Rad Rally (Dodge) Raider (akaMonteroakaPajero) Build

So, here's part two of the front hitch. First thing, as noted above, cut chamfers into all the mating surfaces and cleaned the metal. Decided since it's out of sight I'd just do this with some .035 flux core since I have a big spool of that I rarely use, plus flux seems to penetrate better on thick metal. So, set it all up, double-checked fit, and welded it all up. Did double (and some triple) passes with slow wire speed and seems I got acceptable penetration, based on heat pattern on areas not painted. 

Since I have 3/4 a gallon of "safety red" and never use it, figured I'd use it here since it's mostly out of sight and not waste my black (plus, the little bit of red visible is a nice little highlight I think). 

Also painted the tow J-hook red, just for fun (and because all the new Jeeps have their that way, which looks kind of cool I guess). Put the bumper back on and got everything bolted up.

All stealth with the license plate in place

As previously noted, the Hellas interfere with the winch platform, so I moved them inward a few inches to give me no-hassle clearance, so here's it fitted correctly now. Much better.

The crew

Atta boy! Nice work getting that wrapped up stealth style. I'm sure it will serve just fine for your purpose with the flux core welds, given how much meat you had to work with there. 

This thing now desperately needs a motorcycle carrier plugged into that front hitch and a Suzuki Trailhopper on it, painted to match:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

This thing now desperately needs a motorcycle carrier plugged into that front hitch and a Suzuki Trailhopper on it, painted to match:

haha, the amount of front rake I'd have even with that weight on the nose....

but now I really want one of those things just to haul around with the rally car......

The winch arrived this morning, but I was busy building some garage shelving so didn't get to it until later today. I did take a few minutes and install some new front swaybar bushings. The ones on the truck were probably original and were so compressed they were hardly even touching the bar itself and you could easily jiggle it loosely by hand. So, this truck has enough "sway" without the busings not actually holding the bar. So picked up some Siberians, since guys on the Montero groups seem to like them (and they're pretty cheap). 

In any case, they fit perfectly, that's one less thing....

Ok, back to the winch mount. So the winch arrived - as noted, it's a #5000 harbor frieght job, which should be sufficient for my infrequent needs and more than sufficient if I use a snatch block.

I'll give it to Harbor Freight...with a super coupon this was about $150 and it seems well-built with all needed accessories. Much better accessories than the 1500lb HF winch I got a decade ago that really had some cheap stuff with it. 

So, I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a perfect fit for the hitch platform, since the platform is made for the larger-body winches. To mount the winch I had to drill a couple new holes (no big deal), but the fairlead on this one is smaller than the fullsize winches, and the platform bracket is made for the larger one. So I had to do a little bit of modification with some steel bar to make new (narrower) mount points.

With that done, I mounted the winch with no issues. Because I need this to be a fully-portable setup with everything attached, I bolted the solenoid off to the side (one advantage of the platform being "too big" for the smaller winch is that I have some space left over), and bolted the wired remote hookup off to the side of the fairlead. I did some wiring modifications and eliminated the in-car winch control (though I left ring terminals on it to carry as a spare in case the remote dies for some reason). I need to clean up the wiring a bit more, but here it is as of now

So, went ahead and fitted it to the truck and just did a quick hookup to the battery (I'm going to make some quick connect wiring once the wire gets here).

And of course, had to test it. So I rolled the Raider down the (sloped) driveway. Didn't have much of a good hookup point up above, so I just chocked all the wheels of the rally car in the garage and hooked up to its rear tow point.

In any case, it pulled up the driveway slope with minimal effort, not surprisingly. I just wanted to make sure everything was working. 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Now put the Montero in gear and apply parking brake then see if winch can drag the tires up hill, leaving black tire marks. Ha. 

Cool set up. Every day the Raider gets better! 

John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Now put the Montero in gear and apply parking brake then see if winch can drag the tires up hill, leaving black tire marks. Ha. 

