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Hacked my front bumper. Non-winch to winch. PICS!

Lucas

Lucas

NAXJA Forum User
Location
ZOO YORK CITY
I had a good price on BPI, but got the non-winch version thinking I'd never get a winch. Then someone gave me a Warn :laugh3: ! Instead of buying a new bumper, I just hacked into my old one. It only extends a few inches further than before, and a lot less than an aftermarket winch bumper. Lemme know what you guys think.

Before:
091.jpg


After a Saturday's worth of work:
bumperright.jpg

bumperfront.jpg

bumperleft.jpg


I cut out a shelf and welded in the plate from a multimount kit after the trailer reciever portion was blasted off. 3/16 sidewalls were welded in, and the entire shellf is braced underneath with 1/4 inch angle that runs from mounting bracket to mounting bracket. There is also 3/16 inch braces spanning the top and bottom halves of the shell. All in all it added about 40lbs of steel and is noticeably stiffer. I wanted to post pics of my welds (i think they came out great) but my crappy digicam won't focus in this light.
 
Last edited:
Oh, and could someone please tell me whats up with my wheels? They look like they have lots of camber. Is that normal?
 
Lucas said:
Oh, and could someone please tell me whats up with my wheels? They look like they have lots of camber. Is that normal?
Click to expand...


Possibly just too much toe-out, or maybe loose lower ball joint(s). Too much caster could do it, but you'd notice that your pinion angle would be way low.
 
I just checked my toe and from underneath the jeep the measuring tape says they're dead even, though by eye it looks like they're toed out. Caster is within spec and the pinion angle is fine. weird.
 
Thanks. Halfway into it I was more worried about getting it done right than making it look nice, but i think it came out pretty well.
 
two things: one I don't know much about that bumper but going from non-winch to winch u may need to beef up the mounting points. and two that fairlead looks a little low u may need to raise it up so you not chewing threw it or you rope/cable/fairlead
 
About the front axle, are you talking it looks weird in the picture or in person? Cause in the picture its just a result of the perspective. Since you had the camera tilted down stuff on the bottom is stretched out a bit and stuff at the top is compressed.
 
Spanky414 said:
About the front axle, are you talking it looks weird in the picture or in person? Cause in the picture its just a result of the perspective. Since you had the camera tilted down stuff on the bottom is stretched out a bit and stuff at the top is compressed.
Click to expand...

After looking closer at the pic, I agree with Spanky414.
 
Lucas said:
I had a good price on BPI, but got the non-winch version thinking I'd never get a winch. Then someone gave me a Warn :laugh3: ! Instead of buying a new bumper, I just hacked into my old one. It only extends a few inches further than before, and a lot less than an aftermarket winch bumper. Lemme know what you guys think.

Before:
091.jpg


After a Saturday's worth of work:
bumperright.jpg

bumperfront.jpg

bumperleft.jpg


I cut out a shelf and welded in the plate from a multimount kit after the trailer reciever portion was blasted off. 3/16 sidewalls were welded in, and the entire shellf is braced underneath with 1/4 inch angle that runs from mounting bracket to mounting bracket. There is also 3/16 inch braces spanning the top and bottom halves of the shell. All in all it added about 40lbs of steel and is noticeably stiffer. I wanted to post pics of my welds (i think they came out great) but my crappy digicam won't focus in this light.
Click to expand...

Very nice! I'll probably end up doing something very similar to my BPI when i get ready to cut the ends off (looks kinda lame with no fender flares)

As for the mounting... if Im correct the BPI's use teh same mounting technique on both the winch and non winch versions. Uses the six stock holes and then adds a nut strip in each rail with 2 big ass bolts going through the unibody. Shouldnt have ANY issue taking a hell of a tug from that winch.
 
The fairled hangs as low as any other winch bumper, but overall extension past the grill is much much shallower, and the approach angle is still better than most aftermarket winch bumpers. I was going to go synthetic, but the budget is shrinking so I'm throwing a steel hawse on and just running cable.

As for the housing, it looks straight, and all the angles seem straight when I take an angle finder to the axle tubes. What else can I measure to check for housing/inner knuckle alignment?
 
Lucas said:
The fairled hangs as low as any other winch bumper, but overall extension past the grill is much much shallower, and the approach angle is still better than most aftermarket winch bumpers. I was going to go synthetic, but the budget is shrinking so I'm throwing a steel hawse on and just running cable.

As for the housing, it looks straight, and all the angles seem straight when I take an angle finder to the axle tubes. What else can I measure to check for housing/inner knuckle alignment?
Click to expand...
I'd like to know the same thing,my axle looks bent also.
 
YELLAHEEP said:
Possibly just too much toe-out, or maybe loose lower ball joint(s). Too much caster could do it, but you'd notice that your pinion angle would be way low.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

Show us a picture of your pinion angle.
 
Ill get the pic up. These are brand new balljoits with about 100 miles on them. Note, the lower balljoint didn't need to be pressed into the inner C. It slid right in.
 
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