Hidden Winch Project

[Dannyboy]

Last weekend I decided to break down my Warn M8000 winch that I had on my 94.

this thing weighed probably close to 50 lbs, but a lot of that weight and mounting depth was from the 2" receiver slide in mount that I designed my old front bumper around.

I rebuilt this winch last year with new solenoids and a motor so it's fresh and good to go. The cable was in bad shape so I pulled that off the spool. I stripped it off the receiver mounting block and then removed the box that has all the electronic controls to find that this winch is only about 20 lbs without a cable and fairlead. Mounting depth is less than 6" as is height.

I figure I can sacrifice putting 30 pounds or so on my front bumper without that having negative effect of my truck running in the whoops in exchange for the benefits of a winch.


So here is my plan

Mount this winch behind my grill by fabricating a mount between my frame rails.
Purchase synthetic winch rope (lighter, easier fairlead to work into my design)
Mount fairlead in one of two positions (shown below)
mount electrical plug in under hood
Hard-wire 2 switches into cab 1) toggle for in/out 2) on/off (basically a break in the line) safety switch. My hand controller has seen better days so I will probably just chop that apart to bring the controls into the cabin.


Which position should I try to mount my fairlead? Up high might be a little bit of a challenge for clearing my lights, I think a few tabs welded to the bumper should do the trip. Down low might put a put some premature wear on the rope unless I reel this thing in all the way, my front bumper has pushed down some hills while trying to find some jumps.

Any opinions/good places to buy the rope? I know BKennedy and Iz are running that stuff.


Any opinions of mounting the winch? I was thinking I could bolt it all in with some angle iron on the frame rails and a mounting plate across for a no-weld idea. If I went with the lower mount, I may look at welding the mounting plate at an angle pointing downward to make the "engage/disengage" lever easier to access through the grill.

I'd be curious to see how Matt (Rockranger) has this setup mounted behind his grill.

 

[FROADER]

I'd be curious to see how Matt (Rockranger) has this setup mounted behind his grill.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1513902&postcount=568

 

[Dannyboy]

Oh I found it, his winch is wider than mine therefore it is mounted above his framerails. On page 32 of RockRangerII The Buildup I found the necessary info.
It is part of his bolt on bumper. I'm thinking there is no reason why mine can't go between the framerails. Tonight's project is to pop the grill the rest of the way off and eye that up, maybe even do the flat black inner grill paint job like Boomer12.

 

[Dannyboy]

found my fairlead

 

[RockRanger]

If you need any more pictures let me know. I will be home on Saturday and can snap a few pictures. I have used it to make a few pulls and works okay. One of these days I will add a few more contact points to hold it to the frame better.

 

[RangerX]

Which position should I try to mount my fairlead? Up high might be a little bit of a challenge for clearing my lights, I think a few tabs welded to the bumper should do the trip. easier to access through the grill.

I vote for the high position. Move your lights out a inch if you need to.

 

[Dannyboy]

yeah, top it is, I snapped a few pics. Any reason I can't weld some tabs onto the top of my front bumper and mount the fairlead to that?

I butchered my grill pulling it out cause it was some cheap jap crap and Joe told me that it would probably fall apart if I ever disassembled it. I'm not sure if I will be able to salvage it

Here's a couple pics, No room really to move the lights outbound and this is a life size replica of a fairlead. being that my truck is a 91 with a 2nd gen conversion I always thought that the bumper was a little low but I am not going to make changes to gain an inch or two, I think this will all fall into place perfect.

 

[Evil Eye]

Let's do it, man! I have the dremel waiting to go...

 

[Dannyboy]

If my tranny cooler wasn't 3 inches thick I wouldn't need to touch the grill at all.

 

[RockRanger]

Let's do it, man! I have the dremel waiting to go...

who needs a dremel. I trimmed mine with a cutting wheel on a 4.5" cutting wheel.

