I'd put the winch on a receiver mount & add a front receiver so it can pull from either end & you can keep it out of the weather. I'd use a snatch block which will double the pull but halve the speed & I'd use real SS cable not that new rope stuff. I have a 17,000# winch set up. What part of Appalachia?
That's exactly how I do it with my pickup: Frame mounted receiver in the back and a bull bar bumper w/ receiver in front. I have a Horrible Fright 12000# winch on a receiver mount that I use with the pickup, so I'll just use the same one with the van. I bought a "real" receiver mount for the rear of the van off ebay, but I have an old one off a junked chevy that I am gonna cut up and weld onto the brush guard/bumper for the front of the van when I make it. I figure the rear one needs to be not-sketchy since I might want to pull a trailer now n' then. But the front one will just be for winching and pushing a trailer in somewhere "just so".
The only thing I don't like about it is that the sucker is *heavy*. But yeah, I think it's better than having it out in the weather all the time.
Other than that, I'm planning to rhino line the whole outside and the interior floor once the body man gets done fixing a couple holes in the roof corners that I am too dumb to do myself (those complex curves are hard!). Probably tan so it will stay a little cooler inside than OD green would, but still blend in a little. Body man is gonna undercoat it with his special gun too. The rest of it is pretty solid though. All the places that usually rust out around here are fine. It's kind of funny, it was cheaper to buy it from a guy in CA and have it shipped here than it was to buy one with way more rust and
way way more miles locally. Then maybe a 2" lift if I think I can still get the front end aligned. It was owned by some public service department out in CA, then a buddy of mine bought it and parked it for like 10 years or something when the government got rid of it, and I got it from him.
I'm gonna take some of the solar off my house and put on it, 4x 100w panels I guess. Probably try to get a ladder rack off FB marketplace to turn into a roof rack thing. Some kind of deal where I can fold the pairs of panels over on themselves and have them protected from branches and stuff when the road is gnarly. I have to fit a 102" whip and some ham radio antennas up there too. If I figured right, I think I can be all-in for like $8k or so (not counting my labor lol), using some stuff that I already have, and end up with a pretty decent old van with a 351W, C6, good durable body that should stay good, 77k miles, and old enough that I can work on it myself until I am no longer physically able. Although you know how plans go, lol. Not a huge fan of the C6, but the price was right.
I'm in the eastern part of WV. I don't want to be too specific, because I'm a weirdo like that heh.
I live where Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia all come together. We call it "Kyohva".
