Lill Mule 89 BII

[shawn.m]

got the hubs and slapped them on. look better than the ones I have now. Now i have 2 spare hubs - put them in bucket in the back of the bronco for just in case.

got a couple of pictures on a canvas tarp to see how to mount it to the body. trying to decide if the tarp needs to go outside the body or inside.

 

[shawn.m]

sold old fm146 to a local guy so going to pick up a 2wd m50d trans from the guy i bought the transfer case from next week.
was thinking of welding up my own diff protection cover. have a extra cover in the garage. might just bolt on the new one and weld on the old one that I bent on the last trip.
Also need to schedule a appointment at the tire shop to swap my xterriens out for bfg mtrs from a buddy.
snow is here and the group did a snow run today. reminder that I need to get the canvas cover on the rear so that I can have some heat in the back

 

[Robert_1967]

Put the canvas on the out side, it might not look good, but if it rains it won't leak in to the cab.




Robert

 

[shawn.m]

put the canvas on the top of the bronco using a piece of steel to hold the canvas to the inside of the top. then used bungie cords to hold the canvas down in the back. Works pretty good for the most part.

Did a search up in the mountains with the canvas on top and and found out that the rain wraps around the gap in the canvas and drips right on my head.
good thing I was wearing my rain jacket! but man it got cold.

 

[shawn.m]

pulled my bumper off!

Did another snow run up in the sierras with my search and rescue group- snow got really sticky and soft after sun went down.
Slid off the track and got pretty stuck- snow was up to middle of the door. I had to climb out the window to get out. Pointing down a 500 foot slope is not a good thing

Because I was pointing downhill I had to winch at a really bad angle off to the right about 45 degrees. I winched about 5 feet and then heard a popping and snapping from the front. Plus a jerk . One of the guys yelled whow! then HOLY COW you pulled your bumper off!

Welds were REALLY horrible

Well had to get out so wrapped a choker chain to the frame rail stub and one of the guys winched me forward onto the track. all could do at that point was pick up the bumper and cable and throw it into the back.

guess it is time to redo the front bumper

 

[4.0B2]

lol.. nice.. i'm love this b2 man.. i love a good b2 build. i wanna find one for a trail rig!

 

[shawn.m]

well I am down to only 3 wires past the dash in the cab.

needs to be running in two weeks for another snow run in the same area I was yesterday. Could be another narly run - it will depend on the temps

 

[shawn.m]

Ok front bumper is welded back on - a buddy let me have some stick time with his miller 200 mig. Got the bumper all welded up and cross braced. MUCH happier with how strong the welds are.
Man! what a great welder!
Thinking about moving the winch from the top of the bumper to behind the bumper and between the frame rails.
Going to play with cardboard tomorrow to see how I could do it.

 

[shawn.m]

Windshield glued back in

I also glued my windshield back in using 3M Tub and Glass adhesive. Windshield is stuck in their good. Pretty happy about it! now need to caulk a couple small holes in the roof.
Passenger side power window quit so I took the door panel off and wired the window shut. Much nicer to have both windows closed and the rear tarp. Much warmer!

 

[shawn.m]

Start of OBA! on board air

bought a MV-50 12 v compressor this last week with some Amazon credits that I had. really good reviews on line for this compressor. It has really good reviews on the jeep websites.
http://www.amazon.com/Industries-MV50-SuperFlow-Hi-Compressor/dp/B000BM8RT8

it lived up to expectations by airing up my 33s to 33 psi from 10 psi in under 3 minutes.
My extra coiled air hose with a universal female fitting plugged right now the fitting. This is the only thing on line that people talk about as bad. I put it under the hood in the battery box area to test fit it. Fits real good, so probably going to just bolt it to the battery box tray. Plus hard wire it to the battery.

I also bought some Tuff Stuff Tire Deflators.
http://www.amazon.com/Tuff-Stuff-Tire-Deflator/dp/B0049WPUX2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1295803051&sr=1-1

They were hard to adjust as the reviews said. What was not said was how slow they are! Takes almost 10 minutes to go down to my desired 10 psi. I can pull the stem and have the tire down to 10 psi in 2 minutes just doing it by hand. So I think that I will just go back to the Manual method.

 

[shawn.m]

more bumper stuff

Worked on the winch plate and angle stiffeners today. Going to put 3/16 angle iron going back to the bolt mount for the sway bar. Bolt it there and put two bolts from the outside flat to the angle iron. Then the winch plate will be welded to the angle iron and to the bumper mounts and to the bumper. Going to weld another plate on the bottom front of the bumper to hold the rollers plus tie that plate to the angle iron come all the way to front of the bumper. I will take pictures tomorrow.

this will lower the winch and move it back between the frame rails. It will also let me move my tow hooks back on top of the bumper

Going to be very solid and not move!

Also my Bell tech 6400 shackles should be here tomorrow this will let me level off the bronco. Will be interesting to see how much more flex I get with the longer shackles. If I still hit my rear fenders they are getting wacked!

 

[shawn.m]

bumper welded up

ok got the bumper all welded up.
used 7018 rod which is a real pain to weld with. Going to have to grind off some of the welds and redo them to make them look nice.

Lots of cutting, grinding and welding went on today.

added 3/16 2 inch angle iron going back to sway bar mount
took the winch plate and cut it up so that it fits between the frame rails. It is welded to the bottom of the angle iron - I was going to weld it on top. I didn't like how the cable had a chance to hit the bumper. So I moved the winch plate to underneath the angle iron. which meant more grinding and cutting. I do like how compact it is going to be once it is all put together.

Only problem when I went to test fit the bumper back on is that it is REALLY tight. Looks like the Angle iron shifted out when I was welding it. Was really tired after all the cutting and grinding so will work on it more tomorrow.

I have to cut the hole in the new bracket for the winch cable. Also need to drill two holes to attach the roller fairhead. Looks like going to have to move the solenoids from the top of the winch to someplace else. I also have a 20 amp 3 pole switch that I want to put in the cab as a remote winch control.
So possibly Thursday I might be able to bolt it all together and re run the power cables.

 

[shawn.m]

UPS finally delivered my Shackles. Will see if I have time to put them on tomorrow.

 

[shawn.m]

bumper is on the bronco after some more welding and grinding of the welds.
Getting everything to bolt back up was a challenge!
Plus side is I don't think it will ever move again
Have the winch cable window cut into the front of the bumper and the roller fairhead on the bumper.
Next is to get the winch to fit into its try. Its REALLY tight- going to have to remove the grill and the bar under the grill to get it in.
Not sure if I will have time today to run my external wires to the switch in the cab for the winch. I have to leave tomorrow morning at 6am for a Search and Rescue training exercise in the snow. bunch of packing that needs to happen today. snow shows, extra clothes, food, tools, 24hr packback, sleeping bag, food, and make it all so it doesn't move

 

[shawn.m]

had to remove grill and cut out center of the beauty bar under the grill.

had to move the winch control solinoids to the side of the winch instead of the top as it was hitting the grill. moved the power steering cooler a little higher to clear the winch.

Looks pretty good now!
got the lights back on and tested winch and everything works.

next project is to run wires to the cab for remote winch control.

have to see how it does in the snow tomorrow.
pics below