Rough Country Hidden Winch Mount

ccw said:
Whoops! Missed this one. I think you've seen my rants before in this regard lol, but will re-type for folks watching this thread. :p

Appearance: I haven't seen a replacement bumper focused on deer damage that I love the looks of on an otherwise stock truck. My opinion, they vary from horrendous to mediocre, in no small part because of how much they angle up in front of the tires and stick out like a pouting bottom lip (other reasons, too). With the right changes elsewhere on the truck, they can look pretty good.

Functionality summary: Aftermarket deer bumpers appear to do the job of protecting from deer strikes quite well, but you need to be aware of and OK with increasing the risk of taking or dramatically changing another person's life in a collision. This includes collisions with pedestrians and other vehicles at speed. In the case of impacting another vehicle, that risk applies not only to everyone in the other vehicle, but everyone in your vehicle.

Let's get into the details of that summary.

None of the deer protection bumpers available for our trucks have been crash tested to ensure safety in a collision with another vehicle or a pedestrian.

I contacted Warn, Buckstop and Ranch Hand, and confirmed they don't do crash testing. For the ones I did not contact, they're smaller brands and if they did crash testing, you would think they would advertise it. ARB crash tests their bumpers, and advertises it, but they don't make one for the newer generation Super Duty's. If someone knows of an aftermarket bumper for our trucks that is crash tested please let me know.

Maybe (maybe!) in a high speed collision with a lighter vehicle you're more safe having an immovable bumper. But that's not guaranteed. Crumple zones exist for a reason: the vehicle absorbs the impact, not the occupants. In an impact with a similar weight or heavier vehicle I'm truly not convinced a solid bumper is good.

Even if we assume you're OK in your truck with a big bumper thanks to being heavier, that doesn't mean the person or family that's on the other side is OK. Reducing your crumple zone decreases safety on both sides of the collision.

As for pedestrians, I struggle to see how any bumper that protects against deer damage is anything but horrible for pedestrian safety. Vehicles designed for pedestrian safety focus on the bumper and hood being relatively soft to minimize leg and head injury, as well as prioritizing the pedestrian coming onto the hood so they don't go under the vehicle.

Bumpers focused on deer protection emphasize that they're unmovable and often have features to prevent deer from coming up on the hood. The exact opposite of pedestrian safety design.

Regardless of who's at fault (we all make mistakes), I want to minimize, not maximize, my contributions to ending or dramatically changing someone else's life.

I hear the arguments for needing deer protection, though.

People who live where there's so many deer that they will have multiple collisions per year. Assuming the driver is already driving defensively, then that deer bumper is critical in reducing truck downtime. That can make a huge difference in someone's ability to live and work. This is the strongest argument, by far. It is up to the individual to weigh the benefits of reducing that downtime with the increased risk of taking or severely damaging a life (including their own).

Another common argument is life safety. The bumper reduces the likelihood of the vehicle being disabled in bad weather or a remote location. This is a weak argument to me. There are a million and one ways a vehicle can leave you stranded that don't involve deer. If you're going somewhere that being stranded is a risk to life safety, don't get a new bumper, get supplies, equipment, and training to keep you alive and rescued (extra food and water, sleeping bag, satellite communications, etc). And slow down to decrease the likelihood of hitting a deer in the first place.
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Thank you! This was the info I was looking for that companies don’t provide. The deer population is out of control though here, but I definitely don’t want to jeopardize someone’s safety, whether it be my own passengers or another vehicle’s.
 
BackyrdBully said:
Quality is pretty decent. I had the 12,000 lbs on my F150 for about five years.
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Did you have the RC winch too or just the mount?
The bracket looks fine to me. I'm really curious about the winch itself.
 
has anyone installed this? looking to install a comeup seal 12.5rs slim
 
BroncoHooves said:
An install video would've been great and probably would've had more marketing value.
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I sent them an email seeing if they would like me to do a install and review. We'll see what happens.
 
ccw said:
Definitely interesting. As far as I know 4.5"x10" is the standard bolt pattern, so I bucket this with the Goremantech mount. Obviously differences between them, but fundamentally a similar idea.

I would 100% take this mount over the Ford mount after my experience dealing with a warranty repair. Though I would only take this mount if I could use a different winch (which seems highly likely).

I personally only trust the high end brands for the winch itself (ComeUp, SuperWinch, Warn) or Badlands Apex (thanks, YouTube!) just due to their reputations and history.
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Buyer beware!! The Badlands APEX winch failed.

Now this guy damaged the synthetic cable on the first try, so maybe a few grains of salt? HB sent it to him to try it out.
 
henry5six said:
Buyer beware!! The Badlands APEX winch failed.
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It did! But so did my Warn winch after 15 months of being installed. Sure my failure was corrosion, not mechanical, but it still resulted in a dead winch that couldn't be used after just 15 months. And it could have failed in the field; thankfully failed during my inspections while servicing the truck.

(Worth noting there was corrosion found inside the "sealed" motor housing. Not a user serviceable area.)

Casey LaDelle has sworn off Warn winches because they failed multiple times on him, and now exclusively uses Harbor Freight Badland Apex for his towing and recovery business.


Matt's Offroad Recovery exclusively uses Badland Apex winches for his towing and recovery business (though I don't know if he experienced failures with other brands, or just moved because of value).

Etc.

So...buyer beware of Warn!! ;)

Not saying Badland Apex is the perfect choice for everyone. Also not saying Warn should be avoided. I am saying Apex is pretty clearly in a different reputation category than the other cheap winches (Smittybilt, Rough Country, etc), fitting in with the premium winches.
 
This thread has been super helpful... I've removed the factory winch option from my order. Between the cost of the option, the risk of bending the bracket and the hassle to deal with repairing the winch if it ever failed, it seems like the right move.

In case planning to go with an aftermarket solution isn't the best idea, I've probably got a few weeks to change it back if there's something I haven't considered.
 
Bsktcase93 said:
Has anyone installed this with the Apex Badlands winch yet?
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That's what I'm waiting to hear about. I haven't dug in yet, but it's the direction I'd go if it all bolts together and fits.
 
wheelin-amos said:
I ordered one. I'll report back when I receive it. I called Rough Country and was told it's a "srandard" mount and pairs perfectly with their Pro 12k winch.
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Hey OP you have had 2 .5 weeks to get this mount and install a winch whats the holdup !!!!! Just kidding Have you decided on a winch, I am considering an EVO 12S and trying to figure out where to mount the control box in the engine bay and it looks like the only spot is by the brake booster on the firewall with longer cables.
 
I need to see if the RC mount will work with my ZeSuper 13.5. Surely the Chinese copied the Warn mounting holes pattern.
 
Here's my 2 cents, It looks like a very nice kit, the price point is incredible! If you plan on using this...I would be worried about bending the brackets, the 1/4" plate was way too thin when I tested in my prototypes. I tried gussets and other ways of reinforcing the 1/4" plate and no matter what I did, I bent the plate when actually trying to use the winch as what it was intended to do.

I hope they did some real time R&D on this product, Rough Country is a fairly reputable brand.
 
04sshd said:
Here's my 2 cents, It looks like a very nice kit, the price point is incredible! If you plan on using this...I would be worried about bending the brackets, the 1/4" plate was way too thin when I tested in my prototypes. I tried gussets and other ways of reinforcing the 1/4" plate and no matter what I did, I bent the plate when actually trying to use the winch as what it was intended to do.

I hope they did some real time R&D on this product, Rough Country is a fairly reputable brand.
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Interesting that everyone says that 1/4” is too thin. The factory mount is a combination of 1/4” and 3/16” plate.
 
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