Got my winch yesterday and installed it today! It was a tight fit, but I'm very pleased on how it turned out!

I worried a little about the added weight so before the installation I put a measuring tape vertically by the bumper and set all the different items I'd be adding on the bumper - it only dropped about 1/4 an inch with the added weight.
Sweet!




First bracket installed.

I started with installing one bracket - then mounted the winch on the winch plate.





Superwinch 9.5 mounted on the cut down Badlands winch plate

I used a floor jack to lift the winch up into place - then mounted the other side bracket. I had to go this route - with both brackets in place the winch was too wide to fit between them!





from above with the front grill removed





from above with the front grill removed

I kept all the bolts lose - once everything was in in place and where it should be I tightened the bolts.




view from below

I have a TMJ steel bumper - it had a panel that you remove when you put a winch in - the only miss step was that it's a few inches off center! If I had of known this I would have cut the mount plate to match - it would have given me a few more inches clearance on the motor side of the winch - that side was really close to the side bracket. The fairlead is not exactly in the center of the opening - it's centered to the vehicle, just not the space in the bumper.





Finished! Love it!

There was plenty of wire to reach the battery - I left the control box in place on the winch instead of mounting it elsewhere. I decided to connect the controller permanently and leave it in the space by the jack. I've got the juice disconnected so no accidental activation! I think I'll look into a quick connect/disconnect gizmo so activating the system will be super easy (hope to never have to use it).

 

Tested the winch set up today. Pulled some tree stumps out for my in laws. Worked like a charm and the winch mount cradle didn't move a bit!

 

Great post, thanks for sharing! Glad it worked out so well for you.

 

 

Looks great
I’ve done that with a TJM on a previous disco of mine
and decided this time I didn’t want the bull bar up front at least for a while.

a ton of measuring - but I made it happen with a HF winch tray & some custom steel reinforcing.

 

 

that looks really clean!

love the white disco.

 

And here's a writeup from a few years ago by a guy in the U.K. who accomplished approximately the same thing. Elegant solutions.

www.discovery2.co.uk / T-Max Winch

 

That write up was quite inspiring-
The thing is, his fair lead is below the middle of the bumper. In the mesh grille below.
I specifically wanted mine in the middle of the stock bumper.
Non the less- very nice To all doing discrete winch fabrication

 

A DIY post on how you fabricated your setup on the white disco would be priceless! Could you talk a bit more about the reinforcement you had to add to the HF winch tray and the bumper?