Axleboy Custom Jeep Gladiator: Factor 55 Flatlink and Rope Guard

So we're here at Axleboy Offroad. We've got our 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S, and the S in this case is stock. It's bone stock, but we've been receiving a lot of the new components for the modifications from the suppliers that are helping us out with this build.

Next, we want to talk about, as far as unboxing, tell me about this Factor 55.

So Factor 55 is high quality recovery components. They specialize in, instead of having that open hook on the end of your winch cable, we're going to work with the Factor 55 flat link here, which is a closed winching system. Now what that means ...

Oh cool, it's orange.

Yeah, yeah. They had a limited edition run of orange, so I thought we needed it. With a closed winching system, we don't have an open hook. It's completely wrapped around, and then we stick a normal shackle in here, and then we attach it to whatever our tree saver or whatever we're going to winch to.

Our synthetic rope attaches here on this pen, and it just gives us a really nice build aluminum piece. It's completely closed. The stress is shared on both sides, so we can't just rip a hook off or rip it open, not to mention, they look amazing.

Now with this, we always get the rope guard. Most people don't really understand what that's about. The rope guard actually has to do with this. So we're using a synthetic rope, and when you're thinking of synthetic ropes, think of a braided rope that you would use on a sailboat, that kind of thing. So it's in here. Now if we were to come up to the front into a rock and hit, there's a possibility we could catch that rope and damage it, and that's the one downside to synthetic rope. It's safer, but it's easier to damage on sharp rocks.

When we put our rope guard on, it's actually going to go on here, and we can hit that and it'll spread the load out and the rope will never be touched. So when it's in its stored position, it keeps the rope from being damaged on sharp obstacles.

They also added in a fairlead, so they have a really nice aluminum fairlead. Now this is the piece that the synthetic rope is going to ride on. If you take a notice, it's super smooth, nothing's going to get damaged in there. As far as the rope rubbing on ...

No, no. Everything's build aluminum. Aluminum is really the way to go on all of these different components that we're doing to keep the weight down as much as we can. Again, Factor 55, they specialize in the closed winching system, and they do a lot of testing. So a lot of companies just stamp whatever they want on the end of the hook and maybe they tested it and maybe they didn't. Factor 55 tests this stuff on a regular basis. They try it in extreme situations, they try to see what it's going to take the break it, and then you can go online and you can actually watch the videos and see the results of the test. So this is seriously good stuff. Made in the USA, that's our favorite part. Second to none. So, definitely.

Terrific. Well, thanks to Factor 55. If you want to learn more, you can go to factor55, factor55.com. Of course, visit us at axleboy.com.