What are these brackets and can I remove them?

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I read that they were called compatibility brackets and I thought that meant compatibility for snow plows and crap like that so I threw them away years ago.

Since then I joined this forum and learned what they were for and I would still throw them away knowing that info.

Thats the first thing you throw out when mounting a plow lol my mounts use those bolt holes the brackets mount too

 

[jadmt]

I like it because it keeps the winch line free of all the road crap they use in Montana, Utah, Idaho etc. it does keep it spotless underneath so for me it was well worth the money same goes for keeping crud off the smartbar motor.

If you’re happy with your purchase that’s awesome. I’m sure it looks cool under the truck.

IMHO you don’t need to protect the winch, It’s likely the most robust thing on the truck. If you think you broke the winch by bashing something into it, you’ve set off the airbags and the winch is probably still fine. It still works under mud and under water. You’ve only limited access to it and created a reverse mud scoop. Just my opinion. If you wanted to make an argument for protecting the winch it would need to be protecting the rope from UV ray

 

[AMDPSU]

Very happy with the profile of my PW with the front air dam removed and CJC guard installed.....

 

[Kauffmj1]

A fellow hydro blue owner! Not many of them on here. I just picked mine up a week ago and love it. That does look clean without the airdam. Was it a pain to get off? When I looked under there, it looked to be lot so PITA to get to bolts.

What size tires are you running? Truck looks awesome!

 

[AMDPSU]

By nature, I am impatient, so I used a wood hole cutting bit on the drill and drilled holes in the valance to directly access the bolts. The clips were a bit of a pain, weird angles ect but overall, it was not overly difficult and took about an hour all in.

The tires are 315/70/17......no rubbing and in my opinion is how the truck should come from the factory.