My front tube bumper with winch behind the crossmember

[northwestxj]

After running the M4O front bumper for a while, I decided I wanted to build a new front bumper to get a better approach angle. I have seen some people on pirate 4x4 (vetteboy in particular) tuck their winch behind the front cross member and I liked the idea, so I did that. I also like the look of tube bumpers, so I built one up.

Here's some pics:

Light tabs:

Before welding:

 

[northwestxj]

Installed:

Approach angle:

 

[northwestxj]

And the rear I built to match:

Side "tie-ins" to frame

 

[bmpweXJ]

Wow, thats great looking. :loveu:

Price of front and rear shipped to 80202? (I'm not joking)

 

[Jeep450r]

Looks great.
What exactly did you mount the winch to behind the crossmember?

 

[Starboard M]

Very nice job!

One of these days I would love to build almost exactly what you just built.

 

[northwestxj]

Wow, thats great looking. :loveu:

Price of front and rear shipped to 80202? (I'm not joking)

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of extra time so I wouldn't be able to build anymore. It took me quite a while to build these because I don't get to work on stuff near as much as I'd like...

My goal here is to give others ideas though so they could do something similar if they like the idea/design.

Looks great.
What exactly did you mount the winch to behind the crossmember?

Well, the winch is mounted to the factory crossmember and the 1/4" plate that re-enforces the factory crossmember. From the back, the winch "feet" bolt up to the factory crossmember and the bolts continue through matching holes and mount to the 1/4" plate as shown in this picture:

 

[AZXJ]

Very nice bumpers you've built there!

 

[WB9YZU]

I like the idea, and the workmanship is very, very good!

Here are a couple of small concerns.

I like the concept, and it certainly does appear that Jeep designed that lower radiator support to hold a winch. WARN used to make a kit, but discontinued it. If you bend the lower support, you could concievably crack your radiator. Yes, I do realize it is 1/4" steel, but stuff does happen, and usually in the most inconvenient place imaginable.

My last rear bumper was built that close to the hatch. I found it was a mistake as trees hit the hatch before the rear bumper did. I'd space that top tube out a bit to provide a bit more protection and it won't even affect your departure angle.

Ron

 

[kastein]

Ron - my understanding of how it's put together (correct me if I'm wrong) is that those two short pieces of tube from the crossmember plate to the tube between the mounts (see the second before-welding pic) are to keep that from happening.

 

[XJEEPER]

Definitely achieves the goal of improved approach/departure angles. I like the hidden winch, got any shots of it from below?

Ron has a point about the rear, tucking the tube that close makes the hatch/quarters move vulnerable.

All said, clean designs and nice attention to detail.

 

[svttodd]

You have a pretty awesome design there. I know that you said that you don't have much time to make them to sell, but maybe you could get with a machine shop or a bumper manufacturer and sell your bumper idea. Your bumber setup is what a lot of us want for our Jeeps. Not everyone can weld, and they might not have the tools/resourses/shop area to build their own. Give it some thought... maybe you can make some money to support your Jeep habit by selling your bumpers or your bumper idea. -Todd

 

[northwestxj]

Ron - my understanding of how it's put together (correct me if I'm wrong) is that those two short pieces of tube from the crossmember plate to the tube between the mounts (see the second before-welding pic) are to keep that from happening.

Exactly right. There's two pieces of tube on the top right outside of each bolt that are tied into the top bumper tube. There's a piece of flat on the bottom as well. I also added a piece of flat on the top after those pictures were taken. It's not going to bend.

Sorry, bumper is kind of dirty, went wheeling today.

Top tube (also one on other side)

Kind of hard to tell, but these are the two pieces of flat that go from the 1/4" to the tube. One on top, and one on bottom.

You can also see the piece on the bottom in this pic

 

[northwestxj]

Definitely achieves the goal of improved approach/departure angles. I like the hidden winch, got any shots of it from below?

There's one in my previous post, and here's a couple more showing the sides. Sorry not great pictures cause it's pretty dark in my garage.

Ron has a point about the rear, tucking the tube that close makes the hatch/quarters move vulnerable.

I see your point and do wish I would have spaced it out a little more, but not much though. Most of the better aftermarket bumpers don't seem to stick out much. Hell, look at the C-ROK rear bumper for example, it's basically flush with the hatch. I did go wheeling today and had to back up into a tree to make a tight turn and since it was on an uphill it wanted to hit my hatch, but not by much. I had to go pretty slow and be careful.

I did it that way because I wanted it tucked tight for departure angle and because I figured it would look pretty bad to have it spaced away from the hatch real far. I know, function over form, but I didn't want it to look bad. Guess we'll see how it goes...

 

[Rockslut]

Make another in kit form and I would buy one in a heart beat. Ship it and I weld it.

 

[boJaX577]

supply and demand, if you can supply them i think there might be a demand! nice work on the bumpers.

 

[WB9YZU]

Ron - my understanding of how it's put together (correct me if I'm wrong) is that those two short pieces of tube from the crossmember plate to the tube between the mounts (see the second before-welding pic) are to keep that from happening.

I didn't see those < I re-read post and looked at new pix > I would think that should do the job!

Ron

 

[WrenchMonkey]

Wow... There's certainly NO wasted space in there, is there?

Way to pack it in tight...

Robert

 

[dellstopjeep]

Awesome fab work. Gives me good ideas for cutting down my orf fab bumper shorter to stuff my tires much better since the tube work is real similiar on the sides.

 

[xjlongo]

That looks good. Great job