I'm going to be making bumpers (F & R) for my XJ. Anybody have some good plans/drawings (mainly for the front)?? I have an 8274 to put on the front. I want to recess the winch as much as possible to improve approach angle. I'm planning on cutting the grill, etc. Anybody have pics of one recessed on an XJ? My goals for both f & r are best approach/departure angles possible, but yet still offer some protection.

No one has recessed a winch on an XJ??

No one has recessed a winch on an XJ??

i think some came stock with a ramsey winch recessed in the front. the bumper looked like the stock bumper, just a little deeper and with a slot for the winch cable. a friend of mine used to have one, and i seen it for months but never even noticed it until he pulled cable one day

a buddy of mine fabbed one up for an 8274, based it off some C4x4 tow hook brackets. I dont have any pictures of it, cus the forum where it was posted was hacked, so they lost all the old posts. I have also seen a couple recessed ones on here. They basically just cut the grill out to fit around the winch. Some also cut out the stock front cross member, and replace it with a .25" piece, but it seemed pretty complicated, but search a little bit for some recessed winches. Go on Naxja.org and search recessed winches.

kenny

It's not a 8274, but here's a pic of the XD9000i I recessed into the grill.

The bumper is 2x6 box, notched out to fit a warn universal mounting plate. The plate butts right up against the XJ's front crossmember. It has a much better approach angle than most others I have seen in my area.
2x5 or 2x4 box would have given more clearance and still offer protection. Once the steel cable is worn out, I'll replace it with rope and hawse fairlead will make the aa even better.

It occasionally ran a little bit warmer after it was installed, but not enough to worry about. Installed a fan overide relay as a precaution.

Recessed Winch side angle (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/xjmark/winchangle.jpg)
Recessed Winch front angle (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/xjmark/frontshot.jpg)

Thanks for the pics.

try doing some searching over at http://www.naxja.org they have a ton of guys with all sorts of custom XJ bumpers.

President of ACFW mounted a bumper, then cut the grill away and sat it back into it untill it reached the radiator. I guess thats about as recessed you can get without going under it all and making your lift useless, if you have one.


My freind (Current member of NAXJA) has his mounted on a cradle he hooks into the reciever, front and rear when needed. This is by far the best setup I've seen just because when your front end is burried under mud, or you have rolled nose first, your winch is useless...