MOVE DIY Front Winch Bumper

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NightMares

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Alright, I don't have a computer at home so I've been waiting to get back to to work today to do a full write up of this build. The bumper is yet to be installed on the truck, but it's complete.

My review on the bumper:

My initial thoughts of this bumper were slightly different than once I received it. I'm by no means disappointed, but I feel it should be noted by MOVE that if you don't have a ton of experience with welding and fabricating, that you might pay to have someone else build it. I wound up doing the entire thing by myself without my co-worker, and although my craftsmanship isn't top notch, I believe for my first true full bumper build it turned out better than I would have expected for myself to do. The problems I faced were it just didn't....fit. The wings didn't line up with the center section, it took a lot of pressure, bending, and tack welding to get it somewhat straight. I was concerned about it twisting while I was building it, but luckily it is thick enough steel that it still held true to it's shape. If it didn't line up right, then it had some heavy gaps, sometimes up to an inch thick at the ends. So it was a pick your poison deal, either fill the gaps, or tack weld it and bend the crap out of it to fit together. I filled the gaps.

Would I recommend the bumper? YES
For the price and ease you can't beat it. I'm extremely happy with the final outcome which I will update here in a second, along with a final outcome of the installation. Does it take some engineering? Yes, but that's the beauty of a DIY bumper, if you don't like how it looks, then change it.

Final notes:

For the Sport model trucks, my recommendation is to just order in a non-sport grille. I thought it would be a simple modification, and although the modification to get it work was indeed simple, it doesn't "fit" right. I hope with the bumper painted red to match it hides it a little more, but in the photos below it looks like the truck has an underbite like a bull dog. I followed my own diagram posted on the page before about trimming the bumper, and I can easily access the hood through the gap I made, but fitment wise it isn't 100%.

On a side note that will apply to everybody here, IMO pick your option, don't combine. 20" light bar opening, or winch. I fought for an hour trying to fit the light bar tabs on with the winch and I finally gave up. The winch comes up to high to allow the tabs to be welded where they need to allow the light bar to be centered inside the hole. I wound up scrapping the tabs and have decided to drill two holes in the bumper and mounting the light bar via black bolts on the outside face of it. Might not be the cleanest look, but it was better than having a massive gap at the bottom of the opening.

For those who have asked about dimensions, I haven't taken any yet. Sorry. However, easier for you to imagine, go outside and look at your frame. The bumper sits flush with the bottom of your frame horns. Measuring on my stock bumper that's in the back of my truck, I gained 3" of clearance in the center section, and as a rough estimate with the way the bumper tucks up on the wings I'd say closer to 5-6" in front of the tires. The bumper DOES not hang out any further than the front fenders, in fact it lines up perfectly with them. I'll get some numbers tonight if anyone still wants them though.

Enough talk. PHOTO'S!

First endcap welded on.

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All the Goodies!

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Truck Up For Bumper Removal

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Lost something!

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Inner Wheel Housings Trimmed For Clearance

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Mock up to make sure it's straight, square, and flush!

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End of Saturday

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NightMares

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Start of Sunday: Step One is MOUNT IT UP

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Trimmed for grille clearance!

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Rear sprayed with Upol Por 15 for rust prevention

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Front sprayed with Upol 2k urethene primer

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RAPTOR LINER!

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And this is how it sits today. I'll check tonight when I'm off if the bumper is setup enough to start assembly. I probably won't be installing it tonight as it's been raining all day and supposed to as well tomorrow, and I want to make sure the liner is properly cured before exposing it to the elements.
 

MagSport

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Hell yeah that looks great Nightmares. This definitely looks like something I'll have to consider while I'm at home next summer. Good work and great write up!
 
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Thanks bud! I can't wait to get it assembled and installed. I talked to my co-workers at my shop and they told me it's most definitely dry, so tonight I'm going to mount the winch and then throw the bumper on the truck. I'll mount and wire the lights later this week or this weekend, but tonight is the only free time I've got to do the big part which is install and alignment. So, I'll be updating with pictures tonight once it's on.
 
