Thinking about adding the hidden winch mount to my 05 LR3. I have the stock bumper with the Brush guard, so wanted to understand from the forum how involved this upgrade is? I understand removing the front bumper and cutting is involved, but wants to get a better gauge from those that have do this upgrade. Thx!

 

Not done it personally but you will need to cut a large portion of the bar for rope access which will not only weaken it but make it worthless if you ever wanted to pass it on.
Replace the bar or just fit the tray on its own.

 

I think you may need the factory winch tray for compatibility with the factory A bar. Otherwise you will have to get pretty creative. Because with the factory setup, the winch is not exactly hidden. And you will end up with a winch that is very much buried back in the bumper which will make for issues with the rope/cable.

 

Thx, They still sell this OEM part then?

 

No. Its an old truck....

 

If you saw one you wouldn't want it, sticks out like dogs *****, discreet tray is much better.

 

There is that too. But the original intent was for an easy to access/service winch. It was function over looks. But it does stick out A LOT. Can see the setup here:

https://landroverforums.com/forum/lr...h-cover-81207/

 

A hidden bumper is.... hidden and as such, you will need to remove the bumper both the plastic fasade and the big heavy metal bumper. You will need to run heavy gage wire to the battery and the control relay and then to the winch motor. After that, you will need to cut the slot in the plastic fasade and mount the fairlead. One of the advantages of the factory winch is you retain the factory bumper. One of the disadvantages is that it looks more like a utility truck that a cool trail SUV. I will say I like the look of the hidden winch systems.

I have seen some of the hidden mounts and none of them seem as beefy as the factory winch set or factory bumper, but I do believe that you will break the rope before damaging the mount. There are a few brands out there to choose from. I would recommend that the one oyu get has you drill out the bumper mount holes on the frame and add bigger stronger bolts.

I installed both the factory LR accessory winch (it is a Warn 9.5) and the LR push bar that fits with the factory winch. It does stick out quite a bit. I took the bar off as it interfered with the ham radio antenna on the front bumper. The factory winch does stick out but with the guard, it does not seem as bad. It will reduce your approach angle if you want to get a little wild on the trail. I replaced the steel cable with a synthetic rope and whether you go with the factory one (the price now is prohibitive) or an aftermarket hidden one you should only use synthetic rope, trail riders often use these winches in confined spaces with lots of people standing around. When steel breaks in goes flying with unbelievable force, the synthetic just falls straight to the ground. When buying a new winch do not get one with a steel cable.... too dangerous. Also, the synthetic will not get all tangled up like the steel which can be a problem is it is inside the bumper.

As to whether you need one or not is a personal choice. I used to travel with a few friends that had Jeeps and I recovered them a lot. Not so much as the Jeep is bad, it is just that they took more chances than me and they got the soft shackle of shame award more often. I have self recovered as well. Now that we are on the homestead, I use my Rover more as a farm implement directing loads on trees that we cut down or drag them out to where we can cut them up than as an overlander (we will get back to traveling once our house is built.) I need to get the winch in the Gator and stop using my Rover.



I plan to add a hidden winch to my sons 2007 and will pick one that has mounts for the front valve block and does not require relocation (or replacing) the washer fluid reservoir. We are working up a three state run of the Trans American Trail (TAT) next summer and If he does not have a winch to pull me back out f a mud hole or deep drop off, I will be forced to always be the trailing vehicle.

Just my 2% of a Dollars worth

Jeff