Warn Hidden Winch

Well I just recently aquired a Warn Hidden Winch Mount Kit NIB. But I can't find any info on this kit at all, nor any pictures from anyone that might have it. I know it's a discontinued item, but thats about it. As far as I know it pushes the bumper forward and inch and everything is concealed behind it. When was it produced? When did it get axed? Anyone here own this? I will assemble it all when it gets here, until then, any info?

How much did you pay for that kit?

I saw a Cherokee at a junk yard up here with one of those installed,winch and all, looked like It met a barrier at freeway speeds :tnt: but the system looked like it was still good.

The yard owner told me $200 for the front 18-24" of the truck(they won't let me take apart the truck and it's too bent for them to try to unbolt it). I think the winch is busted, but is it worth $200?

It looks like a good system, held up well under extreme conditions.

Good luck!

There is an OEM/Ramsey system that you might have seen, came with a 6k winch from the factory. I have only ever seen two pictures of that and one in person. I have yet to see any of the warn kit, but knew it existed at one time. They had to have sold some of these........ :bunny:

WOW! what a find... they are rare from what Ive seen, but to find NIB!!!

How the heck did you find that. I know they used a ramsey system or at least a ramsey winch. Might want to consider making some lifesize templates before you use it on some thick graph paper, holes and all. That does not look like it would be that hard to make.

IIRC, Ghost had the kit.
Not sure what brand, though.....

I'm not sure what the kit in those pics is, but it ain't a Cherokee (XJ) hidden winch kit. It might be a kit for an old full-size Cherokee. The factory XJ hidden winch kit was by Ramsey and it did NOT include that heavy tray. In fact, none of those brackets are correct for the XJ hidden winch kit. It used the factory tow hook brackets, with the second set of mounting holes used to slide the bumper forward. But it only moved the bumper forward something like 3-1/2", and that tray is a lot deeper than that. The factory XJ kit didn't use a tray -- it mounted the winch to a "picture frame" of 2x2x1/4 angle stock, with the feet pointing back toward the radiator.

I have yet to see one here in the U.S.A., but when I was in Chile over the winter a saw a lot of older Cherokees, and probably 95% of them had the hidden winch. Down there it's a registration scam -- put a winch on an SUV and it gets registered as a "work truck," which costs a lot less than a personal vehicle.

I'd like to ask a favour - when you get the kit, and before you do anything else with it, lay it out on large graph paper (I can send you some 11x17 if you need it) and trace everything, including holes, and wrapping the paper around the parts (mark bends, please.)

I've got some parts for the HW kit (the bumper brackets) that I can compare these to, and it would be helpful.

I'm reasonbly certain that it's not the XJ kit (I don't see the bumper brackets,) but it would come in handy for redesigning the kit and perhaps reissuing it...

PM me if you want more details, or if you need me to send you some 11x17 - or larger paper.

5-90

Eagle said:

I'm not sure what the kit in those pics is, but it ain't a Cherokee (XJ) hidden winch kit. It might be a kit for an old full-size Cherokee. The factory XJ hidden winch kit was by Ramsey and it did NOT include that heavy tray. In fact, none of those brackets are correct for the XJ hidden winch kit. It used the factory tow hook brackets, with the second set of mounting holes used to slide the bumper forward. But it only moved the bumper forward something like 3-1/2", and that tray is a lot deeper than that. The factory XJ kit didn't use a tray -- it mounted the winch to a "picture frame" of 2x2x1/4 angle stock, with the feet pointing back toward the radiator.

I have yet to see one here in the U.S.A., but when I was in Chile over the winter a saw a lot of older Cherokees, and probably 95% of them had the hidden winch. Down there it's a registration scam -- put a winch on an SUV and it gets registered as a "work truck," which costs a lot less than a personal vehicle.

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Eagle, this is NOT the OEM/Ramsey kit. Warn did produce this at one time, although it has obviously been phased out.



P.S. Don't worry 5-90, things will get taken care of before it's used........

he must be the guy who just bought the one that was on ebay.

96XJCLASSIC said:

he must be the guy who just bought the one that was on ebay.

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Cause the little icon on every picture didn't give that away or anything............

I see lots of those around here, but rarely in usable condition.
Forestry had a whole fleet of XJs here in the late 80s and early 90s, all of which had either those mounts or the OEM one.

I met a guy with an XJ here in Miami with a factory installed Hidden Winch. He let me take a look at it which I was more than happy to do since I want to build myself one. There is nothing on his XJ that resembles the kit you show. Your kit may be for the full size Cherokee. There are more people on this forum who will be able to give you a more difinitive conclusion.

techno1154 said:

There is nothing on his XJ that resembles the kit you show. Your kit may be for the full size Cherokee. There are more people on this forum who will be able to give you a more definitive conclusion.

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Read the freakin' installation instructions.. You know of any full size comanches?

If its not too much trouble, could you take a pick of the instructions? I've been staring at the picks for almost an hour and for the life of me I cant figure out how they go together. :wierd:

The kit is in the mail, so I'll do all that when it gets here. Until then everyone can just think i've gone mad............. :laugh3:

91 Jeep Project said:

Until then everyone can just think i've gone mad............. :laugh3:

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I've heard that before about you. But I think you made a great find. (depending on the price.)

Let us know how it goes, and share what ever info you can.

Daryl

Well, here it is, finally got it today. Did a "dry mount", just assembled it on the floor. Didn't have time for a full install. Plus i'll want a another stock bumper to play with, cause you have to modify it to work. Went together real easy. The mounts are actually not to bad either, was kinda worried about how it was all gonna look. But I think with the addition of a good set of tow hook brackets, it would be plenty strong. Here's the pics















The last pic is of the top cover piece. The controls mount through that, and came with seals. Also, the mount for the control box is on the passenger side, goes right before the bumper brackets on the frame. Came with end cap extensions too. but those look like crap, just some sheets of plastic. So I won't be using those. The box did have a picture of an XJ on it. But the front was covered with about 100 pounds of tape and a sticker. So no go on that.

Please post as many pictures as you can of the installation. I've only seen one of these before, but just in a picture, and this seems really interesting. You could probably market this kit and make a good deal of money out of it. I mean, did you see how many people asked for a blue print of this thing? Cool stuff

Did a test mount on the Jeep a little bit ago. Took me about an hour to do and 75% of that was taking the stock bumper off and putting it back on. Here are the pics....





Here are the spacers they used for the frame mounts, since there is a lip on the bottom of the crossmember the unit can't sit flush without them.







The kit pushes the bumper forward a little less than three inches.



On a stock XJ, the measurement from the ground to the bottom of the winch plate is 18"



After seeing the kit on the Cherokee, I was very unsatisfied with the mouting system. I will be making some custom mounts to beef it up. For the outside I will essentially be duplicating a tow hook bracket, but also extending it to include the two forward holes for the warn bracket where the bumper will mount. This will have 6 bolts.



The front will be beefed up as well. My Custom 4x4 Tow Hook Brackets had a 90* bracket with them that attached to the front of the crossmember as well as the bumper mounts. I will be doing the same thing, but again, extending it forward to the new bumper mounts, so 6 bolts on this as well.



With those additions I think I will be pretty happy with the kit as a whole. I will be mounting a Warn M8000 in it. That will be done the road though. I came across this kit in the middle of lifting my Jeep, so a winch wasn't exactly in the budget yet............:dunce: