| SSPOR front tube bumper for Warn 8274 winch |
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| I wanted a winter project and set out looking for a Warn 8274 model winch to rebuild for my Jeep. Turns out a member in my club had one and I purchased it. After I got it rebuilt I needed to build a bumper so I could mount it on the front of my rig. Nobody makes an aftermarket bumper for a XJ that will hold a 8274 winch so we needed to come up with something ourselves. I like the look of the Protofab tube bumper and with a newly purchased tube bender we set out in creating a new bumper. This is actually the second attempt at this, we won't talk about the first bumper I made. |
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| The first step in making the bumper is the brackets to mount it to the frame. We plasma cut them out similar to the factory tow hook brackets. I would recommend making the brackets extend back to the 1/2" bolt hole that's about 12" back on the framerail. This hole goes through the frame and will add a great amount of strength to the bumper, especially if you're going to be winching of it. I left the brackets square in the front until we were done and then I cut them angled.
After the brackets were cut and bolted on with grade 8 hardware the main tube was bent. The brackets were notched for it and it was welded in.
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| After the main hoop was set we bent a stinger and attached it to the main hoop. Then we added bracing. I used a slightly moddified CJ 8274 mounting plate in the bumper. It's essentially just a piece of steel with a 90* bend in it and all the holes drilled in it. After experimenting a little with other ways of mounting it this seemed the easiest and has worked well. |
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| We then took the bumper off for full welding. The CJ mount will sit in the bumper and be welded to the horizontal pieces. |
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| Here a couple finished pictures. You can see the CJ mount in the bumper with the farilead coming out below the main tube. So far it has worked extremely well. It has hurt my apporach angle some, but I haven't had any big issues with it. I don't think I'd want to mount it any higher and I couldn't shorten it up more than 2 inches anyway.
I am currently running a Spidertrax aluminum fairlead and 125' of 3/8" Amsteel blue synthetic rope.
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