Notched my bumper and mounted my winch further back (pics)
 

I was tired of how much approach angle I lost with the winch mount I have. Tom made it to mount to the tow hook mounts and sit in front of the bumper and he made it VERY strong.

But it always bothered me that it stuck out so far. So today I notched 3 inches out of my bumper moved the winch back.

It's taken most of the day, lol. I had to grind out the original welds that hold the mounting plate to the channels (on the winch mount) to remove it and it was a pain. Cutting the bumper was easy with a 4.5" angle grinder and some cutting wheels. The mounting channels that stick out were a real pain to cut as they are so thick on the sides. About 3/8" towards the corners, tapering down to 1/4". I went through a total of 2 cutting wheels and was starting a third by the time all the cutting was done.

I repainted the mount and the surrounding area while I was at it.

I also cut away the remaining "ears" that came out from my grill. I'd had to cut the piece of the surround back under the headlights when they got splintered by big tree limbs offroading. But it looked too weird. This looks a bit weird too -- but better, lol.

Didn't weld the plate to the channels, but I used 1/2" diameter grade 8 hardware to mount it so it should be plenty strong.

It's a much "tighter" look besides the recovery of some approach angle.

very nice looks good

Looks alot better, nice work.

Thanks guys.

Thing I forgot to mention though: it makes the bumper quite "wambly". It's not going to survive a really hard hit now. I'm thinking about ways to reinforce it, maybe tying it to the mount. Not too concerned, but it's something to think about if anyone's considering this.

Your truck looks like it has two black eyes and a winch in it's mouth.

That baby is looking more and more like a trail rig it seems every time I see new pics. I can't beleive this is still your daily driver!

edit: You should grind off the valance tabs on the ends of the bumper or cap them off and paint, it'd do some cosmetic wonders for your truck. Maybe some white on the exposed header panel.

gangsta

I thought about that, Travis, but they still serve some purpose fending off vegetation from the edge of the fender above it. I painted them black to make them less obnoxious, lol.

Hey, I'm DEFINITELY not an expert in these kind of appearance mods. These are just things I did to keep it from looking awful...

I prefer to think of the truck as looking like a football player with the eyeblack under his eyes, lol! :wink:

I can def see this! I think it looks tough, could just use some Covergirl =]

Why I oughta'... :wink:

i think is looks good..your truck just looks plain beefy trail rig..for wat exactly you do in your truck.i think it fits it very well

Thanks a lot, Evan -- that's a fine compliment. I make most of the mods in my truck for function and if they look good, that's a plus. But a functional mod SHOULD look appropriate for the use for which it's intended. That's why that's such a compliment, lol.

talk about being wobbly the bodylift bumper brackets suck...bumper is to wobbly........lol.........looks nicer "notched"

what did you do to the doo hickeys under your headlights?

I had to cut them off, Steven. Then I painted the area behind it black to keep if from looking too bad.

When offroading, I slid down into some branches and fractured on side bad. And that plastic, once it split, the break just runs over time.

So I had to cut it off to keep the split from propagating, and when I cut one side, I cut the other.

But it bothered me that there was a "stub" there, so I cut it all the way back to the grille today.

Here's what the truck looked like before:

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...tid=8111&stc=1

ohh well i guess thats a good reason....i wa like why...lol i understand now!

very nice work and smart thinking john. btw why not just blast the area under the headlights with some white paint to help hide it a little...

I knew something was missing! The top portion of the skid plate.

Skid plate is unchanged, Travis.

Zach, I played with that and it's so irregular under there that when you put white on it, it makes that real visible. When you paint it black, it "hides". I decided I liked the black better. As soon as the white got dirty, all that "messy" detail behind that area would be highlighted. An "aesthetic" decision, lol...

Also, for reference, here's a pic showing how far the winch stuck out before, for those who haven't seen my truck previously.

So it is the same! The front end just looks totally different. I stand corrected.

Is there any way of welding/bolting the winch mount/brackets to the bumper ends?

That's exactly what I'm wondering, Travis. I haven't figured out exactly what might work (and be simple, lol)...

Looks good John... Bit you might need that bumper in tact to pass any inspections.. You need a 5MPH bumper to drive on the road. But I still like it better, I just thought I would let you know.

Yes, I agree. Legal considerations aside, I WANT a bumper that can take some impact. The value of it has been proven both on and off road. When I spun the truck out on the leaves on Naamans Creek Road that time, I got that vertical dent in my front bumper -- but the bumper survived (though I had to bend it back into shape).

If that happened now, the bumper would just yield and bend really bad I think. I am going to find some way to reinforce it.

Can you try and build it all to tie into the winch mount?

Looks very good John, but I was wondering about what Doc pointed out. We don't really have inspections here in Michigan, so I wouldn't be worried here, but I was wondering about how it would stand up overall in a crash. Regardless, I still think it looks much better.

I'm wondering if you couldn't have someone do some custom welding to combine the two pieces of the bumper that are still there that go underneath the bottom of the winch? The lights are in the way for that at the moment, but I'd imagine something like that could work.

Of course, a bumper that the winch was basically embedded in would be cool to, so perhaps a custom bumper? Tough call overall.. Still looks good though, and I can definitely imagine that's going to help your angles a bit.

Do you have hooks now? Looks like no more ront tow points.