Budget Bulletproof Bumper/winch combo
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JK Newbie
Joined: Jul 2007
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Budget Bulletproof Bumper/winch combo
Wow, it amazes me how much decent bumpers cost these days! I knew the plastic would take a quick THRASHING from me with a couple Rubicon trail rides and I knew I wanted to put a winch on as well. I know steel prices have gone through the roof but come on! I don't have all my old shop tools anymore so I decided to do what I could with what I had and/or could obtain inexpensively.
I started with a Smittybilt XRC8 winch. It was cheap, I don't plan on needing it much, it has a 3 year warranty, and it has been taken apart by someone on another forum and seems to be of decent quality. Then I ordered the winch mounting plate from harbor freight. Steel is steel and its cheap, thick and powdercoated. Bought some bolts, a couple clamps, 2" steel strap, and 2"angle iron and some cutoff wheels, grinding discs, and a cheap 4 1/2" grinder at Home Depot. Went to the local steel supply and picked up a piece of 2x6 3/16" box tube that was about 4' long from the remnant rack for the bumper.
Job goes as follows (so far)
1) Remove the stock bumper cover and bumper. (save hardware)
2) Set use grinder with cutoff wheel to trim the top of the stock bumper mounting plates (attatched to the frame) so that the winch plate can sit flat on top of the framerails.
3) Drill 2, 1/2" holes into the frame on the top through the mounting plate.
4) Cut the top of the front stock mounting surface (that was trimmed in step 2) to give yourself access to the inside of the frame for those bolts you just drilled holes for.
5) Bolt the winch plate to the top of the frame.
6) Grind the bolt heads down a bit so they fit between the winch plate an the winch for the roller fairlead.
7) Bolt in the roller fairlead
8) Now take some measurements and decide how wide you want your bumper. I chose 40"
9) Use the cutoff wheel to cut to length
10) Now there must be a void cut out of the new bumper to make way for the roller fairlead. It will be cut down about 2.5" in the middle 12" wide to go around the roller fairlead. Take the measurements and grab your cutoff wheeled grinder again.
11) Clamp the bumper to the front of the frame and mark the outer mounting holes from the back.
12) Take the bumper off and drill the holes out to 1/2"
13) Use the stock hardware by putting it through the holes on the inside of the bumper. Bolt it up.
14) With the handy dandy cutoff wheel, optionally you can cut an angle into the outer portions of the bumper for looks.
-- This is where the pics stop as I need to complete the following steps myself---
15) Pull the bumper back off and and make some mounts with the angle iron for the winch plate by drilling 4 holes in a 6" piece of angle (2 on each surface). Bolt the angle to the winch plate and drill the holes into the frame to bolt the new mounts in.
16) Here is where a welder is needed but it is OPTIONAL. If you don't have one, I would recommend taking it to a muffler shop as it should be CHEAP to have them do the next 2 steps for you. Weld a tack to the factory mounting hardware thats inside the bumper (easily accessible from the sides of the bumper)
17) Use the strap to plate in the sides of the bumper and the void for the roller fairlead
18) Weld the shackle mounts to the bumper wherever you want them.
19) Remove the bumper, prime and paint.
20) Bolt back on and go beat it!!!
I'll post more pics as I finish it up. If there is anything that you don't understand, and a pic would help, let me know and I will take them as needed.
Cost is:
2x6 box tube - 20.39
2x2 angle iron - 13.50
2" flat strap - 9.99
Nuts & bolts - 8.00
Grinding, cutoff wheels, clamps and a grinder 50.00 or so (the grinder and clamps we will use again...on the rear bumper, coming soon
)
Primer and paint 8.00 (will use again on the rear bumper)
The winch plate about 40 with shipping IIRC
Winch - 293.00 shipped (got it with and online coupon from 4wparts)
Shackle mounts - 31.40 pair shipped from ebay (OPTIONAL)
Shackles /black powdercoated/ - 27.00 pair shipped from ebay (OPTIONAL)
So total cost involved in the winch bumper is about 149.88
add the recovery points (58.40) and its 208.28
add the winch and total setup is about 500.00, winch, bumper and all.
