Hidden winch mount plate? (3 Viewers)

[Ethel]

Has anyone here tinkered with this winch plate? It is advertised as being able to fit inside of the stock bumper - just have to create a cutout for the fairlead. Looks like it is mostly used in Europe. This one on eBay ships out of Poland but I have seen the same setup on a couple of British sites.

 

[Brindleboxer]

Have not seen that one specifically but it is basically just a mounting plate, maybe it could be your first fab project on the 80. I would imagine even with the increase cost of steel you could get the materials and fab (minus your personal time) for less than the cost of that mount with shipping.

I like the look of the stock bumper and having a hidden winch is a plus. As you said previously you don't plan to rock crawl so this may be an economical option until you decide to go another route.

 

[Comet]

Does Trail Taylor still make the hidden winch mounts?

 

[jwbc84]

I just used a flat plate of 1/4" A52 steel. Puts the fairlead lower that I'd like but was never an issue when winching. I like how this one mounts to the top of the frame and positions the winch better.

 

[Ethel]

jwbc84
Ended up following your lead. Picked up a universal winch mount plate, cut it to fit, bolted my WARN 8000s onto it, and re-installed the Bumper. I notched the bumper at the bottom to accommodate the hawse and mounted the controller under my hood. Easy job and only ran me $40 in the end. Thanks for the idea!

 

[jawbone]

jwbc84
Ended up following your lead. Picked up a universal winch mount plate, cut it to fit, bolted my WARN 8000s onto it, and re-installed the Bumper. I notched the bumper at the bottom to accommodate the hawse and mounted the controller under my hood. Easy job and only ran me $40 in the end. Thanks for the idea!

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Nice job on this. Do you happen to have pictures of how and where you mounted the controller under the hood?

 

[jwbc84]

It is still attached to the winch. The Smittybuilt has it offset to the passenger side.

 

[jawbone]

It is still attached to the winch. The Smittybuilt has it offset to the passenger side.

Ah, I misinterpreted your original post. I thought you had moved it up into the engine bay. Makes sense now, thanks.

 

[sjpitts]

As was mentioned above, @TRAIL TAILOR sold these, and they looked great. They attach to the top, and look like they mount the winch a little higher up. But I don't see them on his website anymore.

See 80 Series Hidden Winch Mount - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/80-series-hidden-winch-mount.1257144/

 

[Ethel]

Nice job on this. Do you happen to have pictures of how and where you mounted the controller under the hood?

sorry for the long delay - I have been off of the forum pages for a bit. I made a bracket and mounted it on the DS fender where there used to be a bunch of vacc ine tubing garbage that I pulled out when I de-smogged her.

 

[Rifleman]

For those wondering what a finished hidden roller fairlead setup would look like if they didn't use a Hawse fairlead

 

[jawbone]

For those wondering what a finished hidden roller fairlead setup would look like if they didn't use a Hawse fairlead
View attachment 3559198View attachment 3559200

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So clean. What did you use for the fairlead cover? Also, how did you wire up your controls?

 

[Rifleman]

So clean. What did you use for the fairlead cover? Also, how did you wire up your controls?

The front hidden fairlead cover came with the winch when i bought it, sorry to say Ramsey no longer offers it for sale, As for the controls, i didn't like the plastic solenoid box that came with the winch, it was just to big so i made a more compact one out of aluminum sheet metal to house the solenoids

 

[CPACruiser]

I used to sell a hidden winch plate a few guys on here run them but shipping costs are high. If you find a fab shop close to where you live I still have the laser file as long as they can cut and bend it I’d be happy to share that file with anyone interested.

 

[gripworks]

Can I get a copy of your hidden winch plate file?

Thank you

 

[calokie]

Incase anyone is in the market, GGM sells hidden winch plates for about $170
80 Series Winch Plate | GGM - https://www.generalgreenmanufacturing.com/product-page/80-series-winch-plate