Has anybody mounted a winch on a Ranger on top of the bed next to the back window. I know you can buy a bracket to do this, but it costs several hundred dollars. Got to be a cheaper way.

Use some U bots and mount it up on the roll bar.

That's an idea!

Electric or a manual hand winch? To mount to bed that is plastic, you are wanting something to drop down into the round Lock N Ride holes?

I think you would be better off with the winch mounted to a stoutly made headache rack, that would get about anything loaded. They work great on big animals like elk, and would easily handle anything smaller. You would need to carry a 3/4 sheet of plywood in your truck bed to let the animal slide into the bed, hope this helps.

With the winch mounted the way you describe, drop the tail gate and you can get about 75% of the weight up in the front of the bed. Lifting the rear 1/4's and legs into the bed not too bad at all. I've got them into the bed of my Ranger a lot of different ways. If I wanted to get a winch, I'd go with a conventional front mount so I could use the winch for more than loading game in the bed. You can always use the winch mounted on the front to hoist a deer up to a tree limb, tie it off, unhook it and back under it. I have drug them up hill, got below them and let it slide into bed, used a conventional game hoist that breaks down three pieces and rides in the bed...........deer hunters are resourceful, especially when alone.

I think this might be the best idea for an electric winch. There is a metal support that goes across the bed underneath that you could mount to but using the Lock N Ride holes, it could be removed much easier.