Cool set up. Every day the Raider gets better! 

oh, I'm sure it would drag the e30 DOWN the hill haha....that car only weighs 2400lbs or so :)

A couple little things today:

First, I didn't really like where I originally put the GMRS radio. Mounted down to the side made it hard to reach and the speaker was facing away from me. So I moved it up on top of the dash right under the grab bar. Because of the "lip" of the dash front I had to raise it up a bit to sit flush, so i cut out a couple small squares of HDPE sheet from some scrap I had sitting around and built a taller "base". Then drilled a couple holes in the dash (which I figured was plastic, but it's actually steel sheet...) and attached the radio base. For wiring I put another hole right behind it in the upward dash section, and put in a grommet.

Anyhow, I like this spot much better.

Second project was finalizing something I've been testing for the last week or so. Even with good-condition seals, the front quarter windows tend to make a whistling/wind noise at speeds over about 50mph, no matter how tight I adjust them. I definitely don't want to drop the cash to buy new ones, but the noise is super-annoying if it's super hot and I want to run A/C with the windows closed (as it seems to be every day this year....)

So what I did was take some old possible garage door rubber seals and cut them lengthwise so they're about 2" wide from the beveled edge. Then I cut them the length I wanted and rounded/tapered the ends.

To attach I used Gorilla Tape along the inner flat surface of the A-pillar outside the door seal. BTW....this stuff is sticky AF - way more adhesion than the 3M heavy-duty stuff

And attached the pieces there

So with the door closed it basically locks the pieces in place even better, and unless you are actually looking, they aren't very noticeable from the outside (nor from inside)

Anyhow, this totally elminates the quarter window wind noise - though the mirrors still make a good bit of noise, but at least no whistle....

A little Sunday project regarding comms/antennas. So, a few things: First, as noted before I have a GMRS radio (just a low-power 5-watt set for local comms) and also have a CB (not currently installed, but will get around to it eventually) since some people in some areas use that (and we have CB in the Sequioa support rig, so having comms during rally travel will be nice). I also have a personal dislike of antennas in front of me when driving. Don't ask me why, I just don't. My old Porsche now has a roof radio antenna so i could get rid of the fender-mounted one....and the Raider's fender mounted antenna is going away. 

So, with three antennas, I needed to figure out where to put them, ruling out anything forward of the windshield. Options are side-body mounts (not great for narrow trails with branches), roof mount magnetic (means a bunch of wires going through window/door seals), roof mount drill mount (means drilling holes in the roof and trying to get them under a 30-year-old headliner without ruining it). All of those seem E36 M3ty. So I decided to build an antenna platform on the tailgate above the spare tire. One of the keys was to keep the antennas far enough from each other to avoid incidental contact. Not too concerned with interference since I'm running all lowish-power stuff and the CB and GMRS would never be on at the same time anyhow. I'll be using no-ground plane (NGP) antenna for CB, but the CB antenna will be able to use the roof as a groundplane to some degree since it will stick up. But also wanted to keep them low enough to not get broken off and so they will still fit in my garage if needed. 

Anyhow, let's get some steel out. Decided to use some C-channel and flat plate and just fab up a post and crossbar that mount to the spare tire mount. It's already spaced out from stock to accommodate the bigger tire, so the bar just replaces the spacers on one side. 

These are just huge nuts used for locating spacers (not actually threading into them). Didn't even prep, so E36 M3ty tack welds on zinc bolts. Just needed them to stay in place lol. 

Then a perpendicular T-bar. It's 24" long but offset to the driver's side so it sits evenly over the spare.

Attachment point

Post clearance with the spare is a couple mm...so perfect.

Had to make a small notch in case the rear wiper goes too far, to avoid contact.

So, there it is...I stopped the wiper at vertical just to check for clearance, in case you're wondering. 

So, I'll get around to putting some antennas on it, at about 10" spacing, and see how it works in terms of signal, interference, etc. More on that once I get everything I need. Also need to figure out how I want to run the wires - they'll go down the back of the post, but not sure if I'm going to bring them through the door or go into the rear quater over the taillight. We'll see....

In other random stuff.....got a snatch block, which is probably overkill capacity-wise, but whatever.

