[Skinner1]

standing in the weld shop the other day and after talking with a freind of mine at work who is a fabricator (and jeep) owner we decided to give it a shot .

1. got measurments from milemarker cust serv. and took a few of our own .
2. then we drew up a design pattern and made templetes out of doorskin panel .
3. we then dug into the scrap bin ...and found a piece of

1/4" hardned steel plate that we use at work for MTU deisel engine mounting plates . in yachts .

having found the plate perfect for our design over at the weld table we got to work ....cut the plate to 33"X8"X1/4"
cut out the fairlead pattern and the frame mounting brackets and bumper brackets on the plasma cutter ....

then back on the weld table ...we welded all our pieces togeather to form the final plate .

next came dryfit ,measuring ,drilling .. thank god for KOBALT and tapease . first i fit the plate and measured for the frame holes drilled at 5/8"(upper frame)
1/2"(lower frame)
next came winch holes ....i beleive they were 1/2 "
note: best to wear gloves at this point...steel slithers and sharp and mean ...

after all holes were drilled next came mountin winch to plate followed by entire plate mounted to jeep frame .

snag here : during install i spunn out 1 of the frame bolts .(quick but effective idea ) ..with the help of a washer or 2 ...and a new bolt i had in my scrap bucket i got back on track

then came the bumper mounts ........which were lowered a fraction of about 1/4" and extended to cut to desired fit ...
saws-all off 1/4'' inch from each bracket ext ...then drilled bumper mount holes 5/8"....and using stainless steel bolts ....installed bumper ....nothing left to do now but run elec ....do some final touch-ups to the job and its done .

all in all the job cost .....lunch , a 12pak , and a few bloody fingers, 9 hours of total time . but it was fun , and an adventure .

since i cant post here some pics of plate job can be seen on myspace .

[JeepinIan]

e-mail me the pics, I will post.

[Skinner1]

JeepinIan, on Dec 21 2007, 06:47 AM, said:

e-mail me the pics, I will post.

ok when i get a chance tonight i will do that ...thanks .

[TallJeep]

Sorry about the size but I got them off Myspace and that's how they rezise them.

[73_cj_project]

Looks good, the one I made used some of the hardest 3/8" plate I've found, it's used for the ball mount for tractor trailers. Nearly smoked a bunch of drill bits even using the drill press. Then tigged that to the back side of my bumper, threw in some gussets and then used a piece of angle to mount the fairlead on. Didn't fit in there quite as nice as yours tucks in there, but it works for what it is, and I was using my bumpers to extend my frame as well, so it's all kinda welded together, not much other choice, it'll rip the bumpers and everything off before it pulls the plate loose :D Good work on yours. It's amazing what you can build with some scrap steel, some time, and a welder. I'd love to have a plasma for sure :D The torch still works so far though. Looking forward to seeing bigger pics.

Gus

[SouthernStyleV8]

wow just imagine you could have saved yourself all that time lunch and the 12 pack and went and bought the winch mount plate from harbor frieght for 30 bucks!!!

[73_cj_project]

Just say no to bolt ons :D Get your hands dirty, create something yourself I'm a big fan of custom stuff, mostly because I like fabrication, and having my own look. There are always easier ways, but it's nice to be able to say, I built it

Gus

[SouthernStyleV8]

yea i know i ahve to build alot fo stuff for my jeep... there are no winch plate that bolt on for a wagoneer dso i had to make my own... but its too easy to be able to buy one for a wrangler... but i def see your point

[TallJeep]

BUILT IT DON'T BUY IT!!!!

[SouthernStyleV8]

what have you built!!!!

[Skinner1]

buy the plate wheres the gradification in that ............ and miss out on the satisfaction of doing it yourself ......and all the great stuff that goes with it ....like .......

getting burned ......

picking those horrible flesh piercing steel shavings out of your fingers ..... .....rippin the skin off your knuckles when you break that drill bit ........... ohhh yeahhhhh now thats what its all about ....

like i tell the wife ...huney dont worry about it a few stitches and it will be good as new ............

