Warn Winch Mounting Bumper – Another in our Borneo Build Series

| November 16, 2009 | 0 Comments

utv bumperA real bumper is sort of hard to come by in our industry.  Most seem to have more to do with looking cool than performing much of a function.  We need the real deal.  We may find ourselves in some messy situations where we will depend on the font bumper to save our hide.

The RZR in particular doesn’t seem to have a whole lot going for it up front.  For some reason Polaris provided some small tabs with threaded holes that scream “bolt something in here!” right in front of the radiator.  Apparently these mystical threaded holes are irresistible.  They have cast a spell on many a normally thoughtful fabricator causing a complete lack of forethought  as to what happens when you bump into things with a BUMPER, resulting in a quickly damaged radiator.

warn1The WARN front bumper for UTVs is a different beast.  First it’s made of some real steel.  Its formed quite well from heavy gauge materials and provides its own mounting cross bar that fits behind the radiator, strengthening the whole front end of the rig.  Additionally the bumper mounts down below in the same location where Polaris intended for the winch to be mounted.  The install is simple.  There are only three parts, the main bumper, the brace for behind the radiator and the piece that connects to the lower winch location.  A hand full of bolts and you’re done.

This is not just a bumper, it is a winch mounting platform.  Warn placed mounting holes for a winch on the top center section to get your winch up out of the mud.  This is huge when you are looking at spending a LOT of time in deep mud.  For both the driver and the winch.

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A stinger is added creating a hoop over the winch.  This is not just for style.  The stinger provides critical protection for the radiator if we land on our top.  No radiator means abandoning the RZR in the jungle, not a pleasant thought.

Aside from some great styling the bumper provides good protection reaching out far enough to keep a front fender in tact.  A rugged crinkle black powdercoat finishes makes a great finish.

This bumper is mounted strong and solid but we needed a bit more.  Have you ever tried to wrestle a RZR?  There is pretty much nothing sturdy to grab onto.  If you try to give it a little lift by the fenders it is to a pretty picture.  We needed something up from that we could use to manhandle the front corners a warn3bit.  So we had Chris Burke at Marshall MotoArt add extensions from the A-Pillars to the front bumper.  This added quite a bit of structural rigidity to the whole rig, while giving us something to work with up front and in the end they look cool.

Best of all, I wont have to stand on my head in a mud hole to work the winch.  I like that part…. a LOT.

For more info: http://www.warn.com/atv/bumpers/UTV.sht


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Category: Borneo Excursion, Polaris

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