Mounting winch bumper on a Maverick

[SnyperX]

To bad that blows your approach angles to shit....... :-(

Sponsored

 

[James K]

I don't think anybody could legally sell that unit, as the beefy lower structure additions will seriously mess up the crush capability of the factory setup. That will mean that you get much higher Gs in a crash, raising your hospital costs (assuming that you survive that) dramatically, and raising the PL/PD part of your insurance a lot.
There is a reason why the front ends of all new vehicles are flimsy. Maybe make this up as a kit for the owner to install, so that the huge liability changes are on your own head instead of that of the maker of the bumper.

You're right about liability but isn't odd they sell motorcycles with no seatbelts, airbags or crumple zones?

 

[Old Ford Guy]

Right off, let me address the obvious question: "why would you put a winch on a hybrid? "
...because it will get stuck off road more than a 4wd ecobost. 98% of my driving is on pavement ,so I bought a hybrid ,but I have modified to go off pavement. I found a mid-90's Jeep bumper on e-bay for around $130 to modify to fit the Mav.
I was asked to show pictures of the build, so here they are:

The whole front facia needs to be removed. Once removed, you will see that the body painted bumper / grill surround are a separate piece from the black plastic "diaper " (I hate plastic cars) . These two pieces easily separate by pulling the metal tabs attaching them together. Save this diaper and tabs for reinstall if you loose your nerve, or come to you senses and want to return it to stock.

Right below these two bolts attaching this bar across the bottom of the front are the 1" stamped holes used to tie down your Mav when it was shipped from Mexico. These two tie-down holes will be the primary bumper attachment points.

A 1" bolt is welded to a piece of angle so that it will tightly fill the shipping tie-down hole. A piece of flat square stock with a slot cut into it to accommodate the "fin" at the top of this crossmember is welded to the angle iron so that the crossmember is sandwiched between.

This shipping hole sandwich is repeated on the the side. From here you stack the necessary brackets to hold the bumper. These are made from 4" channel or 4" sq tubing.
The channel bolts to holes hanging from the bottom of the steel stock bumper (nothing was originally attached there - how lucky was that.)
The 4" sq tubing is either bolted or welded to the slanted body piece directly behind (I was lazy and threw a welded on it)

This top piece of channel is the attachment point for the upper portion of the bumper you can see the exposed bolt in picture of mounted bumper. Also the 2" angle iron showing in previous picture has two holes drilled to match up with two holes in new bumper lower section.

Mock up cardboard pieces to blend in Jeep bumper to opening. Cut these out of 16 ga scrap. A small black-chrome bolt attaches to flange at bottom of facia opening.

WARNING: THIS PROJECT WILL REQUIRE FABRICATION SKILLS. THE ABOVE IS NOT A STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTION. BUT JUST SOME TIPS TO SHOW THAT IT CAN BE DONE.

amazing ingenuity and creatiivity! not for me but a very cool mod nonetheless. if my Mav is ever off road its by accident

 

[TwoTone]

You're right about liability but isn't odd they sell motorcycles with no seatbelts, airbags or crumple zones?

Is this supposed to be clever?

 

[GPSMan]

Call AAA, call a friend, call an ex-wife, but get that thing off. You are endangering pedestrians, cyclists and about everyone who crosses your path.
Yourr liability coverage will probably be denied (uncertified alteration) and you may be left holding a hugh financial burden.
But hey...it looks cool.

 

[RichardCranium]

I think it looks great and has its place. Great fabrication and creativity. It is funny how the only thing people see on here is the tack welds and “insurance issues.” Hell, I am surprised no one said you are going to void your warranty.
I hope you have many years of success with your design. Keep being creative. It is ideas/stories like this that make MTC awesome!

 

[James K]

Is this supposed to be clever?

Yes, but I don't have time to explain it to you.

 

[TwoTone]

Yes, but I don't have time to explain it to you.

Oh I get what you were trying to do, it just wasn't very good.

 

[James K]

Oh I get what you were trying to do, it just wasn't very good.

you think

 

[Rivers90]

my concern is that during the actual winching in a badly stuck condition, any sort of angle could "tweak" the unibody. I've done my fair share of winching, but always on a body on frame vehicle. This rig bothers me on many levels.

Not my vehicle or my money....so let us know how everything turns out!

People winch from unibody vehicles all the time. Jeep Cherokee and grand Cherokee are unibody. The Jeep Cherokee is used by "Mats off road recovery" and YouTube has many videos of it using a winch to rescue stuck trucks.

Sponsored