[SouthernStyleV8]

lol... id rather not be battered and bruised...

[73_cj_project]

Blood sacrifice for the Jeep gods. I actually haven't had a bad one lately, but there is always a little something that goes along with working on your own stuff. I definitely enjoy designing and building my own stuff. And for mine, I've built nearly everything for mine :D They sell plenty of stuff for CJs, but once you go past 4" of lift you're off into the land of custom everything.

Gus

[Skinner1]

well sometimes i just cant resist ....when i have so many different materials at my disposal ....................

[Skinner1]

well yesterday got off early and took advantage of the time off to put the finishing touches on my front end project ...got my offroad lights back on ...finished up my electrial wiring etc .....

looks pretty good i think ...i will post final project pics later .

p.s. no stiches required this project ...just a band-aid or two. huummmm whats next lol

[SouthernStyleV8]

yea ... i know what you mean...ive never been seriously hurt... but i have seen people... get knocked out by falling driveshafts.. and had there hands sliced open by cutoff wheels ... def no fun

[73_cj_project]

Yeah, I have my share of cutoff wheel marks :D It's so fast it doesn't even hurt, I've had some that didn't even bleed for a while :D All part of the scars of life.

Gus

[Skinner1]

ohhh comon ...alittle blood shed never hurt anyone .....especially when its for your

[BustedKnuckl]

skinner1, on Dec 22 2007, 06:38 PM, said:

ohhh comon ...alittle blood shed never hurt anyone .....especially when its for your

"If you aren't bleeding by the time it's finished, it wasn't done right"

[Skinner1]

BustedKnuckl, on Dec 22 2007, 09:48 PM, said:

"If you aren't bleeding by the time it's finished, it wasn't done right"

yeahhhhhh thats the spirit ............... .......tell ya what that tap-ease is some stainin stuff ...........my hands been black for 3 days .....from the steel work ..............lol

[92SquareEye]

i'm a big fan of the 'built not bought' school of thought and applaud it loudly when people MAKE their own things. aftermarket parts are great and easily bolt right on by the guy with limited resources and skills (or by the guy he pays to bolt them on); but, most people will find that if they were to take some time and put some thought into it, they can generally design something better and more efficient (though it will often cost twice as much and take twice as long). regardless, at the end of the project, you can say that you built it...and that is priceless!

nice job skinner!!!!!

my $0.02.

-dave

[Skinner1]

thank you ....and im gald i did do it my own design ...because it accomidates my bumper and i didnt have to cut it ...with the new bracket extentions i welded on ...........the entire front end was actually extended almost 7 inches ...

on another note ......... chad (muddtime) .....gustavo ( talljeep ) .........guys thank you big time for the asst with the bodylift install this morning .....the two of you made the install look so easy it was pathetic . a big thanks to you both

now i gotta paint these god awful black doors i just got ...they stand out like a sore thumb on my red jeep .....lol

final pics of the winch plate job and body lift can be seen on myspace pics .

[Smokey]

Hey skinner,

The winch looks good but I didn't see any good pictures of the lift after it was done. Am I being technically challenged or did I miss them? I would like to see how the jeep looks after the lift to compare it to the before photos.

Glad to hear everything went well.

[Skinner1]

smokey, on Dec 24 2007, 09:33 AM, said:

Hey skinner,

The winch looks good but I didn't see any good pictures of the lift after it was done. Am I being technically challenged or did I miss them? I would like to see how the jeep looks after the lift to compare it to the before photos.

Glad to hear everything went well.

the new lift pics can be seen on myspace pics ...album...(new doors ) its the last pic i beleive again thanks to muddtime and talljeep that it got installed in the first place .

[SeaMonkey]

Nice work, man. I can vouch for the man's workmanship--top notch stuff.