I’m thinking of modifying my aftermarket bumper that mounts to the frame horns. I want to cut off the horns and a few inches of frame, then burn on new horns with 1/4” plate. Maybe modify the radiator support and maybe cut the grill a bit.

 

When I get around to it I’ll do the same, I’ll either make new horns or reuse the horns after cutting them off the frame. If you’re recessing your bumper for clearance and have a winch that sits between the frame rails, you’ll likely need to cut the core support cross member too. You can safely cut around 4” off the frame without the winch hitting the radiator.

 

This sounds a lot like what @Sv_dude is wanting to do here soon to push current bumper back and recess his winch underneath. Part of me almost thinks that instead of mounting new frame horns, it might be easier to just drill 4 holes in top of the bumper and run grade 8 botls through the bumper and entire frame rail similar to what PSC does with the BFH series front bumpers.

 

That’d be nice but the top of

my bumper sits higher than the frame and is angled.

 

The frame does taper a little but making new horns or reusing the same ones shouldn’t be a problem. If you do cut the frame, I’d suggest getting rid of the lower part of the bumper as well since it won’t really do you any good and keeping it will require more fab work to keep the part of the frame that it attaches to.

As for putting a bolt vertically down through the top of the bumper and through the frame, unless the bumper was designed with that mounting option, you may need to reinforce the bumper in that area.

 

I hear ya. I don't see an issue with you doing what you originally suggested if you don't mind cutting that grill, and you are ok with the idea that you're probably compromising the integrity if in a front end collision. SV_dude is trying to keep his current bumper which mounts using the factory horns as well. He's not afraid to chop stuff up either. Check out his frame notch thread. It seems one of you will be the guinea pig for the other. I'll be interested to follow along.


***got tied up on my response and see we've got sv_dude here now.

 

I will ditch the crash bar and replace the edisco with a dual rate. My winch will sit at about the center of the frame ( height wise ) so I may have to trim the grill and modify the radiator support. I was hoping someone had done that

 

The radiator support bolts to a plastic core support. You may be able to modify the core support and just raise the radiator support. The issue there that comes in is the lower part of the grille attaches to that cross bar. You’re going to have to get crafty in order for the grille to still have support on the bottom side. For me, my winch sits low in between the frame rails, I can lower my front bumper an inch or so and squeeze my winch just below the cross bar. If you’re building or mounting new frame horns, you can do the same if you mount your winch low enough.

For the sway bar, I ditched my edicso already and am not using sway bars. If I see the need in the future I’ll use antirocks. Just be sure when you do the cutting, you’re leaving room to mount another sway bar unless you plan on making new mount points in the frame.

 

Also I need to move my steering cooler. Not sure where yet

 

I was thinking of just modifying the cross bar kinda like this:



This keeps a mounting point for the cooler, and makes room for the winch and the clutch. This will also allow me to not lower my bumper. If anything, maybe this will allow me to raise the bumper an inch or two... gaining even more approach angle. My bumper as it sits is about a half inch below the grill. I can cut just the bottom inch off the grill and let the bumper scoot back a few inches and up an inch. With the lower inch cut off the grill, it will look close to factory since it’s just a slanted part of the grill anyways.

As for the lower part of the grille mounts, the grille can be reinforced a little with some fiberglass on the inside. With the lower part of the grille being reinforced, maybe the lower grille won’t need mounting tabs?