Smittybilt Winch Plate (Black) - 2804

I wanted to keep the stock look on my Jeep JK, but wanted to mount my 9500 winch from my old YJ, and didn't want to spend a bunch of money. This looked like the ticket. It worked out very well. The winch fits perfect and works great. The way the plate mounts behind the stock bumper supports on the frame make it very sturdy. The instructions are a little vague, and a couple bolts hard to get to, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Remember to mount the winch on the plate before you replace the bumper. I had to take my bumper off again to get to the bolts that go into the bottom of the winch. The instructions for cutting the bumper worked out well and were spot on, even if you cut a little bigger the mount will hide it. Over all I am very happy with the results, exactly what I was looking for.

As context, this winch plate was installed on a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport with a stock bumper.This mounting plate looks great once installed! The install went fine, but the instructions (as most Smittybuilt instructions go) have a lot to be desired - especially the pictures. They are very poor quality and look like they were taken with a very old black and white camera (no exaggeration). The plates themselves are very good quality and sturdy. I was worried that I'd have to do something with the brake booster on the driver's side of the frame rail, but the bracket on that side fits over it perfectly.Really the only complaint I had was the mounting hardware. The bolts that attach the back of the bracket (the single hole away from the front) are intended to only go through one side of the frame rail (as is inferred by the bolt length). This is an issue, as the frame is a tube (at least on my 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited) and you'd have to get very clever with some kind of custom bolt holder to get a nut that far back (about 8 inches) in the frame from the front (a custom nut plate of some kind, maybe?). I ended up just using bolts of the same size that were long enough to go through both sides of the frame (fortunately, there is a matching hole on both sides of the frame already). I mean, really, if you're going to be installing this yourself, you're already comfortable wrenching and cutting on your jeep anyway, so in reality, this is just a minor complaint. I was just happy the whole mounting plate fit as advertised once my brother (I was too chicken to cut my bumper myself - good grief, what am I doing cutting a perfectly good bumper?!) got the slots cut for the bracket!The dimensions in the instructions, by the way, for cutting the slots are dead on. Had to fit/remove the bumper a couple times to get the slot the perfect size (using a grinding wheel), but we were careful and only removed exactly what was needed (or I should say my brother was careful - I was still a big chicken!). Don't worry about making it slightly wider, the top of the mounting plate will cover any minor "over cuts" - you'll never see it.I installed a Smittybilt 97495 XRC Winch - 9500 lb on the plate - fits perfectly and was able to tuck most of the electrical out of the way between the grill and the winch because of the clearance the plate afforded.So the one star I'm taking off is really just for the poor instructions (who needs instructions anyway!?) and the custom hardware I ended up having to acquire (If I could give a half star, I'd give it 4.5 stars). The winch plate itself gets 5 stars from me!

I could knock it down a star, but the end result was really pleasing. The downsides are that I had to cut my bumper for this to fit and I got a little carried away, but nothing I couldn't 'cover up'. It also doesn't just bolt on and off you go, it takes some work. One issue is having to reach inside the frame with an extended wrench to work the hex head nut onto the farthest bolt. The bolt patterns did match perfectly on my 2013 Jeep Wrangler. It's also thick and heavy which I expect it to be to hold onto a winch and pull some tonnage. I fit my SmittyBilt 10k winch onto it without any problems. Also, the line feed face-plate bolts are at a 10 inch width. Love it!

I don’t do a lot of crawling and loved the JL style bumper, so I opted to go with this mount and make some modifications to the bumper to fit this mount. It was intended for a JK bumper so I could see it needing less modification but I didn’t want to go back to that style so at the risk of the plastics I cut, heated, an sculpted the bumper to have this fit perfectly.

This does NOT naturally fit a 2014 Jeep JK and simply saying that it does fit is misleading. In order to make this fit one must relocate some sort of pump (?) from the left side of the frame. This relocation requires tools that your average person does not have.. Cutting torch (?), grinder (?), welder (?), etc. Please save yourself the trouble of buying this, taking your bumper off, finding out that modifications must be made, putting your bumper back on, and shipping the item back. Not sure where the problem is.. Smittybilt, Amazon, etc but someone needs to clarify that this doesn't fit easily or without modifications to your vehicle.

Solid sturdy construction. Installed very easily, seems very solid and sturdy. Smittybilt XRC8 winch mounts easily to the plate. Fit my 2009 2Dr JK frame like a glove. Great Price....Smittybilt makes a good product for less cost of other name brand companies. I would recommend this to any avid off roader.

Very strong an rigid brackets really like the look it gives the jeep an had to do some mods to the bumper make 2 cuts with the grinder for the bumper slide in pass the brackets was the only hard part...

It’s worth the money! Just needs better instruction for installation. It’s a real pain to get the locking nuts to marry the bolts I had to use a magnetic tip and pray for the best to get the bolt started on the nut.

I installed this 7 years ago and it has never been a problem after using it quite heavily over that time. It has started to rust a bit now but anything would sitting up front of the Jeep through all those miles.

Muy buen producto fácil de instalar

Easy installation

Très bien s'ajuste parfaitement je le recommande

Extremely happy and I recommend this product for anyone!!!