Maybe this will help with light mounting?

http://www.atozfabrication.com/catalog/jockymountduallightmountforwinchplate-p-126.html

 

[Stic-o]

mine is pushed back under a little too..

Let me know if you need a regular fairlead, I have one kicking around the garage I'll give you!

 

[section525]

Stic.. where did you get the synthetic from?

 

[section525]

Last weekend I decided to break down my Warn M8000 winch that I had on my 94.

I'll be working on mine soon too (within two years : ). The huge ass crossmember I installed will definitely hinder mounting it between the frame rails. So I'll be watching your creative juices oooze. :

 

[Dannyboy]

Okay well, I'm appreciating the feeback.

Here's where I'm at. I realized that I'm going to need the bumper off to line anything up so I unbolted that (12 bolts hold that sucker on, no wonder why it's so stout). Not sure how clearance is going to work but I'm curious about something. Any reason I can't mount this thing by turning it 1/4 turn forward and welding up my mounting plate vertically on the frame rails vs. horizontally? I guess sheer strength could be an issue since all pulls would be pulling directlyagainst the bolts.

I don't have as much frame exposed as I thought therefore my plan is to either

1) mount the winch with lever facing front (like stic-o's pic but the release would be pointing towards the front of the truck).

2) work on building the winch supports to the top of the bumper. I would likely bolt this on by removing the skid plate. a winch mounting plate would be built level above this frameworks (my bumper is identical to this minus the center bar, note Autofab welds on new framehorns for 4 bolts per side plus 2 more at the bottom of the frame)

Steve, I like your cutout idea for the lever, I got the room behind the grill and I need to make it fit back there because I'm a little tighter squeeze than your bumper. cutting out that entire lower valence will be the last ditch effort.

 

[Stic-o]

Stic.. where did you get the synthetic from?

I didn't It's just regular steel cable, it was just new and unused in that pic



Danny, I thought you'd like that I just notched it out with the grinder. It's much easier to pull the grill and get it all mounted, then make the grill fit

 

[Dannyboy]

couple more pics in the daylight.

If my tranny cooler wasn't so dang big it would be much easier.

Also that piece my grill bolts to is all fiberglass, and not in very good shape either. I'm going to have to get crafty to get it back together or my truck will be looking like IZwacks.


I think what I'm going to do is make a cardboard box the size of the winch and size that up, it's really the only option I have to see how it would fit. I can duct tape that into place then realaign the bumper and see if this will even fit.

 

[410Fortune]

now that is a trans cooler

can you re-locate it up a bit?

 

[IZwack]

Any reason I can't mount this thing by turning it 1/4 turn forward and welding up my mounting plate vertically on the frame rails vs. horizontally? I guess sheer strength could be an issue since all pulls would be pulling directlyagainst the bolts.

Yeah I wouldnt run it like that -- my winch bolts to a horizontal 1/4" base plate and the area around one of the rear mounting bolt has bent up slightly from winching. Its not just straight line pulling forces we have to worry about, but also rotational/twisting because the roll of rope is X number of inches up from its base.

I'm going to have to get crafty to get it back together or my truck will be looking like IZwacks.

Hey my front didnt look THAAAT bad : -- just needed some Turtle Wax and it would have been back stock!

 

[Dannyboy]

Okay tonight I came home and made a cardboard replica that I could duct tape to the front of the truck. Lining up the bumper was a pain in itself.

As Jamie asked, can I move the trans cooler up the answer is yes, should I ? Not sure yet. The winch WILL NOT fit under the trans cooler, don't know why I ever thought it would, but it will clear everything in front of the trans cooler. This leaves minimal frame to build a winch plate and everything needs to be fabricated to my existing bumper.

The engage lever will be a little higher and further back than where stico has his winch. I will be accessable through the grill (I can already imagine what a pain in the ass that will be)_Suprisingly everything should just squeeze right into place. Yup, just like that.

 

[EMG7895]

check out 12voltguy on pirate for some nice winch control panels.