One of my Advisory Board Members donated a winch he bought at Harbor Freight for Rescue Sami.  I have never seen them before.  The box says made by a company called Chicago.  Has a 8,000 pull, mounting bracket etc.  He said he bought it for less than $300 dollars.  

We are thankful for the thought.  Now we have another expense.  Have to buy or build a bumper.

Suggestions?

Captain Jack

I suggest building it yourself, since that's what I'd do in your situation... bumpers are just an unneeded cost, IMO.

Are there any good plans available on any site to build one from?  I have just a matter of 26 days  before the Sami goes into the container bound for Alaska.

Does anyone have a plan they would share direct.  It would have to rectangular tube as we have no way to bend tubing.

Captain Jack

I'm currently building a new front bumper with a chop saw, welder, and an overall idea/goal. I don't know of any plans for bumpers... but I'm sure there are some out there... Sorry I can't be more help :-/

I suggest that you check out some of the sponsors of this site, as well as other Suzi sites (pirate4x4, off-road.com, Izook, etc.). Their web sites will provide a low down on the bumpers.

May I make a suggestion: look into a winch cradle to be able to mount the winch in a hitch frame mounted front or rear. Since you are a 'rescue team', you would want to be able to get yourself out of a bind, rather into a bigger one. Using a winch that is multiply mounting is advantageous, but also troublesome, especially when trying to move it once stuck. Anyways, just a thought. Don't forget a come-along with chain if you mount the winch solidly up front. Use the come-along and chain to pull the Sami backwards out of the perdicument (?sp).

Interesting you mentioning a comealong.  While packing, I found an old 4 Ton I have since I was a very young man growing up in Washington State.  We carried it in a 48 CJ2A Dad used on the farm, hunting trips and an occasional outing where the women stayed in camp and th "MEN" went on runs.  Didn't even have a rollbar till I put one in in the early 70's.

Back in the 60's and 70's after I came home from the Nam.  We used to run trails that were so tight you could hardly make some of the turns (Like the Old Naches Trail).  Now, these traile can be ran by a full sized pickup.

Sorry to ramble, this topic sparked some very fond memories.

Captain Jack