The Silver Fox LJ Build

Got very little done today. Mostly just looking at things and thinking about them. PCM is mounted higher and closer to the firewall. Missing in this pic. Forgot to take one, but I used nutserts

View attachment 651375

ARB Compressor mounted. Fits in the space perfect. Glad I put it here. Now to focus on the working. It’s a mess. I look at it and my brain scrambles. Going to watch BFH video and read the install manual and then get to plotting next moves. View attachment 651376

Halfway done!!! in honor of @jjvw.

Surprised you haven't removed the flood lights yet after you hated them on my rig.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: lBasket and JMT
Surprised you haven't removed the flood lights yet after you hated them on my rig.
That’s extreme. They are a level of complexity I didn’t need because I don’t wheel at night. In this case the cowl was already notched for the wires. I filed the notches to make them more uniform and then repainted the cowl. I like them just fine. I just don’t have much use for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wildman and lBasket
That’s extreme. They are a level of complexity I didn’t need because I don’t wheel at night. In this case the cowl was already notched for the wires. I filed the notches to make them more uniform and then repainted the cowl. I like them just fine. I just don’t have much use for them.

You might have to try some night wheeling at some point... It can be FUN...
 
Unless you are with Victor ( @gasiorv ). Then it's terrifying...

😉

It usually results in lessons learned, somehow making it back to camp, and someone holding a flashlight while we work on getting something fixed for the next day. It is some things, but not always terrifying.🤠
 
So my crying was not warranted?

1761507559270.gif
 
That’s extreme. They are a level of complexity I didn’t need because I don’t wheel at night. In this case the cowl was already notched for the wires. I filed the notches to make them more uniform and then repainted the cowl. I like them just fine. I just don’t have much use for them.

Extreme...

I easily recall our conversation of you disliking the look and your comments made me chuckle.

Our discussion took place after these posts were made :)

Screenshot 2025-10-26 at 00.09.40.png



Screenshot 2025-10-26 at 00.09.16.png


Hopefully things are clear now.
 
So my crying was not warranted?

Only if you were crying because we had to stop and go back to camp when there was more wheeling that could have been done :)

BTW, Golden MTN weekend of Nov 7 if you are interested. You are close enough you can easily make a day trip that Sat or grab a place and stay for the night wheeling. ;)
 
Happy with today’s progress. Cleaned up all the wiring to the ARB compressor. Super happy. Mike’s @hosejockey61 video on the ARB compressor on BFM is really good. He shows you all the adjustability of these units and makes a good product recommendation.

The battery bracket assembly has been the biggest issue. I really dislike the way GR sends you some carriage bolts and lock nuts to bolt the battery tray to the battery bracket. You have to crawl underneath the rig to remove the nuts, and even with the battery on top of the carriage bolts the lock nuts reach a point they don’t want to come off.

Thanks to @Lou and @jjvw for suggesting I move the PCM up higher and closer to the firewall. It created some space downstream that will make things easier. I still couldn’t find a route under or through the battery bracket for the PCM plug on the outboard side that gave me any advantage and still could plug in, but everything is kosher at this point. I replaced the dumb carriage bolt system with some nutserts and will get the battery installed soon. Next I will start on the new battery and winch cables.

Before
IMG_7637.jpeg

After
IMG_7641.jpeg

IMG_7639.jpeg
IMG_7640.jpeg

Halfway done!
 
Happy with today’s progress. Cleaned up all the wiring to the ARB compressor. Super happy. Mike’s @hosejockey61 video on the ARB compressor on BFM is really good. He shows you all the adjustability of these units and makes a good product recommendation.

The battery bracket assembly has been the biggest issue. I really dislike the way GR sends you some carriage bolts and lock nuts to bolt the battery tray to the battery bracket. You have to crawl underneath the rig to remove the nuts, and even with the battery on top of the carriage bolts the lock nuts reach a point they don’t want to come off.

