James & The Sahara Build Thread

[JamesAndTheSahara]

BIG UPDATE!

I bought a really nice used winch today over ebay. Picking it up on black friday in south Florida. Its a Warn 9.5CTI with multimount. It comes with good wire I will swap out eventually. Its someones winch that was never used on a truck for powerline routes. Super stoked, really wanted this winch. Its a good one!!

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

These are the photos I've been sent, definitely looks a little used but thats ok .

The owner said they don't have the female end of the Warn quick power/negative disconnects so trying to figure out the best way to test the unit. I fully intend on running new wire & fusing it when I have it bolted onto my Jeep, but for testing it I need to find a way to safely connect the power/ground to my Jeep's battery .

 

[Mike_H]

Those are just industrial battery connectors...If you can figure out the size, you should be able to get them on McMaster-Carr or similar for not a whole lot of dough.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#battery-connectors/=1ab57oz

 

[bobthetj03]

It'll clean up nicely. Nice score!

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Those are just industrial battery connectors...If you can figure out the size, you should be able to get them on McMaster-Carr or similar for not a whole lot of dough.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#battery-connectors/=1ab57oz

Getting the dimensions to order the right size is going to prove to be hard.. may have to cut the plug off and connect the wire directly to the battery terminals and tighten em down.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Getting the dimensions to order the right size is going to prove to be hard.. may have to cut the plug off and connect the wire directly to the battery terminals and tighten em down.

And again I will be running new wire and terminals/boots when I officially install it in addition to an incab winch switch. Just want to make sure I can safely and quickly test it .

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Excitement for tomorrow is real! Prep is key right?

 

[Rob5589]

You don't need to loosen the long ones until after it is out. Those are the straps that hold the tank in the skid.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

You don't need to loosen the long ones until after it is out. Those are the straps that hold the tank in the skid.

I did it just in the event I couldn't get the strap mechanism to undo at its connection point. Don't really know why I thought that may happen, but its soaked now hahaha. At least penetrating oil isn't an expensive commodity .

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Its done!!

Install was relatively painless, just hate fightning the gas line fittings. Always worried I’m gonna break one. Savvy was kind enough to provide replacement nuts and bolts for the mounting points as well. The stock tj GTS is 1/16th rusted steel compared to the Savvy GTS at a beefy 3/16 aluminum. The gas tank is tucked up tight! Savvy stuff sure is easy on the eyes .

My cat was upset his bed was taken away from him

 

[bobthetj03]

Well done sir!

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Well done sir!

Thank you! Quick oil change tomorrow morning & then heading to spend time with the family. Then down to Florida to get the winch on Friday. Then back to Auburn on Saturday for the iron bowl .

 

[bobthetj03]

Check your shock travel. It doesn't look like you have a lot of travel before they bottom out. It could be deceiving from the pics.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Check your shock travel. It doesn't look like you have a lot of travel before they bottom out. It could be deceiving from the pics.

What should I be checking? Pretty sure they look the exact same as when I first installed them.

 

[bobthetj03]

What should I be checking? Pretty sure they look the exact same as when I first installed them.

The pics could be deceiving to me, like I said, but it looks like you only have 3" of travel before they bottom out. And that's ok as long as your bump stops bottom out before the shocks do.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

The pics could be deceiving to me, like I said, but it looks like you only have 3" of travel before they bottom out. And that's ok as long as your bump stops bottom out before the shocks do.

Yeah I re-checked my bump stops when I did the axle swap a couple weeks ago. Since the install of the lift the shocks have always been my limiting point for bumpstops.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoy time well spent with your families! I worked on putting this together last night to kinda give you guys a clear path that I will be taking the Jeep, Green is short term (~1 year from now), with Yellow being longer term (>1 year). I'm really lucky with this winch score as that's a major purchase out of the way and scheduled to drive down to Florida tomorrow!

Here are my remaining build plans:

Following finals I should be doing quite a few wheeling trips now that my TJ is finally at a stage I'm comfortable pushing it up some more difficult terrains. The sheet above is not concrete but gives you guys a good idea on my finalizing steps for her. This may change as I start camping if I want to switch to a proper RTT & need equipment. This is also subject to change if ORFAB brings back their tire carrier .

I consider this an open discussion so if you have any recommendations on any part of my build please share!

 

[JMT]

Looks good. I’d switch the Novak TCase Shifter out for the Savvy.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Looks good. I’d switch the Novak TCase Shifter out for the Savvy.

Yeah missed that, surprisingly the link I had for that item was the Savvy version, go figure lol. Thanks @JMT!

 

[JMT]

Ps. Beyond the great looking plan, the sheet itself is a great idea, especially with the links