Relay Box, Pushbar, Winch, and Lights Project w/Pics
02-20-2009, 11:20 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Relay Box, Pushbar, Winch, and Lights Project w/Pics
Well, I've been creeping around her and getting a chance to chat with you guys for long enough without you guys getting a peak at my Toy, so here it is: my first real project posting.
This project has dragged on for me for quite a while, so I've got a few pics and a few descriptions, but this won't take you all night to read.
The project was pretty simple. Grab a push bar, toss on a winch, add in a few lights, and that's that, but as you know, hardly anything worthwhile comes easy.
Shout out to BigBluePile for providing the pushbar. As you guys helped me discover back in October when I joined, Warn push bars are hard to find, so this was a good first step. I installed the push bar over Christmas, but didn't really like the way it sat. It seemed about 2 inches too far from the truck and two inches too low.
I decided to make my own mounting method for it. The top bracket I sucked in as close as I could to the bumper while still being able to get a wrench in for the bolt. The bar used a bracket that came off the push bar to meet the bracket attached to the frame. I noticed this bracket sat 2" over the winch cradle, so I drilled into the back of the cradle itself to help move it in and down.
Because of the way the bottom bracket mounts to the bottom of the frame, I couldn't just move it up 2" to match, so I made up a 3D model and sent it into a guy with a plasma cutter. When it came back (3 weeks later I might add) I polished it up and painted it. On top of moving moving it back towards the truck, I added in extra holes, so that eventually when I do a body lift I have room to grow it up to 3" worth of body lift.
I decided to mount the controller underhood, so I snug my battery up tight in the left fender and strapped it in tight. I then stuck two 5" Stanley brackets together in an 'S' shape, drilled some holes, stuck one end under the battery, and attached the solenoid to the top of the 'S' bracket. I had to cut some longer wires to reach the winch, but that wasn't tough since I work around #2 wire everyday. In the pic I haven't connected the wires from the Solenoid to the battery yet.
My favorite part of this project was the wiring of my lights. I got some Daylighters for Christmas, so I mounted them on some painted Stanley brackets, and offset the inside lights to reach over the winch clutch knob. Two bolts through each side and that was that. I tossed the stock metal wire loom because it was too short and surprisingly difficult to find in longer lengths from electrical and auto distributors I had access to. I used some black plastic 1/4 split loom I had lying around and ran it all to one side of the push bar. I ran wires from inside the truck with a expandable mesh loom that will cover the ends of all these wires when they connect, leaving the connection point black, hidden, and clean.
In all I'm going to have 5 sets of lights on this vehicle, Floods, Needles, and Fogs upfront, as well as reverse lights in the back bumper, and work lights in the back cab window for using tools in the box in the dark, which happens quite often. I didn't like having 5 relays, 5 fuse boxes, and a few dozen wires running every which way under the hood, so I cut up all the prewired kits that came with lights and made my own.
I grabbed a fuse box and mounted a buss bar to it. Mounting it in an electronics enclosure, I decided to mount the relays as you can see, as to be able to fit everything in. This way I only had to run two wires to all the relays in one spot, one for the hot and one for the neutral, of course. I used the 6th fuse in the fuse block to run a hot line to the switches in the cab.
I then ran all the wires going to the push bar through one tech cable holder. It's nice because it's expandable and collapsible, so looks good and easy to work with. It also offers a higher free air rating than standard wire wrap would. I ran all the wires headed toward the back of the truck and the switch wires into the cab together using the same mesh tech wire loom. Labeling the wires with a PTouch was a nice touch. I happen to have one for work. When it was all done I mounted it with a 2"x4" bracket from the hardware store.
