Whatever that new cannister is on the inside of front frame, driver's side, is also on the manual (other references I've seen them say 'auto'). So I'll be calling LoD about the new a) relocation bracket? or b) a modified mounting plate for winch. The bumper was on my 2011 moving it over to my 2012.

Not a huge deal if this is the only compatability issue I run into I'll be happy.

 

From what I've read that canister is a vacuum pump. I incorrectly assumed there was no change in the bumper mounting when I bought a Rough Country winch mount to use with the stock bumper on my 2102 JK. Pulled my bumper last weekend to install and there she was. A bracket welded onto the inboard drivers side frame rail right where the winch plate bracket is supposed to attach. No obvious change to the frame rail they just welded a shallow piece of C channel to the frame that has a bracket welded to it to suspend the pump. Why in the world Jeep would put it there is beyond me but they did. This weekend I'll pull the bumper again and attack it. I plan to use a small high speed wheel and cut the C channel welds. Then I'll be able to attach my winch plate mount bracket just like on the 2011's. My plan is to trim the vacuum pump bracket, drill a hole in it, then drill and tap a hole on the just installed winch plate bracket. I'll effectively put the pump back in its original location only it'll piggyback onto the winch plate bracket instead of being welded to the frame. The theory sounds good I'll see how it works in practice.

 

I'd contact LOD directly about this one. I am pretty sure I saw them post elsewhere that they developed a relocation bracket for that canister so that their bumper would fit.

 

Just finished putting it all together about 45 minutes ago. Everything went about as expected. Used a 3" cutting wheel on a high speed 1/4" die grinder to make 2 cuts and remove the whole bracket assembly. I then used the same tool to trim the bracket so it would lay flat against the winch plate bracket. Drilled and tapped two 5/16 holes in the winch plate bracket. It's 1/4" thick so there's plenty of threads to hold the vacuum pump and bracket. I'd say the pump and bracket weigh 12 ounces or less. Used an existing hole in the vacuum pump bracket and drilled one more so I'd have two bolts holding it on. It sits right where it did before except inboard a 1/4". All the harness straps even went right back their original holes so I'm pleased. Sorry I didn't take any pictures, I was pushing to finish by dark and didn't have time. As long as you're mounting a flat plate against the inboard rail the method I used should work.