Boatsides...

[Jump This]

That is a cool idea.......mounting your wench in the passenger seat.
I have been known to mount her in the back seat though.

About the leaf mounts, how about going inboard with them too.
You would need to relocate your gas tank, but that is easy.

 

[XJ_ranger]

About the leaf mounts, how about going inboard with them too.
You would need to relocate your gas tank, but that is easy.

If I do anything with them, it'll be taking them off...

I plan on just leaving them there till they get destroyed...

 

[Zebaru]

This all seems oddly familiar...

Boatsides...

Passenger side winch...

I tied in to the bottom of the frame, and that little bit of spring hanger sticking out still gets beat up. I plated it with 3/16" and made a little 'ramp' for the front to ease the transition, and that helps some. If you just leave it hanging in the wind like that, it almost surely will hold you up more than you'd like.

For skins, consider UHMW... Easy to replace and pretty light... It is nice and slippery also. I drove out of this and only left a few light marks on the panel

You couldn't use doors anyway, so this was an easy decision IMHO.

 

[Phil]

This all seems oddly familiar...

Boatsides...

Passenger side winch...

I tied in to the bottom of the frame, and that little bit of spring hanger sticking out still gets beat up. I plated it with 3/16" and made a little 'ramp' for the front to ease the transition, and that helps some. If you just leave it hanging in the wind like that, it almost surely will hold you up more than you'd like.

For skins, consider UHMW... Easy to replace and pretty light... It is nice and slippery also. I drove out of this and only left a few light marks on the panel

You couldn't use doors anyway, so this was an easy decision IMHO.

We put our boatsides from the top of the frame for an extra 2" of clearance. :greensmok

Mine have an auxiliary rail halfway from the frame to the gunwales to cut the unsupported span in half, so it should require far less stiffness in the skin, and it provides a backing to slide along in the direction of travel. I'm anticipating seeing something similar on the gray car.

 

[XJ_ranger]

I'm anticipating seeing something similar on the gray car.

me too! :roll:

 

[Zebaru]

We put our boatsides from the top of the frame for an extra 2" of clearance. :greensmok

Mine have an auxiliary rail halfway from the frame to the gunwales to cut the unsupported span in half, so it should require far less stiffness in the skin, and it provides a backing to slide along in the direction of travel. I'm anticipating seeing something similar on the gray car.

I cant really remember why I tied mine in at the bottom, since I actually lose clearance right at the frame attachment area. On the plus side, it hasnt really caused me any problems.

Calling them gunwales just seems wrong, despite the whole boatside thing.

 

[XJ_ranger]

Calling them gunwales just seems wrong, despite the whole boatside thing.

I prefer the term 'Flight Deck'

 

[XJ_ranger]

Passenger side winch...

Do you by chance have any shots of the mount that you made for that winch? After looking at my winch closer, I dont think I can fit it where I thought I wanted to (where the heater core is), and think that putting it there is the 'better' solution...


and for an update - Tuesday I made all the rest of the legs for the passenger side, and today I decided to cut the drivers side apart.


tuesday, I finished the 'legs' for the passenger side, and thought I'd figured out a 'good' winch mount...

Today, I went to take some measurements, and make said winch mount, and then decided that wasnt going to work.

So I decided to cut up the drivers side, and while I was doing that, try and figure out the winch mount...

This is where I stopped for the night -

I think the winch, rather than going under the dash as I'd initially thought, is going to end up right in front of the passenger seat - like this -

\

from the front (also shows the horizontal 'leg' that the fairlead will mount too)

Pulley that will mount near the airshock to route the cable to either the front fairlead or to the front axle depending on the event...

 

[Goatman]

Mount the winch inside at the passengers feet? What a crazy idea!!

I don't know about mounting it under the pass seat. I'd hate to hook a cuff of the passengers pants in the winch line, though I guess they could tell you if that happened. No other real risk I guess. I use the space under the seat for gear storage, which works out very well.......but on mine that's the only storage space that I have.

 

[XJ_ranger]

I dont think that I'll be able to put my winch there Richard - for a number of reasons - my shocks being almost 100% in the way being one, and my vertical tube that is my 'A' pillar tube being too far back to make a reasonable mount being the other... and my lack of a tube bender kinda puts things in a jam...

I think that most of the time that people are winching a lot, the passenger is outside the rig anyway?

and for sucking down, I can just let them know?

and in competition there is no passenger?

 

[Zebaru]

Do you by chance have any shots of the mount that you made for that winch? After looking at my winch closer, I dont think I can fit it where I thought I wanted to (where the heater core is), and think that putting it there is the 'better' solution...

Unfortunately no...

It is pretty basic - a piece of tube running from one of the outer legs to a plate welded to the tranny tunnel in front. The front seat tube similarly connected in the back. A piece of flat running between them, and a tie in through the floor to the frame in the middle.

I never have a passenger, but if I did, I would probably have them get out before any serious winching to avoid entanglement issues. Then again, I have seen a few moon buggies with winches right below and between the driver's legs...

 

[XJ_ranger]

got a little more done today...

added the supports for the 'open spaces' in-between the legs... to help the 3/16" aluminum that will eventally be there stay semi straight for longer...

Ba-ling!

started on the winch mount... had to beat my bent tranny tunnel back closer to the shape it left detroit in -

bought some 14ga, and decided to make a 'spread the load' plate -

the thoery is to get the welds to be in many different directions, and not create an easy seam to tear...