Also picked up some 1/4" synthetic winch rope (rated to 7000# so should be fine) to replace the steel cable. First, because I dislike steel cable breaking E36 M3 if it ever snaps (rope won't cut anyone's arms off, lol...). And second it's probably a good 5lbs lighter, which is nice for something I will be moving around. Anyhow, we'll see how it is - just some random Amazon brand that a couple guys I know who are hardcore wheelers said is good. I'll probably throw the steel cable in the gear box as well, just in case the rope isn't up to whatever task.....TBD

Had to modify one end to attach it, since the winch attachment type is a pressure screw rather than a bold...but wasn't much of a hassle.

Good thinking on the winch cable, and thanks for showing a blanket on the cable in your earlier photos.  I've seen a steel winch cable break without a blanket (it was actually on a California stage rally back in the mid 70s) when sweep was recovering a 510 from a ravine.  It was pretty scary, fortunately no one was hurt.  The resultant drop of the 510 back into the ravine caused more damage than when it went off in the first place.  I was spectating after our car broke earlier in the event and got to see the whole thing, from the 510 falling off the road at about 5 mph (driver almost got it stopped) to the final recovery.  Made a believer out of me for careful winch use.

Just some little stuff today. With the tropical storm/hurricane heading this way I moved stuff around so i could stuff a couple cars in the garage (the Raider and the other cars with full coverage get to stay outside)....just in case any tree branches decide to come down from the 100 foot oak near my driveway. It's nice that I put my big workbenches on casters so I can roll them out of the way, and that my cars are mostly pretty small lol

Amazon delivered a few other random stuff today - a tree-saver strap (no photo, it's a strap...) and a cheap neoprene cover for the winch, which actually fits perfectly. 

I also got a couple heavy connectors so i can start doing the wiring setup on the vehicles and winch. So did the winch end. 

Of course, however, I don't have a heavy-duty crimper for these big wire fittings (and not dropping $$ for one since i'd rarely use it), so I had to improvise with a piece of 1/4" steel plate (using the edge) and a bif F-ing hammer....which seemed to work fine since I didn't smash my hand, and the 4ga cables are now securely crimped in place.

Oh.....and so. The passenger side mirror has always rattled in the wind. It's not the base, it's the glass part not fitting snugly in the plastic case. I figured I'd shim it with a little thin piece of plastic, but I guess I forced it a bit too hard....

dammit. Luckily I still have the mirrors on the other set of doors I saved from the Blue Raider, so just went and took one of those to replace it. This one doesn't rattle. 

Also got some of my antenna stuff in, but probably won't "write it up" until I have everything and it's installed. 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

That contrast front hitch looks really cool. I like the antenna mount too. I'm not a super experience radio operator, but I think for best performance you're going to want to make sure you've ground bonded the panels, so ground strap+serrated washer between the rear door and the body at least. You could do the hood and the doors too if you're feeling fancy. 

Great progress, except for that COVID sticker 

mr2s2000elise said:

Great progress, except for that COVID sticker 

yeah, IDK. While it's obviously a serious issue, it certainly is apropos as to why this vehicle is already built and felt like a bright spot in an otherwise sucky time........ I put it on there months ago when it all seemed like less of an idiotic clusterberkeley. But since morons can't seem to restrain themselves from being *morons,* looks like we're stuck with this idiocy for who knows how long....

Bizwacky said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

That contrast front hitch looks really cool. I like the antenna mount too. I'm not a super experience radio operator, but I think for best performance you're going to want to make sure you've ground bonded the panels, so ground strap+serrated washer between the rear door and the body at least. You could do the hood and the doors too if you're feeling fancy. 

The entire assembly is grounded - that said the antennas don't ground to the surface they mount on anyhow seeing as they all have rubber washers and grommets. That said, when I wire everything up it will all be appropriately grounded. Still planning out the best setup to have. 

If i wasn't trying to clear out as many cars as possible this would have been on my trailer a few minutes after i saw it posted.

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I think I used the wrong term there. I wasn't talking about electrical grounding, but RF bonding. So as I understand it, the truck is acting like a capacitor between the antenna and the ground plane, if you bond at least the larger horizontal metal panels together, you make that more efficient and reduce the noise in the system from random RF coming in and out of various parts of the vehicle. That said, for UHF I don't think it matters that much so it might not be worth the effort. 

