hey guys (and gals), I'm new to the winch lifestyle so i have a few questions. Let me start off by saying that I do not plan to use a winch much but would like on in case of emergencies. With that said, I have been cotemplating getting a winch that I can place into the rear receiver hitch to pull myself back out of whatever. what do you experienced people think of this? Also, I would like to replace my front bumper (and rear of course) with an aftermarket one that has a flush mount reciever hitch. Has anyone heard of any out there? I'm looking but with no luck. Any feed back would be great!!!

 

i think its more of a pain in the ass than its worth, You should always be wheeling with more than one person, so hopefully the person behind you can pull or winch you out..

 

agreed. good idea, bad lifting

Ever carry a winch WITH the reciever carrier ? Screw that, I will buy another winch for the rear or get real creative with my rope/pully/rigging

 

They are out there. The Body Armor front bumper has a flush receiver, but is expensive. Olympic also makes a front bumper with receiver, but it is not as flush as the Body Armor one. Not sure that the Olympic would be rated to handle a winch and pull the weight of the vehicle.

The receiver mount winches are heavy, and could be difficult to hook up by one person if needed when off road. Also securing it in the JK could become an issue, and driving around with it adds length to the vehicle which could impact the JK's off road ability.

 

When I get some extra money, which probably wont be for awhile, I will buy a winch and fab it to go into front and rear reciever hitch. I made my own front bumper already and it has a reciever in it. I tow my Jeep behind motorhome and dont want to have the extra weight of a winch all the time.



The license plate comes out and the winch will go in reciever

 

Things to note - it is heavy maybe close to 100 pounds maybe get synthetic line if you plan on using this option. The synthetci line is much lighter. It is nice in theory to have this option for front and rear but remember if you get a 9000 pound winch and have a 4000 pound capacity tow receiver that could equal trouble. This option is better used for straight line pulling and not really recovering yourself.

Like someone else mentioned, this option will stick out and increase the lenth of your vehicle so when you are offroading you will decrease your approach and departure angles so it's not a good idea to offroad with it. When you are stuck you might be in a funky posistion or buried and can't even get the winch into your receiver. That would be a real bummer situation.

You could go to a trailer store and have them make a fabrication and mount a front receiver but this alone could decrease your approach angle. The reason would be because of your radiator you would have to put it low. I have seen this on a H3 but not for a JK. Extra $300 easily for this.

Also, the warn connections are expensive - to run a connection from your battery to the rear could be approximately $170.00. Keep that in mind.

If you really are in a situation that you would need both a front and rear winch you should be with a buddy. I would recommend getting something just for the front and you should be set for 95% of the time.