[Purcell69]

I spent most of the day working on fabbing up the winch mount for the front of the truck. Before I got started, I re-hung the front sheet metal to ensure the fit was right and square. I also addressed two issues with the core support. One was isolating noise and vibration a bit better than the stock rubber "bushing". The other was to raise the core support up about 3/4" to fit properly, since it is not mounted to the original Chevy mounts.

My first though to replace the stock rubber was a piece of old radiator hose between the frame and the core support. This would isolate noise and vibration, but not do much to raise the core support. The next thought was a piece of nylon block in conjunction with the old hose rubber. Then I remembered some leftover urethane sway bar end link bushings I had on hand. The stepped side fit perfectly into the mounting hole on the core support. The thickness was what I was looking for and a longer 3/8" bolt was all I needed to go through the frame.

With that handled and the sheet metal hung, I started looking at what I needed to make the winch mount. I had already bought some 2"x4" box tube in 1/4" thickness that fit the inside of the Dodge frame horns pretty well. There was a bit of gap on the sides that I had already planned to fill with some plate stock to give extra wall thickness at the mounting points. I used 1/4" plate on the outsides and 3/16" plate on the insides, which tightened up the gaps for a near perfect fit.

With everything mocked up, I tacked the filler plates in place, marked my hole locations to match the frame, and pulled my drill press out of storage to bore the 27/64" holes I needed. Once I had the holes drilled, I finish welded the plates to the sides of the box tube and then tapped my holes to 1/2" NC. This allows the winch assembly to be removed if need be.

Pictures to come...

-Joe