KD7NAC_07FJ a.k.a. Clark's Mods

[KD7NAC_07FJ]

kb3gun previously said:

You asked earlier about locations to mount the radio(s).

No offense but I think you have the wrong guy. I remember someone posting about radio mounting locations but it wasn't me and I've always known where I was going to mount mine. It just took my a while to plan it out, fab the parts and get down and do it. I've had that passenger seat in and out about 4 times taking measurements and making adjustments.

Might have been MountianMan, he's just getting geared up in the ham world.

73's

[MountainMan]

i dont remember asking but appreciate all the ideas

[FJGordy]

Clark
Thanks for sharing your mods. I have a question for you. I am also look at the Road Armor bumper w/ bull bar just like yours. I would also like to mount 2 PIAA 520 on the bumper not on the bull bar. You think there is room to do that?

Also I am would like to but a super winch EPi 9.0. is that going to fit? I know you mentioned you wanted to put a intergrated winch but it did not fit.

Thanks

[KD7NAC_07FJ]

FJGordy previously said:

Clark
Thanks for sharing your mods. I have a question for you. I am also look at the Road Armor bumper w/ bull bar just like yours. I would also like to mount 2 PIAA 520 on the bumper not on the bull bar. You think there is room to do that?

Also I am would like to but a super winch EPi 9.0. is that going to fit? I know you mentioned you wanted to put a intergrated winch but it did not fit.

Thanks

520's will not fit under the bull bar - tried it. They will also block the headlights if mounted off to the sides.

The bull bar comes with 4 light mounting tabs so if you don't plan on mounting lights on top of the bull bar make sure to tell them to leave those off.

The RA is designed for a remote solenoid winch. There have been a few people that have fabbed some custom brackets to mount the integrated winch upright but that also makes getting the bumper in the right vertical position more difficult. I had purchased a WARN 9.5ti before I ever got the bumper but after looking at the amount of work I'd have to do to fit it I decided to exchange it for the 9.5xp. It can be done but it wasn't worth it for me to be cutting and hacking on the new bumper.

You can order the RA bumper bare, do any mods and then have it powder coated. It usually isn't more then $200-$250 for powder coat.

[KD7NAC_07FJ]

Jason PM'd me about my winch controls so I'll explain it in more detail here.

I did the winch mod in two parts. The socket remote mount and then the internal switches came later.

WARN Remote Socket Relocation

The first thing I did was to rebuild the internal wiring harness in the solenoid so that I had enough length in the 5 wires to locate the connection away from the fixed position on the WARN solenoid box.

I used the same gauge wire and left the ends about 2 feet long outside the WARN solenoid box. I added a waterproof 5 pin "GM style" connector I got from CarQuest (I will try to get the part numbers).

Then I made another 5 wire cable (same gauge wire) about 3 feet long with the WARN socket on one end.

Next step was locating the WARN socket in the bumper.

Drilled and located the socket in the bumper threaded the wires through and then attached the other side of the GM connector to the new harness.



To this point the wiring diagram isn't really necessary, you just need to make sure each wire is connecting to the same color on both sides of the GM plug.

All the wires are loomed, routed and everything is tied off to minimize vibration and chafing.

Internal Winch Switches
My first attempt using the wiring diagram I got form the forum did not work so I had to reverse engineer the wiring from the existing switch.
From all my scribbles on pieces of paper I drew out a wiring diagram for the WARN 9.5 series winches.



I built the wiring harness as a "T" that could be plugged into the now existing remote relocation harness. So with another complete 5 pin GM plug I pulled 6 wires through the firewall. Red (motor ground), Brown (winch solenoid ground), White (winch power "feed source"), Yellow (switched power), Black ("out"), Green ("in").



The Master Arm switch;


The rocker switch;

[LandCruiserSteve]

KD7NAC_07FJ previously said:

I am tinkering with a solution for the AUX jack (no power) issue. I have a Boosteroo in-line amp for my PDA which works great. But typical me I hate cords dangling so I'm trying to figure out how to build it into the dash.

I'm tinkering with the same dilemma. I currently have my line-out cable from my satellite radio sneaking into the AUX input from one of the blank switch panels.




And like you, I hate exposed wiring of any kind. So, I'll be hard-wiring the satellite tuner's feed behind the dash with a simple passive line-level mixer buss to allow the AUX AUDIO input to remain available for other line-level sources as well.

[LandCruiserSteve]

KD7NAC_07FJ previously said:

Jason PM'd me about my winch controls so I'll explain it in more detail here.
I did the winch mod in two parts. The socket remote mount and then the internal switches came later.

Excellent write-up and diagrams, not to mention inspiration to do the same.

[KD7NAC_07FJ]

LandCruiserSteve previously said:

I'm tinkering with the same dilemma. I currently have my line-out cable from my satellite radio sneaking into the AUX input from one of the blank switch panels.

And like you, I hate exposed wiring of any kind. So, I'll be hard-wiring the satellite tuner's feed behind the dash with a simple passive line-level mixer buss to allow the AUX AUDIO input to remain available for other line-level sources as well.

Will you be able to use the Sat input and the AUX at the same time or just one or the other?

[LandCruiserSteve]

KD7NAC_07FJ previously said:

Will you be able to use the Sat input and the AUX at the same time or just one or the other?

With the passive mix buss, two sources can be used simultaneously. However, the only means of balance between the two will have to be at the output source end.

[noworries]

Dude, just read this whole post. I had absolutely no idea on the Greenwater run just how in-depth your rig was, when I met you. Great job on all of it, next time we're on a run together, I will definitely have to look at it a little more intently. I'm definitely most impressed with the clean wiring jobs. Thanks for all the ideas and great clean look.