In reading all I can find online (third read of this thread) I see that the center mounted winch is not that complex if you figure on a completely custom design!! I am wanting to keep my 1992 F250 looking like stock...at first glance, then as you look longer the trained eye will notice lots that is not stock. So a mid mount winch with a double roller fairlead inside of the rear license plate is neato to me. The plan as of now is welding in a steel roll pan with license plate provisions. Remove the license plate winged bolts and pull out a section of cable to add a snatch for rear pull. I will probably cut my front bumper horizontally at the XLT plastic trim, and add a 2 1/2" or 3" round tube as a push bar, this bar would allow for a inconspicuious exit for the forward cable and make the truck look taller!.
I have gathered that a front "centered" exit is worth while, and as simple as adding one more pulley before the front double fairlead and leaving room in the bumper to frame horn mount for the cable to go through across the vehicle.
Now for my question:
I am installing a 6.5' bed in place of my 8' because I have a 6.5' bed with matching ARE canopy. So I will have roughly 16" to play with between the cab and the bed/canopy. I have considered building a roll bar if you will out of semi truck frame rail, sort of similar to the Protec tube headache racks, mine would be body colored as to not stand out at first glance. So with a very strong "cage" of 10-12" channel I would be able to fab in a crossmember and truly tie it into the truck's frame. This would allow me plenty of room to mount my Ramsey 8k winch that I earned for free, it has a 120v motor on it now but uses a Lovejoy coupler so easy change out. So with plenty of exit points available in the rollbar, would I still be better served running the winch line under the truck and all that mess? Or just build it to pull from multiple points of the rollbar, say, port, star, and top? Obviously I will be compounding the force by extending the direction change away from the truck's frame. I think it may be able to do it similar to rollback tow trucks or the Unimog's deck winch with a swivel fairlead that spins direction of pull.
What say the other mid mount winch researchers? Too queer of a pull to pull from solid object, rollbar, then to winch? I would see it as advantagous to keep the pull side planted....to a point, then it may turn negative. What would you dream up with 16" of play and a desire to have a mid mount winch rather than a cool guy front bumper?