Hey guys - I am interested in your experience with the different winch mount setups available for the lr3.

​​​​​​I am working on a budget build for my 2006 lr3. Ideally, there is a way to make work/do some modification to the cheap "one size fits all" mount rather than a complete steel bumper.

Anyway, reply back if you have a cheap winch setup that you like.
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The 2 basic choices I have seen are the hidden winch mount and the replacement bumper. I have not seen many home-made low budget jobs yet on this.

I went with the Proud Rhino bumper by Lucky8. I have heard in the next month they are going to putting a more budget friendly front winch bumper on the market.

 

I have installed terrafirma, uncle rays, and Devon 4x4 hidden winch mounts.

Devon is hands down the best, the other 2 are equal.

I had an uncle rays which I sold for $350, but I think the customer wants to trade it in for a Devon 4x4.

If you are interested PM me.

I have to say that you should think hard about why you want a winch and if going Cheap on the mounting is the right call. If the mount is sub par and the attachment is not stable you could end up damaging your vehicle or a person.

 

I don't know if this is feasible but I'd like to chop off the tow hook and weld on a 2" receiver, then add a Traxide aux battery kit with Anderson connectors front and rear, then get a receiver mount winch tray. Seems like then I could leave the winch at home when I don't need it, as well as use it both directions when I do.

 

I like the tray mounted winch idea with receivers front and rear... got stuck once on the powerlines and the only way out was back and I was by myself. My 15000 lb winch was useless to me mounted to my front winch bumper.

 

Exactly. I spent a lot of time helping a 3/4 ton out of a snow bank last year because his bumper winch was buried.

 

Nice idea with the hitch winch.

Has anyone done this yet? Gotta think someone has..

 

I believe it has been done, I do recall finding at least one thread by someone who did this. I don't have an aftermarket sump guard on my LR3 yet, so my first question is how far beyond that must the receiver extend to be able to access the pin, else the pin would be recessed too far back and be inaccessible. I am hoping to scope this idea further once I buy a sump guard.

 

I think that this is a good idea/concept in theory but the actual application is suspect.

- as mentioned, how do you engineer the hitch receivers so they are not Land anchors and allow access without sticking out.

- where does the winch/tray live while you are wheeling? If it’s attached, it ruins your angles. If it’s in the cargo area it will be a heavy wrecking ball if it gets loose.

- So, now you are stuck and need to attach it to the back. What if you are in a position where the rear is buried and can’t get access to attach it? Same for the front.

- lastly and rarely some winching situations are time dependent and need to happen before you get into a worse position. Scrambling to attach that 1-200 pound contraption could mean failure.

With all my above negativity, I would love to see what you come up with!