- OP 🔹
- #161
Make sure to post some pictures of the install! Would love to see that!
HOT! Alternative to the Ford Performance Winch at less than half the cost???
- OP 🔹 04sshd
- Start date
I’m just going to keep updating this post as I progress:
Day 1:
The plate was warped or bent or the holes for the bolts not spaced with as much play as needed to get it in. Bolts did not clear, was not going to happen. I tired for an hour before finally attempting bolts through winch plate only, without attempting to mount it in place, then face palming….never was going to work, holes in plate too narrow.
Bought separate 10.9 bolts instead of the coupled ones. Two people with crowbars, jack, and drift got it. Now onwards to winch wiring.
The boxed nature of this plate (frame + cross member) seems very strong - but doesn’t leave many degrees of freedom for install if the plate is deflected or bent slightly.
Day 2:
Had to flip the bolts to the frame on drivers side. Winch would not clear them since I was planning on flipping the OEM bolts. Flipping worked but then the bumper mount and tow hook conflicted. Removing tow hook allowed winch to seat. Credit cards worth of clearance between bolts and winch and bumper/tow hook horn and winch. This puts the red cable on the motor about a finger diameter from the bumper mount. Concerning in an accident.I’m going to run a fuse block and isolation switch.
Sherpa does not come with a remote solenoid kit. Thought I was likely to need more cable to mount next to 2nd battery - I’m about 6” short (that’s what she said). So today I attempt to find cable on a Sunday in the middle of the desert. Napa has 2 gauge so using two 5.5’ lengths of that.
Good thing I opened the solenoid box, 1 nut was finger tight. Had to drill out the box to fit bigger cable. Nice box.
The mount holes for the winch are slotted - I don’t understand why. My concern here is the winch sliding on a side load to the drivers side. I’m hunted down bolts / washers with big enough heads now to insert as a spacer to prevent this. Winch manuals call for not slotting holes. In the end I may drill new holes to center the winch and prevent any concern here. Plenty of room to the passenger side for this. Recommend OP considers separate holes just 1-2” to passenger side of each existing slot for the Apex. This winch and free spool would be fine as would others. I’m a bit confused how the apex or any other winch is spooling back onto the drum evenly as positioned.
Day 3,4,5,6,7
Rewired the solenoid, wired the switch, and fuse block (500amp). Painted 16 gauge steel black as a mounting plate. Mounted beside drivers battery.
Put the bumper back on. Bumper is contacting the winch housing preventing bumper from rising back to stock location. I bet the same is true with badland winch.
Removed 2 of the bolts holding the air dam. They could contact a loose rope they are so close. I’d recommend everyone check that.
Day 8 will be adding terminal to the positive side of aux battery as it has none.
Thoughts:
1) a truly centered winch mount would work for this winch. No need for the off center. I’m concerned about how it’s going to wind onto the drum. The fairlead is 2” passenger of center from the center of the drum. I bet this is due to the obnoxious badlands spool leaver. Sherpa leaver is a normal small size….if I hadn’t had so much trouble getting the plate in I’d take it all apart and drill. Now that I know the tricks (bars and jack) I could redo it quick if spooling is going to be an issue.
2). If I clearance the bumper below the winch 1-1/2”, the bumper would probably be able to rise the final 1/4” to original position. This winch is narrower in nearly every dimension, so I imagine badlands is close here or contacting. So will any other winch.
Day 1:
The plate was warped or bent or the holes for the bolts not spaced with as much play as needed to get it in. Bolts did not clear, was not going to happen. I tired for an hour before finally attempting bolts through winch plate only, without attempting to mount it in place, then face palming….never was going to work, holes in plate too narrow.
Bought separate 10.9 bolts instead of the coupled ones. Two people with crowbars, jack, and drift got it. Now onwards to winch wiring.
The boxed nature of this plate (frame + cross member) seems very strong - but doesn’t leave many degrees of freedom for install if the plate is deflected or bent slightly.
Day 2:
Had to flip the bolts to the frame on drivers side. Winch would not clear them since I was planning on flipping the OEM bolts. Flipping worked but then the bumper mount and tow hook conflicted. Removing tow hook allowed winch to seat. Credit cards worth of clearance between bolts and winch and bumper/tow hook horn and winch. This puts the red cable on the motor about a finger diameter from the bumper mount. Concerning in an accident.I’m going to run a fuse block and isolation switch.
