Bellview winch bumper?

[ChrisK]

I've got a Bellview (Bellvue? Belleview?) 6000 winch waiting to be mounted on my '69 FJ40 (old winch for an old truck ) The current bumper is most assuredly *not* a work of art, and wants to be replaced.

Does anyone make a bumper that will mount this sucker (6 holes, not 4)? I'm looking for something simple. I've talked to a couple of local metal shops about it, and none of them are thrilled about cutting out all the little square holes for the normal bumper bolts or, seemingly, the job itself as a whole.

I guess I'd even be happy to find someone who would make me up such a bumper with a blank winch plate, and I'd drill it myself.

Thanks.

[Christeon]

Where are you located?

[rgentry]

I bought the Warn 8274 winch mount from SOR two years ago and it worked fine with my bellevue. I had to drill two additional holes in the mount but that was no problem. I don't see this mount on the Specter site any longer but I bet it's still made. This puts the roller fairlead just above the bumper.

[mjrsfj40]

I also have an "old" bellview winch for my '65 cruiser.

I built my own mount using 1/4" square tube (actually rectangular for the left side of the winch), cut notches in the bumper to hold the tubing, welded them in, top and bottom, cut a hole in the bumper and mounted a roller fairlead (with modification). I used grade 8 bolts to bolt through the bumper and tubing into the winch. Where the bolts go through the tubing, I welded in spacers in order to provide additional support. It works great!

Good luck with your project!

[bsilva132]

I used a 5.5" or 6" (I can't remember which, but it just fits over the stock mounting brackets) piece of C channel and welded a piece of 1/4" plate to it to mount the winch. Best pic I could find right now (post 226) http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=156854&page=8

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Christeon

Where are you located?

Palo Alto, CA (uh, let me go fix my profile...)

I need a new bumper anyway, so I'd like to find a complete solution rather than an add-on mount. JT Outfitters makes something close, but for the 8274, and doesn't seem to have extra "meat" to add the extra holes for the Bellview.

[FF LC FREAK]

I pretty much copied Jeff Zepp's design as seen here - http://www.rzeppa.org/tech/fbumper.htm. I made the bumper first and later added the winch. I got a winch mount for an 8274 with the winch for cheap. I had to cut it down to fit inside the frame rails. As others have said, I only had to drill the 2 outer holes to make the Belleview fit. I welded it on and that was it. It really wasn't too difficult.

[JJS]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

I need a new bumper anyway, so I'd like to find a complete solution rather than an add-on mount. JT Outfitters makes something close, but for the 8274, and doesn't seem to have extra "meat" to add the extra holes for the Bellview.

I was looking at that, too. I'm not sure on the quality of it. I have a Bellview that I need to mount somewhere.

[ChrisK]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm not crazy about the JT Outfitters unit - I'd rather have 1/4" steel than 3/16" for starters. But it's there and easy and relatively cheap...

I didn't know about Jeff's webpages. That's very useful, thanks. Maybe I'll end up trying to make this myself after all.

If I do, I might well be doing it via some CNC gear, so I will be able to provide Bellview winch plates... FF LC Nut, could you take a few measurements for me - like overall plate size, and size/location of the cable hole?

[ChrisK]

Say ... I just noticed in your photos that you have a bottom plate on your mount. Is that common? Important?

[ChrisK]

Hmm. Another set of possibilities: http://coolfj40.stores.yahoo.net/bumfronchanh.html looks like it might have enough spare on the winch plate to just drill two holes and be done with it. That has some appeal... no shackle mounts, though.

3/16", I see. Is that more common than 1/4"? Is it enough?

[amaurer]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Palo Alto, CA (uh, let me go fix my profile...)

I need a new bumper anyway, so I'd like to find a complete solution rather than an add-on mount. JT Outfitters makes something close, but for the 8274, and doesn't seem to have extra "meat" to add the extra holes for the Bellview.

I'm in PA too. Your truck is a 40? Are you the yellow one with diamond plate corners I see around sometimes?

[FF LC FREAK]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Thanks for the ideas. I'm not crazy about the JT Outfitters unit - I'd rather have 1/4" steel than 3/16" for starters. But it's there and easy and relatively cheap...

I didn't know about Jeff's webpages. That's very useful, thanks. Maybe I'll end up trying to make this myself after all.

