Winch carrier for Fiery (née Free Steel...........)

[warrenpfo]

As an idea would it not be best to add another recovery point to the other side so that in a situation where you need to be recovered from the front rather than self recovery you can use a bridal and even the load across the front rather than just pulling from the one point.

Just a thought

 

[Chris]

Steve, I think that you have made a nice job of that. I think it will work well. One observation though - from experience. These things can tend to be a bit of a plough. There will be times when it gets rammed into things. That front wall would benefit from a couple of large gussets just where the seams are on the angles. They'll form a sort of box around the ends of the winch. It's thick I know, but a good hit on that into a bank and you could bend it over onto the winch.

Chris

 

[sae70]

As an idea would it not be best to add another recovery point to the other side so that in a situation where you need to be recovered from the front rather than self recovery you can use a bridal and even the load across the front rather than just pulling from the one point

Ah good observation there Warren. The towing loop on the winch tray is just for towing on the Black Stuff (Tarmac) should I ever need to be and also to hang my new giant hook off also when on the Black Stuff. For recovery I shall be replacing my two original equipment recovery pig tails as in this photo.

I've also popped another towing loop sticking through the top of the bumper for hanging the winch hook from off of when off road and moved the two lights that I'd mounted off of the chassis end up to the under side of the bumper iron.

 

[sae70]

Steve, I think that you have made a nice job of that. I think it will work well

Thank you Chris

One observation though - from experience. These things can tend to be a bit of a plough. There will be times when it gets rammed into things. That front wall would benefit from a couple of large gussets just where the seams are on the angles. They'll form a sort of box around the ends of the winch. It's thick I know, but a good hit on that into a bank and you could bend it over onto the winch

Yes, it was spoken about during construction, but as I strayed a little from the standard winch tray sizes for this type of winch (see PDF doc on GoodWinch site) there was not enough room to fit any of any real worth!!! The standard off the shelf winch tray for this winch has a gap to the winch from the front of the winch plate of 38mm, but I squished this down to less than 20mm to keep the original number plate holder as is. Hence the nuts welded to the back of the plate for the Hawes bolts as there is no room to fiddle behind with standard nuts and bolt and so also no gussets, so fingers crossed

 

[Chris]

Hmm, OK what you could have done is cut out a shape the starts under the tray and comes up around the seam weld at the front outside of the tray, forming a towing ey. Effectively this would have been an external gusset / brace. Front hook points are also useful when you want to use a snatch block to double your line by the way. Still looks like there is room for internal gussetry though. Hook through bumper is very stylish I like that vay mooch.

Chris

 

[revs4x4]

looking very nice there Ive been thinking about a similar set-up on the 70......I want to keep the front end looking as stock as possible. Keep up the good work!

 

[Ben]

Great work Steven. looks great!

looking very nice there Ive been thinking about a similar set-up on the 70......I want to keep the front end looking as stock as possible. Keep up the good work!

would be a lot easier on a 70 than a 90.

Theres a lot of threaded holes in the chassis for the winch tray to bolt to, and theres also a huge space behind the front bumper, between the chassis rails just waiting for a winch.

You could keep it looking totally standard, apart from a window in the bumper for the winch rope to come through.

 

[revs4x4]

Great work Steven. looks great!



would be a lot easier on a 70 than a 90.

Theres a lot of threaded holes in the chassis for the winch tray to bolt to, and theres also a huge space behind the front bumper, between the chassis rails just waiting for a winch.

You could keep it looking totally standard, apart from a window in the bumper for the winch rope to come through.

gonna have a proper look over the weekend, and maybe measure up some steel..

 

[sae70]

Not a lot done today I hope to have the winch tray back from the Galv tomorrow

I just put a bit of primmer on the chassis ends that I cut off and painted the bumper Iron with a bit of Satin Black I had in the shed. I also spent a little time re-fiting the lights to the underside of the bumper iron. It's all a bit tight in there and I had to elongate the fixings slightly to give me some more adjustment and even then its's still V' tight Even the existing wiring is V' close, but not close enough

 

[sae70]

I managed to get some paint onto the chassis end this morning as the kids were loading themselves into the car for the school run

Little and often

 

[Graham]

Coming along nicely.