Sherpa does not come with a remote solenoid kit. Thought I was likely to need more cable to mount next to 2nd battery - I’m about 6” short (that’s what she said). So today I attempt to find cable on a Sunday in the middle of the desert. Napa has 2 gauge so using two 5.5’ lengths of that.
Good thing I opened the solenoid box, 1 nut was finger tight. Had to drill out the box to fit bigger cable. Nice box.
The mount holes for the winch are slotted - I don’t understand why. My concern here is the winch sliding on a side load to the drivers side. I’m hunted down bolts / washers with big enough heads now to insert as a spacer to prevent this. Winch manuals call for not slotting holes. In the end I may drill new holes to center the winch and prevent any concern here. Plenty of room to the passenger side for this. Recommend OP considers separate holes just 1-2” to passenger side of each existing slot for the Apex. This winch and free spool would be fine as would others. I’m a bit confused how the apex or any other winch is spooling back onto the drum evenly as positioned.
Day 3,4,5,6,7
Rewired the solenoid, wired the switch, and fuse block (500amp). Painted 16 gauge steel black as a mounting plate. Mounted beside drivers battery.
Put the bumper back on. Bumper is contacting the winch housing preventing bumper from rising back to stock location. I bet the same is true with badland winch.
Removed 2 of the bolts holding the air dam. They could contact a loose rope they are so close. I’d recommend everyone check that.
Day 8 will be adding terminal to the positive side of aux battery as it has none.
Thoughts:
1) a truly centered winch mount would work for this winch. No need for the off center. I’m concerned about how it’s going to wind onto the drum. The fairlead is 2” passenger of center from the center of the drum. I bet this is due to the obnoxious badlands spool leaver. Sherpa leaver is a normal small size….if I hadn’t had so much trouble getting the plate in I’d take it all apart and drill. Now that I know the tricks (bars and jack) I could redo it quick if spooling is going to be an issue.
2). If I clearance the bumper below the winch 1-1/2”, the bumper would probably be able to rise the final 1/4” to original position. This winch is narrower in nearly every dimension, so I imagine badlands is close here or contacting. So will any other winch.
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What bracket did you go with?
I am sure Badlands are decent winches... but if I can afford a $90K truck, I can afford a $2300 Warn. I will put a badlands on a cheap Toyota but not this truck. Years of reliability and practical testing have proven that Warn will get you out in an emergency... Not sure I would would want to gamble on a Badlands.
You could always bolt a warn or any other to this bracket. They just have no tested any other model in their design. Might have to re drill some holes but it works. My plan is to use a 12k VR Evo with this bracket.
Post #136 is mine.
Same mounting pattern. You wouldn’t redrill. Issue with the VR is the height IIRC. Dimensionally. I looked at VR also to get the warranty. But my goal here is going higher capacity. Truck+trailer and not getting crazy with multiple snatch blocks. I used my 16.5 warn with weak charging system on 6.7 Cummins (160 amp) enough I toasted batteries 3 times over 6 years. Winch never really got hot but system wasn’t up to the challenge. Single battery. Single alternator.
Now a 17k winch with dual batteries and dual alternators should be much better.
Parts availability on the VR vs the ford performance winch is probably a good reason to do this. If your serious I can verify height isn’t an issue.
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Maybe, probably. This has been covered plenty. If your going ford performance than this thread is not for you. My 16.5 warn never saw a shock load and the gear box was going when I sold it. Light duty with a few max load pulls.
Call warn and ask about parts for the Ford winch. They will tell you to pound sand and goto ford performance. Ford performance will tell you they don’t have parts….not my experience but others have reported this.
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- OP 🔹
- #169
Thanks for the feedback, and review. I hope the plate wasn't warped or bent, it's a thick plate and would take A LOT of heat to warp. Was there cooling time between the welds? We usually tack everything in then spot fill the welds after to ensure the metal doesn't warp. I'm sorry to hear the bolts didn't clear, just to be specific, we're talking about the coupled bolts for the side plate to the frame? We left plenty of tolerance in there for those to go through. I did swap them out on my truck with Grade 8 bolts just because I had them, that ended up coming in handy for a local install where the truck owner had a fender bender and the body shop didn't put those bolts back in his frame. I still had mine so I donated them to his truck when we installed his winch plate.
You are correct, there is very limited room/freedom if something is out of spec. We realized this on this local truck, as his frame was still slightly bent after the repair and the plate did not line up. We ended up jacking the plate into position and dropped the bolts in. I'm pretty sure the winch plate is helping straighten his frame at this point. lol
The winch mount holes are slotted so the winch can be moved to where it needs to be in the hole, they are offset due to the badlands freespool handle, you are correct there.
