Winch Bumper - Aug_2013
So in getting things ready for my trip to the Rubicon, a winch bumper was high on the list. Not having the best of Fab Skills, nor a welder with gas or the patience to cut everything with a jig saw..... I enlisted the help of those who were at Bmikes build party last week. Big thanks to Brandon, who has done most of the cutting and welding on this. Adam (specfab) lent a huge help as well, and shared a TON of knowledge with the group. I can not thank either of them enough for the help they've provided in this project.
Here's how it started:
A large piece of 3/16" steel, and a plate of 1/4" (not shown)....
The bracket concept was created crudely using the typical CAD (cardboard aided design) method, taking advantage of as many bolt hole locations as possible:
What was left of the stock bumper was removed, and installation and the rest of the design process began.
The plan was/is to keep the winch pulled back as far as possible, without clocking it, and putting it inside of the core support. As much as I have talked about doing this in the past, I decided that for now at least, I'm going a more traditional route, but keeping with a slimline, higher approach angle design, all while not sacrificing strength. This of course means there was going to be some modifications made to the header panel and grill.
I'm using 1/4" for the winch plate itself. it was cut to size, and mocked into position.
Adam set to work, expertly welding the winch plate to the brackets.
First one side:
Then the other.
As you can tell from the pics, it was night (and late) by the time this phase of things finished up. Brandon's place was straightened up, and we called it a night. Sunday rolled around and Brandon graciously offered to help out with bumper some more. At this point all that it was, was a piece of 1/4" welded to two runners of 3/16"....not good enough for recovery.
The winch was mocked into position a couple more times, to gauge how the layout of the front piece was going to be.
This pic is a tad dark, but you get the idea of how tucked back the winch sits.
The face was drawn out on some of the remaining 3/16"
It was then cut out, again using Brandon's plasma cutter.
After some time with the grinder and flap wheel, it's edges were cleaned up and Brandon got to work burning it in.
By the end of the night we had gotten it all welded together, except the sides, and the lower support, that should happen later today (monday) or tomorrow. We did add some internal gussets for strength. And for now, thats how it sits.
The lower support will add torsional resistance to the winch plate, tying it in to the core support, and finish the main part of it, making it ready for recovery if needed. After that, all that would be left is the cosmetic side of things, adding some sides to it, to wrap it around to the front corners of the fenders.
More pics will follow after installation and that phase of the fab work is done.
if you wanna use it go for it man. Being in this internship has me strapped for cash. Plus if I get some pictures of your setup I could make one or something similar myself
