Removing front crossmember

[vetteboy]

Well, the outcome so far...

The winch fits fine behind the crossmember. This is the Smittybilt XRC8 which is basically identical in dimensions to an M8000. It fits between the frame rail and the steering box, clears the crank pulley. Needs to drop about 1/2" lower to clear the mechanical fan.

So...I will not be removing the crossmember. I'll be making a winch frame, tied into the bumper mounts (already reinforced) in front of it. Then I'll cut the necessary pieces out of the factory crossmember, leaving as much as possible, stitch/rosette welding where I can, etc.

Pics to follow in the next few days.

 

[Rawbrown]

http://rawbrown.com/Gallery/album02
I haven't added pics of where i'm at right now. but basically I remove the entire cross member then had some 1/4" plate along the framerails from the bumper. I welded a piece of 2x2x.188w square tube across and made radiator tabs of of that. underneath I made a hoop with some bar stock so my powersteering cooler is under the radiator at a 45º angle with 2 computer fans on it.
the winch sits ontop of that 2x2 up against the radiator. I removed the ac condenser so the winch is about 1/4" in front of the rad. and thats how far I am right now. I'll have pics up later tonight of the progress.

 

[vetteboy]

Fits pretty well up in there...I threw it together yesterday just to make sure everything was going to work.

 

[mikedashg]

I have to agree, I've measured and re-measured and I still can't justify all the work of fabbing a new front crossmember to hide the winch.......I'm just gonna have to live with it up top.

I was gonna put mine up top too, but since my cross member was ripped and frame cracked in a million places, it all needed to be cut out anyway. Rawbrown and I turned my XD9000i on it's end (bottom facing forward) and sandwhiched inbetween some 1/4" plate, and put 1/4" plate on the inside of the rails, and the outside of the trails, and all along the bottom. Pretty much anywhere you can think of. That would be only advise if you're gonna remove the front cross member. Plate and reinforce the snot out of everything.

Sans bumper skin:

The bumper was made a night before a run and wasn't really a finnished product. But it was close.

Until I tweaked out in JV.

 

[vetteboy]

Some pics from the weekend, winch all mounted up & fairlead recessed. I sunk it in as far as I could and still keep all 4 rollers in a good spot.

Winch worked great all weekend. Slow, but it got the job done. I had to do a pretty extensive pull when my starter died :shaking: and even with the engine not running it pulled pretty hard and kept the battery alive long enough to get me out. For the money I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[XJEEPER]

Dig the dangling soleniod box......

 

[vetteboy]

Dig the dangling soleniod box......

Yeah, that happened...zip tie broke. :gag:

I ran out of time on Thursday and didn't have any terminals to make new battery cables, so it was just kind of stuck there. It's getting relocated to the engine compartment with remote wiring into the cab.

 

[tjmwr7]

Wow never seen that before.. Lets see some pics of it wired into your cab when your done.

 

[Goatman]

Fits pretty well up in there...I threw it together yesterday just to make sure everything was going to work.

Only problem for me would be that it hangs too low. I'd beat the crap out of that plate on rocks.

 

[Ivan]

I heard of several instances that the hidden winch behind the bumper was an option in earlier XJ's. How did the factory do it back then? Has anyone seen this before?

 

[Ghost]

I heard of several instances that the hidden winch behind the bumper was an option in earlier XJ's. How did the factory do it back then? Has anyone seen this before?

They had a special winch that was desighned to withstand the stress of a foot pull. The bumper was moved forward with spacers. There is a thread on here with pictures of the mount and the stuff for the bumper. By the way I have had no issues with my set up. It mounts with two plates kinda look like the early c-rock plates. The only problem i have had at all is the way the plates were built for the drivers side. There is a hole for one of the steering box bolts and it started to pull through.

 

[vetteboy]

Yeah...the difference is the factory 'hidden' winch was still in front of the crossmember. I stuffed mine behind it instead because I didn't want the front bumper out any further than it already was.