If I do, I might well be doing it via some CNC gear, so I will be able to provide Bellview winch plates... FF LC Nut, could you take a few measurements for me - like overall plate size, and size/location of the cable hole?

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Say ... I just noticed in your photos that you have a bottom plate on your mount. Is that common? Important?

I'd recommend making it yourself. If you have a welder and a drill, its not really all that hard. I have attached my measurements to the picture below. I made the bumper out of 5" C channel and boxed the ends. The winch plate is 17.5" wide. The bumper mounts are at 18.25" apart, so the plate fits in nicely.

As far as the bottom plate underneath the winch, the plate was like that when I got it. It came from a tube/grill guard winch bumper. It didn't fit on my Cruiser, so I just cut off the winch plate. I left the bottom on it for a little added protection for the winch. I don't think it is really necessary, but it sure couldn't hurt.

Oh, and sorry about my feeble Microsoft paint rendition of my bumper. If you have any questions, let me know.

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by amaurer

I'm in PA too. Your truck is a 40? Are you the yellow one with diamond plate corners I see around sometimes?

I'm in Palo Alto, but the truck lives in Oakhurst

Thanks for the drawing - not feeble at all. I have the tools. I might have the skill ... but I'm short on time and long on backed-up projects. These days, I'm often willing to trade money for time, just to get them done. (See my other thread about carb and distributor and starter.)

We'll see. I have to admit that the CCOT bumper is looking good right now.

[ChrisK]

Well, here I am almost 6 months later and have made almost no progress. Par for the course. I dragged the winch out of storage today to clean it up a bit more. I split the case and added a drain plug, as recommended elsewhere.

I have access to a CNC plasma cutter locally, so I may try making my own winch plate for this thing. I'm still trying to figure out how it all mounts up. Today's fairleads seem to be 10" between mounting holes and only 7" or so across; my winch spool is 8.5" wide. How much does that matter, if at all? In your photos, FF LC FREAK, it appears that the fairlead is narrower than the spool, so I guess it works...

The other question I have is (since my truck lives 3 hours away) how much room I have between the rails to adjust things. The CCOT bumpers appear to put the cable hole dead center. If I mount the 6000 that way, will it fit? Will I be able to get to the "oil level" hole? Or should I push on to make the cable hole off center a bit (yours is 2" towards the driver)? (And how big is that cable hole, anyway? I see 2" high ... and compute the width to 8", which is narrower than the spool?)

Thanks.

[ChrisK]

Oh, one more question about your winch ... mine doesn't have any sort of cap or grease fitting at the non-motor end of the spindle. Could you post a better picture of yours? Is there something similar at the motor end?

[FF LC FREAK]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Well, here I am almost 6 months later and have made almost no progress. Par for the course. I dragged the winch out of storage today to clean it up a bit more. I split the case and added a drain plug, as recommended elsewhere.

I have access to a CNC plasma cutter locally, so I may try making my own winch plate for this thing. I'm still trying to figure out how it all mounts up. Today's fairleads seem to be 10" between mounting holes and only 7" or so across; my winch spool is 8.5" wide. How much does that matter, if at all? In your photos, FF LC FREAK, it appears that the fairlead is narrower than the spool, so I guess it works...

The other question I have is (since my truck lives 3 hours away) how much room I have between the rails to adjust things. The CCOT bumpers appear to put the cable hole dead center. If I mount the 6000 that way, will it fit? Will I be able to get to the "oil level" hole? Or should I push on to make the cable hole off center a bit (yours is 2" towards the driver)? (And how big is that cable hole, anyway? I see 2" high ... and compute the width to 8", which is narrower than the spool?)

Thanks.

Hi Chris,

Sorry to hear you haven't made any progress. I would take some more pictures for you, but I'm clear across the country in Maryland taking a class. I can get you some pictures when I get back around 6/1.

I can answer a couple of questions for you. Yes, the fairlead is a little narrawer than the spool. It seems to work okay.

As far as the center hole, I'm pretty sure it is only 8" wide. I did it that way so that the fairlead would fit over it. The cable does not rub on the metal at all. My winch is mounted in the center, so I made the cable hole offset to match the winch. I'm not sure it would fit if you tried to center the hole. The problem isn't the frame rails since there is plenty of room. It is the triangular bumper gussets that take up space. I only have about an inch on either side of my winch plate.

