When I purchased my winch a few weeks ago, I had an idea to make a front bumper with a removeable winch plate and quick disconnect wiring so I could use the winch on my TJ during the week and swap it over to my Cj-8 when I took it wheeling.

The tough part behind designing something like this is that the winch mounting nuts would be visible and accessible to anyone that wanted to steal the winch.

I also wanted to mount my new hi-lift to the bumper in an assessible location.

So to fix the security problem, we welded a pin to the bumper that goes through the winch plate and one that goes through the hi-lift, this enables me to place a lock on both to help secure them to the bumper and discourage anyone from stealing them.

We also placed a piece of metal stock across the bumper bolts (I wanted to utilize the existing bumper mounts) and tacked the stock to prevent someone from walking off with the entire bumper.

I bought some shackles that were a bit different from the normal flat style, I bought some twisted ones that I liked the look of and I think will work better.

We used a quick connect so the wires can be easily unplugged and and plugged in anywhere the winch is used. The connector is secured under the bumper and can be easily accessed, but is not visible easily from the top.

I will be placing quick connects on the front and back of both of my jeeps and maybe on my wifes truck, and probably building a receiver mount to use on the rear of the vehicles, I don't really like the receiver types because they get in the way, but it would work ok for the rear, or for a trailer.

This mounting optiion allows alot of functionality for the use of my winch and keeps me from having to buy another winch for my other vrehicle

As for the the rest of the bumper, I wanted the same thing everyone else wanted (i.e. shackle mounts tapered ends, strong steel to protect my TJ). The solution is in the following pictures, I came up with the concept I wanted and me and Joe (ZLY) got to work........

Since i'm ignert about how to acrtually attach pictures to the post and since my pics are on Yahoo, here is the link to the pics, let me know what you think, and if you have any other ideas.....

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/cj8r/lst?&.dir=/Front+Bumper&.src=ph&.view=t&.last=1

kerryp

www.tx4x4.org

ok.... no, I feel the ingert..... If i read this right u said the winch was removable with pull pins.

ahhhhh how and where are they located? I see one for the plate with a lock on it. This is not enough to hold a winch in a pull situation esp. one with a side pull of anykind. I see the pull pins for the rings too.

The pics dont help me at all.

I am wanting to do the same thing I think you have done here myself but mostly for rear pulls. My idea is to design a "reciever/layover" winch housing plate as in if it is used in the rear u put a "reciever" male into the winch mount plate female tube and put it in back of the rig..... the rest of the time the winch and its mount plate "lays over" male reciver stock on top of the front bumper and u pin it on. This way when in the front mode; like where most winches are, the winch does not stick out in front like a reciever mount style would.

The winch isn't removeable by pull pins:

1. The bumper has 4 studs/bolts welded to it.

2. The winch is mounted to a 1/4" plate that has 4 holes in it and it sits over the four studs, then nuts are placed on the studs (they are difficult to see becasue they are under the winch somewhat and difficult to get to) to secure the winch plate to the bumper.

3. The pin with the lock is there because I was concerned that since the nuts were accessible (yet stiill not easily removed) that someone would be inclined to steal the winch, thus the pin through the winch plate with a lock as an additional security measure.

4. The wires are connected via a quick connect plug that is available from Warn to allow the wiring to be disconnected and the winch moved.

So all I have to do is unscrew 4 nuts, unlock the lock, disconnect the wiring and remove the winch, my other Jeep will have a similar bumper so all I have to do is drop the winch on make the connections and go.

kerryp

Originally posted by kerryphillips
The winch isn't removeable by pull pins:

1. The bumper has 4 studs/bolts welded to it.

2. The winch is mounted to a 1/4" plate that has 4 holes in it and it sits over the four studs, then nuts are placed on the studs (they are difficult to see becasue they are under the winch somewhat and difficult to get to) to secure the winch plate to the bumper.

3. The pin with the lock is there because I was concerned that since the nuts were accessible (yet stiill not easily removed) that someone would be inclined to steal the winch, thus the pin through the winch plate with a lock as an additional security measure.

4. The wires are connected via a quick connect plug that is available from Warn to allow the wiring to be disconnected and the winch moved.

So all I have to do is unscrew 4 nuts, unlock the lock, disconnect the wiring and remove the winch, my other Jeep will have a similar bumper so all I have to do is drop the winch on make the connections and go.

kerryp


Ahhhh now I get it.... it's "FargfigNUTing" not pull pins.

hmmmmm something for me to think about on the one I want to build.