Ok well I have a 95 jeep grand cherokee stock for now and I need a place to mount a winch this is my super low cost buget build which means it needs to be as cheap as possible. I dont have the money for a bumper so that out of the question(unless I make my own) I can do a hitch mounted to the front but that really messes up my approch angle so I dont want to do that. Im about 130 mi away from me jeep so cant really picture it that well but this is what im thinking. ill post a pic so you guys can see what im talking about.


Ok so I was thinking to keep the cost down get two long pieces of steel(length x width of bumper) drill holes threw them and put one on the face of the bumper and one on the back then run the bolts straight threw back to front this would add more strength to the bumper and then add another piece of steel to the top of the bumper and bolt it on top I would also have my winch plate bolted/welded on the steel and then just have the winch on that. FYI its a 9,500lb winch but I dont plan on pulling out a dump truck just to get me unstuck and for pulling stumps and down trees on our property. Do you guys think my idea would be strong enough? I need some Ideas I really like the reciver hitch setup but again approch angles but what would be nice about that is I could throw the winch on the back of my truck if I wanted to plus winter time and when im not using the jeep that much I can take the winch off and not worry about it in the weather.

 

You could fab something up, but I found when I was hunting down a front receiver for my WJ (where nobody but Warn makes one, and we all know how much Warn gets for their stuff!) that there was a good bit of 3rd party support for front receivers for ZJs for not much over $100. Receiver mounts are available all over the internet for as little as $39.95.

Depends on the look you're going for. My WJ is my daily driver, so I wanted it to look stock when the winch is off...

 

I saw the pics you put up of your reciver mount and it looks good and is tucked away nicely but this is my woods vehicle so it doesnt need to look perfect as long as it holds thats all I really care about till I get some money to get a bumper for it but its really hard for me now to say I want to do this and not have my jeep to reference off of. I think my idea should work(in theory) If I could get a reciver to mount up higher I would go for it ill be home tomorrow so im sure there will be more ideas getting tossed around on here.

 

It wouldn't be hard to fab up one and if mine was an off road "beater" I would have in a heartbeat. I'd say just make sure that if your mount is a bolt on, to use grade 8 bolts and the largest washers you can fit to spread the load, and try to fab up a small plate with holes lined up with the ones you make in the frame for more strength and you'll be fine.

 

Well I have acess to a welder and plan on gusseting the bumper a bit to make it a lil stronger so Ill prob most likely go with that plan. Seems the easier route to go.

 

Is a member on another forum, one geared only toward Jeep owners who had one made. He took cardboard and laid one out then brought it to a local shop who fab'd it up for him for $150.

Wouldn't take very elaborate welding skills at all to make something similar and it mounts at about the height you want yours...

 

Yeah thats not bad I think im going to just make my own template and just have my buddy weld it up for me he is an expert so souldnt take him long to get it all welded