I have a 2001 E-350 that I want to add a front winch to. I am having a lot of trouble finding winch mounts specific to the van. I can find full bumpers with integral winch mounts but they run in excess of a grand usually.

First question: Does anybody know of a specific winch mount that with fit the van for a reasonable price?

Second question: How large are the differences between the F-350 truck and E-350 vans on the front end as far as width, mounting holes ect? I have a welder / cutting torch setup and don't mind doing a little fab work to make it work. If the frames are roughly the same I was thinking I could just cut holes in the bumper to make the mount fit.

I know I could use a front mount trailer hitch but I've always been told the strength of those is suspect for anything but linear pulling.

 

I'm curious about this also, especially pertaining to how it has changed between an '86 E350 vs. more modern F-series trucks, since I have the same desires for accessories and can also fabricate metal. What I would also like to avoid doing is buying a $1,000 bumper/grill guard and find it completely incompatible.

(It's gotten to the point where I'm about to make my own...)

 

I'm sure the intregal bumpers are nice and all. To me it's not worth the money they are asking. It would be one thing if it was a 2016 F350, but I payed 3 grand for mine to use as a kind of budget truck/hunting mobile. Id rather a cheaper solution.

For what they want for some of those bumpers I could drop in a reman engine.

 

Frames aren't even close...you'd have about as much work mounting an F350 bumper to a Ram 2500. Not that it couldn't be done with a small amount of fabrication or anything, but it certainly wouldn't bolt right on.

 

You might register and take a look over here in the Sportsmobile Forum
There's a guy building a nice conversion kit to mount an F350 ARB winch bumper to the van. Looks great in my opinion.
Pic taken from the fabricators thread and linked: