[jonno_racing]

ok a question for fab people. what is an ok thickness for the plate used in a winch cradle? I would usually go around 6mm but I am trying to keep this light.
the cradle will be fairly simple, 2 virtical plates off chassis and a flat plate around 300mm deep hoisontily connecting the 2 with the winch bolted to that. it will also be braced. a will only be running a tigerz11 6000lb winch. would 3mm be ok for this job or a little to weak?

[31zook]

maybe a little weak, and depends on design. go 5mm and design it smart

[jonno_racing]

31zook wrote:

maybe a little weak, and depends on design. go 5mm and design it smart

the cradle will have a whole bar around it. I am also remembering its only attached to 2x 150x50 rails.

the design is quite simple. (for the cradle, the bar is fairly complex. stupid jimnys and lack of flat pannel) the only structual weekness I can see is in the welds. also I looked at a arb bar and its only around 3mm!

[monley]

On the the xrox bar, the whole center section with the winch cradle is only made out of 3mm and they say it can handle up to a 15,000 LB winch

[jonno_racing]

can u get some pics for me? how heavy is the xrox bar?

[monley]

jonno_racing wrote:

can u get some pics for me? how heavy is the xrox bar?

What exactly did you want pics of? Can't relly see much with the winch in there...

The bar weighs around 25KG i think.

[Buddies72]

jonno_racing wrote:

ok a question for fab people. what is an ok thickness for the plate used in a winch cradle? I would usually go around 6mm but I am trying to keep this light.
the cradle will be fairly simple, 2 virtical plates off chassis and a flat plate around 300mm deep hoisontily connecting the 2 with the winch bolted to that. it will also be braced. a will only be running a tigerz11 6000lb winch. would 3mm be ok for this job or a little to weak?

I used 180mm Channel - 11mm front & rear with a 6mm web and all one piece so it's nice & strong. The instructions for my 9000lb winch said no less than 10mm plate thickness

Pics of it in my build thread here Clicky

The whole bar came in around 25kg i think.

[jonno_racing]

its all good. I want mine to be under 45kg with winch.

[jonno_racing]

hey mate I just had a look at yours! masive overkill for what I want but looks good! what's it weigh?

[zooky08]

5mm winch cradle welded into a Jimny arb bar that's 3mm, running a 9000lb tigerz11 winch

[31zook]

jonno_racing wrote:

31zook wrote:

maybe a little weak, and depends on design. go 5mm and design it smart

the cradle will have a whole bar around it. I am also remembering its only attached to 2x 150x50 rails.

the design is quite simple. (for the cradle, the bar is fairly complex. stupid jimnys and lack of flat pannel) the only structual weekness I can see is in the welds. also I looked at a arb bar and its only around 3mm!

monkey wrote:

On the the xrox bar, the whole center section with the winch cradle is only made out of 3mm and they say it can handle up to a 15,000 LB winch

all in the design.

[jonno_racing]

I think I will make the virtical plates 3mm and the base for the winch 5mm. the bracing will be the hard part. structual strength and light weight is the most important details for it.

[monley]

31zook wrote:

jonno_racing wrote:

31zook wrote:

maybe a little weak, and depends on design. go 5mm and design it smart

the cradle will have a whole bar around it. I am also remembering its only attached to 2x 150x50 rails.

the design is quite simple. (for the cradle, the bar is fairly complex. stupid jimnys and lack of flat pannel) the only structual weekness I can see is in the welds. also I looked at a arb bar and its only around 3mm!

monkey wrote:

On the the xrox bar, the whole center section with the winch cradle is only made out of 3mm and they say it can handle up to a 15,000 LB winch

all in the design.

There is no 'design' as such on the xrox bar...it's just a box made of 3mm with some holes drilled in it so a winch will bolt up to it

[shep]

mine is mounted feet down and the manufacture recommends 8mm so i went 10mm.

i cant see how 3mm would keep the winch ridged enough.

[31zook]

monkey wrote:

31zook wrote:

jonno_racing wrote:

31zook wrote:

maybe a little weak, and depends on design. go 5mm and design it smart

the cradle will have a whole bar around it. I am also remembering its only attached to 2x 150x50 rails.

the design is quite simple. (for the cradle, the bar is fairly complex. stupid jimnys and lack of flat pannel) the only structual weekness I can see is in the welds. also I looked at a arb bar and its only around 3mm!

monkey wrote:

On the the xrox bar, the whole center section with the winch cradle is only made out of 3mm and they say it can handle up to a 15,000 LB winch

all in the design.

There is no 'design' as such on the xrox bar...it's just a box made of 3mm with some holes drilled in it so a winch will bolt up to it

remind me never to get you to winch me out

[got_bar_work]

If u give it some more shape u might get away with 4 mm
I used 6mm on my vit and it's pretty heavy
And I have 6 bends in my cradle
U have to make sure the cradle can't twist or it can damage the winch housing under load I've herd

[jonno_racing]

well a mate has a cradle that I'm going to use now, its about 5mm thick c channel made for a 12000 pound job

[just_cruizin]

and you all just bolt it up to a 2.5-3mm chassis so where's the strength in that.

[larry]

http://tigerz11.com.au/products/MOUNTING-PLATE.html
this is no thicker than 4mm and only has 2 bends..
while im here, do you think i should get one of those winch mounts, bolted to the chassis and make it fit under my alloy bar (can be seen below, putting in 6000lb tigerz11), or build a whole new front bar... im torn with what to do :/
also who reckons that winch mount is worth the $, or just make my own and get it bent?

[atari4x4]

have a look through Darkhorse's build thread, he had a cradle made up to suit an alloy bar on a LWB Vitara

[larry]

thanks atari, that looks like a good option.
almost seems worth the extra effort of making a whole new bar compared to trying to make it fit in the alloy one..
whats your opinion on this, reckon i should do a darkhorse style fit or i was thinking something like this viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4704 (major grave digger )
starting with that middle section and either similar tube wings, or solid plate ones..

[larry]

if it looked something like this i would be happy

[Built4thrashing]

atari4x4 wrote:

have a look through Darkhorse's build thread, he had a cradle made up to suit an alloy bar on a LWB Vitara

I did the seme on my GV.

Best to buy a winch plate and cut/weld it into your design. The more ways it attaches to the chasis the stronger it will be.

[bailey08]

For my GV i searched ebay for a cradle, I found an arb or tjm ford courier cradle designed to go behind an alloy bar. I just drilled some extra holes in it to bolt it to the chassis as it's originally only ment to go into the alloy bar.

worked a treat, this is with an Aldi 9500lb winch. only used it the once so far, dragged the GV through a puddle of mud/water halfway up the doors.

[Dr_Snapid]

No matter how strong your winch is, the load is what determines the stress. A 6000 pound winch or a 12000 pound winch, what matters is the load its pulling. In the case of a jimny, it will always be lesss than a landcruiser. So your bar does not need to be as strong as a land cruisers, IMHO.

I use a 1350 pound boat winch on my jimny. It is slow. But it has never failed to pull me out... and it weighs nothing when i'm not 4wding cos it's in the shed!

[larry]

well i bought a tigerz11 6000lb job today, as theyre on sale for a pretty bloody good price
yeah im planning on building the whole bar similar to DMACs one i posted above, the center bit will be like 2-3mm plate, probs 8mm chassis mounts 5-6mm winch cradle with at least 2 bends or if i can find some channel of the right size, and then tube wings and hoop

does this sound like it will be strong enough for winching?

[Dr_Snapid]

I think it's more about strength of design and less about the actual material. I'd make it all from the lighter material using folds to give strength. Then if you arent convinced of it's strength reinforce it with gussets, perhaps of heavier material.

[Built4thrashing]

Start with making a strong winch cradle with plenty of places to attatch it to the Chasis.



On top of what you can see above i also ran 40x8mm flat bar from the winch plate to under the front cross member.

Once winch support was sorted then i worked on making the bar fit over it properly.

[Built4thrashing]

welding wasnt finished in the above pic

[want33s]

Mine is a few bits of 130x8 flatbar welded together and has never flexed let alone bent.
Drill a heap of speedholes to reduce weight.