The Warn winch cover/license plate holder on my Aluminess front bumper
snaps in place just above the front receiver hitch. There is not a positive latch of any sort to hold it in place. A couple times while backing up through sagebrush or willows the cover came off. Luckily I spotted it and put it back on. But finally there was the day where I did not see it, and drove off without it. Miles later, and of course after descending a gnarly hill, I noticed it was gone. To go back up the hill of course required:
#1-30 minutes of road improvements
#2- 4x4
#3- front and rear lockers engaged
#4- my wife getting out to walk instead of riding along.
And then a drive back to where the cover fell off.
So that snafu inspired me to come up with the fix shown here.
You can see on the bottom inside of the cover I attached two little brackets I made from some pipe strap. The kind that comes in a roll with precut holes.
Here is the view from the bottom with the two brackets pop riveted in place.
Next I drilled two holes through the frame that lined up with the bracket holes. Then I cut a multiholed clevis pin in half, put a cotter pin through the top hole, and inserted it down through the hole in the frame. Shown is one loose in my fingers, and with the other one one inserted in place.
Here you can see both cotter pins in place, one on each side of the receiver.
Finally, once the winch cover/license plate holder is snapped in place, the clevis pins insert through the frame and bracket, a second cotter pin is put in place through the bottom of the clevis pin, and the whole thing ain't going nowhere.
I realize some duct tape might accomplish the same thing. But with this set up I can have the cover off and back on in about a minute any time I need to access the winch. Of course once I get the winch involved my wife not only gets out of the cab, she also covers her eyes til it is all over. But that is another story.
AWOL
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