Hey there's a great DIY trick to make a fair lead that actually does what it's supposed to. It works great to start with a cheap HF fair lead. Weld a pair of plates half an inch out and parallel to the long sides of the fair lead. Get a nut that is half an inch thick and drill out the threads. It also helps to chamfer both sides quite heavily. The goal is to have this nut able to slide back and forth as it pays out the cable by sliding in the slots created by your welded on tabs. If you pick a nut that is only 1/8 of an inch larger diameter then your cable, it provides the necessary weight on the cable to make it spool tightly. This friction also makes the cable lay tightly side by side, and switches directions at the end of the spool automatically. It's also great for roughly cleaning off the cable as you wind it up. There are a few cons; I use traditional wire rope, I've had no problems yet, but I could imagine a few loose strands causing a bad day. If you have an elbow in the cable and don't notice before it reaches the nut, you will probably destroy your cable. I don't have any experience with the synthetic stuff, I have no idea how it might react. I discovered this trick by accident. I have a giant old winch I use to launch boats on a DIY railroad trestle. It always drove me nuts that the cable would build up heavy on one side, rather dangerous when it slipped off. I didn't plan anything out, just sort of started welding in fury. Came back the next day to look at the mess I left behind, and had the idea for the sliding nut. It's going on 8 years right on the saltwater with no problems. I packed the grooves with grease when I remember, maybe once every two years. I'm sure you would prefer a more polished look on your vehicle, maybe you could have a machine shop cut the grooves with the keyway cutter and ream a bore in a small sliding block? I don't see this taking more than 30 minutes on a Bridgeport. If you want to do it yourself, I'm sure you could bolt together a sandwich of plate to make the running slots, maybe even weld. You might need to do a little bit of file work, but it still seems pretty doable with scrap around the shop
So far I have 1 good day of using it. Did 25-30 winch pulls. Everything worked as it should. The wireless remote is like an absolute must now days lol. No complaints with it so far.
Hey there's a great DIY trick to make a fair lead that actually does what it's supposed to. It works great to start with a cheap HF fair lead. Weld a pair of plates half an inch out and parallel to the long sides of the fair lead. Get a nut that is half an inch thick and drill out the threads. It also helps to chamfer both sides quite heavily. The goal is to have this nut able to slide back and forth as it pays out the cable by sliding in the slots created by your welded on tabs. If you pick a nut that is only 1/8 of an inch larger diameter then your cable, it provides the necessary weight on the cable to make it spool tightly. This friction also makes the cable lay tightly side by side, and switches directions at the end of the spool automatically. It's also great for roughly cleaning off the cable as you wind it up. There are a few cons; I use traditional wire rope, I've had no problems yet, but I could imagine a few loose strands causing a bad day. If you have an elbow in the cable and don't notice before it reaches the nut, you will probably destroy your cable. I don't have any experience with the synthetic stuff, I have no idea how it might react. I discovered this trick by accident. I have a giant old winch I use to launch boats on a DIY railroad trestle. It always drove me nuts that the cable would build up heavy on one side, rather dangerous when it slipped off. I didn't plan anything out, just sort of started welding in fury. Came back the next day to look at the mess I left behind, and had the idea for the sliding nut. It's going on 8 years right on the saltwater with no problems. I packed the grooves with grease when I remember, maybe once every two years. I'm sure you would prefer a more polished look on your vehicle, maybe you could have a machine shop cut the grooves with the keyway cutter and ream a bore in a small sliding block? I don't see this taking more than 30 minutes on a Bridgeport. If you want to do it yourself, I'm sure you could bolt together a sandwich of plate to make the running slots, maybe even weld. You might need to do a little bit of file work, but it still seems pretty doable with scrap around the shop
Great project. Anytime you can get something from HF and modify to make it work for you is awesome!
For sure! I've used these plates for several builds now
that winch worked pretty good!!
have any experience with this winch or just sending it? its way cheaper than the cheap options i had been considering
So far I have 1 good day of using it. Did 25-30 winch pulls. Everything worked as it should. The wireless remote is like an absolute must now days lol. No complaints with it so far.
@@JustinTBraun thats good to hear, a good video might be ultra budget winch torture test where you just winch forever on it to see if it breaks
Looks good, simple & clean.
Thank you!
How’s that winch been doing?
Awesome. I have not had any issues with it. 👍
I wanted a video of how this bumper was made...
Looks sweet!
Hey thanks 🤘
You are just going to end up using the winch when everyone else get stuck tho.
You should totally check out my build on my new channel. T.I.T.S TOYOTAS IN THE SIERRAS
I'll have to check it out!