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Got the bumper and winch installed last night. All that's left is to get the lights in and get everything wired up. I think it turned out alright, although color match wise I feel the bumper looks just a little more...pink. But eh, can't expect perfection on a bed liner.

Still got some final adjustment to do on the bumper alignment wise. Sitting flush on the drivers side at the fender, has a slight gap on the passenger side. Thinking I'll drop the drivers side down to match that way I got some space in case I come down on a rock or something.

Paint match didn't help the underbite going on with the grille, so come the time I do my aftermarket hood I'll be ordering in a non-sport grille in black to have painted to match everything. It's not too bad with the sport grille, in fact I think it looks pretty mean or "Pissed Off" and it turned out better than I was expecting it to with the red, but it still just isn't quite right.

Anywho, here's the 95% final outcome.



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Better view of how it will look once everything gets re-adjusted

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I will still update this thread once I get the lights in for the final outcome, will probably be this weekend, and I'll continue to update upon use of the winch and everything to see if it'll hold up to hard pulls and abuse. But for the price point, I will again say I'm pleased with the purchase.
 

jsmith

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Got the bumper and winch installed last night. All that's left is to get the lights in and get everything wired up. I think it turned out alright, although color match wise I feel the bumper looks just a little more...pink. But eh, can't expect perfection on a bed liner.

Still got some final adjustment to do on the bumper alignment wise. Sitting flush on the drivers side at the fender, has a slight gap on the passenger side. Thinking I'll drop the drivers side down to match that way I got some space in case I come down on a rock or something.

Paint match didn't help the underbite going on with the grille, so come the time I do my aftermarket hood I'll be ordering in a non-sport grille in black to have painted to match everything. It's not too bad with the sport grille, in fact I think it looks pretty mean or "Pissed Off" and it turned out better than I was expecting it to with the red, but it still just isn't quite right.

Anywho, here's the 95% final outcome.

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Better view of how it will look once everything gets re-adjusted

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I will still update this thread once I get the lights in for the final outcome, will probably be this weekend, and I'll continue to update upon use of the winch and everything to see if it'll hold up to hard pulls and abuse. But for the price point, I will again say I'm pleased with the purchase.
That looks great man, is there enough room to get to the hood latch with the sport grill or is going to the non-sport the best option?
 
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NightMares

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Non-sport is the best option appearance wise. I trimmed the bumper far enough that there's a decent gap between the bumper and the grille, so accessing the hood latch is easier than it was with the stock bumper. I mainly trimmed the bumper out that far to access the winch, the free spin handle wasn't the easiest to reach through the hole provided by Move, so I figured in a pinch if I needed to I could easily pop the hood and grab it from the back side. I'd assume with a different brand winch like a Warn that has the free spin farther forward on the winch it wouldn't be needed, but the Engo winch has the handle towards the backside requiring you to stick your arm in almost to the elbow to reach it.

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NightMares

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I've already thought about doing that, but it'll interfere with the 20" light bar at that point.
 
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NightMares

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Some updated photo's of the 4x3's installed. Once I get the mounting tabs straightened I'll adjust them so they're straight, but it looks a whole hell of a lot better than it did.

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NightMares

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I guess I can update this again.

As of now the bumper is still holding up well. I've used the winch on it a couple times for random things, haven't given it any real hard pulls but I don't foresee any problems. Since posting this I've had the winch wired in, Factor 55 Prolink installed, replaced the CSI 4x3's with some Rigid Dually's. Got the Rigid SAE's and Rigid Floods. I've also installed a light bar on the outside, then removed and replaced with some 9" high intensity lights.

I am going to redo it however. I'm thinking I'm going to relocate the 9" lights a little bit more to the outside of the bumper, relocate the winch control box and get 2 single row 20" light bars installed inside the bumper. Gonna run one flood and one spot.

