Home-Built Sliders and Hidden Winch Mount

This isn't a "How-To" or "Install Guide", just some pics of the sliders and hidden winch mount we fab'd up for my truck.

HIDDEN WINCH MOUNT

For the hidden winch mount, we reinforced the stock aluminum bumper with 1/4" 6061 T6 aluminum, fully plated, gusseted, reinforced, and TIG/MIG welded.




Sanded, primed, and painted it flat-black.



I was a little apprehensive about using aluminum at first, but it is strong and stout as hell! Plus with the synthetic line, I saved about 60-70lbs. up front. Say what you want, but this mount will hold-up to anything I plan on winching with it.




I wired up the control box in front of the radiator. I had to use a different mounting bracket than what came with the winch, and I had just enough wire to reach the battery. Really clean install, out of the way, clears the radiator, and the control still has room to plug in. The clutch and everything is easily accessible without removing the grille.










SLIDERS

For the sliders, we did a simple round-tube design using 2"OD x .188"-wall HREW, and beefy L-brackets, fully-gusseted and welded to the frame. It ended up about 3/4" below the pinch-weld, and we turned up the outer-rail to 18.3°



We decided not to do a round/square "Hybrid" since all round tubing would create a larger contact footprint on each joint/weld, and in turn, increase rigidity.

Another unique twist is the extra support brace we welded in back. Since the DC/LB is so long, there was almost 23" past the straight frame that needed to be reinforced. Many sliders for the DC/LB have little support in the rear, and can flex quite a bit by just stepping on them. This cured that problem.




Sanded, Primed and painted flat-black as well. I also added some 3M Traction Tape to each side.





They have already come in handy on the trails...

 

Damn that's some nice work bro! I really like that hidden winch mount you built up

 

Thanks RMAN! It turned out way better than I expected. I wanted to buy the one from Undercoverhwms, but I'm cheap and couldn't justify spending almost $500 for it.

 

Damn that hidden winch mount is badass! good work

 

Build me one! . Looks sick, yeah the undercoverhwms ones are so freakin expensive.

 

That is by far the cleanest winch mount I've ever seen, really nice work.

Those sliders came out great too, but square tube is stiffer... Like it matters lol.

 

Damn man great welds.

 

.188 wall beef!

 

Very nice work indeed!!!
The sneek and peek winch is extra slick!!
Well done.

 

Looking good. Why no kick-out on the sliders? Ease of build?

 

Damn good job Ben!

 

Thanks BOSS!

Yeah they are. Well-built though. I saved a ton of money and weight doing it myself, so I'm pretty happy about it.

Thanks steve o! The round is plenty stout. But yeah, it doesn't really matter and that's what we had on-hand.

The beautiful bead-work was done by my uncle (in-law) at his shop. He did some amazing work, and was instrumental in helping me make this a reality.

 

They look great man. But like someone posted about me why not kick outs?

 

pure beefy goodness! Almost as good as the triple Baconator!

Thanks man, that's what I was going for.

Yeah, we originally had planned to do a 90° bend for a 2-piece kick-out but simplicity won in the end.

Thanks Jason! Now I just need some skids, maybe Eric will offer another GB
(hint, hint Max)

As Mitch suggested, it came down to time and convenience. It would have been significantly more work and more room for error (symmetry-wise) to add the kick-outs.

*Plus, after the narrow trails we did @ Naches, I don't think making my truck ANY wider would be a good idea.

 

Ohhh you guys and you're fancy aluminum welding! I'm just sitting here wishing my TIG welder had a Hi-freq AC setting so I could be doing this...Looks like I'll just have to get the Miller 350 now

awesome job man!

 

holy shit nice work!

i noticed that your winch solenoid is mounted in front of your radiator. i might move that to a higher location it wouldn't take much and it would be completely out of the weather. i mounted mine in front of my master cylinder and sealed the shit out of it with butyl rubber and black silicon. just a thought as i know those are the first things to fail on a winch maybe i got paranoid and went over board though lol.

your sliders look awesome and your welds are beautiful once again great job dude

 

+1 there is nothing more frustrating than needing a winch and not being able to use it cause you gots a messed up solenoid/control box/magic black thingy that helps you get un-stuck

 

thanks for posting this. exactly what i needed man thanks. is that winch mount all 1/4"?

 

That was my original plan, rig up a bracket to use the pre-threaded holes back there. The only problem is that copper is expensive right now, and 30' of 2/0 was about $120. I plan on doing that in the future for sure.

Everything except the stock aluminum bumper.