 

[XJ_ranger]

winch mount starying to take shape -

I'm using a warn plate that used to be part of something else, that already has the 4 holes for the winch and is 1/4" thick... (and already has a fairlead mount)

The thoery here is that the sheet piece will act as a shear plane, and really take some serious effort to tweak the two already really strong box pieces in front and back of it.

notched and fitted -

I also decided to ditch the OEM seat mounts on the outside of the 'frame'... I figure that I can just weld the seat frame in, and that will work till I can save up the scrilla to buy the nice PRP's I had Pat@those guys quote me the other day.

in this shot, you can see how the rear winch mount tube is in the way of the seat mount BIG time... and you might be thinkin to yourself, why didnt he just move it forward? Because I wanted the winch to be as tight to the seat as possible...

painted what would be really hard to get to after I welded the plate / fairlead mount thing in. I also painted it all over.

 

[XJ_ranger]

Set the winch on the plate, and moved it as far to the outside of the rig as I could, leaving ~1/4" between the 'plane' created by the boatsides - so even if I hit the skin hard, hopefully it wont damage this poor winch anymore...

and then burned it in -

of course, I forgot to check, to make sure the fairlead fits with the winch plate thing flush with the tops of the rec tube... and of course it doesnt fit...

Eli and I had joked at the swap meet about cutting excess weight off the spidertrax aluminum fairlead... well, I cut off excess weight...
not having access to a mill, lathe, or any kind of machine tools, I went to Ace Hardware and got some wood/metal blades for the sawzall, and made the fairlead fit...

Remember when cutting aluminum, the larger voids in-between teeth is importiant - the fine tooth count blades that work well with steel clog up with aluminum, and you end up ripping teeth off the blade, and eventually ripping the blade outta the sawzall... the 'Miluakee Wood with Nails' blades work decent...
The cutoff wheel works OK to start the cut, but really does a piss poor job. Perhaps one of the carbide tipped 4.5" mini sawblades that look like a horrible idea every time I see them at the hardware store would work well?

anyway, I made a hack ass cut in an otherwise really nice part... :eek2:

added a little paint -

bolted everything in -

If you're wondering what is all over my seat - its gear oil... apparently when inverted, the top of my transmission leeks...

 

[XJ_ranger]

I put the dash back in, to see what it looked like, and all that cutting I did on the passenger side so I could see whats going on, was kinda useless... I'm thinking about cutting the dash off, just to the right of the HVAC controls, at that 'cut line' there where it'd be obvious to cut...

Though, of parts on the dash that I use, the HVAC controls that have nothing to control, the head unit that doesnt work, and the little vent that isnt going to do anything anymore, doesnt seem like the part to save... I actually use the glove box... spare valve stems, wag bags, flash lights...
I dono...

at the risk of being called more redneck, I'm thinking about putting 2 ammo boxes in there and ditching the dash cutting as I'd talked about above... :dunno:

 

[vetteboy]

I think I like it. But pulling 8000 lbs attached to .120 at its biggest point sorta scares me.

My biggest complaint about the stock center hump was that it was round...I kept chopping little pieces out of it to fit stuff, and trying to mold sheetmetal stuff back around it, and it got frustrating. Ever since I cut the entire thing out and replaced it with a trapezoid I've been extremely pleased with both the fit and service aspect of it.

Just something to think about...you're not all that far away from what I ended up doing to my floor:

and it'd be pretty easy to tie into what you've got started already.

 

[XJ_ranger]

I think I like it. But pulling 8000 lbs attached to .120 at its biggest point sorta scares me.

the rec tube is 1.5x1.5x.120 -

so there are 2 .120 'walls' in both load directions, 1.5" apart... per tube...

the plate is 1/4"

that specifically scares you?

my main concern is the winch wanting to 'lift up' - the pulley will be a little higher than the winch, so there will be an upward vector... but I didnt think it would be that big of a deal, and this thing is already wayyyy heavy...

 

[vetteboy]

the rec tube is 1.5x1.5x.120 -

so there are 2 .120 'walls' in both load directions, 1.5" apart... per tube...

the plate is 1/4"

that specifically scares you?

my main concern is the winch wanting to 'lift up' - the pulley will be a little higher than the winch, so there will be an upward vector... but I didnt think it would be that big of a deal, and this thing is already wayyyy heavy...

Well, I think you've seen where my winch is mounted...up front, behind the factory crossmember, feet forward. Basically I replaced the factory crossmember with 1.5" x .25 angle (2 pieces), and bolted the winch through that. The ends of those angle pieces are tied directly into the 1/8" frame plates going down the sides of the unibody construction, and along the bottom of the 1/4" angle my front exo bars are fully welded.

It was a close fit to the mechanical fan to begin with...if I had a hard pull on the winch, and/or a lot of torque on the engine mounts (which are poly), I could get the fan to hit the winch. A hard drop off the Wreckingball waterfall landed on the front right corner tube just enough to push the whole thing up a little more and make me have to knock the fins on the fan down a little bit to keep it from hitting.

Granted, your winch isn't gonna see impact stuff like that...but I'm surprised at the deflection in the mounting on mine, as heavy as it is. I used the angle so that I'd have multiple planes in bending but apparently it wasn't quite enough.

 

[XJ_ranger]

we'll see...

worst case - someone looses their legs!

maybe I should find someone with a 12k winch and run a prove strength test!

 

[Ghost]

winch mount starying to take shape -

I would guess this is where it will fail. I see this ripping that right out of the unibody. Maybe not right away but that is thin metal you are anchoring to. Of course you already know this which is why you beefed it some. I think in a hard pull on that side of the winch you will see it rip the reinforcing plate behind the rear welds.