Custom Superwinch Husky Winch Bumper

A custom mount for a heavy winch to go on the front of Larry, our in-house shunter- with the addition of a made-from-scratch heavy pin hitch.

I wanted a winch bumper for the front of Larry that would allow us to winch, hook up trailers for manoeuvring into tight spots, and shunt using a big rigid bar. I also wanted to keep the original, slightly bent galvanised bumper because it really suits. The solution was this- a mount fabricated from CNC plasma cut plates, which would bolt over the top of the existing bumper. I also wanted a heavier hitch than the standard universal pin and jaw type, because we often use Larry for shunting some very heavy bits of kit. (more about that here)

The winch I found was looking a bit sorry for itself, having obviously laid in a puddle for some time. The motor was full of white chalky dust and rust, the brush cover had actually rotted through, and the bumper that came with it was fairly well rotten. I refurbished the winch, with new gaskets, a couple of new parts and a general clean up, and then set about making the bumper. I drew the parts, had them CNC plasma cut, then welded them together.

This left one final piece of the puzzle- the heavy hitch. Again I started with CNC cut plates, welded together then profiled with the grinder before moving on to the machine tools. I bored both the central hole and the hole for the locking lever on the big Cincinnati mill, machined a top collar, lever handle and pin on the Holbrook lathe, then TIG welded all the parts together and assembled it.

I then drilled and tapped all the mounting holes and fitted the whole assembly in a real hurry because we had an urgent job to do with it- specifically loading and then delivering an enormous shepherd’s hut. Unfortunately I never got the chance to either galvanise or paint it, but his will hopefully be happening soon when we have a gap in work! As you can see in the pictures, the universal jaw directly beneath the fairlead is ideal for hitching up to a trailer and then winching a load onto it. I would also like to make a sprag and maybe a crane attachment at some point, so stay tuned for that.

UPDATE: I got it painted! looks good all in black!