CK5
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UD1 bumper hidden winch
- Thread starter Blue85
- Start date
Yeah, you're right. Not sure anymore what we were doing there. Those notches on the top, those are not the norm either, just can't remember what they were for. That's kind of an old pic...
We do more custom bumpers than standard. They kinda blur together after a while.
I always wondered what it was.
If you really really want it hidden, I can tell you a way.
But you aren't gonna like it.........
Back in the early 60's, my father and his friend put a large PTO winch on a 1/2 ton 2WD chevy pickup.
Due to the weight, combined with the fact that no one made heavier springs or lift kits for pickups back then, he tended to scoop up sand with the front bumper whenever he hit a bump on a dirt road.
They took it back to the machine shop that put it on, and they came up with a solution.
They cut a hole in the bed of the pickup in the center directly behind the cab. Mounted the winch over the hole with the cable going straight down.
I was small back then, and not interested in that kind of stuff, so I never looked at the particulars.
But I do know the cable went down to a big partially covered pulley then forward. There may have been some guides also, not sure.
The end with the hook came out a fairlead in the center of the bumper.
One of them built a wooden box over the winch that my friends and I rode on when we were riding in the back in the woods.
If he was by himself, I think he picked up the box and shifted the winch into neutral to pull the cable out.
But if he had help, he often just reversed the winch while the other guy walked it out.
He went a lot of very bad places with that winch. In many years that he had it, the only two problems I remember him having with the install, was the mount for the main pulley not being stiff enough and it flexed when pulling hard.
This let the cable move and hit the crossmember cutting it partially in two over time.
The machine shop made a new mount and fixed that. Also, he once hit a stump so hard he crimped a cable guide on the cable and could not pull it out.
Other than that, it worked great. They mounted the fairlead behind the bumper, and all you could see was a hole with a hook hanging out.
Of course, that was a pickup. A blazer would be a lot more crowded back there.
But you aren't gonna like it.........
Back in the early 60's, my father and his friend put a large PTO winch on a 1/2 ton 2WD chevy pickup.
Due to the weight, combined with the fact that no one made heavier springs or lift kits for pickups back then, he tended to scoop up sand with the front bumper whenever he hit a bump on a dirt road.
They took it back to the machine shop that put it on, and they came up with a solution.
They cut a hole in the bed of the pickup in the center directly behind the cab. Mounted the winch over the hole with the cable going straight down.
I was small back then, and not interested in that kind of stuff, so I never looked at the particulars.
But I do know the cable went down to a big partially covered pulley then forward. There may have been some guides also, not sure.
The end with the hook came out a fairlead in the center of the bumper.
One of them built a wooden box over the winch that my friends and I rode on when we were riding in the back in the woods.
If he was by himself, I think he picked up the box and shifted the winch into neutral to pull the cable out.
But if he had help, he often just reversed the winch while the other guy walked it out.
He went a lot of very bad places with that winch. In many years that he had it, the only two problems I remember him having with the install, was the mount for the main pulley not being stiff enough and it flexed when pulling hard.
This let the cable move and hit the crossmember cutting it partially in two over time.
The machine shop made a new mount and fixed that. Also, he once hit a stump so hard he crimped a cable guide on the cable and could not pull it out.
Other than that, it worked great. They mounted the fairlead behind the bumper, and all you could see was a hole with a hook hanging out.
Of course, that was a pickup. A blazer would be a lot more crowded back there.
The middle bumper is mine. You double notched it for access to my clutch handle and so it matched if I remember right.
