I went with a Ranchhand Bumper....it has a winch receiver already in it and is stout

 

Subscribed. Make sure you post up some dimensions, drawings and some real live pics when you get it done Steve. My needs are very similar to yours so I'll "borrow" all your hard work when I do this.

 

Mike - Good to hear from you. Its been a while. I'll post up stuff as I get to it.

I got the side plate holes and collar on the receiver done this morning. Next up are gusset plates between the receiver and cross bar. I may add the weld fillets for a bit of detail, but the main "ideal structure" should be drawn up today.

From there the mods start for navigating the obstacles.

 

So here is the finished "ideal" mount. I left out the weld detail in the interest of time. From here I can modify it with our ideas for the hose/tube passages. The rest should come a lot easier. Most of the dust is off and translation is done for all the commands I need to work with the software as of right now.

 

A little over engineering Steve with the front gussets, once you pass a tube through a tube it is pretty stout. Most rear hitches with the gusset are A longer tube and B provides a place for the safety chain to attach.

 

The gussets I think would be more for added lateral strength that you would need with a winch.

 

Right. That and extra surface area to distribute the stress on the welds.

By surface area alone (of joined members) there is plenty of "metal" there to take the load and the gussets add structural integrity with any possible side loading (I don't want to plan on side loading but I don't want to be stuck somewhere and side loading be my option and break something).

There are a few limiting factors on strength - the bearing capacity of the pin holes, pin shear strength, and, last but not least, the breaching of the main cross bar due to the hoses passing through.

 

You will pass the receiver through the cross tube, and the hitch part will extend into receiver past the cross tube if kept relative short. If that sucker bends, your doing something... I only question the single attachment at each side, a simple straight pull it looks okay but any vertical load would bend the bracket up or down.

 

A couple vertical gussets out at the mounting tabs should solve that.

 

Not knowing the space available you could run some DOM tubing for a brace at an angle to the frame rail. One thing for sure, if anything fails, there are some expensive pieces in that area. You have 2 things, you want it stout but don't want the wrong piece to bend.

 

Something like this, forgive me Steve for butchering your nice work

 

That approach isn't going to work. See my post #7 of this thread with the quoted build/install from smoky_diesel, pictures 2 and 4 (from the top down).

The way the front end is assembled is the bumper mounts are actually part of the tow hooks. They are welded together (see picture 4). The frame perches have the tow hooks bolted to the top of them (see picture 2, then 4). The tow hook is actually threaded = it is the nut backing for the 3 bolts (that come up from underneath). The only viable option for attaching the receiver bracket is to mount it between the frame perch and the tow hook = sandwiched between. That sandwiching is what prevents a gusset of any type. If the gusset is underneath the receiver side plates the side plates would not lie flat against the frame perch. If the gussets are above the side plates then the tow hook will not mount flush against the top of the receiver plate.

Possibly the only option is to reinforce the weld - build it up on both sides with about 3-4 passes (welded fillet).

I will have to look at the space again, but it is conceivable that if the side plates are long enough (front to back) there may be space behind the tow hooks to put a top gusset, but that may be a long shot.

 

Just bring your truck over Steve, I have square tubing, DOM tubing and a receiver tube. I think we can just punch a hole through the frame and weld it in.... sound good?

 

Making a bit more headway here. I've hit a few snags with commands on TurboCAD. I managed to crash the computer working on the winch. I don't think this computer has the horsepower to really make use of the program, though it is at the recommended specs or better.

I haven't figured out joining projects yet... this is a couple of merged images just for illustration.

The cradle is far from done, its just a rough visualization. The reality check is that power unit alone is 170lbs - that doesn't include the the steel for the cradle. I would venture to say the whole assembly is going to be well over 200lbs. That will bring some physical challenges with moving it, that's for sure.

 

Steve can go first on that project.