That's why good old Al Gore invented stiffer springs... I yanked the coil spacers and stocked coils out my Grand Cherokee cause I got a little sag with only about 100 lbs of winch and hitch on the front. Got 2" longer coils to make up for the spacers that are heavy duty. Surely they make 'em for a Ram...

 

could you put coil springs from a diesel underneath a 1500 to help with the weight of a ranch hand or arb?

 

That'd be overkill. You only need to support about 200 pounds over stock.

 

maybe i like over kill haha i want a heavy duty bumper but wasnt sure if my 1500 could handle it

 

Thats what I will eventually put on my truck or on my next truck... I just want to have some protection for my front end instead of having none for now since I dont have the money to drop on a Ranch Hand etc.

 

A brush guard won't be any protection at all if you meet a deer or elk. It'll just fold over like it wasn't even there.

 

Now this had a good chance, maybe not an elk, but a white tail.





When I had my old winch, it was only an 8000# winch, but I knew I'd eventually get a heavier duty one, so I opted for the mount that is rated for up to a 16,000 lb. winch. All 3/8" steel, I installed it and I bet it weighs at least 60 lbs. The cover I made out of polished aluminum as the thing was only available in black powder coat.

Unfortunately, when I got a steal on a XD9000i winch, the "i" series needed a different mount. So I went UP in winch and way DOWN in mount...

 

Still better than nothin there at all lol but like I said, one day Ill get one that can atleast kind of protect.

 

That's a darn nice setup! It looks like it might do the trick on a doe at least, if she's broadside and so doesn't sneak body parts through that big opening.

I've never seen a brush guard that leaves the stock bumper in place hold up to a highway speed impact with a normal or better adult buck unless the truck was lifted more than a few inches. The problem is that the taller bucks (taller as compared to does) tend to put their 180 or more pounds nearer the top of the brush guard where there's more bracket busting, vertical bending leverage to be had.

So now you have to sweat mount failure, or is it still stronger than the winch?

Either way, that's a sharp looking setup you've got there.

 

No, it's actually the mount that Warn makes for that winch, so it's rated at the full capacity of the winch.

The issue is that to use the 16,000# mount, you have to "clock" the winch 90*, because the bottom of the winch mounts on the face or front of that mount, not the bottom. You actually have to set the winch up to spool from the bottom and not the front. The "i" series winches have integrated, water tight controls and because of this you cannot rotate or "clock" the winch.

I have no doubt this new, smaller mount is strong enough to support the capacity of the winch, it's just not near as "tank-like" as my other mount, which now sits in storage.

At least with the new mount, I could put the center bar back on my grill guard and mount up a couple of 130 watt lights!!!