[scwafish]

So I got off my butt and finally put a fairlead in front of my winch. I've had the parts to do the job for almost a year. I had a nice mount from AOR and a billet fairlead from Spidertrax just collecting dust and rust! Since it was raining and I finally got my welder fixed I figured what the heck.

I positioned the mount and the gussets on the zuk and tacked the gussets to the plate. I welded the gussets to the plate on the bench. Then I took off the winch and welded the whole assembly in place. I had to be really careful, the mount is only 1/8th wider than the winch...off-center=no worky!

The mount welded in place...

 

[scwafish]

Another view...

 

[scwafish]

A little paint and......BLING-BLING

 

[SilverZuk]

Looks good, and you just made sure that I'll never post any close ups of my booger welds.

Flux core just doesn't lay down that good.
I have already added gas to my list.

How do you like your winch rope?
Is that your first one?

I'm going to have to replace my cable soon, I was wondering what the skinny is on the rope?

 

[scwafish]

One of the guys in our club bought a spool of rope and he made all of our ropes. DIY was less than half price. SO far the only winching I have done was un-rolling my buddy's flopped flatty. It worked sweet. It is definitely a lot nicer to handle than cable.

Welding just takes practice. My welder is a tiny POS but it works sweet as long as things aren't too thick. I learned the basics at the local Junior College with Bobaki, Tusker and Toymaker. We learned alot for $35! Get a bunch of scrap and go crazy. Gas helps, I use 75% CO2 25% Argon (aka C25).

 

[tanzuki]

Looks good, and you just made sure that I'll never post any close ups of my booger welds.

Flux core just doesn't lay down that good.
I have already added gas to my list.

How do you like your winch rope?
Is that your first one?

I'm going to have to replace my cable soon, I was wondering what the skinny is on the rope?

One think I've heard about winch rope is if your live in a dry climate like and wheel areas like moab or the Rubicon, basically no mud then it is awsome. But where I live there is tons of mud and unless the you plan on unspoolling of ter every run to wash the dirt and mud out of the rope it will start to deterierate(sp) the rope and then start to become kinda dangerous.

 

[Rudezuk]

Looks good scaw!

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[Orionn]

Lookin' good there!

I like the 'BLING' 'BLING' purple rope!! (J/K)

Which type of rope is that, I read there are two types.

the mounts look great, wish my welds looked as good

oh well gotta keep practicing thats all

 

[Tusker]

Looks good buddy. Like me, you would have rather been working at slapping on the new pitman arm, but ........ The welds look like Brad stopped by. Are you sure that was you? I'll have to send my welder to the same repair shop as you so they can fix mine to make nice welds too

Hey. Hold on to that fairlead from AOR. At the rate they are going, that may be a collectors item some day.

 

[RocKrawler]

Looks good SCWA...

 

[TNToy]

My welder is a tiny POS but it works sweet as long as things aren't too thick.

What make and model is a "tiny POS" out of curiosity? You're obviously running a MIG setup on it from the welds and post about the gas...

Tanzuki, where exactly did you get that from? It's about as muddy around here as anywhere, and the rope seems to hold up well so far.

 

[zuk88]

Damn Scwa, If I ever decide to get off my ass and work on the zuk, I'll roll up to Cow and flop the old girl on her side and test that mount out

 

[TNToy]

BTT: What welder are you using?

I'm moving in with a buddy, and need to get a welder soon after I do a little sawzalling, er, bodywork to the toy. Just curious as to what you're using.

 

[MuddMachine]

Looks fine, damn Scwa, the whole fukn rig is fine

 

[scwafish]

Thanks all...the welder really is a budget unit. I got it from a car dealer that Tusker's in-law works for, paid 300 clams. It was used but barely. They couldnt get it to stop jamming. I have a feeling it was the .023 wire and the .035 tip combo they were using. DOH!

The welder is a Miller Auto Arc 135, which is essentially a Hobart 135 painted blue. The real secret weapon is the cart.

 

[Pappa Smurf]

hey those are the welding carts at school. Execpt we take the welders off and race them down the stairs until we get yelled at

 

[scwafish]

Its an official KMart...me and my wife pulled it out of a ditch in the hood and tossed it in the family cruiser.

 

[TNToy]

That's one :grinpimp: cart.

You couldn't find a tinier bottle for the gas? :flipoff2:

 

[scwafish]

Its a 20# bottle, but it does look tiny in the pic.

 

[bdacus]

welder & rope

i have a Hobart 135, actually have had 2 now. liked the first one so much when it blew up after 12 years I bought another. built my WHOLE rig and others too. its the operator not the machine. welding is more of an art than a sience. want to be good at it? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

i swithced to synthetic rope and i'm not sure if i like it that much. i haven't done a lot of winching with it but when i have, i really didn't like the "springy-ness" of the rope. basically the way that it stretches. i'm use to, when the rope gets tight, the next little flip of the winch remote results in movement of the winched vehicle. with the rope you have to over come the stretch and then the vehicle seems to lurch. also, i just don't trust the thing. i know they say it is stronger than steel, but hell, my ski rope in my boat "looks" the same (and i have seen them break).