Brush Guards, Winches, and Mounts.

[Bronco89]

Ok, so I've been doing my online research of the parts i want to put on my truck, and heres links for your guys' reference:

The Winch is the Summit 8k lbs that i read good things about in threads i searched.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-931800/

The brush guard is the Westin 40 series.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WSA-40-0105/

And the channel mount i want to use is the summit brand one also:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-932002/

The point to this thread is, Im trying to figure out how these all work together. I know the brush guard connects to the frame, but the mount is supposed to also. And i know the winch goes inside the channel of the mount. But how do i attache the mount to the brushguard, I figure i can just weld it, but there has to be a right way and a wrong way of doing this. So if someone has a similar setup, and can post a couple pics, i would be greatly appreciative.

 

[Torqueranger]

Ok, so I've been doing my online research of the parts i want to put on my truck, and heres links for your guys' reference:

The Winch is the Summit 8k lbs that i read good things about in threads i searched.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-931800/

The brush guard is the Westin 40 series.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WSA-40-0105/

And the channel mount i want to use is the summit brand one also:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-932002/

The point to this thread is, Im trying to figure out how these all work together. I know the brush guard connects to the frame, but the mount is supposed to also. And i know the winch goes inside the channel of the mount. But how do i attache the mount to the brushguard, I figure i can just weld it, but there has to be a right way and a wrong way of doing this. So if someone has a similar setup, and can post a couple pics, i would be greatly appreciative.

Well the brush guard is not strong enough to use as a winch mount setup... If you like the brush guard then I would use a front trailer hitch and mount your winch onto that and then just install the brush guard..

 

[FIND]

OP, you might call summit, but I believe you can bolt them on together. I think the brush guard mounts to the outside and won't interfere with the mount, but I may be mistaken.

:edit: Nevermind, I may be mistaken after looking at how a Westin Brush Guard mounts for an Explorer.

Well the brush guard is not strong enough to use as a winch mount setup... If you like the brush guard then I would use a front trailer hitch and mount your winch onto that and then just install the brush guard..

The channel mount is what the winch bolts to, not the brushguard.

 

[Torqueranger]

OP, you might call summit, but I believe you can bolt them on together. I think the brush guard mounts to the outside and won't interfere with the mount, but I may be mistaken.

:edit: Nevermind, I may be mistaken after looking at how a Westin Brush Guard mounts for an Explorer.



The channel mount is what the winch bolts to, not the brushguard.

Sorry I didn't explain enough but I know that the winch mounts to the winch mounting plate and then welded or bolted to the brush guard ...But I don't trust the strength of the brush guard as far as a mounting point for the winch mounting plate or winch... It might be ok for straight line pulls but for side pulls or anything else not center ,I could see that brush guard failing because of it...

 

[FIND]

Sorry I didn't explain enough but I know that the winch mounts to the winch mounting plate and then welded or bolted to the brush guard ...But I don't trust the strength of the brush guard as far as a mounting point for the winch mounting plate or winch... It might be ok for straight line pulls but for side pulls or anything else not center ,I could see that brush guard failing because of it...

No, the channel mount is bolted or welded to the frame, not the brush guard.

Normally one would use that type of thing to bolt up a winch behind their bumper, but his concern is whether or not the placement of the brush guard will interfere with locating the channel mount.

IMHO, OP might be better off just going to a welding shop or a metal working place and having a mount made. Not likely that it would be much more expensive than that channel mount, plus, it would be made for the vehicle, whereas that is a universal fitment type of piece.

 

[Torqueranger]

No, the channel mount is bolted or welded to the frame, not the brush guard.

Normally one would use that type of thing to bolt up a winch behind their bumper, but his concern is whether or not the placement of the brush guard will interfere with locating the channel mount.

IMHO, OP might be better off just going to a welding shop or a metal working place and having a mount made. Not likely that it would be much more expensive than that channel mount, plus, it would be made for the vehicle, whereas that is a universal fitment type of piece.

Ok but I was answering the questions in the original post which is quoted below for clarification..

And i know the winch goes inside the channel of the mount. But how do i attache the mount to the brushguard, I figure i can just weld it, .

 

[corkey]

like this ??

 

[corkey]

or this ??

 

[FIND]

Ok but I was answering the questions in the original post which is quoted below for clarification..

Ok, I hadn't read it like that at first for whatever reason. In that case, you need to add struts back to the frame like the two pictures corkey posted. But, IMHO, I don't know why someone would want to attach a winch in front of a push guard. Kinda defeats the purpose of the push guard huh?

 

[Bronco89]

I want to thank you FIND and TorqueRanger, for the explanations, and Corkey, I like the look of the second pic you posted with it on the Ranger. Thats the look I want to go for. And FIND, can you explain what you mean by attache struts to go back to the frame. Im trying to put this all together in a mental picture. If it comes down to having to fab something up, thats not too hard, ive got friends that are welders and friends that work in a machine shop from my Mustang club.

And I have to say, the more I read this forum, the more parts I want, the more parts im buying, and so much for a "low budget build". But on the same token, I have to say im pretty excited about having 3k dollars worth of parts sitting in the garage for when i get home.

 

[FIND]

I mean making brackets to attach it to the frame while still being able to mount it in front of the bumper. The push guard itself isn't going to be as strong at that point, since it is attached further down, so if you add brackets to attach at that level as well, you strengthen your mounting point.