winch mount on a CRL Customs bumper

[JoshC]

Well, i started the assembly of my winch mount today. Here are the pieces i'm using.

1/2" holes

And the almost finished product:

I'm going to stitch weld that 1/4" plate on the top of the 2 pieces of angle.

The bolt pattern of my winch is 10 by 4.5". I'm getting a Warn M8000. Pretty cheap winch, and it's good to get me through what i'll use it for.

Anyways, the bolts will bold through the diamond plate, 1/4" plate, and the 1/4" angle.

The whole assembly will fit right inside the bumper and will be covered by this diamond plate that is already on there.

Give me some suggestions here, am i headed in the right direction?

 

[NOTAJP]

Hey Josh, that's pretty sweet. Where is the winch going to sit? On top in front of the grill or inside pointing up like Cory first thought of?

 

[JoshC]

Right on top of the diamond plate in front of the grill.

I still don't know what i'm going to do with the roller fair lead, i guess i'll have to see what it looks like when i get the winch in.

 

[NOTAJP]

If you have any left over angle iron, you could weld some uprights between the tubes to mount the fairlead. That's going to be stout as hell.

 

[JoshC]

I can get ahold of more steel if need be.

How much pressure will you normally put on a fairlead? Just asking so i'll know how stout to make it.

 

[Michael]

The fairlead only sees force in pulls that are not straight. You will need to make it stout though as those pulls can put alot of force on it. Just as an example, my fairlead is on a piece of 1/4" plate.

 

[JoshC]

Yeah, that's what i figured, can you all give me some suggestions on how you'd mount it?

 

[Michael]

I'll get some close up pics of mine tomorrow for you.

 

[NOTAJP]

It'll carry the weight of the truck when pulling sideways. I try very hard not to pull anything but head on but reality is it's going to happen. I thought about my last post and should have told you to make it tough. Might want to make a plate the same size as the hole between the tubes but I wonder how bad that'll look and block to much air. My first winch mount was a Warn Combo mount. It worked OK but I bent the crap out of it after a serious winching to the side, which I couldn't help. Now I have a James Duff front bumper with the Winch mount. It's 1/4" plate everywhere and seems stout, though I have not put it to the test yet.

You would be suprised how much air a winch can block and effect the radiator temp.

 

[JoshC]

Yeah, that would be great.

 

[JoshC]

Originally posted by NOTAJP
You would be suprised how much air a winch can block and effect the radiator temp.

That's one decent feature of the M8000, it doesn't have the big cover over it like the fancy ones have.

 

[NOTAJP]

That'll help alot. Don't run the soft cover. My buddy was overheating until he removed the winch cover while driving on the highway.

 

[jasonb]

i think he meant the attached solenoid.

and i thought you could mount the fairlead to the winch. isn't taht the jeeps do it that have winches on their factory bumper?

 

[JoshC]

Well i got it finished, except for paint. Here it is, what do you think? This is the underside.

 

[JoshC]

Here is the top, also shows about where the winch will bolt, except it's not that far out.

 

[TravisC]

So you're bolting it to the diamond plate? Won't that stuff bend?

 

[JoshC]

I had a friend of mine bring up a good point. He said that if i bolt the winch down through the aluminum diamond plate through this, that i will take a good chance of shearing the bolts since there is a weaker metal going between the 2, what do you all think of this?

 

[JoshC]

No, this bolts to the inside of the bumper with 6 1/2" bolts. The diamond plate will just sit on top like it does now, and the winch bolts through the diamond plate on to this plate and the 1/4" angle.

 

[TravisC]

Am I right with this?

EDIT: I meant winch sits on top but the winch plate sits under the diamond plate.

 

[JoshC]

Close, the winch sits ON TOP of the diamond plate. Here's the order

Winch
diamond plate
1/4" sheet
1/4" angle.

That's the way the bolts are going to go through.