The final modification I made to my GX470 in 2021 was adding a hidden winch. At the time of purchase I wasn’t ready to commit to a full bumper replacement mostly due to cost but also because I was still daily driving. I wanted a winch because I only have 2 friends with 4x4s and we have a hard time coordinating day trips due to our schedules. I took most of my off-road trips alone this year and having the winch made me feel more confident in my ability to self recover.
Due to a change in job my longbed pick up has now become a better daily driver for me and so I’m ready to go for a full steel bumper replacement as I won’t be driving my GX as much. To some it might seem silly to spend the money for a winch mount then buy a full bumper a year later but I think it served it’s purpose well for me. It gave me the ability to go more places than I would have before and I also don’t have to rush to buy a bumper now because I still have the winch ready to go.
I also didn’t run into nearly as many problems with front bumper clearance as I did rear to this point. The biggest downside of the hidden winch is it does nothing to improve your approach angle or protect your front end. Price is the biggest pro. For a hidden mount and an entry level warn winch it cost me about the same as the cheapest fully built steel bumper options and less than most of the more expensive ones.
Installation of the hidden winch is extremely easy. Just remove the bumper cover and old crash bar then the mount uses the same bolt locations as the factory crash bar. The LFD mount is adjustable so you can slide it forward or backwards as needed. With the mount most of the way forward. The warn evo 10s fit without relocating the control box or having to bend the AC and transmission lines. Some people make a whole on top of the bumper to access the clutch. I didn’t need to do this because my hands fit. I wired the winch directly to the battery and used a an adapter on the positive terminal that lets you attach more items
I did make a minor mistake by cutting the hole for the fair lead too large. However when I tensioned the winch line for the first time I realized it’s actually useful to be able to see the winch spool. I opted to leave the hole because I like being able to see the line, I do not understand how people with it fully hidden spool their winch. It would be quite simple to make a license plate mount that covers the hole anyways. Since I am now planning to buy a full bumper replacement I decided not to worry about if.
The mount installed on truck
Test fit or winch
Checking clearances. only the wires rub, haven’t noticed any problems with the hard lines so far. Should probably check again soon though.
Side profile of winch, I moved it forward a bit after his pic was taken.
With the bumper cover back on. My cut was not very clean but who cares my bumper is ****ed up anyways
