When I swapped the YJ tub onto my Jeep I was in need of a better frame. This came in the form of a 79 instead of an 80. Not much different right, well yes and know. The person that used the frame before me, in their infinite wisdom decided to weld the stock bumper to the frame. No problem. Well the frame was cracked where it welded and ended up breaking off at some point before I got it. So I fabricated up a little solution.
With this solution I neglected to fix the lack of stock bumper mounting holes. The same hole that were supposed to be used for mounting the winch plate. Now I have to fix the issue or no winch. Well we all know how this will turn out.
As you can see part of the hole was there but not all of it. So I set the winch mount on the frame locating by the partial holes and marked where the back two holes needed to be drilled. The I proceeded to fabricate some new pieces.
With the piece clamped in the vise I bent it over to form a 90* angle
I then test fit the piece before I cut out some additional area of the frame. (I did not want to drill through the weld for the hole, so I moved the weld line back a little bit).
You can see the scribe line in the above picture where I planned to cut it at.
After it was all notched for weld I ran the finish welds and ground for a smooth finish. (Yes I ground off the galvanizing before I welding to keep the weld clean.
As you can see in this picture when I fixed the frame previously I added a piece of angle in between the frame rails. This was so that when I built my front bumper I did not have to use the stock mounting holes. Not my best moment I guess. But is does keep the bumper attached very well.
The end result is a very sturdy section of the frame and a great mounting point for the winch. Man I never new it would look this good.
I just need to go test it out know..... Anyone up for a wheeling trip?