All and all the hardest thing about this project was finding the parts. Planning out the relay box and trying to figure out a way to get everything into a small enclosure was time consuming, and in the end I just got the enclosure I wanted to work, and forced myself to make it work. The fuse block was the most difficult to locate, and I found this Blue Sea model at a marine store about an hour away. The switches came from back east and were and sold for $8.50 each less than the ones direct from KC. Again, they were difficult to track down. Even the 80amp fuse and holder inline before the relay box seemed impossible to find a dealer for. The push bar bracket took forever to get from the fab shop, and I was fortunate to only have to drive four hours to pick up the push bar itself, even if they did thoroughly search my truck for an extra hour on my way home across the border.
In the end I got a project I'm pretty happy with. The bar sits closer and taller, and the underhood looks much more clean than a bunch of wiring mess would have. Soon I'll relocate my air intake, so I can place a second battery in the air box spot, and rewire the messy hot and neutral from the battery a shorter distance. Soon followed by a synthetic winch line and accessories kit.
Now it's time to aim them all and take the winch for it's first break in run.
Cheers, and thanks for checking it out!
This project has dragged on for me for quite a while, so I've got a few pics and a few descriptions, but this won't take you all night to read.
The project was pretty simple. Grab a push bar, toss on a winch, add in a few lights, and that's that, but as you know, hardly anything worthwhile comes easy.
Shout out to BigBluePile for providing the pushbar. As you guys helped me discover back in October when I joined, Warn push bars are hard to find, so this was a good first step. I installed the push bar over Christmas, but didn't really like the way it sat. It seemed about 2 inches too far from the truck and two inches too low.
I decided to make my own mounting method for it. The top bracket I sucked in as close as I could to the bumper while still being able to get a wrench in for the bolt. The bar used a bracket that came off the push bar to meet the bracket attached to the frame. I noticed this bracket sat 2" over the winch cradle, so I drilled into the back of the cradle itself to help move it in and down.
Because of the way the bottom bracket mounts to the bottom of the frame, I couldn't just move it up 2" to match, so I made up a 3D model and sent it into a guy with a plasma cutter. When it came back (3 weeks later I might add) I polished it up and painted it. On top of moving moving it back towards the truck, I added in extra holes, so that eventually when I do a body lift I have room to grow it up to 3" worth of body lift.
I decided to mount the controller underhood, so I snug my battery up tight in the left fender and strapped it in tight. I then stuck two 5" Stanley brackets together in an 'S' shape, drilled some holes, stuck one end under the battery, and attached the solenoid to the top of the 'S' bracket. I had to cut some longer wires to reach the winch, but that wasn't tough since I work around #2 wire everyday. In the pic I haven't connected the wires from the Solenoid to the battery yet.
My favorite part of this project was the wiring of my lights. I got some Daylighters for Christmas, so I mounted them on some painted Stanley brackets, and offset the inside lights to reach over the winch clutch knob. Two bolts through each side and that was that. I tossed the stock metal wire loom because it was too short and surprisingly difficult to find in longer lengths from electrical and auto distributors I had access to. I used some black plastic 1/4 split loom I had lying around and ran it all to one side of the push bar. I ran wires from inside the truck with a expandable mesh loom that will cover the ends of all these wires when they connect, leaving the connection point black, hidden, and clean.
In all I'm going to have 5 sets of lights on this vehicle, Floods, Needles, and Fogs upfront, as well as reverse lights in the back bumper, and work lights in the back cab window for using tools in the box in the dark, which happens quite often. I didn't like having 5 relays, 5 fuse boxes, and a few dozen wires running every which way under the hood, so I cut up all the prewired kits that came with lights and made my own.
I grabbed a fuse box and mounted a buss bar to it. Mounting it in an electronics enclosure, I decided to mount the relays as you can see, as to be able to fit everything in. This way I only had to run two wires to all the relays in one spot, one for the hot and one for the neutral, of course. I used the 6th fuse in the fuse block to run a hot line to the switches in the cab.
I then ran all the wires going to the push bar through one tech cable holder. It's nice because it's expandable and collapsible, so looks good and easy to work with. It also offers a higher free air rating than standard wire wrap would. I ran all the wires headed toward the back of the truck and the switch wires into the cab together using the same mesh tech wire loom. Labeling the wires with a PTouch was a nice touch. I happen to have one for work. When it was all done I mounted it with a 2"x4" bracket from the hardware store.