Thanks to @Lou and @jjvw for suggesting I move the PCM up higher and closer to the firewall. It created some space downstream that will make things easier. I still couldn’t find a route under or through the battery bracket for the PCM plug on the outboard side that gave me any advantage and still could plug in, but everything is kosher at this point. I replaced the dumb carriage bolt system with some nutserts and will get the battery installed soon. Next I will start on the new battery and winch cables.

BeforeView attachment 651539
AfterView attachment 651540
View attachment 651541View attachment 651542
Halfway done!

Now that you moved the PCM, look closely at the battery tray Blaine built with the extra bracing to keep it from tearing off of the firewall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
...

The battery bracket assembly has been the biggest issue. I really dislike the way GR sends you some carriage bolts and lock nuts to bolt the battery tray to the battery bracket. You have to crawl underneath the rig to remove the nuts, and even with the battery on top of the carriage bolts the lock nuts reach a point they don’t want to come off.

...

I run that battery tray, and it is definitely a pain installing and removing it because if the position of those nuts. After getting it lined up, I welded nuts to the underside of the tray brackets, and use hex bolts from the top. Now it's a piece of cake.

I may have missed it, but did you put those nutserts in there for that reason?
 
I run that battery tray, and it is definitely a pain installing and removing it because if the position of those nuts. After getting it lined up, I welded nuts to the underside of the tray brackets, and use hex bolts from the top. Now it's a piece of cake.

I may have missed it, but did you put those nutserts in there for that reason?
One of the reasons they use the carriage bolts is to prevent the taller head of a normal hex head version from wearing through the bottom of the battery case.
I prefer to countersink and use flat head fasteners to hold the battery box down to the support. I've also made spacer plates that are the height of the bolt heads with holes where each head is to do the same. The plate is the same size as the bottom of the battery.
 
I may have missed it, but did you put those nutserts in there for that reason?

Yeah, I mentioned in a post above how much of a PITA the carriage bolt and locking nut system was, so the nutserts were a way to make it easier to remove. I got a Phillips carriage bolt for the bolt. Maybe I should do more like Blaine described to keep the bolt heads off the battery. I could still countersink a little bit in the battery tray.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wildman
I got a Phillips carriage bolt for the bolt.
That fastener does not exist. A carriage bolt by definition is prevented from turning via the square shoulder under the domed head that registers in a square hole and is a single side accessible fastener where only the nut is able to be turned. Phillips is a recess in a fastener head which would never happen to a carriage bolt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Apparition and JMT
That fastener does not exist. A carriage bolt by definition is prevented from turning via the square shoulder under the domed head that registers in a square hole and is a single side accessible fastener where only the nut is able to be turned. Phillips is a recess in a fastener head which would never happen to a carriage bolt.

Gotcha. I don’t know what the fastener is called. Has a head similar to a carriage bolt in shape and depth. I’ll add a pic in a minute to this post.

Edit: I guess it’s just a shallow wide head Phillips! 🤣
IMG_7650.jpeg
 
Last edited:
That fastener does not exist. A carriage bolt by definition is prevented from turning via the square shoulder under the domed head that registers in a square hole and is a single side accessible fastener where only the nut is able to be turned. Phillips is a recess in a fastener head which would never happen to a carriage bolt.

This is something I had never thought about. You are correct, the Phillips and the carriage portion would be at odds.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrblaine
Gotcha. I don’t know what the fastener is called. Has a head similar to a carriage bolt in shape and depth. I’ll add a pic in a minute to this post.
Button head, but those are more commonly found as a Torx or Allen drive. If it is a Phillips drive in something resembling a carriage style head, then it is probably a Phillips truss head.

1761578822618.png

If it has a blended washer shape, then it is a modified truss head. We mostly see those on self tapping and self drill sheet metal screws but a version of them does exist with machine threads. The screws that go into the nutserts in the tub floor that hold down the back of the center console are modified truss head Torx under another name.

1761578966351.png

They call those button flange or flange button head.

1761579306786.png