So I've had this itch for a while to do a hidden winch. Well with the new van I decided to finally go for it and this is what I came up with. Left to do is to extend the clutch lever about 3" and do a permanent mounting of the control box next to the battery. Had to order new 1/0 cable and a disconnect switch for the winch so waiting on those parts to get here. While I was at it I also added a couple connection points to the bottom. Once the parts get here I'll dive in and rotate the battery 90 degrees to free up some space in there for the control box and battery cutoff switch.

You'll notice I also added a fairlead mount to the winch plate - this extends to the back of the bumper and the fairlead that bolts to the front of the bumper gets attached to that for added support. The lower winch plate has 3 connection points on each side and then there is another bolt going through the frame in front of where the bumper bolt drops down. After I'm happy with the setup I'll pull it back off and do some touch up cleanup and then paint it.

Once this is done I'll look into raising the front of the van up just a bit to offset the additional weight up front and to level it out.

Plus last week it also got a Eaton Truetrac and 4.10 gears - now the challenge of finding a shop that can calibrate the speedometer.

Ignore the crappy bent transmission hard line - waiting to find a good tube bender so I can remake those for better routing for the oil cooler.

Ed

 

Dang that looks good

 

Yeah it does.

 

Nice! Now put a vanity plate over it and will disappear

 

Yeap. As long as his state doesn't require a front license plate.

 

are you dyslexic? Or you don't know what a vanity plate is?

 

No, I am not dyslexic. I know what a vanity plate is MMJ. I have no use for one at all as I don't have a huge ego. But his winch is covering up where the license plate went. So he will have to place it elsewhere on his vehicle.

Comprende?

 

I comprende very well.
I doesn't sound like you got it at all. It seems your reading comprehension is lacking in all your posts here.

 

Was able to get back in and finish things up. Rotated the battery 90 degrees and did up a new battery plate. Welded up a bracket to hold the winch control box and emergency disconnect for the winch. Made my own 1/0 wire to go from there to the winch. Extended the clutch lever 1.5" and rotated it 90 as well so it won't hit the grill. Also removed all of it and painted up the mounting plate to fend off any rust.

Next will be to figure out where to put the plate - technically we are supposed to have a front plate but about 30% of the vehicles around here don't.

Ed

 

are you able to winch yourself backwards?