Valhalla's Long term build thread

[Valhalla]

I put on a pair of cheapy floods that I got off of ebay lets see how they do!

They mounted easy enough nice aluminum housings with cooling fins: the plastic covering the lenses seams a bit thin and the mounting brackets feel like 20 gauge.

They light up the edges nicely, I was on a little night run and felt the lights were woefully under luminating off highway. I'll keep everyone posted on how they perform.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/144821179882

Sponsored

 

[Valhalla]

Tires and winch have arrived...awaiting more to post.

 

[Valhalla]

Now to install

 

[Tactisquatch]

Before I even start on the tire delete Absolutely do not buy the DV8 spare tire delete unless you are prepared to do fabrication work for the camera mount! The stock mount is on an almost 45* angle DV8 went flat, you'll be looking at the sky. I actually new this at purchase and planned to fabricate because there price point was reasonable.

OK let's dive in:
I cut this out because I did not know if I liked the tube gasket they had to keep it off of the paint. I'm currently trying out there gasket. If it holds dirt and debris behind it I'll probably change to this piece I cut front the foam rubber they shipped this part in.

I knew the camera mount was wrong so i prepared to fabricate.

You have to cut slits to tilt this at 45*, there is also internally a camera retainer that needs cut loose and then rewelded the cameras width behind this piece. As I recall the depth is 5/8".

Using a piece of weldable 16 gauge I cut son sides that i ran inside to where I removed the camera retainer.

Sides welded in:

Welded up and painted. the top moved some when welding.

You use the stock screws to mount the brake light. I had to notch it slightly to clear the camera and also slightly notched the top for camera clearance. This is a semi permanent change for me to lose the weigh of the spare. So instead of trying to fab in the supplied retainer I put a thin line of epoxy on one edge of the camera.

Final product looks god enough for me and functions as stock did..

You should know going in that the way DV8 designed the nut brackets that are for the screws holding the inner plate to the outer sucks the sweat off of a dead mans balls. They can (and did) pop out while trying to get their hardware (which will barley engages the screws!) to attach. I spent over 30 minutes trying to get their pieces together ro tip use the two stock screws that fit these nuts to retain them while you try to get the others to engage.

Honestly DV8 you should really spring for screws that are 4 mm longer. I know that might break the bank getting these shipped from China though so you do you.

Why the tire delete. What happens when you get a flat?

 

[Valhalla]

Rock monster bead locks, locks both sides and I carry a tire repair kit... it's deleted weight....

 

[Valhalla]

The ARB summit is involved, it has integrated turn lights, relocates all sensors (adaptive and otherwise) relocates the front camera and is tough...however with all of that it is more complicated. I am also putting on a BroncBusters 3" lift as well as a H2O winch so I decided to combine the three to make some steps of each easier, so while the grill is off and all the sensors out I started the body lift, I had to partially remove the driver side wheel liner to get to the wiring for the lights. So I just removed it. I am worried about the lines for brakes on both front sides so i'll be monitoring that as i lift. i am fortunate in that I have a garage lift so I'll be able to do all 4 corners as one. here are some disassembly and wiring pics.

More to come, that was the first few hours I had to tear down.

 

[Valhalla]

So they claim change a ground, change a harness routing and go on the Broncbusters website. My experience was a bit different. Here are some photos of wiring harnesses I think should be unclipped prior to install. And I'd say pull apart the tree holding the brake lines. Also do not pull the whole body loose, even with mine locked and chocked it misaligned some holes for the screws... I used a floor jack to reposition and a crow var to " nudge" the drivetrain.

 

[Valhalla]

So, I took several things loose, reattached clips to new locations and bent brake lines to make this work, nothing else seems to be binding to much. They should include a couple of bags of zip ties and new Brake hard lines in this kit.

Bending a brake line to get a uniform look.

More brake line bending.

This is how my brake lines looked after relocating them to take the stress off of the lines.

The line attached to the by the ground wire was pulled extremely tight in its attachment point, I cut it off and zip tied the top and bottom point.

The connection to the air box has to be clocked some. I removed the location part of the hose and re-torqued.

 

[Valhalla]

So I took several things loose, reattached clips to new locations and bent brake lines to make this work, nothing else seems to be binding to much. They should include a couple of bags of zip ties and new Brake hard lines in this kit.

 

[Valhalla]

Right now in Australia at ARB there's someone laughing their a** off.

This is 2 boxes, 3 brackets and one large pouch less than what came in the crate.

This is the hardware that came in the large packet. Every smaller box had a hardware kit as well.

 

[Valhalla]

This bumper is a pain in the @$$ the instructions should be written in a different order.

On another note, I think I'm going to custom build my rear bumper.

 

[Valhalla]

Getting real close, I'm going to run the swampers on stock wheels until my rock monster wheels arrive (6 weeks)

 

[Valhalla]

 

[Valhalla]

Headed to swap tires.

 

[Gassyjack]

That lift looks like a life saver in mounting that ARB bumper.
Nice shop.

Sponsored