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  • March 29, 2024, 03:17:39 AM

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Author Topic: Front winch bumper  (Read 23331 times)

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Offline eaglefreek

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Front winch bumper
« on: January 09, 2012, 08:32:55 PM »
Ever since I built the rear bumper with tire carrier http://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=35492.0, I've wanted to build a front bumper. Well, I finally made the time to do it. It took a few days but got it done. I didn't take many pics of the build like I did with the rear bumper so I can't go in as much detail.
I started with a piece of 1/4" steel that I had made for the winch. I believe it was 8"x 33 1/2" and a 4"x 33 1/2" piece
welded to make an L. I then took 2 24" pieces of 3/8x5" flat stock that I made the frame mounts out of. I removed the bumper brackets and installed the 3/8" steel to the unibody using one of the bumper bracket bolt holes, a steering box bolt on one side and  idler arm bolt on the other side. I also added 2 more 1/2" bolts that I drilled through the frame and sleeved. I bought premade recovery points that are made out of 3/4" stock. The rest is 1/8" steel. The winch is a 9,000 lb   Harbor Freight Road Shock that I got in a trade. I am going to upgrade to a Warn some day in the future.
I had to notch a little bit of the front valance for the mounts.


Here's my 79 year old uncle stick welding the 1/4" winch plate to the 3/8" mounts. All I have is a 120v welder and wanted to make sure the critical stuff was done right.











Here is the only place I ran into trouble. The steel moved during welding. I guess I got too much heat in that area. I will have to figure out how to fix it.


« Last Edit: December 14, 2013, 09:53:30 AM by eaglefreek »
1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
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Offline MudPuppy

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2012, 09:01:52 PM »
That looks sharp!  Wouldn't mind either of your bumpers on my Eagles.
Here's an egg.
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Yes, I stand before you now, naked, unhidden, uncamouflaged and unafraid.
As pure and true as a human being is able to be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offline Pat

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2012, 09:50:27 PM »
Looks good!! Like the way you cut & welded it to make end caps. EGGselent job!
1995 Jeep Cherokee "Bleep"



No pic here - BlackBird - My '86 AMC Eagle wagon

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Offline eaglefreek

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2012, 11:06:06 PM »
Thanks for the compliments. It was a lot of work.


  What's the angle on the underside like? (<---- read: pic? ;D lol)
You mean like for approach angle? The new bumper sits a little lower than the old bumper. If I were to make a dedicated trail rig I wold put the winch in front of the grill and make the the bumper angle up at the sides and then cut the fenders similar to this:


1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
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Offline vangremlin

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2012, 11:50:39 PM »
Looks very nice!!!!
1981 Kammback 258 - "Pepe"
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Offline WoodenBirdOfPrey

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2012, 12:39:53 AM »
Looks awesome.  You're giving me more motivation to learn to weld.  Somebody gave me a MIG welder a couple years ago, but I never got it set up.  Maybe it's time.  I just need to wire up the 25 amp outlet and fix the ground lug and it should be ready to go.
87 Eagle Woody Wagon "Virginia" 4.2 Auto 174k

Offline mach1mustang351

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2012, 01:41:53 AM »
That bumper looks sweet!! Nice Job
Fleet:

1987 AMC Wagon 4.0L, 3" Body lift, AX15, NP242
1981 AMC SX4 Sport
1969 Mustang (A Mach 1 with a 351)
1973 GMC K2500
2007 Suzuki Vstrom

Offline Eagleearl

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2012, 02:13:39 AM »
Great job! Looking good.

Offline Sunny

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2012, 02:59:17 PM »
Looks good! Just make sure it's attached incredibly well, or it might just pull only your bumper if you are really stuck.. haha

Offline txjeeptx

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2012, 09:27:41 PM »
Very nice, fits the lines of the car well. Bet the front suspension rides different now, probably nice n smooth. Bet there are Jeep owners out there who see you drive by and go into a jealous fit.
'82 Eagle SX/4 "Golden Eagle", '89 YJ 2.5L '93 MPI-converted rock-crawler, '79 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle "FSJ", 'o7 F150 Supercrew FX/4 daily driver

Offline rollguy

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2012, 11:05:39 PM »
That looks TO THE MAX!!!!   It would be cool if you made patterns and had all the dimensions available so someone else can make one.   I know you are not about to mass produce them.  Things like this are just tooo cool to be one of a kind.
1980 Eagle Turbodiesel Wagon (only 2 known to exist as of 2008)- 7-7-2011 Flight to it's new nest @ Rambler Ranch
1983 Eagle Wagon  Tan over Copper
1982 Eagle SX4 "ALTREGL"  (avatar photo)
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Offline 83Eagle!

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2012, 11:27:16 PM »
That is awesome.  Great work.  Looks like it could have been ordered as an accessory.
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After our fiasco with the Toyota Corolla I got for my wife I believe I am done with Japanese vehicles.

Dude you are preaching to a choir member that is close to becoming an AMC Minister if you know what I mean.


Offline iAMCheap

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2012, 01:06:21 AM »
I like the Emblem delete hood.
It looks smoother than normal
The blizzard goes on but still they must fly.
No one should go Where EAGLES Dare!
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Offline HappyPappy

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2012, 10:07:50 AM »
  Looks almost like an "A-TEAM" car  Darn good job, next you'll be building a roll cage for the out side!!   LOL.

  Sounds like you could make a few more and retire from being a carpenter only those "red ants" are a little worse then splinters.  LOL

Offline GRONK

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Re: Front winch bumper
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2012, 10:18:00 AM »
How far off is a Cherokee bumper from the Eagle?  I like what you've done, looking to do something similar but with a whole lot less effort on my part ;D
"Bucket" 1983 Limited Wagon
"Tootie" 1984 Wagon
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