Patent Application
20110006553
The present disclosure relates generally to vehicle accessories for enhancing the styling and functionality of vehicles, and more particularly, to an accessory mounting system that provides secure attachment for a winch or other vehicle accessories.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art. This section also provides a general summary of the disclosure but not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
Grille guards, also known as brush guards, are common accessories for larger, on-road and off-road passenger vehicles, such as light-duty trucks and SUV's. Such accessories may add to the aesthetic appearance of the vehicle, serve to protect the front of the vehicle from damage, and provide attachment for other accessory components.
A winch is another common truck and SUV accessory. A winch is a mechanical device that winds in or lets out a rope, belt, or cable. In light truck and SUV applications, an operator often uses a winch as a pulling device to free a stuck vehicle, such as when operating a vehicle off-road. Typically, the operator attaches an end of a winch cable to a secure object, such as a tree or other vehicle, and engages the winch to draw in the cable. As the winch draws in the cable, it pulls the vehicle toward the secure object, thus freeing the vehicle.
A winch must attach properly to a vehicle frame to distribute the pulling load and avoid structural damage to the vehicle. Attaching a winch directly to a vehicle frame may not always be possible or desirable, as with most on-road and off-road passenger vehicles, the vehicle frame is not exposed to the outside of the vehicle. In such situations, a winch may attach indirectly to the vehicle frame with mounting brackets or may attach to a bumper or grille guard that is already attached to the vehicle frame. Adding a grille guard may not be possible, such as when a winch is already mounted to a vehicle; the winch mounting hardware and the grille guard often use the same attachment locations on the vehicle frame.
The system of the present disclosure provides a secure winch mounting attachment to the vehicle frame via a winch carrier and allows for the subsequent addition of a grille guard and other accessories without further attachment to the vehicle frame.
Bumper replacement systems, often called winch-mount bumpers, can serve as a platform to securely mount vehicle accessories, such as winches, grille guards, lights, and headlamp guards. To install such systems on a vehicle, a factory-installed bumper is removed and replaced with the bumper replacement system. A bumper replacement system can drastically change the aesthetic appearance of the vehicle as the most common bumper replacement systems are steel weldments that do not conform to the more-rounded-shapes of late-model vehicles.
The system of the present disclosure provides a secure winch mounting attachment to the vehicle frame and allows for the subsequent addition of a grille guard and other accessories without permanently removing the factory-installed bumper. The system of the present disclosure can provide many of the features of bumper replacement systems, while providing a less dramatic change to a vehicle's aesthetic appearance.
The system of the present disclosure also provides a removable grille guard, while maintaining the installed winch carrier. While the grille guard may permanently attach to the winch carrier, the system also allows the grille guard to removably attach to the winch carrier. One may choose to remove the grille guard to service the front end of the vehicle or to change the appearance of the vehicle.
Grille guards that mount to the vehicle frame often comprise two vertical side members and at least one horizontal cross member. Such grille guards are often a multi-piece design to balance manufacturing and shipping costs with often-complex vehicle frame mounting brackets. Flat, vertical side members are a common component of multi-piece, bolt-on grille guards.
The system of the present disclosure also provides a one-piece grille guard. Because the winch carrier mounts to the vehicle frame the grille guard does not need to provide an interface to the vehicle frame. The interface of the grille guard to the winch carrier can be simple, when compared to mounting the grille guard to the vehicle frame. Because the grille guard of the present disclosure mounts to the winch carrier using a simple interface, more options are available for the design and shape of the grille guard. The system of the present disclosure is not limited to a one-piece grille guard and can accept multi-piece grille guards.
The system also provides a grille guard that can have a rounded (tubular) cross-sectional appearance. Grille guards of a rounded cross-sectional appearance are often incorporated into bumper replacement systems but are not easily incorporated into bolt-on, grille guard systems. As a one-piece grille guard is a less-complex assembly, rounded materials are easier to incorporate in a design. The system is not limited to a rounded grille guard and can accept grille guards of other cross-sectional shapes.
