home brewed winch bumper questions

how did you guys attach the winchplate? how beefy is the winch plate?

by melting metal

very beefy

I havent built mine yet.. but I am looking at buying the plate and mount system from Ridgeco. its only $80, bolts together, then build a bumper around it...

XJEEPER said:

by melting metal

Click to expand...

LOL OK, you got me there . How about a few details on the design ?

Look at the Rigid Co set up if you want to build your own bumper. By far his mounting system is one of the best out there. it literally ties both"frame" rails in together, and doubles as a steering box brace.




Patrick

I might put a suggestion forward here as alot is at stake. If you don't have the knowledge of how strong the bumper needs to be, then stay away from building one yourself from scratch. However, Rigids system as they say is very good, you can then build around it. I would stay away from building the mount yourself as there is a lot of pressure from different angles being applied.
Just my two cents.

Simon

Mine is way overkill - but it is 1/2" thick 6" tall steel plate that was bend to wrap around the front of the frame rails and tie into as many of the OEM holes as possible - I also added some strap underneath and tied it onto the hood halo and tube fenders...

I think a 1/4" to 3/8" frame with some gussets would do quite nicely - 3/16 would work fine too as long as you have load dispersing ability in the mounting for the winch...

Basically you are trying to tie the front rails together and make up for the fact that the are currently being located as much by the motor as by the front crossmember... Build smart and think of how the pull force will make its way back to the unibody and suspension mounts - it's not rocket science just common sense...

For a test you can dead drag the jeep in park or with someone on the brakes - if the mount is good and solid you'll know...

Matt

I used 8" channel to fab my bumper. I partially slit the channel in four places and bent the channel and then rewelded it. That gave the contour. The most time consuming was the brackets that mount to the frame and then the bumper. I used 3/4" plate. This design recesses the winch into the bumper. I got really tired of banging the front bumper into rocks at Moab when approaching a ledge or bank. The cost was about $50 at the highly inflated steel prices at the time.

Cool, thanks guys.
At this point I have 1/2" brackets going back along the frame rail using all the stock holes that the stock towhook brackets use, and stickign out a fair ways out.
For the winchplate itself I will be using 1/4" steel and I will set it in between the two brackets. The plate will be actually more of a complete tray that will be bent up and welded to the brackets. Now I just gotta go and pickup some steel again.

Danno-
Did you have to notch the engine crossmember to do that? Any pics of the winch mount and/or the bumper not mounted. I'm wanting to do my bumper like this as well and use a Ramsey REP8.5e tucked up and under like yours. What winch are you running?

If you go to Rigidco.com he sells the mounting system for under 100 bucks. His mounting system ties both frame rails together by way of 1/4 radiator suppost brasket. It also uses plates to box the end. Everything comes predrilled and ready to install. It also doubles as a steering box brace.



Patrick

Danno said:

I used 8" channel to fab my bumper. I partially slit the channel in four places and bent the channel and then rewelded it. That gave the contour. The most time consuming was the brackets that mount to the frame and then the bumper. I used 3/4" plate. This design recesses the winch into the bumper. I got really tired of banging the front bumper into rocks at Moab when approaching a ledge or bank. The cost was about $50 at the highly inflated steel prices at the time.

Click to expand...

Could you post some more pics? Maybe of the underside where the winch is? I really like your design and have the same concerns about approach angle.

Thanks,
Jay