I bought the Rock Hard winch plate because it was economical, looked well built, mounts on the stock 2014 TK bumper, and hooks into the stock bumper hooks. That's pretty strong when pulling to the front.
But, for lateral pulls, I'm a little concerned. E.g. lets say the jeep is facing north, but I have to pull in an eastern direction. I don't see a lot of support from the winch plate mount for that. It looks like the only thing that supports a lateral pull are the two arms that insert into the Jeeps frame slots.
heck I would be more concerned with the 4 little bolts holding the winch onto the winch plate then the winch plate mounted to the frame. A snatch block might be the ticket for 90* pulls.
Understand, but I've never heard of winch bolts failing - doesn't mean they haven't - I've just never heard of it.
The winch plate on the other hand is somewhat of an unknown; I'm not sure what it will do under a heavy side load.
I wasn't necessarily meaning a 90° pull, maybe a 45° pull. I just seems like a lateral pull puts a pull in a direction that the plate is the weakest. The only thing that holds it against a lateral pull it is two straps at the rear - there's absolutely nothing at the front to resist a lateral pull.
remember when you do those real angled pulls you really have to watch how your cable spools too. I have not done any sharp angle pulls but my buddy with the same set up has and no issues with the plate but was running steel line and chewed up the cross bars on the winch pretty bad. I would not be concerned with a 45* at all and if I was ore then that I would try and use a snatch block if at all possible just for the spooling aspect. Rockhard told me the plate was rated at over 12000 lbs so might contact them and see if was actually tested at 90*.
Thanks, jadmt for the heads up about winching and cable spooling!
Your buddy's example certainly shows us what can happen if we don't pay attention when winching. I guess having a more open winch mount is an advantage - you can see the spooling better.
I guess I'm ok; I don't anticipate a 90° pull; maybe some up to 45°.
BTW, FWIW, if you want to use " ° " instead of " * ", hold the Alt key while you enter 0176 on the numeric keypad - (can't use the top numeric row; must use the keypad), then release the Alt key. The * is fine, just one of those things to know more than anything.
I ask because I'm going OEM bumper also. Not because of the money, so much as I just like the OEM look PLUS I abhor extra weight (I'm a sportscar guy most of the time, and hanging an additional 200 pounds off the farthest point forward on a vehicle seems insane to me. )
Anyway, have narrowed down to Rock Hard winch plate, Maximus 3 winch plate, and Rough Country. All seem to mount without as much surgery as the Warn. The threads I've read on the subject on various forums are pretty thin. There's one big Rough Country thread from maybe 2010 (iirc) where several people trashed both the QC on the product (didn't align, threads stripped, etc.) and the customer service from RC when trying to return and get credit on their credit cards. That was 4 years ago, but I guess I'm a little gunshy there.
So it looks like this Rock Hard is the easiest to mount and the Maximus is a little bit harder, but not as hard as the Warn, and would be more secure in any direction. Just looking for feedback from any X'Sperts.
I ask because I'm going OEM bumper also. Not because of the money, so much as I just like the OEM look PLUS I abhor extra weight (I'm a sportscar guy most of the time, and hanging an additional 200 pounds off the farthest point forward on a vehicle seems insane to me. )
I hear ya on the weight thing. I seriously considered the QT10000C winch because it only weighs 55 lbs where my Zeon weighs 75 lbs. That isn't a big difference in reference to the overall weight of the Wrangler, but if you add a 125 lb bumper, it's starting to add up.
I've been really tempted to get the Rock Hard front bumper:
The aluminum version weighs 37 lbs vs 125 lbs for the steel and a wench mount plate comes with it.
For me, the light weight attraction is gas mileage. Some will claim it won't matter, but the numbers indicate it does matter.
But, without going the bumper route, the Rock Hard plate is pretty straight forward to install, and it looks to be a pretty solid product.
One thing to be aware of, the stock bumper hooks are small to begin with and the Rock Hard plate has to 'stubs' that set in the hooks to strengthen the mount in the forward direction. So those stubs take up some room in the hook. But it looks like the hooks would still be useable.
That's why I have the concern. The mount uses the hooks for additional support in the forward direction, but that method gives little support in a side pull and all that supports a side pull load is the two mounting arms. It may be fine, it's just a concern. I'll give Rock Hard a call today.
