winch mount help

andybritt2002

Active Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Location
Chesapeake, Va
hey, have a 84 K5 blazer with stock chrome bumper. Just now getting a 10k winch, has a mounting bracket bar. what is besst way to mount this ? remove bumper and weld between frame rails?. or any DIY methods ? pics of urs would be sweet!!
 
Just noticed this thread

Hey Andy, many folks buy a winch bumper & use grade 8 bolts to mount everything. If you can weld & fabricate, this ain't too hard to do. You're stock bumper may not work with a winch setup, & you'll need to buy or fabricate one that is up to the task. Personally I don't have any reservations about welding things to my frame, but then again I'm not concerned with resale value of my vehicle. Here is a pic of my heep;
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I used an old hitch from my Ford Exploder, to make me a CL/III front hitch into my bumper, notching the frame ends & capping them off with1/8" plate to keep water from blasting through my frame tubes. I didn't use any bolts, opting instead to weld the crap out of anything i could see. [My winch is on a hitch mounting plate, & can be moved to either end of my heep. It's God awful heavy & I may buy synthetic winch line to lighten it up. Also this does cause the winch to stick out pretty far increasing overhang.] If you can use grade 8 bolts & weld around all the contact points you can get to, as far as mounting to the frame horns. There are many ways to do this. I suggest looking at work done by others, to get a better idea of what you are looking for in the final outcome. Weld only to the frame horns beyond (forward of) any structural mounting points. In other words if you weld on the frame rails say aft of the steering box, you could weaken the frame. Take notice of the way the factory welded the pipe through the frame ends, (the one with the posi-lok sticker on it). These are rectangular tubes, but you could box the ends with plate to do something like this. Just remember not to go back too far. Stay at least 1" forward of the steering box mounts.
 
thanks .. thats very good info. Gave me some ideas about mine. think ill just take off bumper, find some pipe and a old truck hitch and have some fun with a welder
 
That's the ticket!

andybritt2002 said:
thanks .. thats very good info. Gave me some ideas about mine. think ill just take off bumper, find some pipe and a old truck hitch and have some fun with a welder
Click to expand...
That's exactly how mine came to be. Bent my stinger with a cheap $50.00 hydraulic pipe bender from Harbour Freight. Jsut be sure your welds are a little overkill, cause a winch will find out how good your welds are real quick.
 
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