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Discreet winch mount

79bonanza

79bonanza

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Hey guys, I've looked up hidden winch mounts on the front of a square body, but there isn't too many good examples. I know there's a guy here from over seas that has that military K30 with a kinda hidden winch mount. I like that style.

What I'm wanting to do is mount a warn xd9000 behind the front bumper but have the fair lead mounted on the outside of the bumper.

Does anyone have a good pic or a thread on how to set up a bracket to hold the winch between the frame and behind the bumper.
 
Check out diy4x and the UD1 or gauntlet bumper. Winch is all but hidden. I just put a UD1 on and looks good. Very well hidden

image.jpg
 
Yea I've seen the diy4x bumpers, I like them but don't wanna spend the money on a front bumper like that. Not trying to cheap out or anything, just not exactly what I'm looking for.

I did find all the other threads on this after a short google tho
 
Cool. Custom fab would be best then with a buddy if you don't have the experience. If you want to keep the stock bumpers, then you will need to extend or customize the brackets as the winch needs clearance from the steering pump cooler lines and radiator. My current mount is tight and tucked in as much as possible. I need to do some adjustments to create some clearance. Just something to think about. Good luck.
 
I altered a TNA winch cradle to fit a Warn HS9500 winch. The factory bumper brackets would need to be altered but it could be done.

I have not seen a bolt in kit. But I have not seen everything yet.
 
Well I'm a decent fabricator so doing it for a reasonable price shouldn't be that hard.

I was more curious as to if a 9000lb winch would fit behind the bumper. With reasonable clearances
 
1/2" clear on each side. You have to lay it down towards the back and mount it to a plate that crosses the front of the frame.
 
Friend of mine built a cradle that is attached to the frame, winch feet forward for his daily driver.





 
I was hoping someone would post that pic, I really like how clean that install is but it looks a little low mounted for any serious off roading.

My k5 isn't the biggest and baddest thing on the road, it's more torward a expedition rig than anything. I just don't want the winch to be the first thing dragging the ground when I'm trying to crawl up a hill lol
 
The TNA mount would work with some mods to the bumper brackets.
Look for a winch with a solenoid that can be seperated. The solenoid accounts for a lot of the interference problems; without it the winch is only about 6 inches in diameter.

Extend the cables and you can mount the solenoid anywhere, and with a wireless remote you don't have to worry about the controller plug.. I extended the wires on the plug and mounted it on top of the bumper for backup anyhow tho...

I did one on my Grand Cherokee.. it's a Recon 10500 with synthetic line mounted behind the stock bumper. I can guarantee there is a lot LESS space on the jeep! :whistle: :thumb:

IMG_1336.JPG
 
I have a 9k winch between the frame rails, but built a whole bumper to do it. In some ways that's simpler than using the stock bumper. You can almost just mount a plate across the frame rails to hold the winch, but the key in the hidden installation is bracing for the fairlead. If you just bolt it to the stock bumper, any off-angle pull will crush it. You want to brace the bumper/fairlead to the winch, since that's where the force will be.

You should look at using some standard winch cradle by cutting it down and mounting in just the right position that the fairlead sticks through the bumper, without actually being mounted to it. So the bumper cutout would be big enough for the whole fairlead.
 
I wanted as close to the factory look as I could keep, so I used the original bumper. I also wanted to keep the factory tow hooks and keep the winch up tight as much as possible. The winch is mounted with a modified Westin universal winch plate and bolted to the frame using 5"x3" structural angle and the factory tow-hook bolt locations. The Smitty 10K winch was flipped (motor on the driver side) and pulls over the top of the drum to keep the cable centered right about the middle of the license plate location. The dimensions of this particular winch give better than 1/2" clearance to the frame and I have enough room to reach the clutch with gloves on. The back of the bumper is braced with a double layer of 1/4" steel strap to spread any lateral load. Under a hard pull at a good angle, the bumper probably would distort, though.







 
I will agree that it is a super clean install. I always tried to keep mine as stock as I could. Then I bent the back bumper in Moab, gone. Then I broke, yes it split, the front bumper, gone. No more stockish look for mine now.
 
Being that you're pretty good with the fab portion, it can be done. It just takes a good amount of time.

Here is my Warn Zeon 12k behind my stock bumper.







 
79bonanza said:
I was hoping someone would post that pic, I really like how clean that install is but it looks a little low mounted for any serious off roading.

My k5 isn't the biggest and baddest thing on the road, it's more torward a expedition rig than anything. I just don't want the winch to be the first thing dragging the ground when I'm trying to crawl up a hill lol
Click to expand...

I hear ya. Thats why I mentioned it was his DD. I wasnt sure what your rig use was going to be. Good luck with your project, looking forward to see how it turns out.
 
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