I can tell you that the rockhard plate flat out works. I was up playing in wet deep snow yesterday and two of us have unlimiteds with the rockhard plate and VR10000 winches and I was buried up to my eyeballs and both winch and winch plate did not break a sweat pulling me out. There were three of us and all of us got good use out of our winches and even the guy with the QT did not have a problem.
I have no doubt that the plate will pull forward loads. My concern is what it does in a side pull and due to the way it mounts to the 'pocket' bracket on the frame, is something going to start giving in a side load.
well we pulled at pretty severe angle with no issues and the hook nubs still support the bracket even on a side pull. also we had no issues with the tow hooks fully holding either a snatch strap or a winch cable hook. I am looking at ways to adapt some additional hooks/D-rings just in case things get really crazy where I need to absolutely be locked in.
Thanks a ton for the update jadmt. That's good to hear.
Interesting you mentioned "...ways to adapt some additional hooks/D-rings..."; I've been thinking about that myself.
One thing I've been considering is to replace the stock hooks/brackets with an after market front frame bracket and hook. I think the rub here is gonna be finding an aftermarket bracket - the hooks are available.
I'd rather use D-rings myself and what I'm thinking here is buy (or make) a D-ring bracket with holes dimensioned for the bumper mount bolt pattern. I think, i.e. think, don't know for sure yet, a square hole could be carefully cut in the plastic bumper cover to allow the brackets to be mounted to the frame and stick through the plastic cover.
I thing a guy could drill in the very lowest spot were the bend for the fairlead is and mount as low as possible. I would be worried that the force might cause the fairlead bent up section to bend forward on a hard pull. might be able to weld some support braces on the back side to give support to help prevent this. I also have thought of some solid square stock with verticle holes drilled in and bolting down to the plate just so they clear the fairlead part and then drill a hole horizontally to hook a D-ring too. It would have to be pretty stout tho. I suppose if a person had access to a good welder you could just weld the D ring mount to the top of the plate.
Hmmmm, would you really want to be yanking against the winch mount plate though? I'm thinking about an inertial recovery technique. That's commonly called "kinetic", but inertial is more appropriate. Anyway...
I was thinking mounting D-rings to the front bumper bracket might be stronger and maybe a little cleaner - 'course understand, I'm just thinking out loud here.
been thinking out loud for over 2 years on this so have played out all kinds of scenerios in my head. Bubba Ropes have lots of give when using them as yank ropes. So far I have been buried pretty good and so far so good without needing anything more then what is there but I have the slide off the side of the rocky mountain dreams lol. We have a lot of this type of stuff here. click on the photo for video.
had to come out the same way as one way in and one way out and this was not the bad slide area. My wife refused to video as she put her head down and closed her eyes lol.
Man that's a scary...."road". Is there a sign somewhere that says "Jeeps Only" LOL.
Ha Ha, you're a true optimist! if you "... slide off the side of the rocky mountain..." the one in the pic anyway, a D ring may not be the most immediate need! LOL.
no signs, but to get this far you pretty much know you are committed to lo range. This particular area had been closed for many years and last year just reopened to off road travel and of course now they are trying to close it down again.
Coming back up one of the guys knocked a valve stem out and went flat. he had to change the tire hanging over the side while strapped between two other jeeps to keep his steady enough to change the tire. Another guy nearly went over back wards in a TJ as the rocks were so deep and it was steep and he got on the gas too much and caught traction as he bounced out of a hole. I had just turned my phone video off 2 seconds before he did it or would have had a great video.
no signs, but to get this far you pretty much know you are committed to lo range. This particular area had been closed for many years and last year just reopened to off road travel and of course now they are trying to close it down again.
Thanks Guys..I just purchased the Rock Hard Winch Mounting Plate Quadratec Q9500i
I've been lurking for awhile .. just wanted to say thanks ..this thread lead me to getting the Rock Hard Winch Mounting Plate Quadratec Q9500i
Also ....as you can see from my moniker I run E85..I'll start a separate thread but ..just to throw the mpg stuff out the window I got 22 mpg interstate 150 miles today (I have video..not sure as a newbie if I can post that yet though)
I'll come back and add a link to the E85 posts I make for those interested
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ask a question
Ask a question
Jeep Wrangler Forum
9M posts
468K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to Jeep Wrangler owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about reviews, performance, trail riding, gear, suspension, tires, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, for all JL, JT, JK, TJ, YJ, and CJ models!