I figured the crank starter is one of the things that makes the Land Rover unique, so decided, whether it's easy to do or not, I wanted to retain it. I was happy to see at the end of the process that everything fit, and I didn't even have to lengthen the starter handle.
A couple of folks I talked to had commented on the pros and cons of mounting the winch high or down in (or below) the bumper. From my point of view, there wasn't alot of difference for ocassional use winching, so I went with mounting the winch above.
I did the following to the bumper:
Cut off and recurve the ends 8", the length now is the same as the tire when at full lock, thus the bumper won't hang you up if in heavy rock with your wheels turned.
Reinforced the original bumper with 2" x 1/4" flat cold rolled welded to the underside of the top, from one frame rail to the other. This is invisible, but really strengthened the bumper to take the extra weight.
Welded in 2" angle iron 8" long left and right to create a ledge for the bottom plate, which bolts to frame. Thus the bumper can be removed.
Welded a bottom 1/4" plate of 8" depth by full width between frame rails, basically as reinforcement. The winch doesn't actually sit on it.
Welded a front 1/4" plate of 8.5" by 16 inches, which later had the holes drilled and the hole cut for the fairlead. This is pretty universal now, so as long as you have a reasonably modern winch the standard fairlead fits either with the 2 bottom bolts, as this one does, or with the 2 top bolts.
Welded angled gussets at 45 degrees back from the front plate.
I actually only tacked everything together cuz the welder I was using was a bit light duty for the task. Took it to my favourite welding shop and they finish welded everything for about $50.
With the winch off, the bumper unbolts and is removable. The only thing I would add (and will in the future) is a plate on the outside of the frame rails where the horizontal bolts go. When I was torquing the grade 8 bolts up to 60 pounds, which I though would be more than tight enough, I noticed I was beginning to get some frame crush. This may be due to an old and somewhat rusty frame, but a plate on the outside would solve it. I chose to torque to 40 pounds, which worked with no problem.
Comments