Has anyone installed a JC Whitney or universal winch plate ? (cheap)

If you have installed one of the lesser expensive JC Whitney mounts or any lesser expensive universal, would love to know how it is working out plus see a pic of it installed.

I have a 2003 Liberty Sport 4wd, was the wife's car. Was totaled due to hail damage and i bought it back from the insurance company. Got the wife a new car a couple of months ago and was planning on selling it.
I started to clean it up and started thinking that I have really, really wanted to play off road with the 4wd, but stayed away since it was the wife's car.
Started thinking I might just go ahead and keep it as a "toy".
Being very naive, I thought i would just slap a winch on it and go off road.

I just started checking into winch mounts - ouch. For what I would use it for, it's way more than I really wanted to invest in it.
Then i ran across the JC Whitney mounts.

I wouldn't be doing "serious" heavy duty off road stuff. just your basic off road, cruising down a creek kind of stuff, but of course I would want a winch in case I did get stuck as I am a disabled vet with some serious health issues which would prevent me from doing a whole lot of manual stuff to get me out if needed.

But I don't want to drop $800-$1k for what i would be using sparingly , basically as a "toy".
I know I need at least a 8k lb winch, so there is $350-$400 minimum, so if I could use one of those inexpensive universal mounts or maybe even "splurge" for one of the JC Whitney mounts like their universal cradle, that would be more like I had in mind when the thought of keeping it ocurred to me.

While I am capable of doing it, I would also prefer something where I didn;t have to do major surgery to get it mounted

Anyway, so if anyone has something like that installed, would really like your thoughts about them and a picture of what it looks like installed........thanks

If it were me ... with your purpose. I would get a front and rear hitch and use a hitch mounted winch. No surgery required, you could use it on either end (you don't always want to go further ahead ) and/or store it in the KJ until you needed it. The only physical part would be (depending on the weight of the winch) getting it into the receiver.

something like this .... http://www.warn.com/truck/mounting-systems/multi_mount.shtml

Or since we're talking about the potential killing power of a winch and not stick-on hood pins for a Civic, let's just not mount a winch on until you are ready to get serious.


Kooler than Mudd.

donberry said:

I am a disabled vet with some serious health issues which would prevent me from doing a whole lot of manual stuff to get me out if needed.

Click to expand...

A hitch mounted winch weighs 100lbs. Now imagine carrying that thru the mud. Setting it up and stuff.

With a front hitch you have a place for recovery, but most are only rated for 3500lbs. Not 8000 lbs. And the hitch pin....looks kinda dainty.
I've personally seen a guy use a front hitch with a winch. He had to do a "off angle" pull. Bent the crap out of the hitch and the pin.

Will a front hitch/winch combo work? Sure it will. But when (not if) you get that jeep STUCK, you might run into problems that could turn stuff into missiles.

Get a front hitch for minor pulls from a buddy.

Here's what I would do.

1. Either get/build a bumper with a winch mount.

2. Bring a friend and get recovery points for your jeep. Invest in a good strap and a few shackles.

3. Get the detour backbone. Its a few bucks more than a hitch/cradle and installs easy, mounts a winch strong and solid and most of all Its safe.




Sent with the power of children's screams!!

I Used 2x2x1/4 tube to slide in to "frame" and stick welded them. Then added another piece of tube on top of them to raise mounting plate height. Drilled some holes for grade 8 1/2in bolts to hold plate on. Plate came from Harbor Freight,$35 I think. Used a 12,500lbs winch from Tuff Stuff Classic 12500 lbs 12V Electric Recovery Winch Truck Trailer 12000 Lb | eBay
Changed the wire to Rope,92ft. 1/2" SYNTHETIC WINCH ROPE, HOOK & HAWSE FAIRLEAD . The winch package I got came with a wireless remote,handier than a shirt pocket. The point is a winch can be bought,mounted,upgraded,used for about $600 total. That china winch sounded like it was crushing rocks,was slow,it never failed.

JLRockies said:

Or since we're talking about the potential killing power of a winch and not stick-on hood pins for a Civic, let's just not mount a winch on until you are ready to get serious.


Kooler than Mudd.

Click to expand...

I won't even comment on this remark.

Ridenby - looks like a nice setup and also looks like it sees it's fair of hard use. Pulling another car out of the mud isn't easy.....Only thing is, I am hoping to keep my regular front bumper fairly intact, which always leads me to the KJ backbone.......

I do not want a hitch mount winch, let alone as mentioned I don;t want to be moving a 100 lb hitch around. Not sure if true or not, but it made sense when I read it was also with a hitch mount you would be putting a lot of stress on the hitch if you had to use it at a pretty decent angle.

