What's up with this winch bumper?

unbrokenchain

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2021
Location
Black Mountain NC
Ok yeah, advice sought.
Background: I've had one yota truck before, never had a vehicle with a winch. I don't crawl on rocks, I want a capable firewood getter. I don't weld, though I'd like to learn.
My observations: This bumper is shoddy, heavy for the truck (sags the front), and not mounted in a confidence-inspiring way. The winch is a harbor freight 5k lb.

I'm not sure whether to ditch the whole thing for stock, try and turn this thing into a solid bumper, or get something with a receiver on the front so I can go winch cradle style. Thoughts?





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@unbrokenchain Definitely not intended for your truck. Probably repurposed from something else. I’d ditch that one, go back stock and add a front receiver. Carrier style would suit your purpose well. Remove it when not needed and keep it safe from the elements. If that winch works, just bolt it on the new carrier. CURT probably makes a bolt on front receiver for less than $150.
 
BigSouth said:
@unbrokenchain Definitely not intended for your truck. Probably repurposed from something else. I’d ditch that one, go back stock and add a front receiver. Carrier style would suit your purpose well. Remove it when not needed and keep it safe from the elements. If that winch works, just bolt it on the new carrier. CURT probably makes a bolt on front receiver for less than $150.
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I 100% agree
 
BigSouth said:
@unbrokenchain Definitely not intended for your truck. Probably repurposed from something else. I’d ditch that one, go back stock and add a front receiver. Carrier style would suit your purpose well. Remove it when not needed and keep it safe from the elements. If that winch works, just bolt it on the new carrier. CURT probably makes a bolt on front receiver for less than $150.
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This is the best answer to your query.
 
skyhighZJ said:
Looks like about 1 second of winch use would solve unbolting that bumper. YMMV.
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Yeah, the D rings are pretty hilarious too... Like a spiked collar on a chihuahua
rodney eppes said:
Bumper looks homemade to me. A copy of a good one. But the mounting, well there really is none. That's your problem right there Vern! :laughing: But it shouldn't rust, with all that fluid spraying on it. :rolleyes:
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Right? They went through the trouble of building it, why not mount it somewhere other than body mounts... And yeah I got a little carried away with the fluid film, that stuff's fun.

Thanks @BigSouth that's pretty much my line of thinking. A little protection is nice but I don't need a damn handrail on my truck
 
I pulled the winch and cut the brush guard off, front suspension is happier now.

Anyone know how much those Rock Defense bumpers weigh? I like the idea but dunno if I'd need stiffer springs for the weight
 
rodney eppes said:
I punched in Rock defense bumpers, & got several Sellers. Have you Seen the Price? Yikes! Didn't find a weight listed, except under yotamasters.com. 84-95 fitments was 70#.
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Yeah it's pretty steep, I could probably spend the same on a welder but I dunno how long it'd take me to be good enough to make something similar, plus bending the tube's a whole other thing. I mainly like this part about it Toyota Pickup/4Runner Winch Mount wondering if I couldn't just mount that behind a stock bumper
 
Even though I went through an off-road shop to order mine, this is who makes them for that shop. Check out the website.

Heavy duty bumper for however you use your custom truck

WAM has you covered when it comes to getting the perfect heavy duty bumper for your truck. Our custom winches and multi-carriers will complete your truck.
wambumpers.com wambumpers.com

I’m real happy with it. It weighs roughly 70 pounds without the winch. The mount is very secure and will probably house a winch down the road when my oldest boy takes it over. I use it as a base to flat tow it behind my RV.
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rodney eppes said:
Wam, that bumper Blo s! ;) Really, it's pretty sweet, & Made to fit the truck!
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Yeah, the shop I went through is Blue Lake Offroad down in Atlanta, Georgia. I could drive to their shop and save the shipping fee. I didn’t know up front that WAM made their bumpers or that they were gonna put their pitiful logo on it. My only real gripes about it. Why people just can’t be honest, I’ll never understand.
 
If this winch mount plate (upper) had the extra mounting plates like on the rock defense bumper (lower by the arrow), I'd get it. Anyone know of somewhere halfway local to Black Mountain that could/would fab me something like that?
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I actually like the dimensions of the homebrew bumper, but I'd estimate 80+lbs and the mounting is not. It is made out of large square tube though, I'm thinking about cutting off half the tube (just make it an angle iron) to get the weight down and then mount it on something like the above so it's secure
 
F it, I sprang for the Rock Defense bumper. If it's light enough I'll mount the winch on it. Might look a little funny with an otherwise stock truck, but the amount of parts I needed to make it a regular stock front end again were getting close to the cost of the tube bumper, and then I was still out a winch solution.

So I'll need to pull the tow hooks off the frame and reuse the bolt holes. I'm concerned that I'll break these bent bolts on the pass side. Would you try and pound the hook back straight before unbolting, or try them as is? Sorry my camera doesn't ever focus where I want it to.

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I’d try removing it first. If you try to bend it back first, it may snap the head of the bolt off.
 
It just be like that sometimes. Air tools, one day when I got a garage..

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I actually ended up using the brush guard that I cut off as a breaker bar... got the bolts out, they are pretty much straight. Frame is dented, I think the new bracket has slots rather than round holes so I'm sure I can thread them in, but I'm wondering if I should try and torque them down to pull the frame dent out, or just tighten enough to hold the bumper.
 
Gonna rig some turn signals and trim the fender body mount stuff, happy with this product though. Hardest part was getting the skid plate bolts back in (my plate's probably a little bent), all the main mounting bolt holes were perfectly aligned. It's actually lighter than the homebrew one, not by a lot, but the mount is where it's at. I put a Rusto clearcoat on it, maybe paint it black but I kinda like it as is. My winch doesn't fit the predrilled holes (it's an atv winch), I may just get a carrier but it's a pretty perfect mount.
 
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