Hey just wanted some opinions. Have a 99 TJ with rugged ridge stuby front bumper on it. About to get winch.....jeep has hitch on front bumper.....should I get winch plate that will contect to hitch so I can then move winch to back or front of jeep or should I just take hitch off front bumper and just mount winch to front bumper? Basically wondering if anyone ever sees an advantage when wheeling to be able to move winch to back of jeep.
Thxs
Winch plate
August 15, 2015 - 10:09pm
#1
Winch plate
I personally would go for a regular bumper mounted winch. The hitch mounted versions seem to be a fair bit smaller from what I've seen, and honestly 9 times out of 10 you can just pull yourself forward. I might consider a hitch mounted winch as an auxiliary to my main winch, but definitely a bumper mount will be more usable for the most part.
Ok I figured I could just put the winch on a winch plate that slid into the hitch. Could I not use same size winch?
Oh yea they do make those to mount a full size winch. I've never actually seen one in action though I don't see why it wouldn't work? I guess you'd have to run heavy wiring to both the front and back, and that may be a bit of a pain. Other than that though it should work. I would probably still go with a bumper mounted winch, but that's just personal preference.
I had an 8274 receiver mounted, thought it would be super convenient and all that but I never put it on the back like I thought I might. Also, thought it would be super convenient to be able to remove it for getting groceries .... except then it becomes - should I lift this 100lb thing onto my truck and hook it up..... NAH I'll take it easy. Then of course you'll need it. Plus on a receiver the damn thing stuck out pretty far. Needless to say it's mounted "properly" now.
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in fact in my pic there you can see how far it stuck out on the reciever
Ok Thxs, I think I will just mount on front bumper then