Winch/Offroad Bumper for 2nd Gen Montero/Pajero

[95monty]

Hello All,

This is my first post, so I want to say "Hi" to everyone! I just bought a 1995 Montero yesterday. I was looking for a good camping vehicle mostly. I come from the jeep world originally. I had winches on all my jeeps and want one for my montero. However, I can't seem to find anyone who makes a winch bumper (or any other type of bumper, honestly) for a 2nd Gen Montero. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I looked at ARB. Nope. TJM. Nada. WST...nope. I can find them for 1st Gens and 3rd Gens all day long. Will a 1st Gen work on a 2nd Gen or did I mess up by getting a 2nd Gen? For my camping purposes, I probably won't need a winch. But, I also know myself...Ill be back out on the trails soon enough

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

ARB 3434020

 

[95monty]

ARB 3434020

Thanks. Is arb still making this bumper? I just wonder why it's not on their site. I will end up with the arb if that's my only option. I was going to order a bumper from TAG (tactical armor group), but a quick search showed that to be a VERY bad idea.

Once again, thanks for the arb option! At least there's something out there...

 

[eurosonic]

I recommend getting a winch bumper from another make and retrofitting to fit the montero. I got my ARB bumper for my 2nd gen from an 2007 FJ cruiser.

 

[95monty]

I recommend getting a winch bumper from another make and retrofitting to fit the montero. I got my ARB bumper for my 2nd gen from an 2007 FJ cruiser.

Just wondering...why would I do this over just ordering the above ARB bumper that's already ready to go on my monty? Im just curious. I have an LS, not SR...but I doubt that makes a difference in bumper/frame anyway. The best I can gather is that the SRs had the locking diff in the rear, whereas the LSs didn't.

Side note to that: without popping the diff cover and counting, is there a way to tell what my stock gear ratio is?

 

[eurosonic]

As far as I know the bumper for our year monteros have been discontinued. I could be wrong, at least I couldn't find any.

 

[95monty]

As far as I know the bumper for our year monteros have been discontinued. I could be wrong, at least I couldn't find any.

So how do you retrofit the bumper? In theory you could retrofit any bumper, correct? I guess you'd have to measure the bumper and go from there. What vehicles are closest to ours to make it easiest to fab? Jeep xj's?

 

[scrubber3]

Check out my build thread. It may help you considering our vehicles WERE the same at one point. My bumper came from an XJ, but you will have to put in the time to get it on. It's not easy......

 

[95monty]

Check out my build thread. It may help you considering our vehicles WERE the same at one point. My bumper came from an XJ, but you will have to put in the time to get it on. It's not easy......

Thanks. I'll check out your thread. I'll also look around and see if I can find the arb bumper even though it's been discontinued...maybe they're still around. That may be easier than "making it work". I'm not much of a fabber, so that limits me.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I picked up an ARB for an XJ. I haven't mounted it yet though but cut out the mounts as the original ones wouldn't work. Will be one of my next projects after we get the truck driving again this weekend.

 

[off-roader]

I bought Smittybilt SRC front and rear Jeep bumpers and modified the monty frame rails and created adapters so the bumpers fit without mods to the bumpers themselves. This way, I can always switch to a different bumper so long as it's for the same kind of jeep and resell the old bumpers to a jeep owner...

Here's a side view of the bumper right after I got the monty back from the fabricator. He modified my frame rails to allow me to mount the bumper w/out modifying the bumper itself. This way I can always resell the bumper if I ever wanted to change to a different one.


Here's the same Smittybilt SRC front bumper after I upgraded it with a winch plate made using 2x8" C channel angle Iron that was 1/4" at the thinnest sections. I also painted it (rattle can rustoleum paint) to closely match my body color.


Here's a close up from above center looking to the right side mount. The bolts go into the driver side frame rail.


Here's a top down illustration of the bumper (gold-ish color) and brackets (gray) the fabricator added after cutting down and reinforcing the frame rails (black) w/ 1/4" plate. The brackets are also made using 1/4" plate and bolted to the frame rails using 3/8" grade 8 bolts (yellow).


Here's the matching SRC rear bumper.


For the rear bumpers, we simply trimmed off the ends of the rear frame rails (like we did up front) then made an adapter using 1/4" plate (pic below) to widen the mounting surface to fit the jeep bumper.


I can provide more pics if you want. Just let me know.

 

[95monty]

Thanks off-roader. What jeep year did you use? I could probably take the Monty and bumper to a local machine shop to have the brackets made.

I also would like to know how you mounted the winch to the frame. I think the src/xrc bumper has an included winch plate option, iirc. I guess I could have any bumper mated to the frame via the brackets...

 

[Monterorider]

Likewise I've grafted ZJ bumper onto mine.
See my sig for pics

 

[95monty]

Likewise I've grafted ZJ bumper onto mine.
See my sig for pics

Interested. How did you mount your bumper and what did you use to make the jerry can / hi lift carrier?

 

[off-roader]

Thanks off-roader. What jeep year did you use? I could probably take the Monty and bumper to a local machine shop to have the brackets made.

I also would like to know how you mounted the winch to the frame. I think the src/xrc bumper has an included winch plate option, iirc. I guess I could have any bumper mated to the frame via the brackets...

The SRC bumper is only available for 87-06 Jeep Wranglers (p/n 76721). Mine is actually a smittybilt knock off I bought from a local importer/jobber for ~$150 on CL.

The winchplate option they offer only works with jeep frames since their frames protrude forward of the jeep's body enough that you can put a plate on top of the frame and it will be big enough to fit most 4x4 winches. My bumper setup on the other hand is much closer to the body (to minimize clearance issues off road).

If I were to do it all again with the same set-up... I'd make sure the fabricator who re-enforced my frame rails took into account the winch width keeping the distance between both rails wide enough that I could fit a winch between them. Then I'd mount the winch in between the frame rails, behind the bumper & Montero body. This is how many owners have mounted their winches. It keeps them well protected and keeps a nice stock-ish appearance.

You can see how we modified the bumper to fit a winch in my build write-up post. See the link in my sig.

Edit: Nevermind. The link is here... http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...odified...-winch-mounted.?p=935429#post935429