i dont know much about winches and i was wondering if one could reliably mount a winch to the stock bumper... i dont want to spend the money for a new bumper yet. thanks all!

if you have pics... that would be great!

 

no.
The stock bumper is mostly plastic

you CAN on the other hand mount a winch plate on the frame rails WITH the stock bumper in place.

 

damn.... okay, well i guess i will just save the money and get the bumper too... thanks!

 

like I said, you can use a plate and keep the stock plastic bumper. There was some pics around here of someone setting a winch between the frame rails and having the fairlead out the bumper but that would be a LOT of fab work just to retain the plastic bumper. a regular winch plate will put it right in front of your grill on top of the frame, it would be a cheap investment while you save cash for a new bumper.

 

What winch plates are out there other than the Warn? That one was a bit expensive compared to the cost of a winch bumper.

 

How about this: CLICK HERE FOR THE WRITE-UP

 

that looks nice

 

I really like the look of the winch in the stock bumper. I am considering doing the stubby bumper mod and the winch in the stock bumper combined.

 

Yea, that looks really clean! I may consider that mod rather than going with a new bumper.

 

The OEM bumper is really crap - the WARN mount is expensive and hard to put on. If I could do it all over I would just invest in a new bumper.