From there, I'm going to have the bumper stripped, then add a little more to it.

1) I'm going to remove the current shackle mounts and install some that are a little thicker. Haven't had any issues with them yet, and I've used them quite a few times now with some hard pulls, but I still feel uneasy when I'm pulling on some one so I'd rather resolve the panic feeling by installing some that I don't foresee giving me issues.

2) I'm going to custom fab and install a prerunner bar on it. Going to have one that wraps around the top of the 9" lights so they don't look like they were an after thought. Right now the lights are cheap eBay lights, I'm hoping to eventually swap them out for the ARB lights but I don't have that kind of money laying around for lights when what I have is already somewhat overkill.

3) Skid plates. Right now the plan for my truck is to eventually go rear 4 link and coilovers front and rear. By doing that, I'll be able to build a belly pan that will tie the front long arm and rear 4 link in together. With the bumper, I'm going to build an oil pan skid plate that goes from the bumper to the belly pan. With this done, everything on the underside of the truck will be protected from any kind of rocks or debris while out on the trails.

4) Respray the entire bumper. Thinking I'll get it powder coated or painted this time around instead of the Raptor liner. I don't mind the look now, but it's just not quite a match to the truck. So, if I can get a powder coat close enough I'll go that route, if not then I'll paint it and put down several coats of clear coat for protection.

That's the plan. Before all this goes down, I'm going to get a few more items for the truck. Hood, fender flares, and a rear bumper to match. This way, when I do the bumper, I can go through and have everything, including repainting the entire truck, done to match. From there I'm going to redo all the graphics on it and change it up a bit. Already working on designs, should look pretty *******.

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Sport

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Nice looking bumper you have there. I recently got a similar style steel plate bumper on my truck, and got to try it out last weekend pulling 2 vehicles out of the snow. On the first one, I was pretty gentle (using a tow strap) and the bumper stayed firmly in place.

The second vehicle I had to get a little momentum and jerk it a bit to get it out of the snow, and my bumper shifted a few inches out from the force. I had tightened all 6 bolts holding it on to 100 ft-lbs, but apparently that wasn't enough to hold it in place. Any suggestions on what else I can do to keep it mounted solid?
 
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NightMares

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I couldn't tell you for sure. I haven't been as concerned about my bumper moving as much as I have one of the shackle mounts flying off. I'd have to see your mounting brackets to be able to tell you what you can do. On mine, there's a notch cut out in the brackets to allow the body mount to slide through the bracket, which means I have close to zero adjustment forward or back, just up or down. I have yet to moved my bumper, and just this last Saturday the winch got its first REAL workout. Still my bumper hasn't come out of alignment after I fixed the drivers side from first install.

The only thing I can think of if tightening those bolts it still moved, throw a small tack weld on the brackets to the frame. If removal is ever needed, tack welds aren't hard to grind off.

Here's what my brackets look like.

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Update on the bumper. It's coming off. I will not use it again for off road purposes. For a street truck or brodozer, something that will not be using a winch or pulling people out, yes I would do another. But from the build experience, to the final straw of a Toyota Camry twisting the bumper and in turn cost me my new headlights and grille frame, along with tweaking the front frame horns, I will not be putting another Move bumper back on this truck.

I've already placed the order for a Fusion bumper to replace it with.

Went to winch out a Toyota Camry up an incline in the mud, this was the outcome of the bumper.

Passenger side is pulled out and down.

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Winch pulled the bottom of the bumper up, twisting the entire thing.

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Cracked a weld

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Passenger side frame rail

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Driver side frame rail

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Broken headlight bracket

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Driver side fender line

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View from across. Winch used to sit flat and underneath the grille. Note the location now.

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Sport

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That is crazy. Do you know the thickness of the steel?
 

