Sully
I'm Awesome
I hate when people make these threads, but I get it. Thats why I am making one now.
first question:
Winch mounting. I have a 10,000lb winch and it came with a trailer hitch cradle. I have access to a free hitch to put on the front of my truck, just need to fab it up for rugged mounting. Then I could run a set of plugs to mounts like plow plugs use and have them ready to go any time i need them. The truck was bought specifically to put a plow on the front though. No plow manufacturer in the world plans on a trailer hitch being there, so i would run into issues down the road when I mount the plow bracketry. The other idea I had was to get a push bar, mount a winch tray, and perm mount the winch in that tray. That makes the winch only useful to my truck, not the wifes brothers or wheeling buddies. Thats not a huge deal, but it means I am def the rescue truck. The other issue is with my luck, when I need it the most I'll be stuck and the front wont have anything to winch onto. For now I have it in the hitch cradle, but I am looking for front mounting and something a little more permanent than having to run jumper cables to power the damn thing.
lighting for dark places and off road
I have a few hella rectangular lights now. I dont have them mounted. But I am looking to mount lights both in the front and the back. Last time I was out with Sarah's truck yanking a buddy's jeep out, we didnt get done until it was dark as hell out. We had all kinds of issues with seeing where we were going. This truck being much more outfitted for off road use, will see more wheeling time, and probably end up out there in just as dark a night. The pushbar from the winch would give me a good place to mount front lights, but the push bar also wont be plow friendly. The back lights, i am either thinking on the bumper off to the side of the tail gate or on a back rack. The only downside I know of to the back rack idea is the having to buy a damn back rack or at least the steel to build one.
exhaust tips
I have my headers and my 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust. Its true duals now, but my x pipe is definitely going in. Thats not the issue though. I have my exhaust dumped down on a 45 just before my axle. The drone and rumble in the cab is brutal. Lets just say if I have a hangover, I'll walk before i even think of driving the truck. My concern is bending the pipes off road. I had straight out the back tips in my ford. The got ovaled the first trip off road and a few times later I was backing up and bent my gorgeous stainless exhaust in half back under the front of the truck. I had to have a buddy hook a chain to it and crank it off to make it home that day. Sarah's turns out on the passenger side just behind the wheel..... that gets smashed all the time. It also gets pushed into her bed denting the crap out of her beds rocker panel. I was thinking about turning out just before the wheels, but idk. Im hoping someone will have the best answer. I have been thinking about this off and on for about a month now. I even came up with the idea of cutting holes in my bed and turning them up at a 45. Yeah thats dumb. But i was thinking about doing like that and then adding rubber flaps like on boats. It would keep stuff out, and move when the exhaust comes. Sounds perfect right? Not so much. Throw a piece of plywood in the bed and what happens? LOL scrap that one.
Please guys, take any and every idea in here and rip it appart. I dont need you to make up my mind, but show me all the ups and downs of my thoughts, and maybe some new ideas.
first question:
Winch mounting. I have a 10,000lb winch and it came with a trailer hitch cradle. I have access to a free hitch to put on the front of my truck, just need to fab it up for rugged mounting. Then I could run a set of plugs to mounts like plow plugs use and have them ready to go any time i need them. The truck was bought specifically to put a plow on the front though. No plow manufacturer in the world plans on a trailer hitch being there, so i would run into issues down the road when I mount the plow bracketry. The other idea I had was to get a push bar, mount a winch tray, and perm mount the winch in that tray. That makes the winch only useful to my truck, not the wifes brothers or wheeling buddies. Thats not a huge deal, but it means I am def the rescue truck. The other issue is with my luck, when I need it the most I'll be stuck and the front wont have anything to winch onto. For now I have it in the hitch cradle, but I am looking for front mounting and something a little more permanent than having to run jumper cables to power the damn thing.
lighting for dark places and off road
I have a few hella rectangular lights now. I dont have them mounted. But I am looking to mount lights both in the front and the back. Last time I was out with Sarah's truck yanking a buddy's jeep out, we didnt get done until it was dark as hell out. We had all kinds of issues with seeing where we were going. This truck being much more outfitted for off road use, will see more wheeling time, and probably end up out there in just as dark a night. The pushbar from the winch would give me a good place to mount front lights, but the push bar also wont be plow friendly. The back lights, i am either thinking on the bumper off to the side of the tail gate or on a back rack. The only downside I know of to the back rack idea is the having to buy a damn back rack or at least the steel to build one.
exhaust tips
I have my headers and my 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust. Its true duals now, but my x pipe is definitely going in. Thats not the issue though. I have my exhaust dumped down on a 45 just before my axle. The drone and rumble in the cab is brutal. Lets just say if I have a hangover, I'll walk before i even think of driving the truck. My concern is bending the pipes off road. I had straight out the back tips in my ford. The got ovaled the first trip off road and a few times later I was backing up and bent my gorgeous stainless exhaust in half back under the front of the truck. I had to have a buddy hook a chain to it and crank it off to make it home that day. Sarah's turns out on the passenger side just behind the wheel..... that gets smashed all the time. It also gets pushed into her bed denting the crap out of her beds rocker panel. I was thinking about turning out just before the wheels, but idk. Im hoping someone will have the best answer. I have been thinking about this off and on for about a month now. I even came up with the idea of cutting holes in my bed and turning them up at a 45. Yeah thats dumb. But i was thinking about doing like that and then adding rubber flaps like on boats. It would keep stuff out, and move when the exhaust comes. Sounds perfect right? Not so much. Throw a piece of plywood in the bed and what happens? LOL scrap that one.
Please guys, take any and every idea in here and rip it appart. I dont need you to make up my mind, but show me all the ups and downs of my thoughts, and maybe some new ideas.