Looking at the truck at regular height, it is hard to notice the winch at a glance.
If you get down low, the winch is much more visible.
A closer view shows the winch sitting between the springs.
The front part of the frame rails are the same width as a civilian FSJ, allowing the mounting kit to install with a minimal of fuss.
Just a total of four new holes had to be drilled into the frame.
This view shows the two holes that had to be drilled on the driver's side to mount the side brackets. On a civillian FSJ, those two holes are already drilled and have captive nuts ready to have something bolted to them! I suspect they were the stock mounting points for the old OEM brush guards.
This shows the front clearance. The bottom of the mounting plate is just slightly lower than the spring shackles.
A small amount of clearance is lost, but not much.
(Update August 2006: I installed a roller fairlead and it unfortunately eats up more clearance, but not too much.)
Here is what the rocks on the trail will see.
(No, the roller fairlead is not installed, yet.)
The driver's side diagonal support was replaced with a longer piece of metal. The passenger side support fit perfectly.
The clearance is a little close on the driver's side,
due to the power steering box.
The drum still has clearance to turn.
By swapping the wires on the solenoid box,
I was able to mount it in the engine compartment
on the passenger side fender.
The solenoid control switch was a piece of junk and took too much pressure to push the switch, so I made my own from a Radio Shack "project box" and some momentary contact pushbutton switches.
The control switch sees only low amperage current, so nothing fancy is required. Since the cable comes wth the winch, you're looking at less than $7 worth of hardware.
I now have a winch to help me out of hard spots, and the truck still retains a close-to-stock look. Unfortunately, this mounting kit is no longer manufactured by Ramsey.
I bought this one from a CFSJA list member who
does not have any more to sell.
