winch bumper

[xjndmud]

can someone post pics of their custom winch bumpers, Ghost and i are goin to build one, and are looking for ideas. measurements are great too!! i dont want anything too heavy cause i cant afford to lose any of the lift i currently have.

[Cresso]

At 90lbs withOUT the winch, this may be a bit much. It's definitely overkill, though. You could make something very similar that weighs a lot less. Let me know if you want more pics or info.

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/aaron/customxjbump/disk2/MVC-016S.JPG

[Beezil]

http://users.rcn.com/beezil/public/AUT_1203.JPG

http://users.rcn.com/beezil/public/AUT_1205.JPG

http://users.rcn.com/beezil/public/AUT_1406.JPG

http://users.rcn.com/beezil/public/Bumper1.JPG

http://users.rcn.com/beezil/public/Bumper2.JPG

http://users.rcn.com/beezil/public/Bumper12.JPG

[Dirk Funk]

Man Beezil, you could make so much money selling those prototype bumpers to all the NAXJA crowd. You don't still have the dimensions or "blueprints" do you? I bring my boot to all your neato tools...

[Beezil]

fact is, it would be extremely difficult to make money making bumpers.....

i did the math.

I could make more profit investing the same amount in money market at today's pathetic interest rate, over the duration I estimate the last bumper to sell......and I wouldn't have to endure all the pissy complaints ya hear on the forums these days.....

It was interesting going through the exercize during the prototype stage though....

all cnc programs were dumped a while ago.

[Ralph]

Here is a pic of my bumper. You can see more at this web page (http://home.swbell.net/rriojas3/bumper.html) .
RR3
http://home.swbell.net/rriojas3/DSCN0761.JPG

[Ghost]

Beezil do you have anything left on paper? Measurements etc. That is almost exactly what I want to build. What about thickness? Is that 3/16" or 1/4"? I guess its time to get out the tape measure and cardboard! Then go from there!

[Beezil]

Ghost.....

here's the thing.

you don't need dimensions from anyone else.....

because the jeep will tell you what the dimensions will be, and if its a winch bumper, the winch will tell you what it needs to be......

all you need to concern yourself with, is slapping a pair of plates on the sides of the framerails (leave room for a c-rok plate :) )
make this be 1/4" crs, the jeep will tell you which holes to use. When the 1/4 plates extend beyond the front of the grill, imagine a winch box going between these points. Make the winch box 3/16" crs.

You don't have many options here. The framerails "are what they are" and the winchbox must accomodate the winch, and the space it occupies, you must consider "minimal". You will have plenty of width to play with, that's not an issue. Without removing the front crossmember of the jeep, anything extending beyond 10" beyond the front of the grill is a waste of space and approach angle. anything beyond 6-7" below the bottom of the grill is a waste of space and approach angle (if I'm remembering these dimensions right, My jeep doesn't live at home) everything that happens on either side of the 1/4" plates is up to you, and the winchbox is your "maximum", and your corners are you "minimums".....if your bumper "skin" tapers off to the corners too quick, it won't have strength, if its too fat its a waste of space. I used 8ga. for my skin, and made a return flange under the winchbox so that the foreward two mounting holes (for a winch other than an 8274) has an 8ga. plus 3/16" "sandwhich" for ULTIMATE winch box strength.

So you see what I'm gettin' at, that the jeep and the winch, designs the bumper for you? About the only difference between aftermarket bumpers is small differences in shape materials and manufacturing methods, but the design process is basically the same....

start with the "knowns" and work outward and you'll see where you have room for asthetic concepts.

build a 1/2 scale model out of foamcore or cardboard, or even a fullscale model before you go to the real thing. you can work out most of the design challenges on throw-away materials.

[Ghost]

I think I got most of it but the 8ga 3/16 sandwich. It all makes since but that. I'm a visual kind of person. Do you have a picture of what you mean?

[roxj]

hey beezil do you have any of those bumpers left to sell

[Beezil]

hmmmmm.....

the sandwhich.....

no picture to help explain.....

as viewed from the side,

this: [ is the "skin" or the body of the bumper.

this: u is the winchbox.

[u

the winchbox is stuffed inside of the "skin" so that the underside of the main winch body is just underneath the bottom of the winch box. When you through-bolt the winch to the box, you are basically tightening the winchbox AND the bumper body together, even they are welded together anyway....

that means you have around .365" of metal under the front bolts of the winch

[Ghost]

Ok what about pictures of the winch box? I think I see what you are talking about. But from the pictures above I see mount tabs and the "skinn" but no winch box. You got a picture of that?

[Ted Z]

Bumper Design 101 : (Taught by :BJ McD)

Good write up B....

I'm letting my jeep and winch design mine on Autocad... In 3D no less ( my jeep and winch are pretty smart)

[BILLXJ]

xjndmud ,..If you like I can send you some of the diagrams that I have downloaded from here at the NAXJA forum if you send me a email.
wjones43@netzero.net
(..can't seem to paste anything or find a decent foto hosting outfit..)
BILLXJ