Series 3 Series 3 winch bumper build - photos

Afternoon all,

Few photos of the bumper I've just finished for my 109.

6mm bumper with some extra brackets to accept a Warn 10,000lb 12v winch. Couple of recovery eyes for good measure then galvanised.

Impressive. Tho If I stuck that beast on mine it would have the front dumb irons off!

I was thinking that myself. I wouldn’t trust those four bumper bolts to shift a ton. Never mind 10,000 lb. Then again, some git welded the bumper to the chassis on mine, using the bleedin recovery eyes as straps

nice job though

I was dubious of the bumper fixings too, but you have to consider the winch itself is only supplied/fitted with 4 x M10 8.8 grade bolts anyway, so if they're up to the job so are the bumper bolts.

WoodyO said:

I was dubious of the bumper fixings too, but you have to consider the winch itself is only supplied/fitted with 4 x M10 8.8 grade bolts anyway, so if they're up to the job so are the bumper bolts.

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You ain’t seen my irons! Patched is too strong a word… Lacey might be more accurate :-(

WoodyO said:

I was dubious of the bumper fixings too, but you have to consider the winch itself is only supplied/fitted with 4 x M10 8.8 grade bolts anyway, so if they're up to the job so are the bumper bolts.

Click to expand...

Yes but they are not carrying any load as they bolt from the front through, so effectively stop the winch falling to the ground, and the bumper takes all the load during a pull. It would be a different matter it the bolt pattern was similar to a husky where it bolts to the bottom of the bumper and therefore when under load it is the bolts that take all the shear load.

This winch, Warn zeon, is designed to be mounted feet down or feet forward, so that's already been thought of by the manufacturer. I prefer to mount feet forward for reasons you said and so I could fill the gap between the radiator and bumper.

The way the bumper is bolted to the chassis also effectively has 8 shear points rather than the 4 of the winch mount (feet down) so I'm pretty happy it's up to the job.

I regularly use the same winch fitted to other vehicles at max. pull, mounted feet down and have never had an issue with the bolts. That's upwards of 4,500kg recorded on a load cell.