8274 License Plate Mount
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Short Cuts |
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by: Terry L. Howe
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License plate mounted above the roller fairlead
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Old location of plate on bumper
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Four wheeling can be real rough on license plates. Typically on Jeeps,
the front license plate is mounted on the bumper with the lower edge hanging
over the bumper. Eventually, the plate gets hit by a rock and it gets
ripped up or scratched. After a while, the plate may get ripped completely
off and lost or damaged so badly it needs to be replaced. I've always
had this problem with front plates.
One solution I've seen is to cut the edges off the plate so that only the
numbers and letters remain. This makes the plate as wide
as the bumper, so there is no edge hanging over to get damaged. While the
plate is still legible, is probably not legal in any jurisdiction.
If you are lucky enough to have a Warn 8274 winch, there is another approach
that is legal. The 8274 winch mount has enough room to mount a license plate
above the roller fairlead. The advantages of putting the plate above the
roller fairlead is it will not block off air flow to the radiator
and it will save the plate from damage from rocks.
To mount a license plate above the roller fairlead, you need to loosen up
the roller fairlead. Slide the lower edge of the plate behind the roller
fairlead and tighten it up. There should be enough clamping force between
the mount and roller fairlead to hold the plate in place.
There was enough clamping force between the roller fairlead and the winch
mount to hold my plate in place, but I took it a step further. The two
upper bolts for the winch mount did not fall in the area around the numbers
and letters of the plate, so I drilled the license plate so the bolts would
run through the plate. Drilling out the plate in this way is probably
not legal, but I figured most peace officers would overlook this since the
plate will be less damaged, legible, and firmly mounted. The top edge of
the plate I bent down slightly over the top of the winch mount to keep it
from getting snagged.
I first saw this trick on "Big Daddy" Jerry Panek's CJ-7 of Predator Four
Wheel Drive.
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