Winch Capable Grill Guards

bigBP · February 5, 2009

Was flipping through an accessories magazine today and saw that Westin has a new "Winch Capable Sportsman Grille Guard" out for 2009. They apparently bought out T-max winches or something and are now offering a bunch of winch products. I know that Warn has had a winch capable grille guard out for a year or two. Does anyone have any experience with either of these two (or any other manufacturers)? Are they really beefy enough to handle winching out a light duty pickup?

jnpaddison · February 5, 2009

i have the warn transformer (black) on my gmt900 sierra, along with the brush guard and center beam for 2" reciever ,,, apart from having to enlargen the pockets where the tow hooks were originally sticking through the bumber and to drill (1) 0.5 dia hole in the frame - really easy to install , not to mention actually functionally useful - not just for looks as some of the 'other' brush guards appear to be ( to each their own ) ... refer to the warn downloadable catalog to view how it looks

got mine from - "gotchrome.com"

bigBP · February 5, 2009

Yeah, I've been eyeing the Warn system for a while now. Glad to hear you're happy with it. I really like the idea of being able to have a winch on a receiver mount so I can throw it on the rear receiver if need be (for that situation where you really wish you hadn't tried to go down that trail). Looks like for the entire package in black (grill guard, brush guards, receiver, and light bar), along with a 9,000 lb winch and multi mount, goes for about $2,500. Hmmm, wonder if I'm going to be getting a tax refund this year...

Only concern I have is 9,000 lb sufficient enough for a full size pickup with some gear in it? From what I can deduce the front receiver is rated at 9,000 lb straight line pull. I guess you could always just use a snatch block or two if you were a little short on pulling power...

Anyone else out there with any opinions?

Ranger · February 15, 2009

On a 1/2 ton a 9,000 lb winch would be "sufficient" considering the average 4wd weighs about 7000 lbs (at least mine does with a full tank of gas and my basic tools). My "empty weight" on the reg paper is 6200 lbs.

When it comes to winches though, I think the biggest winch affordable should be used, as when you really get stuck that "6200 lb truck" will seem to weigh like a loaded dump truck to the winch, unless you're using pulleys and snatch blocks.

chakis24 · February 15, 2009

ive been looking into the same thing as well. but i was looking at skipping the whole grille guard and just go with the front hitch receiver and the winch mount. its a little cheaper, and a little more convenient.

http://www.realtruck.com/hidden_hitch_univ...41008P1C1T.html

http://www.stylintrucks.com/part.aspx?part...p;partid=486861 (its a 9000 lb pull strength, not 900)

what do you guys think?

bigBP · February 16, 2009

ive been looking into the same thing as well. but i was looking at skipping the whole grille guard and just go with the front hitch receiver and the winch mount. its a little cheaper, and a little more convenient.

http://www.realtruck.com/hidden_hitch_univ...41008P1C1T.html

http://www.stylintrucks.com/part.aspx?part...p;partid=486861 (its a 9000 lb pull strength, not 900)

what do you guys think?

The receiver looks pretty easy to install. For myself I'm a little tentative on having the receiver down that low for a winch (although I suppose the warn system only puts it a couple of inches higher). Knowing me I would manage to bury it in mud or snow or something...

Definitely the way to go in terms of bang for the buck though.

jnpaddison · February 16, 2009

Curt Manufacturing makes a hidden hitch variant also .. my issue was curbing the damn thing

chakis24 · February 16, 2009

ive been looking into the same thing as well. but i was looking at skipping the whole grille guard and just go with the front hitch receiver and the winch mount. its a little cheaper, and a little more convenient.

http://www.realtruck.com/hidden_hitch_univ...41008P1C1T.html

http://www.stylintrucks.com/part.aspx?part...p;partid=486861 (its a 9000 lb pull strength, not 900)

what do you guys think?

The receiver looks pretty easy to install. For myself I'm a little tentative on having the receiver down that low for a winch (although I suppose the warn system only puts it a couple of inches higher). Knowing me I would manage to bury it in mud or snow or something...

Definitely the way to go in terms of bang for the buck though.

yeah, i thought about that, but hopefully i wouldnt have both ends of my truck buried.

Curt Manufacturing makes a hidden hitch variant also .. my issue was curbing the damn thing

yeah, i was thinking about that too. i would like to see it on first but i dunno if thats possible. my truck was never as low as the one in the stylintrucks pic though, so i dunno.