Will O'Daniel

I used a Fabtech 6” lift. She sits on 35x13.5 tires on 20” Fuel Beast rims.

Final glamour shot!

Winch plate and fascia bracket. Just drilled holes for the plate to mount to the bracket and welded a piece of angle iron to the receiver and used the factory bracket mount holes and screws for the facia.

Passenger side bracket. Mirrors the other bracket. Notice the odd bolt and nut. This is where I had to bore out the tow hook and drill the frame.

Driver side brackets. Notice the drop 1-1/2 so the plate can sit on the bracket and also give the clearance I want with the fairlead.

Well, here is mine. No one makes a bracket for a hidden winch because of the tow hook bolt placements on the frame. All brackets and plates were made of 1/4 inch steel. I did have to drill one hole in the frame and run a 4 inch bolt through the passenger side frame, rear hole of the tow hook for the bracket bolts. I also had to cut off the lower front bumper brackets. The winch was to wide to sit between them so they had to go. The last major mod was the lower facia being cut. The fairlead sits right below the metal of the bumper and I cut out the plastic of course. I also cut the plastic to fit a receiver and we welded a small piece of angled steel to the bottom of the winch plate and used the original screws and retainer nuts for the facia bracket. Last, Oregon requires a front license plate. So I used 1-1/4 conduit holders, drilled holes in the license plate and original plate bracket, and it just simply snaps onto the fairlead. Completely hidden. Winch is a Badlands ZXR 12,000 with wireless remote. I am unable to use the spool lock, so no free spool for me on this setup unfortunately. I also ran quick connects 1/0 AWG wire to both front and rear of the truck. I will also be doing a hidden winch on the rear factory bumper of the truck in the coming weeks.

Lower facia bracket and better bracket design shot.

Passenger side bracket. You can see the “odd” bolt that we used to pass through the back of the tow hook. This is a 4” bolt. We bored out the threads on the back of the tow hook so it could pass through and drilled a hole in the frame on the other side. This is the only frame modification needed.

Driver side bracket. You can see that the bracket hugs the frame. You can also see that the bracket drops 1-1/4 inch and pushes forward so the the plate can clear the complex angles of the plastic facia. The passenger side is a mirror of the driver minus the extra hole for the to seat the inside bracket to the frame.

Here is mine. I will be posting more pics in the next few days with the brackets I built and plate setup. No one makes a bracket for a hidden winch because of the tow hook bolt placements. All brackets and plates were made of 1/4 inch steel. I did have to drill one hole and run a 4 inch bolt through the passenger side frame, rear hole of the tow hook for the bracket bolts. I also had to cut off the lower front bumper brackets. The winch was to wide to sit between them so they had to go. The last major mod was the lower facia being cut. The fairlead sits right below the metal of the bumper and I cut out the plastic of course. I also cut the plastic to fit a receiver and we welded a small piece of angled steel to the bottom of the winch plate and used the original screws and retainer nuts for the facia bracket. Last, Oregon requires a front license plate. So I used 1-1/4 conduit holders, drilled holes in the license plate and original plate bracket, and it just simply snaps onto the fairlead. Completely hidden. Winch is a Badlands ZXR 12,000 with wireless remote. I am unable to to to the spool lock, so no free spool for me on this setup unfortunately. I also ran quick connects 1/0 AWG wire to both front and rear of the truck. I will also be doing a hidden winch on the rear factory bumper of the truck in the coming weeks.

I just wanted to thank Phil for being the real MVP on this topic! I wish I researched a little more before I trusted the dealer. (It would have saved about a months worth of hassle and time). He confirmed part numbers and was a big help in the harnesses. I put factory DQS mirrors on my 2016 Silverado LTZ Midnight.