First Tacoma

Hey Y’all.

I am in process of having my new to me Tacoma shipped to my house. Should be here later this week.

It’s a 2018 Tacoma Limited 4x4. The photo attached is the online picture of the truck since I don’t have it just yet.

I’ve been doing some research for aftermarket parts, and I’m having a hard time finding a “hidden” winch bumper I like. We want to go with minimal weight and avoid replacing the entire bumper. Almost all of the options out there hide the plug in area for a winch remote and the winch clutch, plus the winch line. Mind you, I’m pretty short, so having to reach into the engine bay to switch the clutch on or off isn’t ideal, and if we’re in a situation where that’s not possible, it would be pointless to have it installed.

I’m curious, what are you all running, and how did you avoid these issues?

 

Congrats on the new taco and welcome to the forum!

Cant help you with the whinch though, im sure someone will chime in pretty quick.

 

congrats on your new taco...can't wait to see your next post with the TACO of course. keep us updated

 

I feel like in a situation where you'll need a winch you'll probably want that bumper too. You can try one of the slimline bumpers SSO makes (https://www.southernstyleoffroad.co...-hybrid-front-bumper-customize-your-own-copy/). Honestly for the money once that's all configured you get pretty close to a full bumper. I've personally decided that when its time for a bumper I'm just cutting and going straight to the full hybrid bumper.

 

Welcome....And congratulations on your purchase.

There is a lot of information here on Tacoma World about hidden winch bumpers.

Here are a few threads :

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hidden-winch-bumper-comparison.577838/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/product-comparison-hidden-winch-mounts.537813/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-winch-did-you-have-hidden.599732/

I don't have a hidden winch so I can't address the access question.

 

Welcome, what are you planning on doing with your truck, from the wy you are talking, maybe TRD Pro or OR would be more suited to your needs than a Limited.

 

Welcome.

A “hidden winch mount or bumper” you won’t see so there’s nothing visually to dislike. You may be referring to a slimline style bumper that essentially replaces the “chin”. If so @SouthernStyleOffRoad makes probably the best one available.

Now if your actually looking for a true hidden mount there’s a few companies that make them. If you use the search function on here you should find several. I had a Pelfreybilt (Screwed a bunch of people then went out of business) hidden winch mount before I went to a full Demello bumper.

As far as a solution for the winch controls, here’s your answer. It’s what I have and it’s great. It puts your control pack in a great place you can easily reach.

https://tandem-offroad.com/products...-controller-mount?_pos=3&_sid=65f2a37e2&_ss=r

Here’s an old pic of my truck with the hidden mount.

 

I think some people (not you) have a hard time understanding what a hidden winch mount is. Sadly a lot of those links are dead.

 

Thanks all for the input so far.

The goal is to keep it simple but capable.

I have a Wrangler I use for wheeling trips mainly (NM/CO/UT/AZ trips), and this Tacoma is going to be more of a camping/dirt bike towing kind of vehicle that we want to be set up to be able to do easier trails with family in tow as well. We have family that would love to see the views that we get to experience but either don’t have a vehicle that can get them there or aren’t comfortable driving those trails.

The reason we want a winch (eventually/not in a rush) is for that just in case trail incident. I’d rather be prepared then not.