New Aluminess bumper

[carringb]

My Buckstop has holes in the front, and is open in the rear. Mucking up the winch has not been a problem whatsoever.

[Gnarvan]

I realize that winches are designed to run out in the open exposing themselves to God and everything else. My concern with this design is the winch box only has vents on the front. There won't be much airflow through the box to help dry things out. The front vents will let a road splash, rain, snow and everything else that's mucky and nasty that lives on roads in without a way to exit. The only holes in the back are the cable routing holes, several bolt holes and the two drain holes in the bottom of the box.

I live in the Pacific Northwest where things get wet and stay wet for a while. I can't imagine a synthetic rope winchline will be happy being stuck in a constantly wet place without drying out for weeks and or months at a time.

Winches and winchlines are designed to be tough as nails but given the expense involved I'd like to protect my investment by keeping them out of the elements as much as possible.

Aluminess makes superior products and I am impressed with the bumper overall. Kenny and the people down there are great to work. I called them a bunch of times with custom mod requests and they never got tired of talking to me. I will still recommend this company to anyone and everyone. I like my bumper but I can tweak it to make it better than it is. They didn't flinch at all when I asked them to drop the step on the nerf bars down 2" to make it easier for me to get into and out of the van. I've had knee replacement surgery and my right leg doesn't do the things it used to do 30 years ago


I'll edit this post with pictures of the back of the bumper later this morning.

Edit with photo of backside of front bumper

[ANZAC]

Originally Posted by Gnarvan

I live in the Pacific Northwest where things get wet and stay wet for a while. I can't imagine a synthetic rope winchline will be happy being stuck in a constantly wet place without drying out for weeks and or months at a time.

Winches and winchlines are designed to be tough as nails but given the expense involved I'd like to protect my investment by keeping them out of the elements as much

Yes I live in the PNW too and can't imagine exposing a winch to the road spray here, it isn't just water falling from above but all kinds of road grime. With no drain holes, I had to drill some, the box is quickly going to fill with crud. With it open like that at the front, I would want to put 4 of 1/2" drain holes to let the crud out.

This is also why they make winch covers and sell them! My main concern would be winch line, and he electrical connections which can and do rust.

Back to Aluminess, I did have some issues but Kenny and everyone there have a commitment to make everything right.

If it was me, I would either block off the holes or ask Kenny to swap it out for the old style.

[Gnarvan]

I seriously considered asking Kenny to swap it out for an old style but I think with the right color of accent behind the vent holes I can make it look better than the old style. I have the skill to seal it up so that isn't really much of a problem. I've decided to get a sheet of aluminum and use the bolt holes for the fairlead and license plate to secure the cover plate. Then I'll run a bead of industrial strengh silicone sealant around the edges to seal it. It doesn't have to be 100% sealed. I'll also drill another two drain holes in the bottom. As it sits there are only 2 drain holes located on the front of the bottom of the winch box. I want to add two more holes toward the rear. With the massive acceleration availible to me out of the 20 year old 5.8l eng powering this svelt 3 1/2 ton rig all I'll have to do is punch it to create a wave to force any water in the direction of the rear drain holes.

Right now I'm thinking about a blue to match the blue on the Superwinch. The winch stuff is inroute and I expect to get it within the next day or two. The box of stuff from Viking Offroad is scheduled to be delivered today but it will take a few more days to get the winch which is being dropshipped from the manufacture.

[jage]

Originally Posted by Gnarvan

the right color of accent behind the vent holes

Guess I should have read the thread before coming up with that brilliant idea myself!

also as an alternative:


Rather than boxing your wet in cutting out the back would help airflow driving and parked.

[Gnarvan]

I wonder how much stength I'd loose in the bumper by removing that much material. If I cut that big of a hole in the back I would flinch every time I used the winch. Maybe a series of round holes? I don't want to compromise the bumper strength in any way.

On a side note check out the custom light bracket Aluminess made for the bumper. It bolts on the back of the bumper and holds a 8 3/4" Hella light high enough above the winch cover to open and close the cover. I'm planning on installing 3 lights on top of the bumper similar to several others I've seen. I think Broncohauler has a setup like that.

There are raindrops on the mount. Those aren't flaws in the powdercoating. Typical January day here in the Columbia River Gorge. Raining like crazy but it's looking like a fun weekend of boating if things dont blow out.

[Ford_6L_E350]

Cutting that opening in the back wouldn't take much (if any) strength away from the bumper. That part is only adding strength in the vertical direction, not in the horizontal (impact) direction.

As an alternative, you could drill 8-12 2" holes in the back of the bumper to allow air flow with virtually no loss in strength. See the 11 holes I put in the front of my bumper for air flow:



Mike

[Millerfish]

I like the idea of opening the back for better air flow. But if i was going to fill the vents I would tape up the inside real good. Set the bumper facing up and level then pour epoxy resin in the vents till it is flush with the front surface.

[Gnarvan]

I had the bumper and nerf bars installed today. During the installation I took a picture of the amount of radiator that is exposed right behind the bumper. The vents in the front bumper are located right in front of the lower part of the radiator. Having vents in both the front and the rear of the bumper would help cooling. The amount of cooling would be reduced once a winch is installed in the winch box.

The only holes I drilled in the rear of the bumper were for the winch cable routing coming from the right side of the van and two holes for the center driving light mount.

Van with no front bumper showing the amount of exposed radiator


Bumper installed with license plate and fairlead cover showing front bumper vents


Center light mounting bracket


The install went smooth with one minor issue on the drivers side nerf bar. We had to cut a small notch in the pinch weld for the support brackets for the step part of the nerf bar to fit properly. The right side nerf bar fit without the minor mod.

[ANZAC]

btw those light brackets are awesome, going to call Kenny up - what lights are you using?