winch mounting plate

i am going to build a mount for a winch ,i am planning on welding it to the underside of the uniframe rails and bring it out 6 in than mt the bumper to that i was wondering how thick a piece of steel i should be looking at ?

i just got a piece of 3/16 plate will that be ok

It depends on the design. If you are really planning on just welding flat plate to the underside of the unibody, be prepared for some catastrophic damage. Most quality mounting systems use at least 8 holes on the vertical portion of the unibody.

-Jon

Kaczman said:

It depends on the design. If you are really planning on just welding flat plate to the underside of the unibody, be prepared for some catastrophic damage. Most quality mounting systems use at least 8 holes on the vertical portion of the unibody.

-Jon

Click to expand...

X2

don't weld to the frame rails. and tie it in to the outer sides of the rails as well.

i was planning on welding it to the front of the frame rails whare they flatten out on the bottom about 5 inches

maineiac said:

i was planning on welding it to the front of the frame rails whare they flatten out on the bottom about 5 inches

Click to expand...

Don't weld to the bulk head, it'll rip right out if it's all you attach the winch to.

ok i was under thare studying it today it looks like i will be able to bolt it up through the bottom uniframe rails and also weld it than i think i can weld an upright piece on to the plate and attach it to the stock bumper bracket will this work ? i figure if it pulls it apart i can always bolt all the stuff i have onto another 400 doller xj :laugh3: , but it would be the second time i did this :wierd:

i actually like the idea of putting a winch between the framerails behind the bulkhead and using the stock bumper. I've seen only 1 picture of an XJ with this, and it looked sweet. That being said, i wouldnt skimp on anything. 3/16" is good, 1/4" would be better. Also, like you were saying, weld an upright piece that fits alone the outer framerails on each side. You can easily use like 8 mounting holes per side. There is one through frame hole towards the middle of the wheel well, right in front of the coil spring. Then you can use the steering box bolts, and thus your plate will also act as a steering box reinforcement. Due this on both sides. Then, you can probably rig up some L-shaped braces to fit up on the inside of the framerails on the bulk head, that bolt through the bumper mounting brackets and tie back into your upright mounting plate along the side of the frame rails. Most of this i got from the design of the mounting system for Rigidco's front winch bumpers. I installed one a few weeks ago on my 99, and it uses about 25 mounting locations. To further strengthen it, you could put a bulkhead reinforcement plate (like rigid) out of 3/16" and weld your winch plate to that. Either way, call up terry at rigidco, or look at their website to see their mounting system, it'll give you some good ideas. Good luck, and if you do it, take some pics, i want to see it.

better to be safe then sorry, weld a plate on the side so you can tie it in further back on the frame rails as well.

Check out Detour's new bumper, it's alot like what you're talking about. :sunshine: