Winching bumper/winch combo opinions, recomendations?

Tigerman

Tigerman

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Ride of the Month Winner
Joined
Aug 31, 2018
Messages
384
Location
North Hills, CA
Hey Guys,

I plan on replacing the OEM bumper on my 1998 TJ with an aftermarket that can mount a winch. My ride height is going to be stock with stock coils and bilstein shocks. The goal is to have a good, solid winch on a good bumper that is not too heavy and not too expensive. Also, the truck was wired for fog lights from factory. they are not there now, but I want to add them back, so the bumper should be able to accommodate them.

Here is what I was looking at:
Bumper
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IS93BCE/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Winch
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030E5HS8/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Can you please make some recommendations? What should I be paying attention to, besides looks and weight? Are there features that I need to know about and possibly want? My max budget is about $800 for both.

Thanks
 
For a winch, find a used warn 8274 and rebuild it. For the bumper, make sure it has mounting holes for that 8274 as they are different than most winches.

If you want something like a Chinese winch with standard foot down mounting than go with whatever floats your boat.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
Will I still need to upgrade the coils to support the extra weight? With the above combo it is 130 extra pounds...maybe a few pounds less with the synthetic rope.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nicholas
Drizit said:
For a winch, find a used warn 8274 and rebuild it. For the bumper, make sure it has mounting holes for that 8274 as they are different than most winches.

If you want something like a Chinese winch with standard foot down mounting than go with whatever floats your boat.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
Click to expand...

Thank you Drizit,

Why that particular model? I looked it up and it looks heavy (110 lbs!!!), also stands taller than most.
 
Tigerman said:
Would it make sense, performance wise, to replace the coils with the ones that provide a 2" lift, instead of spacers?
Click to expand...

Only if you want that added lift. The winch/bumper combo will probably only drop the front end 0.5" or so. TJ's generally have a bit of a rake, with the rear sitting taller than the front, so 3/4" coil spacers would do the trick, IMO.
 
Yep i use a 3/4" spacer on mine with a heavy old winch plate and the winch with synthetic.

I recommend that model because it's easy to get parts for to rebuild a 30+ year old one you can pickup for cheap. Just make sure there are no cracks in the castings (frequently on the bottom of the gear case) unless you have a friend who can weld aluminum. They are also incredibly fast and reliable. If they have a good source of electricity they will pull far more that their rated 8000lbs(particularly with a few mods) and generally never fail you. Stock they can keep up to the no load line speed of the best winches out there. With an upgraded motor and gears they can truly be one of the fastest.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
  • Like
Reactions: derekmac
Drizit said:
Yep i use a 3/4" spacer on mine with a heavy old winch plate and the winch with synthetic.

I recommend that model because it's easy to get parts for to rebuild a 30+ year old one you can pickup for cheap. Just make sure there are no cracks in the castings (frequently on the bottom of the gear case) unless you have a friend who can weld aluminum. They are also incredibly fast and reliable. If they have a good source of electricity they will pull far more that their rated 8000lbs(particularly with a few mods) and generally never fail you. Stock they can keep up to the no load line speed of the best winches out there. With an upgraded motor and gears they can truly be one of the fastest.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
Click to expand...
I dunno about cheap...I looked for one before I got my "Chinese winch with standard foot down mounting" and the cheapest I could find one was about 500 bucks, and I still needed to rebuild it and source a proper winch plate (which was something else I struggled to even find). You're not wrong about them being good winches though...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tigerman
Going to synthetic would be close to shedding 30 lbs of weight.

I use a stock bumper cut down 8.75" on either side. The plate bolts thru the bumper and into the frame, so no need to worry about the bumper not being thick enough, the frame is what holds everything. I have the same winch in your link, the LP8500. While it has done what I want it to, it is an incredibly slow winch. Not to mention that a hawse fairlead makes no sense with a steel cable. It will rub and possibly damage the cable as well scratch the hell out of your fairlead. I also found that the clutch does not engage/disengage very easily. I need to wind the spool slowly by hand until the clutch grabs.
20171216_135658.jpg
7a447ee50498febef193f6d9942795d2.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: KCsTJ and JMT
Ranger_b0b said:
I dunno about cheap...I looked for one before I got my "Chinese winch with standard foot down mounting" and the cheapest I could find one was about 500 bucks, and I still needed to rebuild it and source a proper winch plate (which was something else I struggled to even find). You're not wrong about them being good winches though...
Click to expand...
I got mine for $300 canadian and all it really needed was to have the brush holders cleaned and the drum bushings replaced at minimum, there was some damage to the big drum drive gear so that could be part of the basics on mine... So of course I spent a grand replacing every part I could think of and upgrading it. ;) however I've seen them go as low as $100 as well, I just didn't want to wait.

I already had an old winch plate that would take ether pattern but if you wanted to make one TMR Customs (and I'm sure others as well) sell the fairlead mount for them so you can weld it to whatever bumper you want.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
I agree with @tworley. If you’re trying to save weight, just cut the stock bumper down to give more clearance for the front tires, get a winch mounting plate and bolt on a Warn, Superwinch or Engo. I’m thinking about getting rid of my aftermarket front bumper and going back to stock and doing this myself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Christian.mers and KCsTJ
Warn 8274 with the industrial motor upgrade, Hanson Offroad bumper and mount....75' per minute @ 8000 pounds of pulling power on amsteel blue rope! har har har!

Warn 70865 motor and get the good solenoids from England for a real pulling machine! For more info Contact Dan at Six States in Soldotna Alaska.
 
I know, cool huh? ;) That is why you need a snatch block and run the rope back to your rig. Also have a good solenoid that can be bumped helps.
 
astjp2 said:
Warn 8274 with the industrial motor upgrade, Hanson Offroad bumper and mount....75' per minute @ 8000 pounds of pulling power on amsteel blue rope! har har har!

Warn 70865 motor and get the good solenoids from England for a real pulling machine! For more info Contact Dan at Six States in Soldotna Alaska.
Click to expand...
I called warn about those motors to find out the difference from the 9.5xp motor. They said it was the same rpm but it had 100% duty cycle. Figured I didn't need that feature so I saved $100 on the cheaper one.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
Thank you guys so much for all the awesome info!! For some reason I did not get the notification or somehow missed it, thought the thread was dead.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
Top Bottom