Mounting a winch

[roverdevin]

Hi folks,

I know Dave did a lengthy post regarding his WARN winch, but I had a quick question regarding mounting my winch. Essentially, I am wondering if the stock bumper mounts are sufficient if I were to modify the bumper for a winch, or do I need additional bolts/brackets to the frame?

The winch is a Belleview 6000, and could be mounted by welding a 8' x 16' plate to the back of the bumper and cutting out the crankstart hole to accept a fairlead. This is the way it was mounted to the homemade bumper on the Series I I got it from.


Devin

[DaveB]

Hi Devin,

I wouldn't use just the stock mounts, unless you have a brand new galvanized frame. The frame horns are generally pretty weak after 35 years. There are, however, 2 holes just back of the standard bumper holes which are horizontal, so with little effort you could remove the bumper and put side plates on and run bolts through them. thus still the stock bumper, but the pull will be spread out over more of the frame.

Dave

[roverdevin]

Dave,

I do have a new galvanized frame, but I am still wary of using only stock mounts. I wish the later frames had factory winch mount holes in that first crossmember like the Series Is have! My particular (and probably unreasonably fussy) problem is that I have an aversion to drilling holes ANYWHERE in my car, but if there are existing horizontal holes, thats just the ticket! If your bumper used those holes, maybe I will have to drive out to the next meeting and take a look. My Bellview 6000 is dimensionally identical to the WARN 8274, and I'd love to have it going for the NW challenge!

Devin

[bclandrover]

Devin,

So you're planning on attending then???

Don

[roverdevin]

Well, I figure its a good enough excuse to get some much needed work done on my car. I was out with geabox problems last time the challenge was in BC, and was pretty disappointed, so yes, I'm planning on attending this time round.