stock XJ winch

[Eagle]

I would also be interested in part numbers and/or measured drawings of the basic brackets and mounts. Also some close-up photos of one in place would be very useful.

 

[SV1CEC]

I would also be interested in part numbers and/or measured drawings of the basic brackets and mounts. Also some close-up photos of one in place would be very useful.

That makes two of us, Ghost. Please post these pictures!

Rgds
-------
John SV1CEC

 

[Ghost]

Sorry giys just got back into town. Spent 4 days in Birmingham Computer Software training. Got to see Kudzu and talk about all you looser! I'll do my best to get something posted tomorrow. Err today in the daylight! LOL!

 

[Ghost]

Ok so it took a few days.

Finished the bumper portion on Sunday. Hopefully will have some images of it later today or tomorrow.

Basically 2" angle .25 thick.

 

[Lawn Cher']

Did you sleeve your frame? That tubing looks much beefier than the stock uni-frame rail... details please! Nice work, BTW.

 

[Ghost]

Did you sleeve your frame? That tubing looks much beefier than the stock uni-frame rail... details please! Nice work, BTW.

Not sure what you mean by sleave... But the tube is my desighn of a tow hook bracket. The ones aftermarket and by Jeep are weak and like to bend. These don't. The tay is farly simple. I have not tested it yet by the way and there are two brackets that I want to add for reinforcement.

It is basically 32 2/8" X 6 1/2". It may be 32 3/8 reading the tape was difficult with the front on it.

 

[Lawn Cher']

Doh! I'm an idiot, I understand now... the tube is outboard of the frame rails in place of the bumper/tow hook brackets... I thought you had put it inside the rail. I dunno what I was thinking, I even have a MJ with the front bumper removed inside my garage that I see every day and I had just forgotten whether that spot welded flange mounting the radiator support to the frame rail was inboard or outboard of the frame rail, which threw off my mental picture of where your tube was located. A brain fart, if nothing else. Nice setup, once again.

 

[dandecicco]

Yes yes! Much more detail. Can you take measurements and such for all of us. You plan looks very simple ye very effective.
Thanks

 

[Ghost]

Yes yes! Much more detail. Can you take measurements and such for all of us. You plan looks very simple ye very effective.
Thanks

The tray is a big rectangle. 32 2/8? X 6.5" Made of .25 2" angle iron. The winch is a Warn M6000. The mount holes are centered on a 10" X 4.5" rectangle. (A standard on a lot of winches from my understanding!) The bracket that holds the selanoid is the standard one Warn supplies with its winches modified to fit this setup. (Basically I cut it and rewelded it 90deg from where it was.) The side pieces in the stock one are flat instead of angle. On mine I used angle and had the entire contact patch welded. So the weld goes along the length of the top piece of angle then up to the center then out to the front. If you look in the earlyer pictures you can see the bead. (Not mine by the way!) The side pieces are notched to let the side angle piece sit flush. (Which is the way Angle is supose to be done instead of 45'd.) There are two hole outside the winch mount holes to hold the selanoid bracket. The bigest problem is that the two botom mount holes have to be drilled into the front croassmember and the bottom bolt for the selanoid bracket has to be done the same or a hole cut in the crossmember. (I cut a 1" hole in the crossmember.) The tray would work with a stock bumper but the offset bracket will have to be built too. I decied to build a solid front plate that is 5" wide and .25 thick. A friend built the tube stinger (for lack of a better term) and decided to go another way so I mounted it on top of my plate. The front plate turns 90deg and slides into the tube tow hook brackets that I fabed up some time ago. HTH!

 

[SV1CEC]

Ghost,

Thanks for the detailed info.

One question though. If you use a normal bumper (which is what I want to use), and a Ramsey REP8000, how one earth can you access the clutch of the winch? Can the winch be mounted upside down, in other words, can the winch tray be mounted above the winch?