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

mr2s2000elise said:

Great progress, except for that COVID sticker 

yeah, IDK. While it's obviously a serious issue, it certainly is apropos as to why this vehicle is already built and felt like a bright spot in an otherwise sucky time........ I put it on there months ago when it all seemed like less of an idiotic clusterberkeley. But since morons can't seem to restrain themselves from being *morons,* looks like we're stuck with this idiocy for who knows how long....

Agreed. I personally just don't like stickers 

Bizwacky said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I think I used the wrong term there. I wasn't talking about electrical grounding, but RF bonding. So as I understand it, the truck is acting like a capacitor between the antenna and the ground plane, if you bond at least the larger horizontal metal panels together, you make that more efficient and reduce the noise in the system from random RF coming in and out of various parts of the vehicle. That said, for UHF I don't think it matters that much so it might not be worth the effort. 

The CB antenna is a NGP (no ground plane) with a special NGP cable that essentially creates the ground plane itself, apparently. The GMRS for my uses really doesn't need a ground plane at all - my range is limited more by forests, trees, and hills than by the horizon - so trying to create a larger plane probably won't have much of an effect on signal for the way I'll be using it. 

All that said, I am not particularly knowledgeable about this stuff (I just read on ExPo a lot lol), so I suppose I'll find out once its set up, and if the arrangement sucks I'll try something else (i.e. the standard "drill holes in the roof" thing) lol. 

mr2s2000elise said:

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

mr2s2000elise said:

Great progress, except for that COVID sticker 

yeah, IDK. While it's obviously a serious issue, it certainly is apropos as to why this vehicle is already built and felt like a bright spot in an otherwise sucky time........ I put it on there months ago when it all seemed like less of an idiotic clusterberkeley. But since morons can't seem to restrain themselves from being *morons,* looks like we're stuck with this idiocy for who knows how long....

Agreed. I personally just don't like stickers 

haha.....ah man, for me, this thing has FEW stickers. Have you seen my Sequioa and my rally car? ;)

That said, those are related to racing, which those vehicles are involved in. The Raider isn't going to get the windows all plastered up like that. But, I do like stickers :)

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

 

 

But, I do like stickers :)

Well, my friend, nobody is perfect 

So, speaking of wiring....I picked up a 30-foot 1-gauge "jumper" set online for like $35 on some kind of random clearance thing. Wasn't sure what exactly it was, but that price was cheap for large wires so what the hell. It got here today, and indeed it's 30 total feet. About 25 feet is a long section with a heavy-duty plug on one end and jumper clamps on the other. The other 5-6 feet has another heavy plug on one end and terminal eyes on the other. The wires seem to be good quality. 

Even came with a nice little bag

So, this is pretty much perfect. The long section will stay with the trailer, basically to plug into the winch when it's on the trailer and it'll be long enough to reach the Sequoia's battery terminals.

The short section is for the hardwire to the Raider. So got it wired up to the battery terminals (when I get a new battery I'll get a dual-terminal with side mounts to make this cleaner...)

Then ran the wires past the air filter box and through the hole in the front body that goes to behind the grille. About a year ago I ordered some split-wire loom to do wiring, but it turned out to be about 5x as big as I thought so I stashed it away. As luck would have it, it's a perfect size for these twin 1-gauge wires, and will do well to protect them from rubbing on anything or chafing. 

through the front valence

perfect length to hookup to the winch

And conveniently tucks away under the bumper lip, held in place with a ziptie.

So, that worked out pretty well. I'm considering whether to keep this direct-wired, since I've read several places NOT to use the HF circuit breaker the winch comes with. Doesn't seem like there's much chance of the wires shorting, considering they have very thick insulation PLUS the protective loom. Thoughts? 

Weird things happen. Maybe you could throw in an in-line amp fuse for just in case. 
I personally wouldn't be comfortable but I've been around loads of work trucks that didn't bother and they were fine. 

Have a link for the jumper set? 

I have never fused my winches.... Gone back and fourth about it too.... Make sure the wiring is well protected. (which it looks like you already did) 

Re: fuse / circuit breaker. What could / would get hurt if something unexpected happened? Would that strand you.

XLNT project / toy