Winch mounting question

[frankenyoter]

On my truck the cage/front bumper was designed to fit very tight so it doesn’t stick out like most Toyota’s you see.

The winch will essentially pull down instead of forward in regards to the housing. This makes the fairlead bolt pattern in line with the winch bolt pattern. On my Warn XD9000 I only have about 1/16 of an inch clearance from the fairlead bolt hole to the winch body.

If I shim then winch off of the mount enough to clear a bolt head for the fairlead I’m set. The winch body doesn’t appear to need to sit flush on the plate as there are essential 4 feet. Am I missing something important or good to go with a few stacked washers?

 

[BigSouth]

The larger the span from bolt head to nut, the more force can act on it. How many washers we talking?

 

[a_kelley]

You could make a spacer plate for each side to give extra support and lower the torquing force on the bolts. Also be sure to increase bolt length to accommodate the increase in thickness it's going through.

 

[frankenyoter]

The larger the span from bolt head to nut, the more force can act on it. How many washers we talking?

Enough to clear a bolt head or carriage bolt. Maybe three to get about 1/4”.

Originally I cut the head off a grade 8 bolt and welded it into the back of the hole to keep it flush. Maybe I over torqued the nut but while it was on the alignment machine today it spit one of the studs off. The weld didn’t fail but the grade 8 metal did. 3/8” from tractor supply.

my other option is to take a dremel to the back of the fairlead and remove enough material to allow me to weld bolt head to the plate.

 

[BigSouth]

So... here’s a picture for reference. I’m gonna say it’d be better to make two spacers out of 1/4” plate than to stack washers. The way your winch is mounting to the same plane as your fairlead, you should see minimal shear force on the bolts.