All and all the hardest thing about this project was finding the parts. Planning out the relay box and trying to figure out a way to get everything into a small enclosure was time consuming, and in the end I just got the enclosure I wanted to work, and forced myself to make it work. The fuse block was the most difficult to locate, and I found this Blue Sea model at a marine store about an hour away. The switches came from back east and were and sold for $8.50 each less than the ones direct from KC. Again, they were difficult to track down. Even the 80amp fuse and holder inline before the relay box seemed impossible to find a dealer for. The push bar bracket took forever to get from the fab shop, and I was fortunate to only have to drive four hours to pick up the push bar itself, even if they did thoroughly search my truck for an extra hour on my way home across the border.
In the end I got a project I'm pretty happy with. The bar sits closer and taller, and the underhood looks much more clean than a bunch of wiring mess would have. Soon I'll relocate my air intake, so I can place a second battery in the air box spot, and rewire the messy hot and neutral from the battery a shorter distance. Soon followed by a synthetic winch line and accessories kit.
Now it's time to aim them all and take the winch for it's first break in run.
Cheers, and thanks for checking it out!
02-21-2009, 12:13 AM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
Weight
It weighs almost 125 lbs. including winch, line, lights, and hardware. Not the lightest thing, so dropping to hawse and synthetic would get me in under 100 lbs.
02-21-2009, 08:11 AM
#5
Contributing Member
dang son; do it up right! sleeved the wires and everything 
great job man, looks great!
I like how you used the OEM driver's side recovery hook to secure the winch hook like you did; good think'n there!
great job man, looks great!I like how you used the OEM driver's side recovery hook to secure the winch hook like you did; good think'n there!
Last edited by iamsuperbleeder; 02-21-2009 at 08:13 AM.
02-21-2009, 08:45 AM
#6
Contributing Member
iTrader: (3)
John, OUTSTANDING job!!! That looks great!!! Now I'm really jealous!!! lol!! Great idea to have fab'd new lower mount brackets, very clever!! I've been wanting to use that type of marine fuse block(ever since I saw Corey use one in his wiring project) to relocate mine out of the cab. Suscribed!!! Very clean!
03-03-2009, 10:20 PM
#7
Registered User
Thread Starter
Logan!
I noticed you and I had the same thought on where the bumper sat on the truck after reading this thread ... https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f100...ow-run-168413/
At least I'm not the only one. When I'm ready for the body lift, the final change to the mounting will be made, and it will sit even closer to the frame. I'll stop by to show you next time I'm in the mood for getting passed on the highway by low flying military planes!
I noticed you and I had the same thought on where the bumper sat on the truck after reading this thread ... https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f100...ow-run-168413/
At least I'm not the only one. When I'm ready for the body lift, the final change to the mounting will be made, and it will sit even closer to the frame. I'll stop by to show you next time I'm in the mood for getting passed on the highway by low flying military planes!
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03-04-2009, 02:56 PM
#10
Registered User
Thread Starter
Thanks guys. It's pretty self explanatory, but since I kept my descriptions pretty simple if anyone has any questions just give me a PM, and I'd be happy to delve further.
03-04-2009, 03:20 PM
#11
Contributing Member
iTrader: (3)
Logan!
I noticed you and I had the same thought on where the bumper sat on the truck after reading this thread ... https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f100...ow-run-168413/
At least I'm not the only one. When I'm ready for the body lift, the final change to the mounting will be made, and it will sit even closer to the frame. I'll stop by to show you next time I'm in the mood for getting passed on the highway by low flying military planes!
I noticed you and I had the same thought on where the bumper sat on the truck after reading this thread ... https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f100...ow-run-168413/
At least I'm not the only one. When I'm ready for the body lift, the final change to the mounting will be made, and it will sit even closer to the frame. I'll stop by to show you next time I'm in the mood for getting passed on the highway by low flying military planes!
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