Hey all! So got this JK recently. Bought a winch for it and decided to use a universal winch mount plate from HF. While it looked good enough, I wasn't really happy with how it sat "on" the bumper, and not "in" it like it can. Decided to buy the bulldog mount (with pump relocator) and do it right.

Install was great, but still didn't like how the winch (and electronics box) was up high. So I moved the control box behind the passengers bumper corner, and used the old winch cover plate to button it all up. I LOVE how it turned out. Used 2 of the lower bumper corner bolts (each corner has 8 of them) to install my fairlead and tie it all in.

The only "negative" is that I lose the ability to disengage the rope via the lever (its a pretty tight fit), but can still let out the line via the wireless remote.

Anyway, thought it turned out pretty clean. If I am forgetting something totally obvious, please let me know. Haven't tried it out yet, but will be hitting the Rockies this weekend to break it in.

 

You could locate the point on the top plate that corresponds with the disengage lever and install through the plate. Hopefully there is enough room to tighten the lever first with the plate raised then bolt the plate down. But really clean looking install though.

 

It looks good, but dang.....I can't imagine having to release line via the remote every time as more often than not you're releasing 50'+ of line. Guess there are worse things in life.

 

Yeah, I've never actually used a winch before. Not planning on needing it a ton though. More of a "oh crap, what did we just do...!?" kinda of insurance for us.

 

It's good to put a little thought into that before hand. Alot of times the line comes out you aren't in the best position (ie, not flat in the driveway), and sometimes you are sitting in the driver's seat in a precarious situation that you want to stabilize asap and someone else is the one helping pull the line. You never really plan to be in those situations, but it does happen.