Damage while using winch on improperly installed Rough Country High Mount

[huey]

Well naturally I forgot my angle finder at work, but it's hardly needed to see what's going on. The tops of the plates are obviously pulled out and the paint is cracking.

I see where you were asking about the angle now. I will check the cad again. Now even though it looks like the tip of the horn may have pulled up, that might be a nothing burger as far as structural goes. Take a pic from the front and focus on where the two rails overlap. Check the welds top and bottom to look for cracks.

I saw probably no big deal cuz ;
1) the bumper mount plate has a lot of weld and kept the horn from separating too far back - if it separated at all.

2) even if it did separate a skooch the tip of the horn really has no load on it. If the welds are good I would not worry about any separation as long as it is in front of the bumper plate(again take some pics, both sides) Check behind the plate to see if any of the ecoat(paint) has bubbled / cracked. Check the bumper mount plate with a straight edge - see if the surface is still flat. Flat is good

3) the only other thing I see worth checking looking at those pics is the angle of the bumper mount plate relative to the frame. Your pics show the plates are slightly angled down. I need to check but this might be normal.

4) where the paint has cracked, I can give you the name of the best kind of paint to use. Simply brush / grind of crappy paint and reapply. This is not a big deal but is worth cleaning up while its apart. Touchups like this happen all the time for a lot of reasons.

give me some time as I need to log into work to check - but even though it looks the tip has moved, it might just be cosmetic. Check both sides to see if anything looks different from LH to RH side. The biggest thing is to check the welds / and or steel splits or "bumps" where it should be flat.

I am curious though if the tips pulled up, how are things attached to cause that. Did something rotate(think single bolt pivot point) and catch the tips on the way up?

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[huey]

Might be a lesson here in releasing findings after the investigation is fully complete....

So at this point I'm thinking I'm going to try to beat the face plates back to straight. It's only 1/8" or so so it should beat fairly easily. The nut plate even tried to pull through, it's all cockeyed.

if you need spare nut plates let me know. I think I have some where I changed to the mod bumper. IF I have em there yours if you need them

 

[Tricky Dick]

if you need spare nut plates let me know. I think I have some where I changed to the mod bumper. IF I have em there yours if you need them

I appreciate that. It looks like LOD skips the OEM nut plate in favor of just washers and nuts so may I don't even need them anymore. Since I'm well on my way to being paranoid, I think I'll cut some of my own washers from heavy plate.

 

[Tricky Dick]

2) even if it did separate a skooch the tip of the horn really has no load on it. If the welds are good I would not worry about any separation as long as it is in front of the bumper plate(again take some pics, both sides) Check behind the plate to see if any of the ecoat(paint) has bubbled / cracked. Check the bumper mount plate with a straight edge - see if the surface is still flat. Flat is good

3) the only other thing I see worth checking looking at those pics is the angle of the bumper mount plate relative to the frame. Your pics show the plates are slightly angled down. I need to check but this might be normal.

Based on everything else I'm seeing here the face plates should be straight up and down. The horn itself seems to be fine, just the face plate deformed. I can see were the weld is parallel to the face of the frame horn, but the plate certainly isn't. It looks like a combo of pulling forward at the top and pushing back at the bottom - like it rotated around the horn.

 

[huey]

I appreciate that. It looks like LOD skips the OEM nut plate in favor of just washers and nuts so may I don't even need them anymore. Since I'm well on my way to being paranoid, I think I'll cut some of my own washers from heavy plate.

those nut plates combined with the front bumper mount are over 1/4" and that is a lot. The two plates are not crazy heavy on their own, but when torqued down they work together and make a strong system. Having said that a heavier plate on the back is ok. The only thing is when force/load is applied to a metal connection / sytem, no matter what you beef up the system still has to handle the load. You make one part stronger and the load goes to the next weakest point.

The place I see where eomething could fail are the vertical welds that connect the bumper plate tp the horns. Check for cracks towards the bottom, if the welds failed that would allow the bottom of the bracket to push back towards the rear of the truck.

The bracket in cad does move to the back just a bit, but that is at nominal. There are tolerances allowed so with stackup what you see on your truck might still be in spec and more importantly, how it was built on our frame line.

Measure the top of the horn to the bumper plate face in two places, one as close to the top, one at the bottom. Let me know what you see, maybe tough to measure but if you have calipers that will help

 

[Deleted User 5719102]

So at this point I'm thinking I'm going to try to beat the face plates back to straight. It's only 1/8" or so so it should beat fairly easily. The nut plate even tried to pull through, it's all cockeyed.

