Bud built hidden winch try on gx470

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Well guys I have slowly figured out what to do. Couple issues is with the space between the Fairlead mounts in the front bumper it's a good 2 inches of space that I have to fill with some sort of spacers for the Fairlead.(which I planned on doing). After turning the clutch on the winch everything else has been falling into place.
I've got to say bud at bud built is a great guy and cut me a huge discount for trying to do this. I'll post some pics and you guys see what you think!
 
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Do you guys think I am Not holding up my end of the bargain by returning the winch mount? He had to ship it to me and pay for it and then I will have to ship it back.

(I ended up figuring out how to make it work)
 
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Do you guys think I am making in unethical decision by returning the winch mount? He had to ship it to me and pay for it and then I will have to ship it back.
Sort of, you knew going into this that there may be a chance it wouldn't fit, so I'd say it's on you. It's not Bud's fault. If you're done with trying, throw it on CL and see if you can get some of your money back out of it.
 
Well bud was quite convinced it would only require me to cut a hole in the bumper and add some spacers for the Fairlead. I knew there was going to be some modifications involved but I think both of us didn't expect this much mods. He should be calling me back soon. I'm sure we can work something out!

Bud called and It's not nearly as bad as I thought!!
 
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looks like it fits pretty well ... your limited on head room it seems which means you'll need to have a re locator kit ... and long enough one to mount it under the hood or make a bracket like you said to mount it next to winch ... Buds mount looks like a great simple design ...
I'll say this though if your gonna put a winch be hind your bumper there maybe some compromises to make it work ... that maybe the case for the WGW mount aswell ... we're trying to make "incognito" as universal winch friendly as possible but we will suggest using a certain brand or style winch bc we know that one will fit dimensionaly with very little modifications like relocating the controller or accessing the free spoil ...
wireless controllers and wireless free spoil will probly be the most convenient option if you don't wanna pop your hood to use the winch controls ... but that cost more so thats up to the consumer
Just being Honest I'm sure buds wont cost as much as the WGW "incognito" just depends on what your looking for i guess ... whether the extra money is worth it to you
 
I was going to suggest you clock the freespool lever towards the rear so that you can reach in to move the lever. I believe that is what Bud is suggesting. from experience, the freespool lever is tight on those XRC winches, in particular moving it from locked to fresspool. I ended up using some dyneema from REI to make a pull strap to assist with getting that lever to budge. returning the lever to lock has never been that difficult (on mine, at least). I love the hidden winch idea, but I'm starting to think the most cost effective solution may end up being to run a hitch receiver mount out a hole on the front bumper and hunting the winch in a cradle. it's not as pretty, but you have full use of the winch, and if you run some +/- terminals to the rear, you have the ability to go to work from both ends. That's what she said. Anyhow, its always fun taking a sawmill to a perfectly good vehicle, so have fun!
 
Well I'm making progress gents! Looks like it's gonna work after all!! I was able to turn the clutch and it fits just perfect, so no cutting the middle metal bracket. I am working on mounting the control box directly behind the passenger bumper vent so that I can plug in my controller through the vents and not have to cut any holes in the vent part itself or the bumper. It also doesn't require me to extend the cables or anything from the winch to the control box.
 
congrats on the clocking! I had to do the same thing to get mine to be user-friendly on my FJ80 behind a TJM bumper. i am on this forum because we are thinking of making our next family adventure-mobile a GX470 (I'm doing research on here!). Anyhow, My concern with those body lift spacers would be hard pulls from any any angle other than straight forward. This might not be the place to use pre-made parts, and instead find someone to fab you some quality metal spacers. Heck, some thick walled rectangle stock ran parallel with the winch may be strong enough, and by being able to extend it considerably further out that the spacers, i'm sure would handle off-angle pulls better. Just an idea!
 
I really wanted aluminum spacers. This lame 4x4 shop here tried to charge me $25 piece for alloy. Square tubing is not a bad Idea. I have some of that in my garage. I really don't do hard core off roading. I had a winch on my Tacoma for 10 years and used it 1 time, to pull out a tree in my yard!!
 
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