Hopefully this helps. If you still want pictures, PM me and I'll get them to you when I get home.

[HawkDriver]

I could build you one.

Already had been talking about it with another guy here. Check out my bumper thread here for my other work.

Those are some cool ass winches BTW.

Jeremy

[ChrisK]

I could build you one.

Yeah? Let's talk. Your photos look great. Interestingly enough, the dimensions on my winch are different from the ones in the 8274 thread. Take a look at photos here:

Image077 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Image075 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Maybe the spacing changed as Warn modified the winch; the vertical spacing on my winch is 4.5", but the horizontal is 11.5" and 13". There's some game to be played to get a standard 10" fairlead to fit - I'm guessing that the driver's side end should share a common bolt with the bottom winch bolt on that end, but the fairlead gets its own bolt at the other end. (I'm going to use a standard fairlead, aluminum, with synthetic winch rope - if I have to radius the inside edge of the fairlead, so be it.)

I've had several go-rounds with the CCOT folks, and they seem uninterested in doing anything custom - I offered to send them a fitted winch plate to be welded to one of their bumpers and then all powdercoated, but got nowhere.

I really do intend to make up a .dxf file for the winch plate and try running it on the CNC plasma cutter. That thing is wicked cool I'm learning to weld, but I don't think I want my first job to be a bumper that I'm going to yank on in an emergency. Sounds like you don't need the winch plate, either.

The existing bumper is a complete butcher job - someone welded some C section to the gusset plates on top and the side brackets on the bottom. I have new side brackets and already put light tabs on, also have new gusset plates and hardware. (So, yes, I will have to cut those PITA rivets off.)

[HawkDriver]

Alright let's move forward in PMs then.

Jeremy

[fj40forlife]

if you would of posted this 2 weeks ago i owuld have had one for you

[ChrisK]

I took some better photos, and stashed them here:

Bellview 6000 winch - a set on Flickr

I'll add to that set as needed. Looks like the end plate location is not quite the ideal location that I thought - I get more like 12-3/4", but since the end plate isn't fixed, perhaps the right thing is to make the holes 13" apart and let the cap float to fit properly.

Spool is 8.5" wide.

Looks like my winch is early enough that there is not a pressed-in grease cap in the end plate, but a zerk that supplies grease to the bearing through the shaft. The zerk was missing, which is why I didn't figure it out at first.

[FJ40zen]

I've been following this thread for a few days since it came back up. I bought one of these and then called John Witt who is near Minneapolis. 852-927-8811. He can give you lots of information on these, but he is not on the Web anywhere. I bought a bunch of parts from him to ensure I have everything to make this work. It is still in the garage, but I'll have it together this summer. I bought a HFS 8274 bumper due to it's thickness over a year ago and I am going to have an extesion welded to the plate onto the right side to make this work. I remember seeing these winches back in the early '70s and they were known as a very good one. Too bad Warn didn't keep the same mounting for all of their winches after they acquired this one from Belleview. We wouldn't be having this problem.

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by FJ40zen

I bought a HFS 8274 bumper due to it's thickness over a year ago and I am going to have an extesion welded to the plate onto the right side to make this work.

Let us know how that works out ... I'm not certain that there's enough room between the frame rails, but it would be nice to learn that there is. Are you going to get it all powdercoated again?

I realized the other day that I haven't tried to make this motor turn for a while. I hooked it to my 55A battery charger and the charger just groans. How much starting current do these things take?

I agree, it's a strong, dead simple unit and very period looking. I drilled the bottom of the case for a drain plug. I have the switch (needs a small repair) and control cables, but will have to make up some battery cables. Do you know where the firewall is meant to be penetrated for the control cables?

[FJ40zen]

It seems like it will be fine as long as I use the existing left side holes. I will post back up here when I get around to doing this. I basically posted to get in here and let you guys know that you are not alone and to subscribe to the thread.

Not powdercoating since the bumper already has nicks. I wheel it whenever I can. Rust is not too bad of a problem here unless you drive in the salt during the winter. :(

I had to see/hear this run before I got my money out. It is pretty strong. I like it for it's simplicity and cool 1960/1970s factor. I would fab/weld this myself if I had the old Lincoln Arc welder I sold for dirt ten years ago before I moved out here.