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Christmas morning in May

omnitonic

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First Name
Michael
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Southwest Virginia
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2021 JLU Willys in Sarge Green
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truck driver
I just realized I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I've been working night shift since 2011, and normally by the time I wake up, Santa has already left the presents on my front porch from his big brown sleigh. (Santa charges me money for these presents too. That's kind of lame when I think about it. Plus his sleigh says "UPS" on the side, and Rudolph is nowhere in evidence.)

So I'm on vacation today. I forced myself to get up early so I could get more daylight and get more done today, and now I'm sitting here waiting on Santa. I can't finish my winch install without these parts, and they're coming. They're somewhere en route to me as I write. O Santa where art thou? For all I know, the guy has been running five minutes before I woke up every day, and I might not get this stuff until 5:00 pm.

All this nattering is about sorting out the hawse fairlead and front license plate. The Smittbilt X2O winch came with a reasonably nice fairlead, but it will not work with the license plate bracket I selected. I do have a hobby machine shop, but after staring at the problem for awhile, I decided to just go with a fairlead that doesn't have a protruding logo on it. Nobody will be able to see it anyway. Then there was the matter of the bolts being just a little too short. I ordered new ones from McMaster-Carr, and they, too, are in the big brown sleigh.

Oh well. I'm getting closer and closer to having this finished, and then I can spend the rest of my vacation exploring places I would be scared to go without a winch!
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omnitonic

omnitonic

Well-Known Member
First Name
Michael
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Threads
37
Messages
992
Reaction score
1,734
Location
Southwest Virginia
Vehicle(s)
2021 JLU Willys in Sarge Green
Occupation
truck driver
So all's well that ends well. I got the parts. I got them installed. I hit the most nasty mud hole I actually know about, and I got a shit-eating grin on my face. Win!

Side note: To get the fairlead installed, I had to resort to deciding which box end wrench I was willing to sacrifice. I threw it in the forge until it was glowing orange, and reshaped it on my anvil to make it serve its purpose. I got on google to research chrome vapor poisoning while I waited for it to cool. I don't feel feverish, so I guess I'm good. (I decided to run a couple beads on some zinc plate one time, and after two short beads I totally got welder's fever, even though I had strong ventilation. Metal fume fever is no joke!)
 
 



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