How to: RLC winch mount bumper install (PIC heavy)

[sporttracinva]

I figured it was about time to get rid of that eye-sore of a front bumper on the ST. Let me first say that it was a pleasure dealing with James at RLC welding and fabrication. He is willing to go the extra mile and make whatever you want and he was very knowledgable. He made my bumper with mounting for the 3" body lift I have and also had holes for a stock/no body lift application. The 450$ price tag of his custom bumpers is great with shipping already included. ST owners pretty much have 2 options, go with a ranger style bumper or go with the older explorer style bumper. I opted for the ranger style because James convinced me that the sides were a bit longer which would look better and offer more protection than the explorer model. Both styles had mounting hardware included and offer winch mounting. He was willing to add hoops and light guards or pre-drill some fog light openings if you need but i didn't opt for any of that stuff.

First step was to remove the stock bumper.
Then cut and grind off the outside horns on the front frame rails. I am sure I could have cut the entire frame horns off completely but I wanted to keep the inside horns in tact and will eventually use those to mount a front skid plate. Not to mention, if I ever decide to take this bumper off I could throw a stock bumper back on using the two inside frame rail horns.

Make sure you have enough room to slide the mounting bracket inside the frame rail and mark and drill the holes to mount the bumper.

At this point I did a few test fitments and measured where to cut my stock bumper because as you know the ST has a bumper that incorporates the grill.
I measured about 4" from the top of the bumper where it meets the fenders on the sides and also 4" from the top of the bumper in front where it meets the headlights.

At this point I just sprayed about 3 coats of some rattle can semi-gloss black paint. Now crack a good brewski and wait for the paint to dry.

After painting its time to mount it up and enjoy. Some of the pics are kinda dark and shadowy, it was about to rain and got dark. I will snap some more pics of the bumper when my winch comes.

 

[01STrunner]

Nice man! Not many ST's on here with custom bumpers.

 

[OffTrac]

Sweet. I think these bumpers will begin to take off considering their quality, great price and James' ease of working with. I hope to get a rear one from him in the future.

Which winch will you get?

I'd recommend a skid plate to protect the radiator and lines. I don't have a picture of my RCI plate installed since putting the bumper on but it makes a good match. I'll try to get one soon.

 

[01STrunner]

Did you get the Ranger or Ex bumper? I can't remember

 

[OffTrac]

Did you get the Ranger or Ex bumper? I can't remember

Explorer

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Looks great, James does awesome work. You might want to trim about a 1/4" off the bumper cover to give the space for body/ frame flex or the bumper will shove up into the cover.

I highly modified an ARB winch bumper for a '95 Land Rover Discoverer to fit mine and fabricated mounting brackets to bring it up to match the body lift.

 

[OffTrac]

Gonna have to trim into the area below the grill to fit the winch. No biggie.

 

[JuBean]

Looks like it was meant to be there! Very well done!

 

[Explorin'VA]

Looks really good on that front end style. Rlc bumpers are awesome. I have the rear bumper with swing out tire carrier but I'm saving up for one of these sweet front winch bumpers.

 

[Sirdrofmaster]

Would the bracing be stronger or weaker if you drilled all the way through that channel and used longer bolts to sandwich between the frame?

so instead of that smaller piece being inside the frame it is on the outside.

I have the same bumper and having issues getting that smaller bracket to stay flat up against the frame to get the bolts started. My hands are too big and even my daughter can't get her hand in there to hold it.

thanks in advance

 

[sporttracinva]

Would the bracing be stronger or weaker if you drilled all the way through that channel and used longer bolts to sandwich between the frame?

so instead of that smaller piece being inside the frame it is on the outside.

I have the same bumper and having issues getting that smaller bracket to stay flat up against the frame to get the bolts started. My hands are too big and even my daughter can't get her hand in there to hold it.

thanks in advance

Im not sure if it would be stronger or not, it would just be more drilling on the frame which I wouldn't want to do. It is a PITA to get it all lined up and held in place but just take your time and maybe use a pair of long pliers to hold it in place or maybe get slightly longer bolts(1/2 or 1" longer) so its easier to get started further out.

I finally got around to snapping some pics of the HF badlands winch and it bolted up great and does the trick. I will upload pics later after work.

 

[Sirdrofmaster]

Im not sure if it would be stronger or not, it would just be more drilling on the frame which I wouldn't want to do. It is a PITA to get it all lined up and held in place but just take your time and maybe use a pair of long pliers to hold it in place or maybe get slightly longer bolts(1/2 or 1" longer) so its easier to get started further out.

I finally got around to snapping some pics of the HF badlands winch and it bolted up great and does the trick. I will upload pics later after work.

Nice looking forward to seeing it! I have a Tiger Shark winch coming in today!

Doug

 

[sporttracinva]

Here are some pics of the badlands 9k winch installed. I have owned a HF badlands winch before and its not the fastest but it does the job for what I need. Im still on the fence about incorporating a hoop or grill/headlight guards. I also need to make my front skid plate.....maybe aluminum? I mounted some hella lights I had laying around from an old rig. Cutting the grill to fit the winch wasn't too bad although I could have taken it a little easy chopping up the driver side (better air flow/cooling +10hp) . The winch drum makes it a little longer on the passenger side.

 

[Sirdrofmaster]

Looks really nice and clean! I am not sure if aluminum would be a good choice for skid plate though as wouldn't it be too soft? Your cutting of the fascia was spot on! I cut mine a little to high so I now have a gap that is not very nice looking
I have an idea to finish it off and will post my pictures here.

Looks really nice though!

How heavy is your winch? did you get much noticeable sag on your front end?


Doug

 

[Govna47]

After getting completely screwed by Tactical Armor Group for bumpers I contacted James from RLC. He was an absolute pleasure to deal with and answered all of my questions shortly after I would ask them. He's definitely going to be who I send friends to and who I'm going to be getting my rear bumper from. Had a buddy weld up the hoop and plasma cut me some ovals for recessed fog lights. Drilled myself some holes for the license plate because Jersey is silly and wants front plates. It's fully visible from 4 feet away, and in two weeks and countless cops passed, I haven't been stopped for plate display yet (only one crazy lady was yelling at herself saying something about Pennsylvania drivers and their no front plates until she looked and saw I was from Jersey) but that's a whole different story

 

[Turdle]

Here's mine with an added RCI skid plate. I had a local welder guy fab the light box and winch protection bar before I powdercoated it to match the dark red on my two toned mounty.