DIY - Winch mount + winch install with alloy bumper

I bought a Supercheap Ridge Ryder 12000lbs winch when they were having one of their 35% off sales. Paid $565 for it.

This thread is about how I made my own winch mount, installed the winch and made some 3mm plate protection under the radiator and extended it to replace the factory plastic air deflector.

I did this to fit with the factory alloy bumper bar.

I started with the idea that I wanted to use as much metal scrap as I could find in my shed.
Main component is a length of 50 x 75 x 3mm wall RHS with bits of 6mm flat bar added to it.

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What I wanted here was to have the winch mounted 25mm lower than the usual universal mount plates that people often use which sit across the 2 chassis rails.
I also needed a lower point to attach the underbody protection that is part of this excercise and the bottom of the RHS is ideal - as you'll see further down.

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The fairlead is mounted on a removable bracket because I have to be able to adjust it for the cutout in the alloy bumper.

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I welded on these tabs with nuts to fix the 3mm plate.

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While I had the front off I opened the LH chassis rail to insert a plate with 2 nuts for the LH recovery plate. I fed the 3rd nut in with a telescopic magnet

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I'll continue with the winch install tomorrow..

Nice work.. Wish I was handy with the welder.

Nice weld work mate....

Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea to check the grease in the gearbox before installing it so that's what I did. Happy to find that it was plentiful..

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Very simple to take apart..

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great job mate cant eeight to see it all togeather

This is how I did the protection for under the radiator and replaced the plastic air deflector.

I wanted to copy the original plastic item as closely as possible, especially the angle, so I made a 12mm square frame first then gusseted the corners..


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Had to buy the 3mm steel sheet and cut it to size with my Ebay plasma cutter.

This is my spray booth..

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Fits exactly as planned..

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Solenoid and cabling


The collective wisdom says to get the solenoid up out of the weather. There's no room to clip it onto the winch rails anyway.
Very simple to take apart and remove the controller plug.

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Part of the reason these winches are cheap is that the wiring is not real thick. If the winch is made to work hard, you'll get voltage drop and, consequently (Ohm's law, remember), increased current.
Original wire appears to be 2 gauge (<35mm2). I went for 0 gauge (~50mm2) from my local Jaycar store.

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Got the lugs from Ebay, $26 for pack of 10 delivered. A lot cheaper than Supercheap but Jaycar prices are pretty reasonable.

Got this 12 ton hydraulic hex crimper also from Ebay for $54.90 delivered.

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It worked well but only after I used the 35mm dies following the 50mm dies. The 50mm dies just weren't tight enough.
I found this when I soldered the opening as corrosion-proofing and the solder wicked through the crimp. With the 35mm dies I have a good gas-tight crimp.

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I made up a small bracket and fitted the solenoid alongside the battery. I couldn't find a better place to put it. It's ideal for cable lengths and cable routing.
I need to change it so it just clips in there in case I need quicker access to the relays.

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Had to make up this brass spacer to allow the cable to pass over the solenoid.

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Routed the cabling through the hole where the horn wire was. Added some loom tube to the hole over the original plastic ring. I made the bracket to pass the cables over the bumper mount and covered it with 3 layers of heatshrink.

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I ran the solenoid controller wires through the firewall and fitted the original plug under the steering with a small cutout switch.

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I also found a momentary rocker switch at Jaycar that's a replacement for the hand controller switch so I mounted it under the dash as a 2nd choice. Could be handy if I break or lose the hand controller.

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To finish off, I added a pretty bright LED to let me know if I've left the controller 'armed'..

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Like the solenoid set up near the battery.
Very neat job looks great.

I discarded the original TI stainless barwork & bumper and found an alloy bar on Gumtree for $250.

Now to fit the alloy bar and adjust the fairlead.

I did the cutout for the fairlead with an air body saw fitted with a broken hacksaw blade.


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.. and no, the rope doesn't hang there now. It was just for the pic :)

Absolutely top effort!

I have been looking for this exact solution for my Ford Explorer. Now I know how to get it done. No I don't know how to weld....yet... but I will learn.

Thanks for the idea.

Cheers,

Rob

Nice work. Looks top notch.

Excellent work and great pictures and write up, jff45.

Cheers guys, I appreciate the comments!

was about to do a search to see if a winch could be mounted using original bar and found this
helps me out thanks

I started on mine today closely following your idea if you don't mind too much. Best idea i've seen in a while and simple.
Literally just paid for a Tigerz11 Grande MK II 12000lb winch to go in it so that should be here next week some time.
Had a chat to the steel guy and he was surprised how many guys come in to buy steam pipe bends to make rock sliders because the retail market is so expensive. Cost me $51 in steel where it would have cost over $300 to buy the GU cradle that I was looking at.
I won't hijack your thread with my pics, I'll start my own when I'm a little more complete.

I don't mind at all.. The idea of DIY threads is to offer ideas to people on how to do something.

Look forward to seeing your pics..

Thanks John for a great write up mate given me some good ideas.
Cheers Sherro

This is an awesome thread mate!!!
How does it work ?? Is it strong enough? Have you given it a good workout yet?

Regards
Paul

I haven't yet used it in anger and maybe never will but it's there if the need should arise.
I have used it to tension a long rope that was attached to some pretty big trees that I dropped recently and will try it on a couple of stumps.
I'm glad you found the thread useful..

Nicely done :smiley_thumbs_up:

nice work. looks great

Very nice mate, how do you find the supercheap winch? Is it any good or is it worth spending a little more on a tigerz11 or something similar

I've never used it in a serious situation but it has always worked when needed around our place.
At the time I bought it, it looked to be exactly the same as the Tigers Grande winch.

I have this idea that most winches work as expected these days if they are well installed and well maintained.
If you have your control box mounted where it goes swimming and never clean it then you're bound to have dramas at some point.