All right. So a marathon weekend installing my winch bracket and winch. Man am I sore now! Lucky the TJM bar is solid but not too heavy as I had no help and had to manhandle it on and off by myself. Lifting it back into place with the winch bolted on was a strain! Lucky I am a big unit! And one of those ladders in the 4 sections you can bend to different shapes came in real handy! Made a short bench type out of it and it fitted "nearly" perfectly to aid in support!
Found a lot of corrosion/rust around the drivers side bar mounting bolts and sure enough the damn things snapped off when it came time to remove. Of course, I then couldn't get the shaft out either and ended up having to knock the thread insert out from inside the chassis rail. This then involved drilling all the way through and running with longer bolts that fit all the way through! Lucky I managed to find some high tensile bolts the right length although getting the damn nuts on was a job and a half!
With limited room behind the bar and to protect the control box as much as possible, I wanted to mount it under the bonnet. Found a perfect spot just in front of the battery, which meant I could shorten the power supply cables which is even better. The standard motor supply leads were just the right length! Covered them all in the black plastic cable wrap to further protect the cables from damage. Was able to move the washer filler spout by spinning it around which gave me a perfect spot for the control box. Made up a strong bracket from some stainless steel hanger brackets I have been carrying around in the bottom of my toolbox for about 10 years and removed the battery before screwing it all in place. Best bit was the winch worked first time! Have not done any isolating as yet, however with the control box mounted where it is no mischievious fingers can get to it anyhow and with the next project an overhead console, I will be back under the bonnet soon to run a remote isolator on the control wire and make up a remote control switch set up so installing a main power isolator then will be easy.
Picked up the Lux on Saturday lunch time with the 2" suspension, Air lockers and snorkel done, however the wheel alignment was unable to be completed. Pulls to the right. Apparently the adjusting rods for the camber are seized and will require some "persuading" before they can be freed. Hopefully this just requires some gentle tapping, heating etc before removal, cleaning up and greasing before re-install however worst case scenario is they may have to be cut out which will mean all new adjusters! Oh well, has to be done I guess! The never ending jobs with a 4wd! Just don't tell the missus! She thinks after 3 days in the shop last week and all weekend working on it, it must be finished!
How the bar looked originally
Bent piece of bar. Hydraulic car jack and a few well aimed knocks with a hammer sorted that out!
Snapped off!
Bar GOOOOOOOOONE!
Perfect spot for the winch control box, just need to swing the washer fill point around!
Perfect fit!!
My new air lockers! Highly recommend On Track 4wd at Moss St, Underwood, Brisbane. Brad down there is an absolute wealth of knowledge and will go out of his way to chat with you! Showed all how the new gear worked and then I had him crawling around under the Lux as I picked his brain about other stuff! All out in the carpark, on a Saturday as they were about to close! The lockers have a vent system on them around the compressor, however Brad has found that over time you can get a little oily residue as the compressed air picks up fumes from the diff. His solution? Instal diff breathers and tee the exhaust into these! This way the compressor doesn't get covered in crap and any oil can collect on the inside of the air line and slowly make its way back to the diff! Bonus, I have front and rear diff breathers installed at no extra charge! Will get pictures of the under bonnet goodies tomorrow.
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