Thanks friend.
---------
John SV1CEC

 

[family XJ]

Just for some info the Marine Corps has some old Cherokees floating around that used Ramsey winches and some Chrome bumpers. I have a guy that is going to sell me the bumper for $150 if I want it. However I like the way the factory one looks....

 

[Ghost]

Ghost,

Thanks for the detailed info.

One question though. If you use a normal bumper (which is what I want to use), and a Ramsey REP8000, how one earth can you access the clutch of the winch? Can the winch be mounted upside down, in other words, can the winch tray be mounted above the winch?

Thanks friend.
---------
John SV1CEC

To use this with a stock bumper the tray mounts the way I have it. That is how it is able to use so little space. The trick is the relocation brackets for the front bumper. The small bracket in the pictures b4 mine. it moves the bumper forward about 3-4" so the bumper will clear the winch. The winch stuck out much further than I thought it would and an 8K would probalby stick out further. As for reaching the clutch a rectangular access could be cut very neatly in the top of the bumper. But if the bumper moves as far forward as I think it will the clutch will be easily reached. When I can get some better shots I'll shot some images of the top portion of my bumper to show you how close the tube is but I still can get my hand in there easily.

 

[Ghost]

Did you sleeve your frame? That tubing looks much beefier than the stock uni-frame rail... details please! Nice work, BTW.

This is the Driver's side bracket that I built. They are very heavy and beefy. I have tested them by snatching on one of our tractors that was stuck in the sand next to the office. So far they have not budged nor bent at all. however I have broken a few snatch straps that were rated at 20K lbs. Which is about what a light tractor weighs.

I have thought about pricing them out at a local machine shop. But have not had drawings done yet. Still thinking about it though. There are several other progress images in this album.
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/commu...rid=21646&groupid=40672&folderview=thumbs&ck=

 

[GI-John]

Here are some good links for Install/parts lists

Installation instructions

Parts List

If the links don't work go to the Ramsey website

 

[karstic]

Ghost, looking good so far. Those tow hook brackets are punk!

John those are awesome links.

 

[Ghost]

Ghost, looking good so far. Those tow hook brackets are punk!

John those are awesome links.

Thanks, It should get a good workout this next week. I'm not sure if I will add anything ealse to it or not. I'll decide after Tellico. The brackets have been throughly tested already though. I have to admit they are a little over kill but exactly what I wanted. If I could get them cut out of tube for a decent price I would market them and sell them. They really reinforce the steering box well IMHO.

As for my bumper it needs some work. When I cinch the cable to the hook it flexes the front plate. I should have run a piece of angle to reinforce the bottom. The top is fine bc of the tube stinger thingy. The tray is easy to fab up and seems to be sturdy, however the true test will be next week in Tellico.

 

[sportsguy]

Any updates available on how this is holding up?

 

[Ghost]

Any updates available on how this is holding up?

Ummm yea I broke the 6K pund warn! :wierd: So now it will get an M8K. It is holding fine.

 

[sportsguy]

Thanks Ghost - we're going to look at this option for my Comanche in a couple of weeks - I'm going to try to figure out a way to get a bigger winch to work, like a 9K - not sure what brand, but size will obviously be a factor. Not afraid to hack and rebuild to suit the project, but if it's simply not feasible, we'll just be boring and build a low profile bumper mount...

 

[Ghost]

Thanks Ghost - we're going to look at this option for my Comanche in a couple of weeks - I'm going to try to figure out a way to get a bigger winch to work, like a 9K - not sure what brand, but size will obviously be a factor. Not afraid to hack and rebuild to suit the project, but if it's simply not feasible, we'll just be boring and build a low profile bumper mount...

The main issues is that it need to be a non intergrated winch. This mount was inicially for a 8K I believe. It is nto bent or torqued at all from the pulls I put on it. And I did stall the 6K more then once but not for long. I should have the 8K on soon. I have to go get it first though! LOL!