I am one of those weird guys who likes the look of the stock bumpers on my '13 Rubicon. I want to put a front receiver hitch on, as I've had one on my last three trucks and find them very useful.

BUT... I might want to also put on a winch plate and winch at a later date. From what I can tell, all the receiver hitches and all the winch plates want to bolt up to the inboard sides of the front frame rails. This tells me that I can have only one or the other unless I'm willing to modify one or the other.

True or not true? Anyone done it???

Thanks,
Tom.

 

I'm curious, with tow hooks and a winch up front, what kinds of uses would you have for the hitch?

 

Bike rack. Cargo rack. Front hitch for parking trailers.

 

Why not mount the hitch and then get a portable winch mount?

 

I had the Curt front hitch And a winch plate/winch. Winch has to sit on top of frame rails. Easy setup but partially blocks radiator so I bought a recessed mount bumper. Still have plate for sale ....

 

hey tom, as the one guy mentions you could put on the front hitch, and then run a portable winch off the hitch. or you can do a recessed winch bumper with a hitch mount as well. its up to you really, how permanent do you want your winch to be, and how much are you willing to spend on it, or spend the time to fab it. the nice part about the portable winch and double ended hitch set up is you can winch yourself up with either end of the vehicle when you need to!

 

Yeah... I thought about the receiver-mount winch, but it want the winch to be mounted as solidly as possible. I have visions of bending the receiver or winch mount if too much side force is applied. I really want the winch to be mounted solidly between the frame rails. I am sure that there are bumpers out there that have both the winch mount and the 2" receiver integrated, but again, I hope to keep my stock front bumper.

 

Do you have any pictures of both the plate and receiver mounted and your current setup?