Custom winch mount - KIA Sorento

[phoenixrider]

Took me 4 days, but I got the winch mounted on the Sorento. No, these vehicles are not made for winches! Had to lop off the front frame crossmember, weld in a new crossmember, built frame extension brackets, weld those in place, weld together the winch plate, and finaly remove a section of the body and weld in some re-enforcements back in.

These are some pics of the basic prodecure. http://www.shadowlakes.com/winch/index

[Nemesis]

Looks like plenty of fresh air in your workshop ;)

Where abouts is that?

[2 BRUTAL]

Geez I hope they don't have air bags in those things.
looking at the pics I'd guess Phoenix Arizona, we don't get Cactus like that here.
nice job on the bar, it looks like you have a bit of suspension lift as well do you.

[phoenixrider]

I'm a little north of Phoenix in New River. We have about 2 1/2 acres.

Yes, it does have air bags, and I need to re-mount the sensors, however, I don't really know what effect this modification will have.

I have the OME suspension, and a 1 inch spacer up front, along with 32 in tires. I'll gonna need to add trim packers to compensate for the weight, but it's not really that heavy. Plus, I'm putting on a synthetic cable, so that'll save about 25 pounds over the steel.

[GTiBren]

Hey Phoenixrider, had a look at some of your pics and also saw you had a link to another sorento owner. The guy has a rear wheel tyre mount!

Did he make that himself? notice you don't have one - don't feel u need 2 spare wheels?

[GTiBren]

You ever gonna put a front bumper back on?

[GTiBren]

ever seen any other rear wheel carriers?
How about a second for bigger fuel tank?

[phoenixrider]

Think the guy you're talking about is from Aus. Where the spare was, he installed a spare fuel tank. It was a pretty nice setup.

Here a couple of pics with the install completed. I'll be changing to synth line, so the fairlead roller will change, but other than that, this is it.

http://www.shadowlakes.com/winch/DVC02132.jpg

http://www.shadowlakes.com/winch/DVC02130.jpg

http://www.shadowlakes.com/winch/DVC02128.jpg

http://www.shadowlakes.com/winch/DVC02131.jpg

The winch (minus the fairlead) is only out less than an inch fron the factory bumper, and is up about 5.5 inches higher that the stock front crossmember, so the approach angle has actually improved. I was going to put on big offroad lights on the front bumper, by they'd end up sticking way out, so I'll put them on the roof.

[PJ.zook]

Thats a pretty neat install!


BTW what program are you using to create that webpage?

[phoenixrider]

That photo gallery comes as part of Adobe Photoshop. It saves some time making thumbs and pics, but I still go into the html and tweak it some.

[GTiBren]

Hey mate, that looks real nice and neat.

hey about the guy with the white sorento with rear wheel carrier and long range fuel tank - you ever communicated with him? I left a post on his webshots guest book but haven't heard from him. Any info on him you can pass on would be great.

you can email me at stuff@bren.i.au

thanks

[GTiBren]

Don't vanish on me now

[phoenixrider]

The white sorento you mention, the guy posts on another forum. Go to the Edmunds site, select forums, and search for sorento. it's under the sorento discussion.

[GTiBren]

got an email from him - thanks though