Hi folks! Here's a short summary of a project I did earlier this fall.

"The sneakiest winch you never saw."



Goal:

To make a winch mount that discretely fits inside the OEM Bumper behind the license plate.

Background/history:

I bought a Badlands Recover Winch in October, and it sat on my shelf for a month doing nothing. I was still offroading, but I wanted my winch. I was in a market for an armor bumper, but I still wanted to use my recovery tool in the mean time. During a weekend in November, a buddy of mine and I made and mounted a sneaky winch mount in about 15 hours. Even though I have a completely functional winch setup hidden in the OEM bumper and brush guard, I am still planning to replace the bumper with armor later in 2014. This mod is good in the mean time, and I bet it could work for long term as well.

Methodology

The winch mount mod has to meet these constraints:
-Fit inside OEM Bumper
-Still allow for brush guard mounting
-Be solid
-House a 6K winch (light, but adequate with a block n tackle)
-Still allow mounting for frame bumper (correct me if that's not the right name for it)
-Be sneaky, like OEM sneaky. :P

I lost all of my original progress pictures since I stick welded with my iphone in my pocket (scrambled the data on my phone. That was a hardcore derp right there). All I've got left are the afters from the dry fitting.

Not-to-scale model of the winch mount (notes on dimensions also lost from the welding/iphone mishap). The example is close dimensionally, I'll measure it again if needed, but these give the gist of it. This model does not show the fairlead mount.


Offset topside view


Front view


Offset underside view

Next up was the dry/fitting installation of it and remounting of the bumper.




This was an image of the 4Runnner parked without the fairlead mount finished. Folks looked at it and said it looked a jerry-rigged border crosser. I guess one could take that as an insult and a compliment at the same time...

Results and Discussion

Now it looks back to normal! Winch, lead and hook all are hidden behind the license plate. The only thing out of the ordinary is a red, lizard tongue flag that dangles from under the plate.



What did I learn? This should be common sense, but welding with a cell phone in one's pocket is not the best idea. I scrambled my iphone's memory while welding. Being a welding engineer, that was really dumb on my part. The welder's cable was draped across my cell phone pocket. The phone had something of a drug trip afterwards. It was actually kinda cool to see the thing spaz out, flash funny colors and type its own words.

Conclusions:
Overall, it took 15 or so hours to design, fab, fit and finish. I'm content until I upgrade to an armor bumper.



What do y'all think?

Excellent job. I like mods like this. They're unnecessary for my truck as I strayed from sneaky a while ago but they're still awesome. Reminds me of sleepers in the racing world, and I love sleepers.

Let's see those welds mr. engineer

Sweet mount! I am on the fence about getting one like that, or saying screw it and having the welding shop near by fab me a tube bumper with a winch mount... This mod looks a bit cheaper than an entire bumper though!

I learned today though that I definitely need a winch... Still can't believe I had to have a chevy blazer pull me out...

That's a really nice mod. Sneaky indeed!

Looks good but you have no fairlead. I did a hidden wench too. I had wanted the same methodology that you wanted .


Oh yea!

Photo Thread Bomb

Thanks guys! By the way, 4Runner photo bombs are always welcome, especially if they are even on topic!

Singtoe, the fairlead is already mounted. I didn't take photos at the time--I was scared of wiping my phone again, so I left it in the next building. I'll get a picture for you in a little after a week. The only real after photo I have is the first one with the flag sticking out (fairlead is again behind the license plate). I'm about 1K miles from home (and sadly, my 4Runner) for the next seven days. I'll get the fairlead pic for you. By the way, I just ran through your V8 mod today. THAT IS EPIC! Great job!

TCMach, thanks! I am hoping to go loud as well and move away from sneaky as well. I've been PM'ing some folks on potential used SW front. I'd mod and reweld the crap out of the bars though, lol. Not sure what bumper I want to use on the back yet, maybe a 4x4innovations. Oh, and for the weld shots, it'll be over a week to get the photos taken and uploaded--same reason as above. I hadn't stick welded in three years, so there will be plenty there for you to, uh, make fun of!

vtferret, yep! It's a super affordable mod. It was all scrap plate, so that made for an excellent mod project. I cut out the plates and the bolt holes with an oxy fuel torch and stick welded the parts together. I did some grinding and painting afterwards. It was a fun project overall. I don't know how much it would cost a welding shop to make it for you, but jump to the bottom of this comment for my thoughts.

By the way, I feel your pain on needing the winch. I spent $400 one night getting some legitimate outlaws to get me out of a mud-grass bank on the Mississippi. That was a 9 hour ordeal in the dark, got two other passer-by vehicles stuck on my behalf, and that money could have been used on getting a warn ahead of time. Never underestimate the need for recovery equipment! Here's a photo of some of the aftermath the next morning.



Thanks George16! Sneaky mods can be a whole lot of fun.

Alrighty guys, here's the bombshell. If I do get a winch bumper, I will give this sneaky winch mount away. Either the person claiming it pays for shipping or meets me in person. Heck, we could even take the time to mount it on his/her vehicle before they go home. Practically, I made it for free (minus time and paint), so the next owner will have it that way too.

I just found this really cool mod in a search. Awesome! Let me know if someone hasn't already taken you up on the "free" offer!

Ah man, I'm so sorry! The lil' mount has found a new home.

Oh, and thank you, good sir! It is a blast to make and bolt on. Do you need dimensions or a sketch of how to do it?

Did you have to modify the bottom bar on the brush guard because I to have a brush guard and am planing on doing this mod

This is a sweet mod. If you've got those dimensions and sketches handy, I would sure appreciate it. I've gone back and forth on getting a new front bumper and doing this, and it would be nice to be able to just pull it out if I decide I wanted the after market bumper down the road.

Cheers

X2 on the deminsions

You could also upload the Sketchup design to the Sketchup database and then post the link here! That would be the easiest way to share the dimensions.

Neat mod! I think your pm box is going to fill up with requests as I don't think anyone offers a hidden mount for a winch commercially.

Alrighty, peoples!

Would the following link be helpful?

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...ehouse%20page.