If you didn't need the winch and were just going for the bumper cost would be around 109.00 to 167.40 and you have some new tools (grinder, clamps).
Not bad for a budget build...
Approach angle is good...
Here is the shackle mounts and shackles I used...
I started with a Smittybilt XRC8 winch. It was cheap, I don't plan on needing it much, it has a 3 year warranty, and it has been taken apart by someone on another forum and seems to be of decent quality. Then I ordered the winch mounting plate from harbor freight. Steel is steel and its cheap, thick and powdercoated. Bought some bolts, a couple clamps, 2" steel strap, and 2"angle iron and some cutoff wheels, grinding discs, and a cheap 4 1/2" grinder at Home Depot. Went to the local steel supply and picked up a piece of 2x6 3/16" box tube that was about 4' long from the remnant rack for the bumper.
Job goes as follows (so far)
1) Remove the stock bumper cover and bumper. (save hardware)
2) Set use grinder with cutoff wheel to trim the top of the stock bumper mounting plates (attatched to the frame) so that the winch plate can sit flat on top of the framerails.
3) Drill 2, 1/2" holes into the frame on the top through the mounting plate.
4) Cut the top of the front stock mounting surface (that was trimmed in step 2) to give yourself access to the inside of the frame for those bolts you just drilled holes for.
5) Bolt the winch plate to the top of the frame.
6) Grind the bolt heads down a bit so they fit between the winch plate an the winch for the roller fairlead.
7) Bolt in the roller fairlead
8) Now take some measurements and decide how wide you want your bumper. I chose 40"
9) Use the cutoff wheel to cut to length
10) Now there must be a void cut out of the new bumper to make way for the roller fairlead. It will be cut down about 2.5" in the middle 12" wide to go around the roller fairlead. Take the measurements and grab your cutoff wheeled grinder again.
11) Clamp the bumper to the front of the frame and mark the outer mounting holes from the back.
12) Take the bumper off and drill the holes out to 1/2"
13) Use the stock hardware by putting it through the holes on the inside of the bumper. Bolt it up.
14) With the handy dandy cutoff wheel, optionally you can cut an angle into the outer portions of the bumper for looks.
-- This is where the pics stop as I need to complete the following steps myself---
15) Pull the bumper back off and and make some mounts with the angle iron for the winch plate by drilling 4 holes in a 6" piece of angle (2 on each surface). Bolt the angle to the winch plate and drill the holes into the frame to bolt the new mounts in.
16) Here is where a welder is needed but it is OPTIONAL. If you don't have one, I would recommend taking it to a muffler shop as it should be CHEAP to have them do the next 2 steps for you. Weld a tack to the factory mounting hardware thats inside the bumper (easily accessible from the sides of the bumper)
17) Use the strap to plate in the sides of the bumper and the void for the roller fairlead
18) Weld the shackle mounts to the bumper wherever you want them.
19) Remove the bumper, prime and paint.
20) Bolt back on and go beat it!!!
I'll post more pics as I finish it up. If there is anything that you don't understand, and a pic would help, let me know and I will take them as needed.
Cost is:
2x6 box tube - 20.39
2x2 angle iron - 13.50
2" flat strap - 9.99
Nuts & bolts - 8.00
Grinding, cutoff wheels, clamps and a grinder 50.00 or so (the grinder and clamps we will use again...on the rear bumper, coming soon
)Primer and paint 8.00 (will use again on the rear bumper)
The winch plate about 40 with shipping IIRC
Winch - 293.00 shipped (got it with and online coupon from 4wparts)
Shackle mounts - 31.40 pair shipped from ebay (OPTIONAL)
Shackles /black powdercoated/ - 27.00 pair shipped from ebay (OPTIONAL)
So total cost involved in the winch bumper is about 149.88
add the recovery points (58.40) and its 208.28
add the winch and total setup is about 500.00, winch, bumper and all.
If you didn't need the winch and were just going for the bumper cost would be around 109.00 to 167.40 and you have some new tools (grinder, clamps).
Not bad for a budget build...
Approach angle is good...
Here is the shackle mounts and shackles I used...
Great fab work....
