Ok,
for my second big modification of the weekend, I raised the stock LR winch tray about 3-4 inches. I had a shop redrill the brackets that hold the winch to the frame (precision drilling has never been my strong point). After that, it was simply a matter of cutting two slots in the front of the SD bumper to allow for the frame of the winch tray where it meets the frame of the truck. This allowed me to keep the stock look of the truck while getting a vastly improved approach angle (the stock setup had a worse approach angle than departure angle, now the departure angle is the limiting factor, as LR designed it to be
).
Arrow points to slots cut in bumper. Looks similar to the slots in the 2003 stock bumper which accomodate the LR brush bars.
for my second big modification of the weekend, I raised the stock LR winch tray about 3-4 inches. I had a shop redrill the brackets that hold the winch to the frame (precision drilling has never been my strong point). After that, it was simply a matter of cutting two slots in the front of the SD bumper to allow for the frame of the winch tray where it meets the frame of the truck. This allowed me to keep the stock look of the truck while getting a vastly improved approach angle (the stock setup had a worse approach angle than departure angle, now the departure angle is the limiting factor, as LR designed it to be
).Arrow points to slots cut in bumper. Looks similar to the slots in the 2003 stock bumper which accomodate the LR brush bars.