Hidden Winch

Saw this on another 4wd website, really good idea and well excecuted...

Youtube Clip - Hidden Winch

KISS principle in action....bit of a bugger to engage the freewheel.....but then again I've never needed my winch.

Hmm... Should have hung mine under then rather than on top -





Similar idea though!

As Keithy says though, I can get to the free spool much easier!

Mine attached

In the clip he says that his rationale for the upside down he wanted to avoid any bumper cutting, but he's has to cut it a bit, probably a similar amount to what you and Dave have cut.

Maybe he was also thinking that he wanted to obstruct the radiator as little as possible. In UK we can get away with some obstruction (especially here in NE Scotland!), but Eastern Europe regularly gets over 30C over the summer.

So his approach can probably be looked at as a good compromise for having a discrete winch in warmer climates, at the expense of ergonomics (i.e. lever accessibility). Would probably be more useful in those many warmer parts of the planet where advertising that there's a winch will see it grow legs and wander off in zero time at all.

I haven't had to cut the bumper to install my lickle winch only had to remove the mesh...

Yes, I can see his thinking, a very neat install, especially when the number plate hides it completely

Ah, now I see, need to stop looking at the pics with my eyes closed

I,ve gone a little further than S200KYS,s winch by having the cluth lever reshaped so it protrudes through the bumper, making it easy to use..
Thats a 13,000lb winch hidden behind there, used mostly to drag landrovers out !
But to be fair im dragging them out of where i wouldnt venture !

The obvious benefits to having it higher are it is less likely to get submerged and less vulnerable if you ground out the front bumper.

See mine attached

Just for info, I used a universal winch mounting plate, cut and made to fit and welded onto chassis rails. Little trimming of bumper. Worked well.

Nice and understated on that blue one, and some serious custom fibreglass moulding on the one Martin posted. That guy takes his styling seriously! At least it's not all form over function, with the white strut that the winch has been mounted on being a good touch.