I need to purchase a cheap winch bumper or is there any way of mounting one to my stock bumper?
Info for a 87 f150 4x4

 

Got a welder? Just make your own winch mount. I wouldn't mount to the factory bumper, but what I would do...

Take the factory bumper off, get some steel and fab up a winch mount that bolts to the frame behind it. Then measure and cut the factory bumper where needed for clearance. Install a roller fairlead, and you're done. Except for your hydraulic or electrical connections of course.

 

Buy a front receiver, then have winch on a piece of 2" tubing

 

How nice a welder do I need cause I do plan on using the winch in red clay which were I will be taking the truck through can get over the top of the tires?

 

How big of a winch are you going to mount? Harbor Freight sells a winch cradle that can be used to fab up just about anything you want, I have a 12.5K mounted on one of my trucks that I used one of their cradles and it has held up just fine.

 

You'll need a welder that can get good weld penetration into whatever metal you're using. Doesn't matter how nice it is feature-wise as long as you know how to run it. A Lincoln buzzbox would do the job.

Harbor Freight sells winch cradles? Hmm... I'll have to check that out next time I go there.

 

They have the winch cradle on sale this weekend:

Universal Channel Winch Mount

And they have their 2" tube mount on sale as well:

Hitch Receiver Mount for Winches

They also have their 12K winch on sale for $299 with a coupon, so goods deals all over the place, the 12K was rated as the best deal in winching by Off Road Magazine:

http://www.harborfreight.com/Off-Roa...fQ%3D%3D%0D%0A

 

I see winch bumpers floating through the jy from time to time, might want to check there. the ramsey winch bumpers aren't the juggernauts that the 1/4" ranchhands, buckstops, etc are, but theyre not 200 lbs either.

299 for a 12k winch is awfully appealing, but they are priced accordingly. a guy I know runs a hf winch, and its garbage just like the last 2 he had on there. granted, HF replaced both for free, but if you do some serious excursion-esque wheelin then you don't have the luxury of saying "I can just get a free one when this one breaks", when it most often it would break at a time that would be considered "the worst possible" . . .you know who he called to pull him out when "my winch cut out"?

now that winch mount is a great looking piece to incorporate into a homemade bumper. . .basically the same thing fab shops sell for 100+.

 

The HF winches can at times be a hit and miss, but I do know quite a few people who are running them with good performance and no problems at all.

 

Harbor freight stuff is typically hit and miss. The winches seem to be decent though. My uncle has one of the Badlands winches on his truck. He's used it about a dozen times in the last 6 months and it seems to work decent. His only complaint is that it's really slow compared to the last Warn winch he had.

 

Yeah I had my paws on the Badland winches the last time I was in there. Like anything at HF, some of it really IS a good deal, and some is junk. You just have to know what to look for. Everything I've purchased from there has been just fine except for my fuel pressure gauge which had a leaky fitting. I just put some fresh thread sealer on it whenever I need to use it... doesn't leak a drop then.

Anyhow like I was saying, you have to look at it before buying, and also read the reviews online. The winches seem to be better than they used to be and I may give one a try since as mentioned, 300 bucks for a 12K winch is a damn good deal. Unfortunately, for that price I have visions of pot metal gears and motors made with the least amount of copper possible. I may be wrong but without taking one apart there's no way to tell. Perhaps I'll buy one and abuse it for awhile before trusting it.

Although I still think I'd be happier with a hydraulic winch, which HF nor anybody else besides MileMarker sells... I think it's a patented MM design or something.

 

I paid 300 for my superwinch 8k witch that will drag crewcab dually on my trailer SIDEWAYS and puts up any complaints. Best off all, it is MADE IN THE USA