Hidden winch mounts

i want to put a winch on the tundra, but i don't like the looks of any of the bumpers and would rather not have to deal with suspension upgrades to handle all the extra weight...a winch and mount will be plenty fat enough

that said, let's look at options...

sqhd has the price range i want to be in, but not my favorite look. $529 at the moment, comes powdercoated

rev has pretty much the same setup as sqhd, but way higher in price ($659 and another 100 for powdercoating)

demello has my favorite look, but i don't know that i want to spend that much. ($775 powdercoated)


are there other options that i haven't found? (don't bother telling me about companies that make them for 3rd gen only). what would you go with and why?

 

@gosolo has a great looking HWB

Maybe he can chime in

 

The third pic looks pretty sweet. I will most likely go with the sdhq mount with the factory 55 fair lead and factory 55 hook they lay flat against the bumper

 

Southern Style? Not sure if they make 'em for 2nd gen.

 

@nuclearlemon
I’m not sure who’s fabrication fit gen 2’s.
I don’t think Rev actually exists, have you gotten any email responses or talked to anyone on the phone?
The Southern Style would be my preference, now. Nobody fabbed hidden winch bumpers for gen 3’s when I started looking. SDHQ is nice, but lacks the anchors for shackles. These are on the Southern Style

 

I'll eventually install an SDHQ hidden mount. I see the pics you posted from different manufacturers look different from each other but, on the thread I'll post below, you can see pics of the SDHQ winch that look different... and pretty much like each of the pics you've posted. If you can install SDHQ finished to look the way you like, seems like a good option to me:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/sdhq-2010-hidden-winch-mount.4947/

Please excuse me if you've already seen this thread with various photos and installation instructions.

 

I like the Demello. Appears to be pretty beefy compared to the others pictured.

 

@nuclearlemon
I got the weight info for both the winch with cable plus the mount and subtracted about 30lb for removal of the aluminum push bar (inside the bumper when stock) and came up with about 160lb added to the front. Then I measured the height before and after (hung my 150lb anvil) with the weight. Front end drops about 3/8”. Adding some CB shims upfront leaves me about 1/4” higher than stock.

 

his truck is a gen 3

i haven't contacted rev. at their price point, no way would i buy theirs anyways.
southern style only lists gen 3, so that's a no go.

 

I recently did the sdhq winch mount with a smittybilt gen2 synthetic, factor 55 fair lead and flatlink. I'm very happy with how it turned out. The mount is very high quality and well thought out. I had to drill a couple extra holes to mount the controller as the sdhq is designed around the warn, but it all lined up perfectly besides that.

 

That’s a great looking set up! We somehow ended up with matching holes in the plastic above our fairleads! lol (dang dealership plate)
I built a tin cover around my fairlead so I can go full “stealth”. What else do you have planned?

 

SDHQ has been on my list for the entire year. IMHMFO they do it right.

 

Yours is stealthy indeed sir. Yes, those holes suck. I have F/R icon 2.5's cdcv, uca, CB shackles, CB steering and other goodies sitting in the garage, just need to make time to install it all

 

Love this setup!! Was it a hassle to modify the smittybilt in?

 

Nuclearlemons' Tundra is a 2nd gen...

 

To my knowledge the mount I used is 2nd gen compatable. There are 2 sets of directions to follow that come with the winch mount, Gen 2 & 3

It's easy, no special relocation kit required to mount the controller, the smittybilt cables are just long enough. I bought (4)10-32x3/4" screws and drilled holes to mount the smitty controller. (There are holes in the mount but they're for warn) The tricky part of this whole thing is cutting the plastic factory bumper. I used a different fairlead so the sdhq template was not accurate. That took a few minutes to figure out. You do have to cut a small window out of the grill that is in the bumper so that you can reach the winch clutch since the smitty isn't 100% wireless, but it was worth is compaired to the warn 12k, the smittybilt 12k was way more reasonably priced. Both the mount and the winch were bought on Black Friday so I'm into this set up for just less than 1k.

 

I have the Demello with the smittybuilt 12,000 winch. I don't know if it is better or worse than any of the others, but it is a stout piece of equipment. I have used mine with no issues. With the hood up I can reach the spool lever and I don't need to raise the hood to connect the controller. You can see the controller box in the cutout on the passenger side of the mount. I did have to build a bracket to mount it.

 

can you elaborate on that?

 

Just a small bracket to mount the controller box. I think it was just a couple pieces of angle.

 

Definitely worthy of consideration. Demello has a great rep...

 

Can you post a pic of the setup with the bumper cover on? I have the same truck/color and this is exactly what I am thinking.... Looks sweet!

 

It is about 3 degrees in St. Louis right now and truck and mount are dirty. I've had this mount on from 100 degree days in Utah to -14 in North Dakota. It has seen salt and the powder coat is holding up ok. I've only used the winch a handful of times. Once it was to winch my truck with trailer loaded with oak up a muddy hill after the rain. No issues. Plus I wired the LED's to my headlight brights and love the extra light on dark highways in the middle of nowhere.

 

Can anyone explain the reason why the sqhd will fit a 2010 - 2013 G2 Tundra, but not the 2007 - 2009 G2 Tundras?

 

Bueller?

 

As much calling and internet’s searching I did, I could not find an answer to my question. Ended up having a local fabrication shop make my winch plate. $250 plus winch. Ended up with the Warn VR-10S.

 

Any more pics of these, maybe top down?