winch bar advice

[Mattman]

Have just started building a winch bar for my Bighorn.

Thee plan is to make some outriggers that come up off the chassis each side with four bolts and put a tray between them.

Going to make everything out of 6mm plate and then bend up some tube to come off the out riggers and protect the corners.

Tow hooks will mount to the winch tray.

Couple of questions. Should I make this all one piece or should the winch tray bolt to the out riggers? I need to make a few bends, is it okay to cut the plate partially to assist making the fold and then run a weld over the top of it? Should the fairlead mount be one piece part of the winch tray?

Thanks for the advice in advance.

[Crash bandicoot]

Grind the edged of the plate to an angle and then weld filling the void. This give the largest possible surface area for weld stregnth. More so if you want to put hooks on ig aswell. I built my winch mount seperate to the bar. I resently proved the theory hitting a tree at around 50 kph and cracking the welds on the bar and mount but could still winch as that part wasnt damaged

Sorry for typos. Using phone at mo.