'22 JLR 2.0T build progress/wheeling thread

[Roky]

Ok …….. now we’re finally getting somewhere…..? … you need that part you have circled to be bigger or smaller up & down or side to side…..?

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[Remorseless]

Ok …….. now we’re finally getting somewhere…..? … you need that part you have circled to be bigger or smaller up & down or side to side…..?

Yeah, slot height of the fairlead rope slot is too tall given the narrowness of the Mopar slots in the filler plate, bumper, and winch plate. But, Factor 55's fairlead is specifically larger than "standard" in order to facilitate wild and crazy thimble sizes. Looks like the standard Warn aluminum fairleads are 7/8" to 15/16" in slot height, Factor 55 is 1-1/8" to 1-1/4", rough measurements. Given that the Mopar slots are ~1-1/3" tall (I believe it was 1.360" last I checked) in height, the Factor 55 is very close to just being level with the plates and bumper. Best case there is a little over 0.1"/under 1/8" of "drop" behind the Factor 55 fairlead and the top of the plates behind it. So, tracking down a narrower fairlead to have more vertical space.

Problem is I'm trying to stay US-made and the normal style Warn aluminum fairleads are made in China along with virtually every other aluminum fairlead that isn't extra tall in the rope slot(Grimm Off Road has a US-made fairlead for instance, but it's of the taller slot variety, so would be the same issue). Basically - the Mopar rope slot height doesn't jive with non-Chinese fairleads.

 

[Roky]

Yeah, slot height of the fairlead rope slot is too tall given the narrowness of the Mopar slots in the filler plate, bumper, and winch plate. But, Factor 55's fairlead is specifically larger than "standard" in order to facilitate wild and crazy thimble sizes. Looks like the standard Warn aluminum fairleads are 7/8" to 15/16" in slot height, Factor 55 is 1-1/8" to 1-1/4", rough measurements. Given that the Mopar slots are ~1-1/3" tall (I believe it was 1.360" last I checked) in height, the Factor 55 is very close to just being level with the plates and bumper. Best case there is a little over 0.1"/under 1/8" of "drop" behind the Factor 55 fairlead and the top of the plates behind it. So, tracking down a narrower fairlead to have more vertical space.

Problem is I'm trying to stay US-made and the normal style Warn aluminum fairleads are made in China along with virtually every other aluminum fairlead that isn't extra tall in the rope slot(Grimm Off Road has a US-made fairlead for instance, but it's of the taller slot variety, so would be the same issue). Basically - the Mopar rope slot height doesn't jive with non-Chinese fairleads.

I have Poison Spyder, will it work on your setup? I can measure the gap here in a bit…. Does it look smaller just eyeballing..?

 

[Remorseless]

I have Poison Spyder, will it work on your setup? I can measure the gap here in a bit…. Does it look smaller just eyeballing..?

It looks narrower in the pic, but I also thought the gap looked OK enough for the Factor 55 in person lol

I've been thinking about the CrawlTek fairlead: CrawlTek Revolution Aluminum Hawse Fairlead - Bare Aluminum

Got a question out to them for height measurements on their rope slot as well.

 

[gek]

I just ordered the Grimm offroad one from Northridge last night. Says opening is 1"

https://www.northridge4x4.com/part/fairleads-fairlead-brackets/10102-grimm-offroad-hawse-fairlead

 

[Roky]

It looks narrower in the pic, but I also thought the gap looked OK enough for the Factor 55 in person lol

I've been thinking about the CrawlTek fairlead: CrawlTek Revolution Aluminum Hawse Fairlead - Bare Aluminum

Got a question out to them for height measurements on their rope slot as well.

It’s 7/8” ……

 

[Remorseless]

I just ordered the Grimm offroad one from Northridge last night. Says opening is 1"

https://www.northridge4x4.com/part/fairleads-fairlead-brackets/10102-grimm-offroad-hawse-fairlead

The F55 is only 0.15"-0.25" taller, and with most of the standard ones being ~7/8" I'm worried that the Grimm is still too tall.

 

[Remorseless]

It’s 7/8” ……

Thanks dude, I'll add it to the short list.

 

[gek]

Grimm fairlead showed up today, looks like the actual opening is just a shade over 7/8" on the backside.

 

[Remorseless]

Grimm fairlead showed up today, looks like the actual opening is just a shade over 7/8" on the backside.

Thanks Rusty!

 

[Remorseless]

Ended up ordering the Crawltek fairlead as the look of raw aluminum for the fairlead was growing on me (and it's a bit cheaper than the Grimm). Whenever it shows up, if there's issues or if the bare aluminum corrodes (shouldn't, central NC doesn't see hardly any road salt or anything) I'll go with the Grimm since it's anodized, but really hoping I don't burn through 3 fairleads chasing down fitment...

 

[Remorseless]

Alright, update time: Crawltek fairlead ended up being exactly 7/8". This helped greatly, but there's still slight contact with the slot in the bumper. You can see how close it is below:

At some point I'm going to have to grind that down, but will put it off till it's an immediate problem. Contact was light and no fraying noticed during the retensioning process.

Anyway, on 5/30 I got to go wheeling and it was wet as hell out there:

We ended up doing Dutch John, Rocky Mountain Loop, Wolf's Den, Falls Dam, and Dickey Bell. I usually cancel when it's this wet out, but decided to just go with it this time, in the below vid you can see little rivulets running down Dickey Bell - it was a lot of rain.




With it being that wet out, there was some slipping and sliding (mainly on Dutch John and Rocky Mountain Loop), and I did a good one on Dutch John on one of the optional little rock obstacles which is normally no issue even stock, but I slipped off and tagged pretty much every skid, my front axle-side LCA, and the steering stab (I know, I know, it needs relocated, but still thinking about what I'm going to do for steering and don't want to relocate twice):

With the offset of the KMCs, mud collects on top of the Mopar rails like crazy:

Cannot wait for the Metalcloak rails to show up, hopefully they don't collect crap and I'd really like them on before we hit Windrock at the end of July. Still hoping to play around with the HD springs before then, but rock rails are the priority.

Also, still futzing with my deflators and figuring out where I want them set. Tried to set them at around 8 or 9 PSI, but ended up being like 6-7 PSI which I wasn't happy with. Trying a new setting and we'll see how that goes next trip.

 

[Remorseless]

Forgot this - been about a year with the Jeep now and this past trip she just ticked over 4k miles at the end of the trail day:

 

[Remorseless]

Rock rails arrived! Was a little nervous about their listed 35lb weight that maybe they'd feel flimsy, but no, very pleased with how they feel and how the construction appears to be just handling them.

Windrock is at the end of July, aiming to have these on before then, along with hopefully at least the rear HD springs to see how those sit.

 

[GATORB8]

Rock rails arrived! Was a little nervous about their listed 35lb weight that maybe they'd feel flimsy, but no, very pleased with how they feel and how the construction appears to be just handling them.

Windrock is at the end of July, aiming to have these on before then, along with hopefully at least the rear HD springs to see how those sit.

Sweet, looking forward to seeing how these work for you.

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