Minivan v2.0 Winch Mount and Bumper

[tobyw]

With snow season coming on, it's time to start thinking about getting stuck And part of getting stuck is, well, getting un-stuck. So, I broke out some 1/4" plate, the welder, plasma cutter, and drill press, and got to work on a winch mount to perch my trusty Warn on the Minivan v2.0...











Still have a couple mounting tabs to add for the rear section of the mount to the frame rails, drill the holes for the fairlead mount, and then I need to clean off all the weld spatter and slap on some paint.

That solves the actual winch mounting issue, but still leaves me without a bumper. More to come as the frosty beverages are consumed...

[SPR]

I sure would like to see a demo of your plasma cutter in action. Nice job.

[TJDave]

Mmmm......Plasma. I just like that word.

Nice work. Nice winch. What are the plans for the cable? New synthetic, or plain 'ol steel?

[Wrench]

For some reason this:

Reminds me of this:

[SPR]

Paint that dog blue and you got your mascot.

[tobyw]

What are the plans for the cable? New synthetic, or plain 'ol steel?

I've always run 3/8" Amsteel Blue synthetic winch line. It's just unspooled right now for ease of mockup.

Here is the finished product prior to paint:





I've got a few ideas for the bumper itself starting to formulate, but my free time will be limited for the next several weekends due to prior engagements. Hopefully I can at least have it roughed out for FYBR

[tobyw]

After weighing out the myriad of options that come with building your own front bumper, I kept coming back to the thought of perhaps using the stock plastic piece. As horrible looking as the JK Unlimited is in bone stock form (it’s not a lot better regardless of what you do…), one of the items I’m not upset about is the factory front bumper. It’s got some lines, curves, even style if you will, and the fact that it weighs next to nothing is a real bonus in my opinion. For me, a front bumper on a Jeep serves no real purpose other than mounting a winch and perhaps some auxiliary lights, and in this particular application, those two things are completely independent from one another. With the winch mount handled, I took the carving knife to the factory plastic bumper and made it work with the new winch cradle.









I still need to perform some creative fab work to get some recovery points , and my thoughts are now turning toward making some sort of a stubby version of the factory bumper, perhaps chopping a few inches out of each side and reattaching the end caps somehow. But for now, this looks much better to me (and the boss). And the best part is, the factory fog lights are operable, and the weight penalty is completely negated. Oh, and it was FREE.

[iaccocca]

Looks good to me. And, I think one of the charms of the JK is the integrated lights in the bumper, so why get rid of that. My front bumper seems to seek out items to hit (completely independently of course) and if that light weight sucker absorbs the abuse instead of passing it off to something important (like me) all the better.

[OldGreen]

Seriously. . .the JK Geeks will be all over this. Sorry about the tow hooks. . .

[benw]

Looks good. I like stealth mods like that. The tow hooks looked like they would bend or break the way you had them mounted before.

[OldGreen]

That was factory. . .

[tobyw]

Yep, those were the factory hooks mounted in the factory location, even using the factory hardware Lots and lots of discussions about them on the JK forums, but they are more than proven. That said, I'm not sure if I'll stick with them or go with a more traditional shackle mount tab somehow, but one way or another I'll get some recovery points up there.