Warn 8274 on an ARB front bumper. Looking for pics where the grille was modified/trimmed.

[cbmontgo]

I've got an 8274 and an ARB winch bumper and am probably going to merge them onto my '96.

I've read the threads and it looks like there are two ways to do this. Either (1) trim the bumper, or (2) trim the grille.

Has anyone been able to trim the grille without it looking like crap? I've decided against trimming the bumper. May end of going with a regular winch if I can't do this in a way that looks decent.

So...I am looking for up close pics where you had success trimming the grille.

 

[80t0ylc]

Or the third way… Get the correct ARB bumper. I believe the commercial ARB bumper for an 80 is the correct one for the 8274.

 

[cbmontgo]

Or the third way… Get the correct ARB bumper. I believe the commercial ARB bumper for an 80 is the correct one for the 8274.

IF you can find one, yes.

 

[alia176]

I heart a Warn 8274 and I looked into it for my ARB. From what I recall, you have to cut, and bump out the lower center bar. At least that's the route I'd take vs chopping up the grill.

 

[cbmontgo]

I heart a Warn 8274 and I looked into it for my ARB. From what I recall, you have to cut, and bump out the lower center bar. At least that's the route I'd take vs chopping up the grill.

View attachment 3932070

That is correct. The center bar has to be cut out and the bumper has to be trimmed up in a few areas. I think that cutting the grille is a much easier route from what I'm seeing and reading. Just trying to see if there is a clean way to do it.

 

[KWalkerM]

You will have to cut the ARB bumper out due to the bumper angle since the winch womt sit flush. I run 3/8s spacers which makes it rub directly against the grille. I just trimmed it up a little cleaner this week and dont have new pictures but heres one from last week when I was pulled the 8274 and and older photo of it in place.

 

[cbmontgo]

You will have to cut the ARB bumper out due to the bumper angle since the winch womt sit flush. I run 3/8s spacers which makes it rub directly against the grille. I just trimmed it up a little cleaner this week and dont have new pictures but heres one from last week when I was pulled the 8274 and and older photo of it in place.

View attachment 3934384

View attachment 3934385

That looks really good.

 

[Darkstar909]

Youll need spacers so the winch isnt contacting the bumper. I just installed the winch into the bumper and put the bumper on the truck. Mark the outline and take the bumper off. Its pretty flimsy but the grill had cracks in it beforehand. Its a spare grill and id rather have the warn 8274 anyways. Its an amazing winch! Oh and the cross member where your signals are might have to be cut.

 

[cbmontgo]

Youll need spacers so the winch isnt contacting the bumper. I just installed the winch into the bumper and put the bumper on the truck. Mark the outline and take the bumper off. Its pretty flimsy but the grill had cracks in it beforehand. Its a spare grill and id rather have the warn 8274 anyways. Its an amazing winch! Oh and the cross member where your signals are might have to be cut.
View attachment 3936097View attachment 3936098

Thank you.

 

[80t0ylc]

Youll need spacers so the winch isnt contacting the bumper. I just installed the winch into the bumper and put the bumper on the truck. Mark the outline and take the bumper off. Its pretty flimsy but the grill had cracks in it beforehand. Its a spare grill and id rather have the warn 8274 anyways. Its an amazing winch! Oh and the cross member where your signals are might have to be cut.
View attachment 3936097View attachment 3936098

I like that fix and it looks like it works well! What concerns me is how much airflow it takes out of the radiator and air conditioner condenser. I think in British Columbia you can get away with it. But down where the heat stays around near 100 all day long, it would affect highway travel, especially on steep grades. Off-road I don’t think it would matter much. I agree though, the 8274 is worth having some minor trade-offs.

 

[cbmontgo]

Thank you guys for the posts. I've decided to move forward with the 8274 and trim the grille to accommodate.

I bought these two 2" aluminum spacer blocks and painted them black.

Winch and fairlead are mounted and cable is removed for the upcoming synthetic rope.

Surgery on the front grille is next. Fingers crossed.

 

[alia176]

is this the only place of contact that everyone is worried about? Sounds like you still have to clearance the grill even if this bar is out of the way but i wanted to confirm.

 

[cbmontgo]

is this the only place of contact that everyone is worried about? Sounds like you still have to clearance the grill even if this bar is out of the way but i wanted to confirm.

View attachment 3936644

There are several contact points, depending on whether you modify the bumper or modify the grille.

If you modify the grille:

With spacers, the winch clears that circled portion by 1/4" to 1/8". But in order for the winch to fit, it pushes back a couple of inches into the grille and the lower valance, so those have to be cut.

If you modify the bumper:

You can either 1.) find a commercial ARB bumper that fits the 8274, or 2.) cut the and re-weld the center bar of the bumper, so that there is no cutting required at the grille. This also requires a good bit of cutting the steel tabs inside the bumper. A lot more work from what I'm told.

 

[cbmontgo]

Project is close to complete. I marked up the grille, cut it, painted it, sanded, and installed the winch.

Back to my original post/question/answer...there is a way to make it look really clean if you make your cuts with a cut-off tool and then sand it, followed by paint. There is a metallic coating on the grille that would look like hell if you took a sawzall after it. I would also recommending removal of the emblem and painting that area to match.

 

[Lo2aY]

you don't need to change anything on the car if you order the right ARB bar.

The commercial bars on the 80 will accept an 8274 without modifications. I did this to mine

 

[KWalkerM]

I like that fix and it looks like it works well! What concerns me is how much airflow it takes out of the radiator and air conditioner condenser. I think in British Columbia you can get away with it. But down where the heat stays around near 100 all day long, it would affect highway travel, especially on steep grades. Off-road I don’t think it would matter much. I agree though, the 8274 is worth having some minor trade-offs.

You should not have any cooling issues with an 8274 in the bumper. I have ran mine in extreme temperatures in the midwest in summer rock crawling, desert southwest in summer, and Key West in summer. The only airflow issues affected the AC blowing hot at idle in traffic and idle on a mountain in 100+ in Okalhoma in June. Every truck with AC couldn't keep up the AC at idle it was that hot. No motor temp issues with cooling and that was being actively monitored with a ToyOBD1 Scan tool real time.

 

[subzali]

you don't need to change anything on the car if you order the right ARB bar.

The commercial bars on the 80 will accept an 8274 without modifications. I did this to mine

View attachment 3938100

View attachment 3938101

Isn’t the commercial bar designed for an 80 with no flares?

 

[Lo2aY]

Isn’t the commercial bar designed for an 80 with no flares?

Correct