Thoughts on modding an ARB winch bumper.

[jynx]

So has anyone thought about putting a 1/4" or 3/8" plate on top of and from frame rail to frame rail on an arb and creating a winch plate so that a winch could be mounted more directly to the frame and allow for a little more wiggle room for some of the larger winches? Longer bolts could be used in original mounting holes. I haven't measured but I think it would line the drum up about right to work with the existing slot. Would add some bracing to the front plate and also below the plate to the frame horns of the bumper.

Would the extra weight be worth the effort?

Opinions??

Thanks,

Tucker

 

[Tapage]

I mod the factory Toyota plate that hold my Toyota winch mount it over the ARB frame rails and then mount it to the frame as standard instructions ..

 

[nuclearlemon]

how big of a winch are you putting on? i put an m15000 in my arb with no issues. the only mods i've done to my arb is to cut the outer bars off.

are you thinking of keeping everything mounted on the lower portion of the frame rail, because you don't want to block too much of the radiator.

 

[jynx]

I have an XRC12 that I will be putting in soon I hope. I was actually thinking of putting the plate on top of the frame rails. I am pretty sure that the winch will fit with the feet forward, Greetruck did a nice thread on his install a few months back. It was his thread that actually mentioned that you can buy the ARB kit to space the winch back far enough to clear the front, and he mentioned that he didn't want to space it too far back because it is a lot of weight hanging on the bolts and adding spacers increases the moment arm.

So that got me to thinking that a lot of the tube bumpers and most of the j**p bumpers use a winch plate between the frame rails, so I figure if I pull the bumper to do the install, I could add a plate across the top and weld it to the frame horn mounts, drill it so I can bolt it thru using the existing mounts, then mount the winch, feet down, far enough back to not trim anything.

I know it sounds like a lot of un-necessary work, and it probably would be, I just thought it would give a guy more mounting options for the winch.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Tucker