Custom winch mount setup

Hi all, Figured I would post my custom winch setup in case some were interested. I got the idea off another thread I found on here.

Started by taking the bumper off one weekend to take some measurements



Then made my cad design and had the pieces laser cut and welded by a friend. Its made of 1/4" Aluminum 6061 T6.



Back in the garage for some test fits/slight modifications





One last test fit before paint.



Painted flat black and installed.







And the end result.





So far I only got to use it to pull out a stump.



I only re-used the front bumper reinforcement bar, not the two brackets that hold it on. This is because the brackets are expensive and I wanted to buy another front bumper reinforcement bar so I could continue to drive my truck during the project and still have the capability to return it to stock.

I enough people are interested I might consider updating my CAD files and giving out the required files to get the plates laser cut and getting a decent welding assembly drawing out.

This is my first post on here so I'm hoping the pictures work...

 

I like it. Good job I plan on doing something similar and I only have 7 days to do it

 

Welcome to TW. Really great first post! And nice job on your ingenuity. It is great to have innovative new members to the community.

Because you are new, take the following as constructive criticism and by no means personal.

While your execution and packaging do look great and very clean, the crash bar you have welded your recovery winch to is designed to crumple, fail, absorb impact and sacrifice itself to protect the truck and passengers. Under no circumstance should a high load bearing recovery device be mounted on a structure designed to fail. Period. Zero exceptions. It is difficult to tell how much was reused in the photos and CAD drawings, but the answer should be zero. I would advise replacing the failure portion of the structure that was reused with a stronger structure designed not to fail. This needs to be an exceptionally strong point of the truck for recovery.

 

Hi, I appreaciate your feedback and you are correct, no parts designed to fail should be used for recoveries.

However the parts which are designed to fail have all been raplaced. The only part I kept is the front beam part that provided the mounting points for little brackets that hold the bumper. It does not provide any structural strenght in my assembly. The failure portion that is designed to crumble are the two mounting brackets for that same beam and those have been replaced. My design also adds additionnal mounting points under the frame. I am very confident in its ability to be used for strong recoveries.

 

Looks good! I agree with @crashnburn80 's safety concern. I think that the crumple zone that you pulled out and replaced may seem part of the winch mount because you used it in the photo shoot to hold up your fabbed mount for painting and it's not really part of the mount design, right?

 

Yep! it is only there to hold it upright for the photo. Not part of the actual assembly.

 

So you have new 1/4" top plate, mounted to new 1/4" boxed supports, faced with the OEM boxed crash bar? What is the thickness of the crash bar? How much does your mounting plate weigh w/o the winch?

 

Yeah thats pretty much the structure, along with some gussets. Crash bar is only about 1/8"

I haven't weighted the assembly but software tells me about 25lbs. This doesn't include the weight of the welds however.

 

Sorta unrelated, but did you do any electrical upgrades to your truck or did you just hook the winch up to your stock setup?

 

Just hooked it up to the stock setup. I do have the towing package which helps since it comes with a bigger battery and bigger alternator.

 

Well, it has been 7 days! Did you actually get to make yours? If you need help and decided to extend you deadline let me know. I did say I would consider giving out cad files for it if there was serious interest.

 

I did. A little rough around the edges. Didn't have time to clean up the little details but it was functional for my Canadian overland trip. Still needs some small additions.

 

Good work! Big project to take on in a week's time