Tho some obvious believe the JC whitney hitch mount means you are not serious, as they bolt to the frame, seems to me it is at least fairly "serious", but I would really like to see what one looks like mounted.

And as it does mount to the frame, I do believe comparing it to hood pins on a civic is not a very good comparison, but I'll just let that lie.

Thanks for the input. If I do decide to go another route, I may be hitting you up for some info ridenby if you don't mind. Will be after Christmas before I start getting fairly serious. I did decide to keep it. Kids and I did a little off road activity the other day, a couple of small bet steep rock hills and a field where I was running over a bunch of small trees. Beauty of it is because of the hail damage, I didn;t think too hard about it when the bushes were running down the sides......I did have to pick out a small tree or 2 from underneath.....but it was a blast. Not as much fun as when I drove a M60A1. now that was some serious off roading - we used to have who could knock over the biggest tree contests....I normally won and trust me when I say a 52 ton tank can knock down some pretty good size trees.....and also bend the heck out of the bustle rack if you forget to turn the turret.....

I would also suggest looking into the Detour Backbone winch mount. If I get more serious, I may consider one too.
KJ Backbone Bumper System for Jeep Liberty

Just remember the extra weight of a winch/ how ever you mount it etc will finish off the stock suspension . So plan on upgrading the springs and shocks as well as adding the winch

yes, at the moment it seems like the backbone, tho if I really wanted top get serious that ARB Bull bumper looks pretty awesome.

Hard to beat an ARB, I ran one on mine for about 8 years before I sold it off

ARB is so badass that if they built the alphabet, we'd only need 3 letters.

The comparatively low cost of ARB gear here in the US is reason #17 the Taliban hates us.


Kooler than Mudd.

well, I believe I have found what I am looking for. I personally love the custom mount that m_volyrakis made and I have no doubt it will be strong enough for anything I want to do. I love the clean look. The thread about it is HERE
Gentleman that he is, yesterday i emailed him and today I got a bunch of pictures and the cad drawings,
I think he is missing out on a very good business opportunity as I bet he would sell quite a few of his mounts.......

donberry said:

well, I believe I have found what I am looking for. I personally love the custom mount that m_volyrakis made and I have no doubt it will be strong enough for anything I want to do. I love the clean look. The thread about it is HERE
Gentleman that he is, yesterday i emailed him and today I got a bunch of pictures and the cad drawings,
I think he is missing out on a very good business opportunity as I bet he would sell quite a few of his mounts.......

Click to expand...

I was gonna do that too, but it would kill my approach angle. But its all about what you like. Me personally I dont like the looks of the ARB.

Keep us updated and post pics!

Sent with the power of children's screams!!

donberry said:

well, I believe I have found what I am looking for. I personally love the custom mount that m_volyrakis made and I have no doubt it will be strong enough for anything I want to do. I love the clean look. The thread about it is HERE
Gentleman that he is, yesterday i emailed him and today I got a bunch of pictures and the cad drawings,
I think he is missing out on a very good business opportunity as I bet he would sell quite a few of his mounts.......

Click to expand...

Several things wrong with mounting a winch there
one is how low it is and how much dirt/debris/moisture etc it will be exposed to
second is the fact you need to see the wire as it spools onto the hub when reeling in. If you can see it easily the wire will overlap itself and get kinked all up

donberry said:

well, I believe I have found what I am looking for. I personally love the custom mount that m_volyrakis made and I have no doubt it will be strong enough for anything I want to do. I love the clean look. The thread about it is HERE

Gentleman that he is, yesterday i emailed him and today I got a bunch of pictures and the cad drawings,

I think he is missing out on a very good business opportunity as I bet he would sell quite a few of his mounts.......

Click to expand...

You obviously don't know KJ owners very well.


Kooler than Mudd.

JLRockies said:

You obviously don't know KJ owners very well.


Kooler than Mudd.

Click to expand...

That is true......

well, after much more "research", decided I am going with the backbone bumper or the arb.
It will be one or the other......I really like the looks of the custom one, and I think for many it would be more than enough, but the whole purpose of me keeping this is to go where i want, when I want, no matter through what....so the backbone or arb seem like the way to go - for me.
I like the custom one as pictured in this thread, but I no longer have a welder and my personal preference looks wise is either the oem bumper or the arb.......if I did not also plan on using it as my main ride, I wouldn't mind something else. That is just a personal chice as far as looks tho and others could easily prefer the looks of something else. main thing is strength when needed......

Its hard to beat an ARB, had mine on 8 years, took on 4 deer, a Toyota Camry and a Chev. Pickup during that time and still didn't look bad at all. Its enjoying its new life now on another KJ. :icon_razz:

If Chuck Norris were President, his Secret Service code name would be ARB


Kooler than Mudd.