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I joined this forum just because you were using the Move bumper. I am glad I read all the way to the end of the thread now. Sorry to read about the bumper and how weak it was. That makes my decision easy on the Move, I'll pass. I need to be able to pull logs out of mud and on the odd occasion maybe even the truck. Let us know how the other bumper holds up for you.
 
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NightMares

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That is crazy. Do you know the thickness of the steel?

Thickness of the steel is 3/16's steel. The whole thing. Everything. Brackets. Bumper. Winch plate. Light mounts. All of it. Light mounts are overkill, bumper is decent thickness, but the brackets and winch plate should have been 1/4 inch. I should have reinforced the bumper during building it, but I rushed it to get it done as I was pretty excited about seeing it on the truck.

Bumper is going to get straightened to the best of my ability and donated to my brother's 2000 Ram 1500. He has no intentions of using a winch, so it should work decent for him.

I joined this forum just because you were using the Move bumper. I am glad I read all the way to the end of the thread now. Sorry to read about the bumper and how weak it was. That makes my decision easy on the Move, I'll pass. I need to be able to pull logs out of mud and on the odd occasion maybe even the truck. Let us know how the other bumper holds up for you.

Thanks man. I actually just cancelled the order on the other bumper. I'm at a crossroads. I was excited for the Fusion but can't seem to make up my mind exactly with what I want. I've came across other bumpers as of recent that I'm considering.

Wicked bumpers offer kits similar to MOVE, however the brackets and winch plate is 1/4 inch instead of 3/16's. I figure for $530 I could easily reinforce it if needed, if I build another bumper, whether it winds up being Wicked or MOVE for a second time, I will make sure to take my time and build it so it will be suitable for a winch.

No images of a 2nd gen with the prerunner, but I've attached a GMC to show what the bar looks like. It would be setup just like picture of the Ram, as I have my SAE's and Dually floods I'd put in the square holes. Raptor lined red just as the MOVE bumper was.

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Cranfords is one of the main ones I'm looking at now. The truck pictured below just appeals to me heavily, I love the look of it. I have no information on the bumpers aside from photo's though. Looks like a Road Armor, but just cleaner IMO. I've messaged them but haven't heard back yet. If it works out this is the bumper I really want at the moment. I'd get it setup identical to the picture below, inside the light holes Rigid makes round to square adapters that I'd use to fill the gaps using the Dually lights I already have, bumper would again be Raptor lined red.

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The infamous Road Rhino bumper on the DOR V10. IMO looks like a Road Armor or the Cranfords, but I don't want to pay for a Road Armor name, and to be honest I don't want to have what everybody else has. They're $895 for a built bumper in raw steel, can't really go wrong if you ask me. If the Cranfords bumper doesn't work out, this is going to be my second choice. Same idea for the Dually lights with the round to square adapters, and again Raptor lined red.

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Other two bumpers I'm considering are out of my price range at the moment. However, I'm looking at a 2000 V10 quad cab short bed that needs some trans work for pretty cheap. If I wind up with it, I'll probably transfer which of these bumpers I get onto that truck and do a TrailReady or ARB on my current truck. The V10 will be my daily driver, I'd probably cut the winch face out of the bumper and do a light bar or just cover it with a license plate. Either way.

Problem is if I don't get the V10, then TrailReady or ARB are probably not going to happen anytime soon until I find another truck. Looking for a 3/4 ton V10 or Diesel that I can crew cab swap in the future and use for DD purposes, the current truck I'm looking at is just too good to pass up. If I can get my burban sold then I'll snatch it up and park it for a few months until I can get the trans fixed and go from there.
 

Sport

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I would definitely look at getting the whole thing made out of 1/4" plate for the next bumper. Mine is all 1/4" and I have no worries about bending at least. But, one problem I was having with it at first was the mounts kept sliding out of alignment when I would pull people out. Turned out the bolts it came with sucked. I replaced all the bolts with 9/16" Grade 8 bolt, nuts and washers, and tightened those babies to 160 ft-lbs each. Now it's not going anywhere.
 
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