I'm OUT! Had to design and build a road but I'm out lol.
Funny thing about the winch related link... If everything would of went smoothly at the beginning of all this it wouldn't have been a big deal.
When I sent my buddy out the second time I had him head over to 4wheel parts. Had him pick up the Warn 12000 zeon winch and all the goodies to go with it. The first store had half the stuff and he ran across town (Houston) to get the rest. It took all freakin day.
I called my buddy b/c I had one of those "I'm spending a buttload of money unseen" moments. Just didn't have a good feeling. I told him to make sure they made sure everything was in working order and bolted together. No shit he calls me back from the other store saying the zeon didn't bolt up to the hitch mount. The exact same products in the link.
They exchange it out for the Schmitty 12000 pounder that bolted up fine. Whew!! Close call as I was adamant they know this is a one shot deal as conditions are going south. So I have the winch, carrier, quick connect extension kit to run power to the back and a slew of other crap they talked him into. Didn't say anything b/c he thought it'd help.
He finally makes it out to me. Conditions are still favorable (pic from before) as he is attaching the rope and I'm looking at how to get power to this sucker. Holy crap, the quick connect kit to the rear was how much?? Lol ok, beggars can't be choosers right. Ok, mush onwards! No shit, the 200 dollar quick connect kit doesn't come with the attachment to connect to the actual winch.... WTF? You can buy that separately.
They sold him everything under the sun but that and managed to render the winch useless. By the next morning the whole darn attack would be a fools errand via winch. Time to ride it out and think of another plan. It kills me that I asked I don't know how many times to make sure the entire system was sound. Thanks!!
Now to return all this crap and figure out what I want and how I want to rig it. A decision easier made not balls deep in mud.
As far as the front hitch is concerned... That's what I've always ran. Usually on aftermarket bumpers though with a hitch slot. It's always worked well for me. Really good chance I go that way again. Pull from the front or the rear and you don't have to tote it around all the time. Plus I'm not a fan of having a lot of weight outside the wheelbase all the time. I have found over the years that I'm not a fan of nosediving while breaking... A welded on front hitch is what I ran on my old Tahoe.
On a more serious note, have you looked at the winch mounts for receiver hitches? A front hitch could probably be fabb'd up to put the receiver behind your front license plate and that would allow you to use one winch as a front or rear winch setup.
https://www.warn.com/truck/mounting-systems/multi_mount.jsp