Winch mount

[Dave Lewis]

ok, im planning on building a bumper which will hold the warn m8000 that i have in my garage and need a solid way to mount it. i was looking at the "frame rails" that they look pretty thin, but over on jeepforum some guy posted a pic of a mount which is apparently similar to arb and some others.

heres the pic:



would that hold up to the m8000? or should i consider mounting to both sides of the frame? of even go deeper into the frame? would that hold up just fine without ripping through the frame?

thanks


Dave

[1fox2go]

You will have 4 extra bolts to hold it on correct?

I just used the 3 factory ones on my xj and it held up. Used it to pull me out 3 times, pulled another xj up a fairly steep hill. it held up, If I were to do it again I would def go further back like your idea

[BigDaveZJ]

Assuming you did that in both unibody rails I see it working out alright. The more you can spread that load out the better.

[Dave Lewis]

yea, the idea is to trim the part covering the end of the unibody rails and slide the plate inside and add a plate on the outside for a sandwich effect.

is this the most common way to attach a winch bumper? the m8000 isnt a massive winch by any means, but it should pull on it pretty hard.

i havnt built anything yet, still in the planning process. (i tend to plan thing out longer than most do)

[Dave Lewis]

any other comments? it seems in every bumper build that people always say something like "i hope you don't plan on winching off that" i dont want to be "that guy" after spending a few hours fabbing up a bumper.

[cooperzj]

You can put a 2x4 or 2x6 into the frame rail with minor grinding on the 2x4.



That's what I did (2x4). Send the grade 8 bolts all the way through- I used 1 3/4 inch bolt and a two 1/2" ers. I'm using 3 on each side- which is stronger than you think considering the surface area of the rail that it is in contact with and the bolts are connected to. There's both sides of the sleeves in contact with the bolt- instead of just one side. But you could put as many bolts in as you want. Also gives great lateral support. I haven't seen many people do it this way- but it's worked great for me.

Simplicity is the key. The more complicated the design, the more likely somthing can go wrong. Unless you are a experienced welder/fabricator, make something simple.

I also use a M8000 and have pulled many times with it in the short time I've had it. There's been no sign of ovaling the bolt holes and it's as solid as it was when I put it on.

Also, I've mentioned on another post, that I tied my winch mount into the cross member in front of the radiator. My winch ain't going nowhere with out my vehicle attached to it.

Here's the thread: http://www.mallcrawlin.com/forum/sho...ighlight=winch

Good luck