VBS4

I called harbor freight and they said the winch mounting plate has been discontinued :sad:
I'm now looking for another plate. The harbor freight one looks like the Mile Marker Plate except there's a $50 difference in price

How did you hold the nuts in place inside the frame rails while you tightened everything up. It looks like there's just tiny finger sized holes on the end of the frame rail where the bumper mounting plate is. (hope this makes sense. I'm going by pictures only)

RedRockJK

Order it online. If you call the store they will tell you they don't have it any more. It's still available to order through their web site. And if you called the web site number one of the customer service reps probably gave you incorrect info. Use that part number in the 1st post and enter it into their "Find by Item Number" box and click Go.

I enlarged the hole in the plate that's on the end of the frame rail so I could squeeze my 3/4" wrench in there. I covered one side of my open end wrench with electrical tape so I could put a nut in there and squeeze it through the opening. After I got the end of the wrench inside the frame rail, I balanced a lock washer on top of the nut and moved the washer/nut into position under the bolt. It was a bit tricky but very do-able.

VBS4

Thanks. I'll give it a try.
How long did it take to get the winch plate. Their online store says about 10 to 14 days shipped.

Ordered....crosses fingers it arrives...hahahaha

RedRockJK

That's probably about right. Sending you a PM.

mcnaught6

did you have to drill holes for the winch itself?

RedRockJK

No, they are already drilled in the winch plate. I did have to elongate them slightly since the winch wouldn't go as far forward as I needed it to. It was bumping into the nuts on the back side of the roller fairlead so I had to adjust the holes slightly. YMMV.

Angryitch

Please do! I am interested in how a factory stubby mod looks with your winch setup !!!

RedRockJK

I'm planning on doing it this weekend.

VBS4

What are you going to use for endcaps?

By the way, I finally recieved my winch plate from harbor freight. Thanks for suggesting I order it online since over the phone they said it was discontinued.
To bad UPS destroyed my winch though Now I have to wait for them to inspect it and contact the distributor

RedRockJK

The stock end caps. I plan on sectioning the bumper on both ends and putting the stock ends back on. I'm hoping that will make it look a bit more like a stock stubby than just cutting the ends off and putting a flat piece on them.