winch bumper build

[ned]

did a bit more work.

really just getting onto the fun bit, which is the angle of either wing section. It has to be a complex angle. If you've looked at a lot of the 4x4 market bumpers, which I have, they generally have complex angles, so I need a complex angle dammit.

The other thing is to make it look like I didn't make it. At home with my welder. Try and make it look professionally made. Bit of a challenge... May need to smooth and polish all the welds and bumps, imperfections. Groom it, and then get it powder coated. That should prob do the trick.

The reason it is this shape, is that I want a platform to stand on. The truck is very tall and this will allow better access to the engine bay.

This is just threaded bar I used to visualise the angle for either wing section. They wont be part of the finished bumper.

This is all just tacked together. I'll melt the bejesus out of it, once I'm happy it all fits and is correct.

 

[Turbo]

Looks like an interesting project, good luck with it.

If I was doing that I would have made the plate the winch bolts to the full width of the angle plates that bolt to the chassis. Then you would get a weld on both webs of the angle and a much stronger job. You could still do it by adding in 2 triangles at the end of your base plate.

You could also get a cover made for that winch with rounded edges to make it pedestrian friendly. Either in fibreglass or checkerplate aluminium would look cool.

 

[ned]

cheers Turbo, yep was just thinking last night of putting some gussets on the angle. had planned to make a cover to the winch too, will be the last thing i look at.

 

[ned]

did some more work filling in the gaps. Was looking at some of the other work posted around this forum and good lord there are some talented people on here. mine is cat in comparison (terrible), but, i enjoyed it, - compared to my day job looking at software, tapping away at this is a great release / relief. Love bridging these gaps, was sad when i ran out of them

 

[ned]

Welded on some gussets as per Turbos advice

had a mess around with cardboard to see what shape I could come up with. This is none to complex but i think it would look well

 

[eSCHEn]

Really enjoying this one Ned. From another software fixer - I know what you mean, really nice to drive something more fun than a chair

 

[ned]

ah cheers )

yah deff, burning stuff and hitting things with a hammer is a welcome contrast to my day job.

 

[ned]

Hi all. well have been tapping away. The metal of course warped when I welded it, so anticipating this I test fitted it back onto the truck to see if everything still lined up. It didnt, so i cut, adjusted, and re-welded it. Best to do this before welding on the sheet steel 'skin'.

I'm after encountering a problem.

The 7mm plate that i used has been weakened by the holes Ive drilled in it, and it bent close to one of the uprights.

It dawned on me this morning that the lasndrover husky winch mount plates, though they are 6mm, have a bend in the front where the fairlead sits, in order to stiffen them, and mine is missing this bend.

This is not good news, I'm not sure will I have to cut it all apart and weld in a new plate, or will re-enforcing it suffice. ..Not sure...

 

[GW8IZR]

plate across the front and pick up the fairlead mounts on the winch ?

 

[ned]

Yah, maybe.

I actually have a Landrover winch mount with the bend and the fairlead cutout in it. I could cut it behind the bend and weld it in, then maybe re-enforce it again at the back too.
This is gonna sound stupid, but, I was looking forward to having the winch fully revealed, as an aesthetic feature. Will have a look this evening and see what can be done.

 

[skotl]

Are you going to put some more triangular bracing on it? I'd be concerned about that design as-is, and the lateral forces if you're pulling a stuck two-ton vehicle at an angle - you need to assume forces of between 2 and five tons (that's why you'll have a 13,000lb / 6.5 ton winch) and what happens if that's at a 30 or 45 degree angle to the straight-ahead.

Sorry for being the H&S downer but it's going to be nae fun if it lets go...

 

[ned]

yes thats seeming like a good idea alright.

any examples of where i might put them? I'll draw up some ideas tonight

 

[octo0072000]

i would want the bottom of the winch mounting plate braced back up to the chassis about a foot back bolted to chassis and bottom of plate on both sides the way the four bolts are near the top of the angle the winch will bend that angle with a snatch block(doubled up rope) you could end up with 12 tons on it
or more with another vehicle trying to pull you out of a hole

 

[ned]

yep I get you. Good idea, thanks for the input )

 

[skotl]

Good stuff. Definitely have angles welded into the winch mounting tray - don't rely on it wanting to keep itself in a rectangle shape
And you're definitely mounting directly onto the chassis rails, right?

Also - make sure you're using high tensile bolts. Again, it's not just the straight ahead they need to be concerned with but the angle, too.
I'd use 12.9 but people who know way more about metal composition than me (paging @TechnicAl) can probably be more specific than me.

Edit: Found this on a quick google search - no idea how accurate it is, but gives you an idea of what you need to consider

A 10mm bolt shank through 3mm plate will take around 0.5 tons bearing force without distorting/tearing the plate whereas 6mm plate will take 1.03 tons. An 8.8 M10 bolt in shear will take over 3 tonnes in shear so the tensile strength of the bolt is less of a consideration than the bearing capability of the plates. An M12 shank will increase the bearing force to 0.62 and 1.64 tons for the same plates.

 

[octo0072000]

Good stuff. Definitely have angles welded into the winch mounting tray - don't rely on it wanting to keep itself in a rectangle shape
And you're definitely mounting directly onto the chassis rails, right?

Also - make sure you're using high tensile bolts. Again, it's not just the straight ahead they need to be concerned with but the angle, too.
I'd use 12.9 but people who know way more about metal composition than me (paging @TechnicAl) can probably be more specific than me.

Edit: Found this on a quick google search - no idea how accurate it is, but gives you an idea of what you need to consider

problem i see Skoti is he's mounting on to bolts going in to the ends of the chassis rail bumper mountings hence so the pull is all on the threads i said it need to triangulate back to the chassis with bolts so side pull on the bolt shank see too many winch bumpers go flying when using a Kinetic rope as a snatch pull 20 plus tons

this give you an idea what happens he's lucky to walk away from this

and this rope fastened to axle

 

[Robotstar5]

problem i see Skoti is he's mounting on to bolts going in to the ends of the chassis rail bumper mountings hence so the pull is all on the threads i said it need to triangulate back to the chassis with bolts so side pull on the bolt shank see too many winch bumpers go flying when using a Kinetic rope as a snatch pull 20 plus tons

The KERR (kinetic energy recovery rope) was supposed to be used on armoured vehicles with the hatches shut, but off roaders soon started using it. I only saw one incident of it going wrong at an AWDC event, NATO hitch came off the front of a Jeep and went through the back window of a Range Rover ending up in the front passenger seat luckily empty at the time

 

[octo0072000]

The KERR (kinetic energy recovery rope) was supposed to be used on armoured vehicles with the hatches shut, but off roaders soon started using it. I only saw one incident of it going wrong at an AWDC event, NATO hitch came off the front of a Jeep and went through the back window of a Range Rover ending up in the front passenger seat luckily empty at the time

iv'e seen too idiots i marshaled a quite a few play days in my time people just don't see the danger

 

[Robotstar5]

iv'e seen too idiots i marshaled a quite a few play days in my time people just don't see the danger

I used to be a licenced rally recovery unit and spectators used to get quite stroppy when I moved them out of the danger areas while I was winching, some photographers thought their official tabard made them invulnerable

 

[skotl]

I don't disagree with anything that octo and robotstar have said - this is why I don't do anything structural...