New winch bumper for the old truck

[Titan winch]

I Finally got around to fabbing up a new Winch Bumper for the old 110.
Hopefully i will be able to get some Skid plates made up over the next week or two.

[Slick]

Nice mount, but shouldn't a bumper be a lil further out to protect the body ?


My next project is a rear bumper for my Ram, as the factory one was only for show, and a step to get into the bed(a poor one at that).

I'll probably make it with a extra receiver mount so when I make the front bumper with provisions for a winch I can swap it from front to back.

[Titan winch]

You want to keep the Winch as close and as high as possible. The further out the bumper is the less aproach angle you have.
I am not particulary fond of hitch mounted winch receivers. And in fact for the longest time i refused to sell them and even now i specify exactly what you can and can not do with them.
For recovering from the rear i suppose it is not too bad as the chances of having to use a heay load is minimal, however if you try a angled pull using just one hinch point then you can create some problems. I generally advise any one looking to do this to use 2 hitch points so as to spread the load on angle pulls and of course most Hithches are not rated anywhere close to the pulling capacity you can use on a Winch. A better alternative is to just get 4 pulley blocks and rig it up so as to use your front mounted Winch to move yourself backwards.
This video shows the rigging needed to do this. It was from a Jeep 101 this year and i do the Winching Techniques and safe operation for Winching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwmE_4VuvDw

Cheers

[Slick]

Duncan,
I've winched a few stuck people out, even lifted them out. I used either a Century 442XL or 412, and a Vulcan 882. They come factory with 2 rear winches...
If angle is a big problem I usually tug em out with chain. Then once unstuck real them in with the winch.
Around the winter of 2000, I actually had to extend the boom all the way out, and pick a toyota 4X4 up out of a drainage ditch, but I used lifting slings at all 4 wheels and then tied the truck off so it wouldn't pivot while it was in the air.
Back on topic, sorta. The Body on my Ram 2500 probably isn't any where near as tough as your truck. Heck my grill and front bumper are mainly plastic. The rear bumper is paper thin metal, and would bend if you gave it a stern look.
Then again my Ram is a lil too big to go in spots lil jeeps can go seeing as its a extended cab and 8' bed. Mines more for hauling, pushing snow, and trips to the grocery in blizzards

[trackmaster]

Nice clean Fab work Duncan! Looks OEM if you will. Don't know much about winching, but it looks fantastic.

[Titan winch]

Thanks Trackmaster i generally try to keep things simple for myself and with this Bumper i wanted the strength in the Winch Box to the frames. I may still put a couple of angled Gussets to the wings of the Bumper from the Box section this will keeep the look the same and just add some more strength to the overall bumper.

Slick that stuff is heavy duty recovery although i do have a 16.800 lb model but for my needs it is a little overkill.
As for the Rear Bumper i have a Millitary model ( just one ) that i have had sitting around for a couple of years. This has the Fairlead built into the Winch and is designed to bolt straight on to the Rear Crossmember.
It is not a bad Winch but the Motor is a little small (5.5hp i like min 6.0hp)and i am not overly thrilled with the sealing for the end cap on the motor i wil probably just throw a rubber O-Ring on the cap to help seal it.
And this will likely be installed over the Winter when i have the time.
Righ now i have the On Board Air to do , The Roof Rack for a Roof top Tent and the Auxilliary Battery and so on , Lots to do still

[Wookie]

nice clean winch bumper alot of people make them huge and hideous

[worntorn]

That is a nice installation, tucked in but still has good access to the spool and cable lays. I like the look and functionality of a close in mount like this, but sometimes it can get too close in.

I had an 8,000 lb Braden PTO winch on a 68 Chevy half ton. The previous owner had mounted it back in behind the bumper such that the spool was barely visible. All was fine until I got the cable crossed up on the spool (under pressure) What a job trying to pry the cable back out from between the lays while on my back in the mud under the truck!

After that experience I realized how important it is to have good access to the winch spool from above, and also to have good clearance around the spool so that the cable does not jam on surrounding members should it spool up extra in one area.

Glen

[bigjoeinkg]

Looks like you took some points from the WARN Rockcrawler for fab on the ends. Nice JOB!