Does anone have the AEV front bumper without the winch plate? Can you mount the bumper without the winch plate?! They used to sell the two pieces separately but now you can only buy them together, but I found a guy who still had one of the original bumpers without the winch plate and I can get a good deal on it. The guy told me that I HAVE to have the winch plate to even mount the bumper, so I wanted to see if anyone knew if this was true or not. I don't need a winch right away and wanted to get the bumper first and add the winch mount later.

 

I ordered my AEV prior to the manufacture date, and had to wait for almost 5 months until I got it. Back then, AEV CS stated you get the bumper to use with or without a winch. I ordered the bumper for without the winch, at the price of $869. Come to find out the adapter they were going to make for the non-winch bumper never got off the ground. I remember back then everyone who ordered the bumper (both winch and winchless) were calling to find out when they would be shipped, and there was always the same answer, they should be ready for shipment next week. At any rate after calling AEV, I found out that the bumper required the winch plate even if no winch was to be installed. Mike at CS told me they were sorry for the mix-up and the delays. He also said that my bumper woud be shipping out the next day, and for my inconvience, they were also shipping the winch plate with my bumper free of charge. I got the bumper and plate for right around $960 shipping included.
To make a long story short the winchplate is required whether you install a winch or not. And now as I understand it, the winchplate comes as part of the bumper. The cost is higher than what I paid.
That said, I love the bumper. It mounts pretty easy with one other person as a helper. I did have to make my own cover for the front however. Not hard to do. Just cut a piece of stainless plate to fit and screwed it in.
Here are a few pics of the bumper.
stock bumper removed.

winchplate installed.

installing bumper. Here you can see the plate I made/mounted into the bumper.

bumper installed.

There was a few more things I had to do, like cut the crushcans off the stock bumper and install on the new winchplate. Mount the stock foglights into the AEV bumper. Glued the AEV Logo onto the bumper. And tightend everything up.

 

Thanks for the help. I thought the crush cans were important for the crash sensors, no? Doesn't the bumper mount with the crush cans intact?

 

I got told that you now have to have the winch plate as it "increases the strength of the structure (bumper) in a frontal impact"

Here is a pic of mine without a winch:

 

The crush cans are not directly related to the air bag deployment system sensors. They are nothing more that metal cans that if contacted during a low speed accident, will simply absorb the impact. They are underneath the bumperetes that stick out on a stock bumper. You can also see the AEV bumperetes. They are almost the same as the stock ones. I could believe if they were hit and take the impact, then hopefully the bags would not deploy.
The crush cans are actually part of the stock bumperplate that is underneath the cladding on the stock bumper. After removing the stock bumper. You remove the cladding to expose the bumperplate. The AEV comes woth a template. You use the template to mark the stock bumperplate, then cut off the part with the cans on both ends of the stock plate. The template also has the markings for holes. After drilling, the two pieces are mounted onto the new winchplate and the bumper is then mounted on that,using the hardware provided by AEV. That is a fun part. Trying to hold both crushcan pieces onto the winchplate while you align and bolt the bumper. hehehehe. Not bad with two people though.