Thanks for posting pictures, and details on your install!
- OP 🔹
- #170
If anyone here puts this winch through it's paces...It's me. There are also a few others in our off road recovery group that will attest to the Badlands winch and it's abilities. I'm not saying it's perfect, and I have broken one already, but it broke in a way that any other winch would have broke as well. And guess what...they sell replacement parts for it if you call them. I spent $35 on parts and shipping and fixed my broken winch. I fully trust the winch after what it's gone through on my rig.
does this bracket work with turcks that have adaptive cruise control or just the lower model trucks? i dont see a spot for the radar box
- OP 🔹
- #172
If you want to use this bracket with Adaptive Cruise, you will need to purchase a relocation bracket.
There's a few different versions from different vendors and different price points but this is what you will need.
2017-2020 F250 & F350 Rogue Racing Adaptive Cruise Control Relocation Bracket 442517-91-AC
www.stage3motorsports.com
Yup. The coupled bolts I show in the picture. The plate I bought was the one you sold that was a demo, prewelded (post 136). No way the OEM bolts would ever fit. They wouldn’t slide in with it out of the truck or when I managed to wedge it between the rails with a 5 ton jack. Might have been an early revision on your design.
I think you have a great design. I think we could improve upon it for winches other than the badlands by getting the mounting holes for winch more centered or if slotted than slotted towards the center.
Since I posted I clearanced my bumper to get the bumper to sit back closer, but not all the way, to the OEM location. Winch motor and mounting feet were preventing the bumper from raising 1/2” or so, leaving a bigger gap at the head lights. I took a saw to the bumper and clearanced it, then also where the rope would hit the bumper if it slacked, then covered that with a piece of trim to further prevent fraying.
Hello, I've been following this thread for a while and really am thankful for another option other than the FordPerformance winch. I called Warn today and asked them about the winch used in the Ford package and they indicated that its similar to an M8000 (?) that has a shorter drum...I thought it was an EVO and asked but they didn't have a comparable part number to look up. So getting parts for that winch may be a pain (somebody said that already in a previous post). Just wondering if anyone besides @Wapitihunter was able to shoe in another winch brand using the Gorman Tech Services brackets. I have my sights set on a Warn 12K evo or equivalent but just wanted to know if anyone has had any luck with anything besides the Badland? Thanks
I made that comment. I looked at evo also as a backup to something with more power, and sprung for Sherpa to get the added oomph. I’ll dredge up my thoughts after staring at a drawing.
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Smaller in every dimension to my winch if a vr evo is same as an evo . Should be fine but verify or measure the depth, warn doesn’t list that. Attached. Presuming you relocate the solinoids and that the evo supports that.
Compare it to a badlands drawing, which I haven’t done since March , to make yourself feel better. I can say with authority, don’t go any bigger than mine, you will be riding bumper against feet of winch and if you do not redrill to center the feet mounts you will be very close to not clearing the motor side to the frame - credit card width. Warn Evo wouldnt scare me, verify the above and think about where the spool handle sits and if you want an idea of clearance needed and want me to measure ask. I can say the Badland winch handle is obnoxiously big. Bet the Evo is not. But it’s on the drawing.
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Thank you for researching, this may be doable after all. We’re you able to mount the Sherpa already without any issues?
Well I see that Harbor Freight has a 25% off 1 item this weekend , 525.00 total in PA, I am so close to purchasing this but I am still having a hard time paying 690.00 for the mount, I understand the RND and all of that but wow that's a lot for pieces of steel, 600 plus shipping of 90 dollars. Yes it is still 991 dollars less then the Ford Performance winch kit, if you look around they are selling for 2206 currently. It would be nice if these pieces could be mass produced so the RND could be recouped at a lower rate , maybe contact a few offroad companies to see if they would be interested into a contract. Back to why I posted this Harbor Freight 25% off for those of us looking for an option. Happy New Year everyone!!!
- OP 🔹
- #179
I understand that frustration, I have lowered the price a little in the past few months as steel prices have come back down. I have also changed the vendor who cuts these in effort to bring costs down. Materials are still the bulk of the cost, shipping is high due to the weight and size of the plates. Sales tax, I can't do a whole lot about that, they make me pay it. If there was enough demand to mass produce these I would. So far we've sold about 60 of these kits, there really isn't a huge market to justify mass production. What I can say is as the costs come down, I will do everything I can to lower the price!
Would there be a price break for a 10+ group buy order? Or where is there a movement on the production/material side cost (not your profit)?
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