Hidden Winch Mount...INSTALLED

Gangly · December 28, 2021

I finally got around to installing my hidden winch mount. A little cutting and grinding here and there, only to the winch mounting plate, and it's finally installed. One bumper mounting bolt didn't line up but if I move the winch rearward an inch or so on the mounting plate I can utilize the 6th bolt, just need to drill new winch mounting bolt holes in the mounting plate. Just ran out of time.

Two things I need to do:

First, I still have to mount the control box for the winch elsewhere in the engine compartment due to tolerances. It simply doesn't fit on the top of the winch.

Second thing I need to do is weld up a mount for the Hawse Fairlead and cut the hole in the plastic fascia of the bumper.

Other than those two small things left to do, it's good to go.

Basically, the hidden winch mounting plate bolted up nicely and the bumper installed with perfect clearances, minus one bolt, which is an easy fix. Once the extended cables come in I will wire up the control box, move the winch back an inch, and mount the fairlead.

Oh yeah, please don't ridicule me too bad for the two ugly cuts on the front of the mounting plate, lol. I'll square them up before the install is completed, my OCD won't allow me not to.

Supreme Pizza · December 28, 2021

Nice work. Looks look a fun project.

Transient · December 28, 2021

Did you start with a kit from some company, or fabricate this from scratch? I'm not handy enough to do this from scratch, and don't like what I'm seeing on the market

BlancoSilverado · December 28, 2021

Do you have a picture with the bumper back on? how many mods did you have to make?

Gangly · December 31, 2021

On 12/27/2021 at 11:27 PM, Transient said:

Did you start with a kit from some company, or fabricate this from scratch? I'm not handy enough to do this from scratch, and don't like what I'm seeing on the market

I purchased a winch plate from a FabFours Matrix bumper system, a combined bumper/winch combo. After purchasing just the winch plate, I had to make minor alterations to make it work with the OEM bumper and mounting locations. Luckily, I only needed to drill three holes for the factory tow hook mounting bolts(2 on the driver's side of the winch plate and one on the passengers side of the winch plate), and cut off some mounting brackets on the winch plate that would normally be used to mount the FabFours bumper. With the FabFours bumper mounting tab pieces cut off of the winch plate, and the three holes drilled for the attachment of the factory tow hooks, the winch plate bolted up perfectly and mounted easy as butter. It is held on by 8 bolts, 4 on either side, that go through the factory openings in the frame rails so that there were zero modifications required to the truck itself, only to the winch plate. Again, this required zero modifications to the truck itself and utilized existing holes in the frame.

My wiring harness is coming from Canada and will be 2 weeks before it gets here, but once it does I'll tear everything down again to clean things up before installing the harness, and will take photos of the bolt locations and modifications made to the winch plate.

I didn't take any pictures of the truck with the bumper back on, but it looks completely stock. I haven't cut the opening in the bumper for the fairlead yet so as of right now you cant tell that there is a winch installed.

Transient · December 31, 2021

5 hours ago, Gangly said:

I purchased a winch plate from a FabFours Matrix bumper system, a combined bumper/winch combo. After purchasing just the winch plate, I had to make minor alterations to make it work with the OEM bumper and mounting locations. Luckily, I only needed to drill three holes for the factory tow hook mounting bolts(2 on the driver's side of the winch plate and one on the passengers side of the winch plate), and cut off some mounting brackets on the winch plate that would normally be used to mount the FabFours bumper. With the FabFours bumper mounting tab pieces cut off of the winch plate, and the three holes drilled for the attachment of the factory tow hooks, the winch plate bolted up perfectly and mounted easy as butter. It is held on by 8 bolts, 4 on either side, that go through the factory openings in the frame rails so that there were zero modifications required to the truck itself, only to the winch plate. Again, this required zero modifications to the truck itself and utilized existing holes in the frame.

My wiring harness is coming from Canada and will be 2 weeks before it gets here, but once it does I'll tear everything down again to clean things up before installing the harness, and will take photos of the bolt locations and modifications made to the winch plate.

I didn't take any pictures of the truck with the bumper back on, but it looks completely stock. I haven't cut the opening in the bumper for the fairlead yet so as of right now you cant tell that there is a winch installed.

I'm following your updates on this closely. Looking forward to seeing the results. I may copy what you've done. Thank you for doing this.

RedLT · January 1, 2022

That spot looks like it was made for a winch, did you fabricate the mounting plate? Can't wait to see the finished look. Maybe some close up shots before mounting back the bumper.