Originally Posted by bwiencek

Dang - lots of talk about the front reciever (which I still find a little odd... but as a license plate mount it might work fine for me )

Anyhow - did some more searching last night - can't find anyone posting about running one of them or pics on an actual vehicle...

Originally Posted by Mikey's Rubi

The front reciever is a good idea to recover yourself...not to recover someone else. You should never pull someone out in reverse...it will strain your gears as they are not meant for that...that mate together to move your forward. Many people put shackles on the front as one extra recovery point. They will also mount a portable winch to it if they don't want to have a winch on there all of the time. The problem with that is you have to really rely on the reciever pin holding up to the power of your winch This bumper seems to be tough though with the option of either winch set up...nicely done.

Originally Posted by BradOB

How would this strain your gears?

Reverse gears are straight cut and forward gears are helical (cut on an angle). Straight cut gears can handle higher loads. That's why F1 cars and other high performance transmissions use straight cut for forward gears. Noisy but strong.

Originally Posted by BigEarl

We put the game basket on the front of the CJ all the time for hauling deer/hogs. It drags less when going through low spots.

Originally Posted by putnam dan

I'd go with game basket - it's a perfect place for it.

Originally Posted by bwiencek

Not necessarily transmission - more of the R&P - you're on the 'coast' face of the gear which is known to be weaker.

Also - reverse usually has a lower numerically/ higher ratio than 1st - so you don't get the pulling advantage of 1st gear being a lower geared setup.