The system also provides for attachment of other accessory components to the winch carrier and grille guard. Examples of such accessory components are fairleads, lights, light bars, headlamp guards, and receivers.
The present disclosure describes the system mounted to light-duty trucks and SUV's. The system is not limited to use on such vehicles and may apply to vans, sedans, all-terrain vehicles (ATV's), and tractors, among other vehicle types.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in anyway.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The grille guard assembly 28 serves as an extension of the vehicle frame 16, upon which additional accessories may mount. One such accessory is a winch carrier 44, as shown in
With reference to
The winch mounting system 76 of
The winch carrier 70 may be a welded assembly or a single-piece design that is comprised of three main sections. A first, substantially vertical section 80 forms the frontal section 80a and two side sections 80b. Frontal section 80a of vertical section 80 provide for a mounting surface 82, fairlead passage 83, accessory mounting holes 84, and cutouts 86 for weigh reduction or airflow. Side sections 80b of vertical section 80 provide for mounting holes 74 for attachment of mounting brackets 62 and accessory components. The vertical section 80 mates to a second section, substantially horizontal bottom section 90, best shown in
The winch mounting system 76 serves as an extension of the vehicle frame 16, upon which additional accessories may mount. One such accessory is a grille guard 120, as shown in
A grille guard 120 mounts to winch carrier 70 by attaching to mounting surface 96, as best shown in
With reference to
Using the winch mounting system 76 as a foundation, additional accessory components may be added. One such accessory component is a grille guard 120. One function of an installed grille guard 120 is to protect a vehicle grille 146 from damage caused by objects in the path of the vehicle 140. The grille guard 120 mounted to the winch mounting system 76 together form the winch mounting and grille guard system 60, previously described. Other accessory components may mount to either the winch mounting system 76 or the winch mounting and grille guard system 60.
A winch 150 is another example of an accessory component. Winch 150 attaches to mounting surface 96 of winch carrier 70 (shown in
The present disclosure also includes a light bar 156 adapted to mount to grille guard 120. Light bar 156 provides a location to securely attach auxiliary lights 158. Mounting flanges 156a of light bar 156 conform to the shape of vertical sections 120b of grille guard 120 and include through-holes such that threaded fasteners may secure light bar 156 to grille guard 120. Light bar 156 removably attaches to grille guard 120 using threaded fasteners or permanently attaches by welding. Auxiliary lights 158 mount to light bar 156 and secure with threaded fasteners. In another embodiment of the disclosure, auxiliary lights may mount directly to winch carrier 70 or may mount to light mounting brackets that attach to mounting surface 96 of winch carrier 70 using accessory mounting holes 84. More than one accessory component may simultaneously attach to winch carrier 70 using accessory mounting holes 84.
Headlamp guards 162 are further examples of accessory components. Headlamp guards 162 serve to protect vehicle headlamps 164 and the surrounding vehicle area from damage by objects in the vehicle path. Headlamp guards 162 removably attach to grille guard 120 and winch carrier 70 using threaded fasteners or permanently attach by welding. Mounting flanges 162a of headlamp guards 162 conform to the shape of vertical sections 120b of grille guard 120 and include through-holes such that threaded fasteners may secure headlamp guard 162 to grille guard 120. Mounting flanges 162b of headlamp guards 162 conform to the shape of side sections 80b of winch carrier 70 and include through-holes such that threaded fasteners may secure headlamp guard 162 to winch carrier 70. However, the present disclosure also contemplates replacing mounting flanges 162b of headlamp guard 162 with a second pair of mounting flanges 162a such that headlamp guards 162 attach only to grille guard 120.
A front receiver 170 is a further example of an accessory component. Front receiver 170 serves primarily to temporarily mount accessory components. Examples of temporary accessory components are trailer hitch inserts and bicycle racks. Front receiver 170 removably attaches to underside mounting surface 98 of winch carrier 70 using threaded fasteners or permanently attaches by welding. Front receiver 170 is secured using threaded fasteners in accessory mounting holes 84.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the invention, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.
