Don's 2024 Ram 3500

[Flyin6]

Zinc plated and powdered, do it right

If I do all that, I'll have to do it after the trip. No time between when it arrives and when I shove off for any lengthy anything. Slap a coat of paint on it and bolt it on. Just as easily, I coat it myself, but the larger and more involved processes will have to wait.

[JR]

Are you in a bad enough to climate to justify zinc plating?

[Flyin6]

Are you in a bad enough to climate to justify zinc plating?

Well, we do have salt on the roads in the winter, and a friend zinc coats the custom trailers he builds, so, maybe??

[Bob Smith]

Zinc plated and powdered, do it right

If I do all that, I'll have to do it after the trip. No time between when it arrives and when I shove off for any lengthy anything. Slap a coat of paint on it and bolt it on. Just as easily, I coat it myself, but the larger and more involved processes will have to wait.

Never enough time to do it right, always enough time to do it over.

[Flyin6]

Well, the bumper coating poll is about split. If I had the option of powder coating up there I believe most people would have gone with that.

It should get here somewhere early the third week in June, so I can take a hard look at it then to see if I have any time to get it powder coated, but I sincerely doubt it.

The epoxy paint is a pretty good alternative, as I have had great results in the past doing that to bumpers.

I selected and ordered a 13,500 X-Bull winch yesterday. It shipped the same day from Kali, so it should be here in time for the bumper install.

I went with a well-known less expensive winch because first of all there are really just very few winch manufacturers. I think the people who build the HF winch I have on my Jeep also make this and about a hundred other brands of winch. I did not go with a premium winch because I will probably never use it.

The purpose of this winch is obviously, self recovery. Since I do not plan to get in any crazy off-road places, I likely will not need it for that. But I will probably have to pull a fallen tree off the trail once or twice, so for that reason, I think I need one.

The OX has a straight-line pull of 13,500 pounds and will winch around 2 FPM at that load. The duty cycle is not great, 60 sec on/10 min off at max line pull, but pulling a tree where it is not straining it should be able to run a long time without overheating. It has 85 feet of 3/8" synthetic rope and a cool hause head that integrates a hook as one neat package.

Other than that I will toss a couple of auxiliary lights in the bumper, then call all that good.

[Flyin6]

Poll results:


How should I coat the new bumper

Paint it Epoxy gloss black                                              2 (33.3%)
Paint it the same color as the truck and use a hardener   1 (16.7%)
Rino-line the thing                                                        1 (16.7%)
Professional urethane spray coating                               2 (33.3%)
Leave it bare steel and top coat in clear                         0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 5

[JR]

I like the idea of a coated bumper, need a good base though. Epoxy primer?

Heard good things abou tthe X Bull winches, but I agree I think only a few companies make em and they are branded from there.

I got a HF on the Sub, works great so far. I got a Vevor for the trailer, but may save that for another use since it has the syn cable, steel is fine for the trailer.

[Flyin6]

I like the idea of a coated bumper, need a good base though. Epoxy primer?

Heard good things abou tthe X Bull winches, but I agree I think only a few companies make em and they are branded from there.

I got a HF on the Sub, works great so far. I got a Vevor for the trailer, but may save that for another use since it has the syn cable, steel is fine for the trailer.

Like you, I seem to have extra winches sitting around. I have a 10K Superwinch which has been collecting dust for nearly 10 years. I was thinking of mounting it in the dump trailer to allow me to winch stuff up on it, but then I thought I'd buy another utility trailer and bolt the winch onto that...

It's there if I need it, I guess.

[JR]

Funny, I have like 3 of the little 2500# units, served me, 1-2 still new.

I have a superwinch (syn) 4500# I was going to put in a Samurai build and an off brand 5k here too. That is probably going in the sons Sonoma (3k truck) with syn line I have laying around.

The HF 12k just pulled the Sub back onto the flatbed with no issues but we had to rewind the line. I have kept a small solar panel on both the Sub and the trailer and neither battery has let me down yet.