I'm learning that a winch could be useful for a lot of my projects so now I'm trying to figure out how I could mount one up without buying an expensive bumper for it. Anyone have any creative ideas.

 

I got a 12000 lb winch mounted behind the factory bumper.
I'll post up a pic tonight (or tomorrow if it's too dark when I get there) but all I did was get some 8" wide 1/4" steel structural C-channel, notched it out as needed to clear the frame, and mounted my winch and fairlead to it. Bolted it to the frame right thru the accordion crap.

I also used the factory bumper but it don't bear any load from the winch at all. I cut the stock bumper brackets off the inside of the frame rails, welded them on the outside instead, then welded the stock bracing/mounts on the bumper outboard of the factory location. That way the bumper is still adjuatable (still has factory slotted mounting holes) and it all fit up real good.

I'll post a pic later.

 

You could always get a receiver mount winch basket and add a front receiver. Once I get one I'll probably use it more for loading trailers than anything else, so being able to move it around would be key. (That means a receiver mount on the trailer too.)

 

Here you go:



Looking in thru the bumper openings:



Underneath:



This is outboard of the left frame rail, you can see where I welded the 90° part of my stock bumper mount on the frame (normally welded inboard by the factory), and how I welded the other part of the factory bumper mount that normally bolts to the bumper itself, directly to the bumper:



I can't take credit for the basic idea of using C-channel to mount a winch, I found that somewhere on the net (FSB?) but the some of the little details are my own.

EDIT: Hmm I see my paint is starting to peel in one spot on that last pic. It's just cheap flat black paint to keep the rust off... I'll have to take care of that.

 

I see a lot of guys who mount them like dixie460. They put some 1/4" L steel between the frame horns or underneath, bolt/weld it in and set the winch on that. Or a receiver style as mentioned above like you see on trailers a lot. All work well.

 

Thanks for the pics, I have been trying to figure out how to mount one to mine.

 

Glad to see this, I've been wanting to add a winch to mine but the price of aftermarket mounts is insane.

Dixie460, got a question for you. I see how you cut the channel to fit inside the frame, but how did you bolt it on? Did you go all the way through the frame or only the bottom wall? If you only bolted it through the bottom, is the end of the frame open once you remove the bumper?

I hope my question is clear, not a lot of sleep the last few days.

 

I run a Warn 8274 on the front of my '95, but I built a bumper to mount it. I've only had to use it a handful of times, but when you DO need it, it sure is invaluable.

 

I'm probably going to do what Dixie did. I like that setup and it would be easy.

 

Yeah, the end of each frame rail is open once you remove the bumper, and I only bolted thru the bottom wall of the frame.

Inside the accordion section, there ain't a single flat spot along the bottom of the frame for a nut to sit flat against, so for each nut I welded a stack of washers together to make a 1/2" thick spacer, to space the nut away from the frame. I also had to grind flats on the sides of each spacer so it would fit between the narrow sections in the accordion.

EDIT: I edited this post for clarity. I was also tired last night when I posted it.

 

I actually saw a bracket for doing that somewhere. I can't remember where but it was about $110.

 

I paid like $45 for the steel (cut to length at the metal supply house), about $20 in bolts/nuts/washers, and maybe $20 in sawzall blades, beer and other misc parts.

And I had fun doing it!

 

Can you tell me what winch you used and if it has a clutch how do you access it?

 

It's a Badlands winch from Harbor Freight. These are supposedly designed by MileMarker and probably come out of the same factory, if not the same production line, that makes MileMarker, Smittybilt, and the other low/mid budget winches.

<a href=http://m.harborfreight.com/12000-lb-off-road-vehicle-winch-with-cable-tensioner-61256.html> Badlands 12000</a href>

The clutch lever is easy to get to by reaching in thru the air intake opening on the driver side of my bumper (you can see it's the diesel bumper) but it will NOT clear the lip on the back of it, I had to cut part of the lip away for clearance. The black trim around the opening unsnaps for even easier access if for instance you have gloves on... which you should if you're playing with steel cable.

Solenoid box is off to the side, no room to snap it on top of the tie bars. Since you can't reach the connector on the solenoid pack once the bumper is installed, I replaced the connector with a liquid-tite cable gland and extended the wires up next to the battery, terminated to a 4 pin trailer connector. Put the matching connector on the end of the winch remote (comes with the winch) and that's that.

I'm planning on also having winch controls in the cab once I figure out a new center console.

 

Thanks for the reply