what do you think of having a set up that only has winch in the rear? thanks

 

I think you would lose the ability to winch forward, which is the direction I prefer to travel in when I'm wheelin. Its not just to get you un-stuck, its also to pull you over rocks and up hills. You lose a lot of versatility, IMO. That doesn't mean it wouldn't come in handy. For situations where you do need a rear winch, the hitch mounted winch would be nice to have.

 

A rear winch is more useful for self recovery than a front mounted winch. It usually only takes a few feet of moving back to get "unstuck". Then revaluate the conditions and proceed, winching forward could result in a worse situation. As stated previously a front mounted winch will aid in climbing steep terain with limited traction.
I permantly mounted a Rugged Ridge winch in place of the stock muffler.

 

I'd love to see a write-up on that one! Or install pics, or ... anything. Any plans to install a skid plate around that? It looks like you could really tear it up.

 

The Rugged Ridge winch is mounted above a piece of channel iron 7" wide and 3/8" thick that goes between the frame rails. It is far enough forward to avoid most impacts when droping off rocks. I think it would be difficult to bend.