Is this strong enough? What did you use? (cross member winch mounting)

[spikyhair87]

I am in the process of building a cross member mounting system to mount my shiny new xrc8 winch....

so here is the thought.... i would cut out some if not all of the cross member and then add my supporting system/winch mount so i can have my winch behind my bumper.


Here is some criteria:

Goals: Design a clean behind the bumper (JCR stage 3 front bumper) winch mounting system.

How: Using 1/4" steel plate, My 120v clark mini mig welder, My 240v buzz box/tomestone welder, grider etc... all grade 8 hardware.....

Design: mainly as it sits its more or less a box (see pictures below)



Here is some preliminary designs (im a CAD drafter/project engineer by profession going to school to get my BA in Mechanical engineering...) so I decided to use solidworks today at work to throw around some ideas and test them....

Here are some screenshots of what i was thinking its all 1/4" thick plain carbon steel plate. 10,000lbs of applied load on all of the hole features. I based the load concentration there because I figured the stress would be the highest concentration at these points as they are connection points.

Yes the applied load could see more then 10,000lbs due to "angled" pulls and possibly pulling others out....

As you can see there is alot of defection in my design im not sure if it would work..... Too much even after I added larger "mounting plates"..... thats 3/4" thick mouting locations due to 1/4" plate being use!!!

SO.... WHAT HAVE YOU USED? IM LOOKING FOR REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE before i buy the steel (open to different thickness/design)

Yes i have seen vetteboy something other on pirates 4x4's:scottm: writeup....

Thanks!:cheers:atriot: ooooo and yes i did search!!

 

[WB9YZU]

The XJ lower radiator mount already has a hole for a winch, but have you noticed that no-one uses it, or makes a kit to mount a winch there? The factory behind the bumper setup came with brackets to reinforce the radiator support, and a 5K winch. There must be a real good reason that Jeep stopped supporting that system after the early years of XJs. I think WARN made the backet kit.

You are probably much better off to design a low profile system that bolts to the front frame (with all of the extra pull supports) and does not in any way compomise your lower radiator support.

 

[spikyhair87]

maybe my design wasn't clear but the above system(box) would mount to the "frame rails" it would hopefully clear the steering box (havent check yet for that).....

any other additions or ideas?

 

[JeepFreak21]

There must be a real good reason that Jeep stopped supporting that system after the early years of XJs.

With that logic, we sell our XJ's all together!
Billy

 

[spikyhair87]

not so sure his logic was off......
im too am sure there is a reason why they didnt continue making it.... im not sure the reason (a non value added feature?, didnt work?, didnt hold up?) idk....

does anyone have experience with this??
Thanks!

 

[spikyhair87]

nothing???

bump!

 

[jeeperjohn]

I suggest welding a "L" or "T" section longitudinally across the bottom of the box between the boltholes and see if you can get rid of that deflection.

 

[spikyhair87]

got ya! ill try that on wednesday when i get back to work.....

anyone one else?

Thanks!

 

[JeepFreak21]

does anyone have experience with this??

nothing???
bump!

anyone one else?

The reason you're not getting more responses is because of this:

IM LOOKING FOR REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE

Not that many people have done what you're trying to do. I know you said you searched, but maybe my bookmarks on the subject would be helpful

http://share.foxmarks.com/folder/bookmarks/FnLPlWHMtM

Oh, and bumping your thread is :nono:
Billy

 

[spikyhair87]

Thnaks for the links!

 

[spikyhair87]

ttt

 

[ECKSJAY]

Oh, and bumping your thread is :nono:

ttt

:clap:

 

[Kittrell]

I'm a Pro E fan myself, that is all.

 

[spikyhair87]

not tech. bumping... its "ttt" just wanting more info.... or advice.... not going to get anymore info if it falls all the way in the depths of the dark deep threads of naxja....

 

[JeepFreak21]

not going to get anymore info if it falls all the way in the depths of the dark deep threads of naxja....

Oh, you mean like everyone else's threads that you push down to the bottom every time you do that?

Find something useful to add. It's not that hard.
Billy

 

[spikyhair87]

ok good point.... so after testing the 1/2" thick plate did well even up too 12,000lbs...

at this point i measure the cross member area and will need to get something like a 1'x3' piece....

still not sure how im going to go about it.... problems are as stated


- not wanting it to stick down further then my jcr stage 3 front bumper....
- want it to "hold" up
- looked at other designs but unsure that it will work with my bumper


im def. going to do in-cab controls...

any input is welcome!!! thanks!

 

[whitneyj]

anyway that you could plate the rails, and run sleeves through them to mount the winch cradle? what about using 2x4 rect. tube instead of just plate?

 

[spikyhair87]

thats an idea...

however after looking at it some more i going to try to use the "winch mount" that is already in the cross member....

going to add 1/4" thick plates (total width of something close to .500 inch) to the front of the cross member and then run two rectangular tubes up to the bumper... something like 3"x2"x .25 wall... tested that with solidworks today and it can hold way over 12,000 lbs.... in fact it has something like a factor of safety of 8!!! ran the test up to 90,000lbs and it held up (dont know if this is accurate..) and this was the amount of lbs to collapse the rectangular tube.... the .500 plate of course deflected.... but the majority of the load will be on these two rect. tubes and the front bumper....

then after this is mounted up i think im going to "box" it in with some sort of protection plate on the bottom underneath all of it.... something like .125 inch plate... the rect. tubes and 1/4" reinforcement plates will be welded to the front bumper... and the protection plate will somehow be bolted up...




any thoughts?