Thursday, December 27, 2012

Dirtbound Offroad Extreme Winch Bumper- Install

The Dirtbound Offroad Extreme Winch Bumper with Brush Guard to be exact. Available to you here for an amazingly low price of $475. If you like to weld buy the DIY kit for $265 here. Either way, you'll be happy with the design.


The DirtBound Extreme Winch Bumper features many unique features that set itself apart from others.
  • Standard full frame tie in brackets with integrated 1″ of adjustability for better vehicle fitment.
  • CNC Plasma cut from 3/16 steel for precision fit and ready to weld for the best finish.
  • D-Ring mounts. (Optional)
  • Aggressive Styling.
  • Pre-Drilled winch mounting holes 10″ x 4.5″ (Comp Winch pattern available by request)
  • Hand Made in the USA.
  • Bumper comes bare steel ready for welding.
  • The (optional) aggressive brush guard protects your headlights and grille from trees bushes, the setback winch provides optimal airflow to the radiator while protecting the winch from rocks and other obstacles.
Pros: Full coverage wrap-around design, great approach angle, quality material, strong welds, fantastic customer service. Extremely competitive price and fast shipping.

Cons: Considering the brushguard is not advertised a stinger, I have no complaints. This product is amazing! But if you were to depend on the center tubing arrangement as a stinger you would be disappointed. It needs to be taller (I may address this in the near future)

Seriously though, I'm very happy with this bumper. I have slightly customized it with different light mounts and a "spider stick" holder" for those summer night rides. I painted it rattle can satin black and mounted my Tabor Winch and rock lights in the empty cavities underneath. I really like the look the tubing gives you, it's kinda of like the Jeep is mean muggin'. Dirtbound Offroad includes (2) frame brackets that we decided to weld on the "frame" and bolt on to the bumper. Because of my [thicker] reinforced sub-frame, I special ordered the bumper to accommodate for the sub-frame plating. Max,the owner of Dirtbound knew exactly what I was referring to and said it would not be a problem to make these adjustments during the fabrication of the bumper. As a result the bumper fits to perfection. But if you do make a mistake the brackets are slotted and are extremely forgiving. 

Delivered via FedEx just as it sits. Weight: 65lbs. Unpainted in (3) pieces.


Dry fit. Checking clearances and mounting brackets.

 Front view, dry fit. You can see the optional D-ring mounts. I really like the lower winch mount design.

 Wrap around design covers the marker lights. Here you see a rock light hanging down. It's not mounted there.

 Mounting plate/brackets. They go way back. Most of the holes didn't line up to well with the HD Offroad Engineering sub-frame plating kit, therefore we decided to weld these on. This is the drivers' side.

We opened up the holes for the steering box bolts to allow a socket on there in the future.

We even welded the brackets on the inside where they meet the front cross-member.

 Passenger side mount.

Front cross-member mount welds.

 The mounts as the meet the bumper. Grade 5 hardware. I replaced everything with grade 8.

 Inside the empty cavity underneath the bumper. This this where the mounting bracket rests as it slides into place. Slotted holes for you convenience.

(3) light tabs are welded on the center 1.5" tube. 

 D-ring mounts. Good solid passes on the welds.

 Nice welds on the tubing as well!

 The Dirtbound Offroad logo on the front of the bumper to the right of the fairlead mount.


 Spider sticker holder. Milled down on the lathe and designed with a set screw.

This is what it's used for. Mounting a stick of any sort to the bumper to tear down any spider webs that span across the trails before they get inside your cab. As long as the stick is as tall as your rig your safe. Otherwise it doesn't offer you the full protection plan. I use a bamboo stick from a fly fishing rod and a evil bird head from an old Halloween costume. 



 Blue Fire 13.5" LED light bar. 120 watts which is only 10amp draw on a 12v system!

Super strong, not-going-anywhere light tabs.



Spooling up the synthetic winch line.

 The front rock lights tuck up in the cavity very nicely.

 Fresh coat of satin black paint.

 Ready for some action.



 Source: http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Dashboard- Vinyl Wrap and Final Install

The dash is nearly complete. All the panels have been made and wrapped in 3M Black Carbon Fiber. All the tubing has been painted the same color as the interior cage, Ford Gray. All the gauges (Autometer Sport Comp) have been mounted, wired and plumbed. The new sending units, installed. The KILLER custom switch panel from www.12voltunlimited.com has been installed and wired. The 7" LCD monitor has been wired and works beautifully. All hardware is 1/4" black button heads. Two 12v cigarette lighters have been installed for tech devices. Thanks a bunch Dustin Stubbs for all the hard work wrapping this!

In this view the top part of the dash has yet to be installed.
3M Black Carbon Fiber Wrap

A view from through the windshield (Marguard #10) The top  part of the dash mounts with the same holes the (removable) windshield does.
Top of dash (through the Marguard #10)


 The gleam of the 3M wrap just shining in the lights.
Top of dash installed. 2.5" sunvisor

The side pieces are welded in. No tabs, no bolts.
Side dash panels

 This is the center cover for the top part of the dash. It covers the slots required to slide the dash in place. In has a bead rolled around it.
Top of dash/ center cover
 This custom sheet metal work is done on the B pillar and is to store anything from gum to firecrackers.
B pillar custom panel work/ cup holders

The template for the kick plate panels.  I'm going to revise this and send them all the way to the firewall. This will prevent anyone from seeing the mess of wires behind the dash. These still need to be made and wrapped in vinyl. 
Template of kick panel **still left to do**
 Stock OEM center console bucket and lid. The shifter is an Ox locker for my front end.
OEM center console

Fantastic picture!!

Overhead Console- LED lights and Red mood lighting

I finished the center console and installed some LED lights and some red mood lights. The install of the lights weren't that hard but re-installing the center console after the lights we installed was very difficult. It was like a puzzle. I had to take off one LED to get it to slide though the tight opening between the top tubing and the sheet metal roof.

I got the LED lights from Walmart and the red mood light from Xoxide.com. They are computer lights. They're both 12v lights.


I used #10 2" hardward and some capheads to finish it off cleanly.