Dave's Jeep JL Rubicon: The Gray Goat

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Crawling around the Jeep I see the fully boxed frame was made in USA, 6-15-2018. Feeling pretty good to see that.

And then I see this baloney on my alternator.

Shit. :lol

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Have you found a front bumper you like or does the stock on e fit around that winch plate?

I have the OEM steel bumper and it will work with this winch. You just need to add the OEM, or in this case an aftermarket winch plate for it to sit on. I’ll have it wired up tomorrow and post finished pics.
 
Sorry I haven't been around much the past few years Dave. Lots of changes on your end too I see.

I remembered seeing a jeep build a while back when I was brain storming things to do on my Tacoma, and wondered if you had seen some of the things this guy had done.



(I need to update my build too)
 
Sorry I haven't been around much the past few years Dave. Lots of changes on your end too I see.

I remembered seeing a jeep build a while back when I was brain storming things to do on my Tacoma, and wondered if you had seen some of the things this guy had done.



(I need to update my build too)


That's a great video and very ingenious design.

I used to live in Galveston. Built my fist house in Campeche Cove back in '83!
 
Wiring up the winch is easy, but you need to take care with the routing. I added some protection against chafing via some heat resistant protective mesh, and started at the frame horn. Up and under the inside of the frame rail.

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Then along the top and straight up, but I had to remove the air filter box. Use plenty of zips to keep things in place.

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With the air filter box out of the way the wire routing was easy. Battery connections nice and neat.

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Here it is all connected, air filter box out of the way and excess loop of cable looped there by the battery.

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Ready for the bumper.

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Bumper mounted up, project complete. Clearly, the OEM Jeep bumper design shows that the winch option was an afterthought.

Zero visibility or access to the winch drum. That’s a big no go for me long term so this bumper will be for sale soon. We’ll patiently wait for AEV to drop that JL bumper here soon ;)

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Even this relatively simple install shows what I always liked about any Jeep I have owned.... that is... CJ8, XJ, TJ... all multiples... in that they are easy to work on... less complicated, more robust, less expensive... and require not much more than a BFH and a breaker bar...oh and also SAE and metric wrenches... and Torx... for God's sake, don't forget your torx wrenches/bits :)
 
I'm curious how the AEV bumper will allow access to the drum? Just an observation, the design of the winch negates access to the drum unless I'm not seeing something.
 
I'm curious how the AEV bumper will allow access to the drum? Just an observation, the design of the winch negates access to the drum unless I'm not seeing something.

The AEV bumper for the JK has a nice viewing port built in. I’m hoping the JL bumper is similar.
 
Crawling around the Jeep I see the fully boxed frame was made in USA, 6-15-2018. Feeling pretty good to see that.

And then I see this baloney on my alternator.

Shit. :lol

View attachment 40458

I think we've all resigned ourselves to the fact that it's a global economy these days. Finding any type of machinery that is 100% made in the USA is going to be hard to find.
 
I think we've all resigned ourselves to the fact that it's a global economy these days. Finding any type of machinery that is 100% made in the USA is going to be hard to find.

Truth.
 
Newer Warn winches with integrated solenoid have the exact same issue with fitment on the OEM bumper. I’m sure the aftermarket will catch up.

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