you'd be silly to get anything other than a synthetic line. Be sure to grab several high-quality shackles, a tree saver, and at least one pulley/tackle block. Watch out for the "gotcha/coolguy" accessories from companies like factor55, warn, arb, and the soft shackles.

Having said this, I'd recommend really good tube/DOM steel rock sliders before getting a bumper, and I'd recommend a fridge over a winch. I use the hell out of my Engel fridge but never once used a winch out on a trail. By the time you're winching trucks you're not that far off from breaking things. Consider maxtrax and a hi-lift before busting out a winch, they're usually faster and a lot less expensive.

[orneryduck]

All of this sounds cool and on-point for your activities. You use your Jeep for Jeep stuff, instead of jewelry for the 'Gram. That is worth major kudos.

Regarding the winch, a couple thoughts I have on the matter, with previous winch experience.
-Warn's newer stuff has been spotty, I'm not impressed, and was a bit disappointed with the last Warn product I personally bought in 2018.

-SuperWinch has been getting a LOT of positive praise and when we winch up the wife's Jeep, it'll be one of their units.

-Are there options to mount the winch IN bumper instead of ON-TOP? That is a lot of radiator cross-section eaten up in that picture, and Jeeps run hot, even modern ones. I'd want to minimize the impact to cooling on any vehicle, let alone an Off-Road rig.

-For sizing, 1.5-2x vehicle gross weight is considered spot-on for any activities without oversizing. Undersized is bad for obvious reasons, but oversizing runs into electrical driving issues and excessive heat generation, not to mention weight.

-Lastly, after using one on a friend's vehicle, I'll always go synthetic line. The metal lines have always been a pain in the ass and the synthetic lines solve ALL of the problems. I'm a convert and as long as you use the right snatch lines and clamps, they'll be spared from abrasion wear (their greatest weakness).

[nermal]

@carsoffortlangley I'd do the Harbor Freight winch. Same chineseum as all of the others.

Also, how much propane are you actually using? Seems like just getting the disposable little tanks would work better. Either way prob want to get heavier hinges for the back. Mine is pretty wobbly with just the little spare tire on it, can't imagine how bad it would be with any extra weight.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@nermal Over a week long trip, quite a bit of propane. I have a tent heater as well.

Yeah, I will have to rethink the weight.

We don't have harbour freight here

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@carsoffortlangley May I suggest something like this?
https://atoverland.com/products/jeep-jk-external-corner-mount-for-propane-bracket

Not sure how you feel about putting holes in your Jeep cab but maybe there is something that you can mount to your bumper. Realistically something that can mount to your roll cage might be easier/safer in the long run as you're more likely to be rear ended than the tank breaking free in an accident.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@bloody-the-resident-shitposting-saffer oh! That's kinda neat!

I dunno if I like the idea of mounting it to the fiberglass though....

[RallyDarkstrike]

@silentbutnotreallydeadly Though I'd think the thing with using low range and a chain is that it couldn't pull your Jeep out if it was chuck and if you were trying to move something it may be hard to find space on a trail in a given spot to drive your Jeep INTO to pull something out of the way depending on the angle where I guess with a ground anchor, etc and a winch you can easily pull in a lot of directions without having to move the vehicle and it can pull it free if the vehicle is fully stuck?

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@rallydarkstrike
@CarsOfFortLangley
Here's the thing. And bear in mind that I'm no vehicle recovery expert...

I've had access to winches on 4x4 and been trained in their misuse since the 90s...and I've recovered exactly one vehicle using a winch in that time. And it required two vehicles, each with winches. And it was a stupid decision that led to an epic fail that was fixed eventually...

Every other time, a chain or a snatch strap has been sufficient. But most times, the key to a successful recovery was asking the question beforehand....how badly do you/me/we need to get to the other side? Most times, the reason to go somewhere is as stupid as the need for a Cornetto in the the Sahara.

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@carsoffortlangley yeah, seems kind of sketch but figured the idea at least has some potential to expand upon.