I have a shorty rampage bumper and a 8500 rugged ridge winch. I bolted the winch to the winch plate that came with the bumper. Now I'm trying to bolt the winch plate to the bumper but the heads of the bolts holding the winch on are causing a gap between the winch plate and bumper. Should i drill 4 more holes in the top of the bumper and have the bolts holding the winch on go through the bumper and winch plate or just leave it the way it is sitting on top of the bumper. sorry this is confusing as hell so ive posted a few pictures of what im working with...

 

If it were me, I would remove the winch...bolt down the winch plate...drill the winch mounting holes through the bumper...bolt the winch throught the bumper and mounting plate...that way you have the winch and plate bolted with 8 bolts, nice and flush.

Only snag I see is I'm not sure how long the winch bolts are...if they are long enough to go through both...

BTW, really like that bumper.

 

thats what i was thinking also but just wondering if there was a reason they did something like that...this is my first jeep/project minus the kc lights and im not really trying to mess it up already haha

 

I have the Rampage recovery bumper and a rugged ridge winch and ran into the same issue. All I did was get fender washers and used them as shims between the plate and the bumper. I used 3 or 4 on each plate mounting bolt (about the same thickness as the bolt heads) so the plate rested on the winches mounting bolts heads and didn't flex when torquing down the mounting bolts. I wouldn't drill and try to bolt through the bumper and the plate. It was hard enough mounting the winch on with the plate attached, I can imagine what a pain it would be that way.

 

i talked to the local shop and thats what they suggested as well. yea dude i cant imagine trying to drill that thing now that would have been a real nightmare. in the end im very pleased with the combo

 

Hi. Does anybody know the weight of the rampage recovery full length bumper? About to buy it, and thinking of dura 33's with no lift.. worried that the weight of bumper and size of tire with no lift might be a problem...?? What you think? thanks

 

I'm trying to accomplish the same thing, but with a Warn Zeon 8000 winch. Thing is that the winch is pretty wide, and in addition to the problem with no clearance for the bolt heads, the body of the winch is hitting the high part on either side of the winch "divot". The net result is that I think I need to build up the winch plate a little higher than just enough to clear the bolt heads. Any thoughts on whether fender washers would still work? I want this whole setup to be strong enough not to come apart under load, obviously.

It was recommended to me that I get some steel plate to shim up the winch plate, which seems like a safer bet to me.

 

There's this one:
Rampage Products 86510 - Rampage Products Front Recovery Bumper for 07-13 Jeep® Wrangler & Wrangler Unlimited JK - Quadratec