I did some more head scratching and the winch can't go there.I need it to mount up near the roof and have a swing out arm like a crane. That will allow me to use it for lifting my full size spare onto the carrier and I can use it with the rear door open to load heavy items into the back.
Something that bugs me is the rear hitch. I did all that work for high clearance in the rear and the hitch receiver is hanging down like an arrestor hook. I already have a 14 bolt in the rear. I don't need something else to get hung up on. After some thought I decided to cut the factory hitch apart and turn the whole thing upside down. The receiver will be on the top of the cross tube instead of underneath. This gives me 3 more inches of clearance in the rear. The bottom of the hitch will be at the bottom of the gas tank. I'm going to have to fabricate some stuff to make it work, but it gave me another idea. I'm going to extend the 2 inch tubing on both sides about 5 or 6 inches. I will make them receiver also. That way I will have a winch point on both corners of the rear. If I slide off a trail or something, I can run the front cable to an anchor and then back to the rear corner. I can think of other uses too. All I need now is for my new saw to show up. I burned up another chop saw. Abrasive works ok on thin wall stuff, but no so much on .120 rectangular or the heavy walled hitch material I'm working with now. I got a metal cutting saw, not another abrasive chop saw. Let's hope it actually works because it wasn't cheap. I'll get some pics when I get the hitch together; it will make more sense.