Gra.

 

[chadr]

That's looking really nice - you seem to have done a great job with that steel.

Much better than a short gate post or two !

 

[sae70]

Thanks Guys

Look what I just picked up from being Galv'd

 

[Roger Fairclough]

I noticed that you are only utilising one side piece of the chassis rail to bolt to. If you weld in a tube to transmit the load through both side pieces it will dramatically improve the strength of the fitting.

If you haven't had it galvanized yet, you may consider an angled plate, welded underneath, to protect the diff.

Roger

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Very nice Steven I think I might be tempted to add a tube, as Roger mentioned, to spread the load, particularly downward forces, such as pulling over the crest of a hill? I would weld the tube into the chassis rail, but I'm sometimes ott

 

[sae70]

I noticed that you are only utilising one side piece of the chassis rail to bolt to. If you weld in a tube to transmit the load through both side pieces it will dramatically improve the strength of the fitting

I did consider doing this, but decided against it as the bolt you can see on the outside edge of the front of the chassis is only there to offer some support against the tray canter-levering downwards at the front and although will almost certainly give some addition strength to the whole set up when under winching it's the four 14mm factory fitted bolts further along the base of both of the chassis rails (intended for the fitment of the standard recovery points) that I hope will be providing 95% of the strength. When I finally fit the tray I intend on loose fitting the two 12mm side bolts, then fully tightening the four 14mm bolts and then back these off by half a turn and hit the tray with a V' Large hammer from behind knocking it forward to bring it up against the 14mm bolts then fully tighten them back up. Once this is done I shall then pop a trolley jack under the winch tray below each of the side bolts in turn, jack it up to ensure that the winch tray is in good contact with the underside of the chassis rails at the front before fully tightening the side bolts. After both sides are done I shall fit the two 8mm bolts through the rear tabs and into the cross member. Fingers crossed this will be all that's required to keep it attached to the front of the truck while winching

If you haven't had it galvanized yet

Oooooops

you may consider an angled plate, welded underneath, to protect the diff

There's already a factory standard front diff protection skid plate fitted, so no need and also didn't want to add too much weight

 

[sae70]

Very nice Steven

Thank you Jon

I think I might be tempted to add a tube, as Roger mentioned, to spread the load, particularly downward forces, such as pulling over the crest of a hill? I would weld the tube into the chassis rail, but I'm sometimes ott [/QUOTE]Lol You as well I guess it would still be possible to add this mod at a later date, but I guess I also just got to a point that I wanted to get on and sometimes if you spend to long thinking about something and tinkering it just never gets done I'm going to run with it as it is for now and if I pull it off the front of the truck at Lincomb I may consider a re-design

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I'm going to run with it as it is for now and if I pull it off the front of the truck at Lincomb I may consider a re-design

It will make a right old mess of the chassis rails IF it fails, be a shame to have made such a nice job of it My reasoning is that there's a fair bit of leverage multiplying the downward forces and only a single thin chassis wall each side to resist, I can't see the bottom bolts helping much with that given how far back they are. There can be tremendous force on those mounting points when you've got your nose sticking out of a bomb hole at a crazy angle and are winching from the base of a tree ... we are only trying to be your critical friends though, if you're happy with it then I'm sure it's good

 

[Graham]

Thanks Guys

Look what I just picked up from being Galv'd

Hi Steven,
It does look good, however, I still think you should have put two tow, or tie down loops on it.

Like the others have said, it could have been used instead of the pig tails that you are going to fit.
Gives you the opportunity to drive the difficult lanes, with a bridal strap attached, where as I feel if you put a bridal strap on the pig tails, there is every chance they can fall off may be?

Gra.

 

[sae70]

Progress so far this morning

All looking and feeling great, me very happy so far

Now time for some elastic-trickery