If you do try and shape them back to oem spec with a BFH, at least try and use a spreader (2x4, metal plate, etc) that spans the width or more of the mount side to side. This way you are correcting the top in one motion. If you hit directly on the mount with the BFH, you more likely will create more work for yourself trying to achieve a straight plain. I'm assuming that the bottom of the mount was pushed inward slightly as this stress pull (top) and push(bottom) was one motion at the time it deformed. So you may have to do the same with the bottom striking it in the opposite direction. Also when you do get the mount on plain again, recheck the welds to ensure no stress fractures occurred from your BFH impacts. I've seen welds that get some what sandwiched by stress that in correcting the welds when pressure is released creates stress fracturing. Also make sure you clean the welds up good and paint them with a good enamel paint.

 

[huey]

Based on everything else I'm seeing here the face plates should be straight up and down. The horn itself seems to be fine, just the face plate deformed. I can see were the weld is perpendicular to the face of the frame horn, but the plate certainly isn't. It looks like a combo of pulling forward at the top and pushing back at the bottom - like it rotated around the horn.

if you can lay a straight edge along the bumper bracket face where it deformed. How much of a gap do you see. Shining a flashlight behind hte straight edge helps to show this.

 

[huey]

If you do try and shape them back to oem spec with a BFH, at least try and use a spreader (2x4, metal plate, etc) that spans the width or more of the mount side to side. This way you are correcting the the top in one motion. If you hit directly on the mount with the BFH, you more likely will create more work for yourself trying to achieve a straight plain. I'm assuming that the bottom of the mount was pushed inward slightly as this stress pull (top) and push(bottom) was one motion at the time it deformed. Also when you do get the mount on plain again, recheck the welds to ensure no stress fractures occurred from your BFH impacts. I've seen welds that get some what sandwiched by stress that in correcting the welds when pressure is released creates stress fracturing. Also make sure you clean the welds up good and paint them with a good enamel paint.

yup - what grumps said.

Another option takes a bit more work but make a sacrificial plate sandwich and use a spare bolt / threaded rod with a nut
drill a hole thru said sacrificial plates and run the bolt thru the plates and the bumper plate . Use an impact and tighten the sucker down. dont worry about screwing up the threads unless you are at the point where you cant get the nut off

 

[Tricky Dick]

those nut plates combined with the front bumper mount are over 1/4" and that is a lot. The two plates are not crazy heavy on their own, but when torqued down they work together and make a strong system. Having said that a heavier plate on the back is ok. The only thing is when force/load is applied to a metal connection / sytem, no matter what you beef up the system still has to handle the load. You make one part stronger and the load goes to the next weakest point.

The place I see where eomething could fail are the vertical welds that connect the bumper plate tp the horns. Check for cracks towards the bottom, if the welds failed that would allow the bottom of the bracket to push back towards the rear of the truck.

The bracket in cad does move to the back just a bit, but that is at nominal. There are tolerances allowed so with stackup what you see on your truck might still be in spec and more importantly, how it was built on our frame line.

Measure the top of the horn to the bumper plate face in two places, one as close to the top, one at the bottom. Let me know what you see, maybe tough to measure but if you have calipers that will help

Measuring at the red lined spots, I have 0.411 at the top and 0.518 bottom on the passenger side and 0.355 top and 0.435 bottom on the driver side.

 

[shawn6107]

We need Shawn's help on that one. Poke poke.



Hop to it man, we need to know!

Sorry guys but my oldest daughter is getting married tomorrow and if I try to pull a bumper off tomorrow morning before the wedding it might be like that movie “2 weddings and a funeral”. Hopefully one evening next week.

 

[emulous74]

Sorry guys but my oldest daughter is getting married tomorrow and if I try to pull a bumper off tomorrow morning before the wedding it might be like that movie “2 weddings and a funeral”. Hopefully one evening next week.

Be a great father and make the day all about her and your new son in law. All though no weddings are perfect, just remember it’s all about joy. Have a great day and congratulations to you all.

 

[Sparkherd]

Nope, don't like that. The whole bumper and mount is pitched forward. There used to be 1/4" clearance between these wires and the grill.

Good thang it dint bend the *other* way!!!
Sorry, just being an ass...again...

 

[Tricky Dick]

Another data point to show the twist.

 

[swooshdave]

Another data point to show the twist.

You need one of those digital gauges. To my old eyes all the dials look the same.

 

[MillerAndCheeto]

Another data point to show the twist.

Now that is a neat little tool. Seems to be 2 degrees off?

So the frame tubular seems to be just fine, and the mounting plate has been bent.

Now that you've looked at this for a bit, did you think the LoD brackets would help?

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