Rough Country Hidden Winch Mount

[Maxx1776]

could someone that has purchased the Rough Country winch please measure the distance from the center of the mounting holes to the end of the unit on the motor side it looks like the EVO 12S could fit after reviewing the pictures from today, letter F in diagram . I'm glad I checked the forum this morning, I was placing the order for the bracket later today.

 

[Maxx1776]

so I went to Harbor Freight and measured the Apex from bolt hole to the end of the motor housing, see letter F above . It was 6.75" and the EVO 12s is 6.18" from the pictures Muddyz posted I think this could fit with a small amount of filing on the bracket.

 

[Andy]

My Fab Four was the same thing. Just used a jack to separate the frame rails slightly, and it fit fine. There has to be subtle variations in production of these trucks. Would be hard to allow for all of them. But I didn’t have to separate it much to get the winch mount to fit. Rest of the install was straight forward. Hope you got it figured out

yeah, after doing a little more looking and research I figured that the frame horns were closer together than the rest of the frame. I used a bottle jack from my hydraulic press and a 18" piece of metal stock and spread it 1/2" to get it to fit. I also loosened the 4 bolts on the forward cross brace to help ease up some of the load. she's all mounted up now. also further talking with the production/techs at fab 4 there is +/- .5 inch each way for frame variance. so a total of 1 inch is acceptable... yikes.

 

[BroncOh]

so I went to Harbor Freight and measured the Apex from bolt hole to the end of the motor housing, see letter F above . It was 6.75" and the EVO 12s is 6.18" from the pictures Muddyz posted I think this could fit with a small amount of filing on the bracket.

You shouldn't need to do any filing at all, as that EVO is shorter in length than even the 12K Sherpa winch.

 

[Muddyz]

Good grief the EVO and the Sherpa are some expensive winches. I don’t know that I want to spend that much on this rig, I already have a dedicated off road truck that is my heavy use rig.

 

[BroncOh]

Good grief the EVO and the Sherpa are some expensive winches. I don’t know that I want to spend that much on this rig, I already have a dedicated off road truck that is my heavy use rig.

I agree. Just not sold on the reliability of the RC winch ‘yet’. Has anyone put one through the ringer and did an extended water intrusion and salt water spray test?

 

[pickleknuckles]

Just not sold on the reliability of the RC winch ‘yet’.

That's now my current holdup on this. I can't find any real longterm info on the RC or even if it's a rebranded unit.
The Amazon reviews on it seem good overall with a few mentions of missing parts, short cables, loud operation, and one or two of early rust.

Sign in

That said, I've got a bunch of RC parts (not a winch) on my '87 Power Ram and I've never ran into any issues other than two of four shocks missing some stickers. Their customer service was great when I called.

 

[Muddyz]

I’ve got the RC 12k on my 1/2 ton on their hidden winch mount. Its been several years in extremely dusty West Texas conditions and It’s done all I needed it to.

But what I’ve done is far from putting it through the wringer.

- self recovered with 3k of feed in the bed
- self recovered up a snot slick muddy hill
- rescued 3/4 ton diesel pulling trailer up same hill
- pulled pallets of feed from front of semi to rear for manual offloading
- raised and lowered countless deerstands

But yes it seems excessively loud!

I don’t know why I want the Badlands that much more but I do. Though for the price and fit I may not have another solution.

 

[Maxx1776]

well here we go i just ordered the mount now I need to price shop the EVO 12S and additional extenstions to relocate the control box to the engine bay due to living in the salt/rust belt.

 

[Maxx1776]

well Walmart is selling the EVO 12S though a 3rd party with free shipping for 790.00 plus tax now i just need to see if the local auto parts stores will price match

 

[CAMO]

really grateful for this thread and community. I don’t have the cash flow for a winch yet, but when I’m ready I’m hopeful this mount and a high quality winch works.

 

[Starwhitecclb]

Alright, so now that I’m on vacation I have a little time to write a review on my experience on the rough country hidden winch plate, and not so much the winch as I have not used it for an actual pull yet.

As some of you may know from previous posts, I have a 22 6.7 lariat ultimate long bed non tremor of course f-350(trim doesn’t matter for this)

A few months ago I contacted rough country over the phone and asked about how they were advertising this product for f-250. The answer I got on the phone was it would fit my f-350 without issue, so I suggested they change the description so f-350 owners wouldn’t pass it by.

Fast forward and it became clear some owners were installing product with out issues and others were having fitment issues. Through this forum it was found the common denominator to the fitment issues was the 6.7 diesel. At that time I had given up on this product to purchase as I was looking for a bolt on solution and didn’t have time to have my truck apart for R&D.

With the help of Bsktcase93 it was discovered cutting off a small amount (5/8 as per rough country) off the top of the mounting plate will allow this to fit properly for the 6.7

I ordered the hidden kit and winch combo and it arrived in a timely manner even into Canada. Armed with everything I needed to complete the project I took a video of the product not fitting and sent it into rough country so at least if the ball wasn’t rolling for either a new bracket being built, or at a minimum a change in the description to warn the fitment issues on the diesel.

Now this next part I did not originally share on the forum as I was not comfortable with the possibility of others intentionally trying receive a major discount if they weren’t already going through with the purchase. But now that the description on the website has changed to include that it does not fit with with the diesel I can tell you about my great customer service experience.

After sending the video, with my truck still apart, I called into rough country and spoke to someone that had viewed the video and mentioned they were aware of the fitment issue with the diesels and that the solution was to cut 5/8” off the top and there were no strength issues with this modification. He mentioned that they were in the process of redesigning them, assuming just making shorter and not a full redesign but I did not ask on timeframe for that.
This next part was where the customer service became second to none. He said that I have two options, if I do not have the means to cut the plate, he would send a return label and I would get a full refund. Option two was if I do have the means to cut the plate down I can do that and they would still refund my FULL ORDER (this included the winch which I was not expecting until it showed up on my credit card). So all in all I was extremely pleased with my customer service experience of rough country. They took full ownership of the issue and went above and beyond to apologize for the inconvenience.

I plan to use my “savings” on other rough country products as the need comes up as they have been so great.

For all of you who have not purchased yet, you could either cut plate down like I did, or wait unknown to me time for the redesign to come out.

 

[AZsurveyor]

well Walmart is selling the EVO 12S though a 3rd party with free shipping for 790.00 plus tax now i just need to see if the local auto parts stores will price match

Yet another reason to opt out of Ford's Factory Warn Winch ($3K+) option.

I just paid $900 for this same winch and thought it was a smoking deal plus it comes with a 90' synthetic line on the drum.

 

[ccw]

For all of you who have not purchased yet, you could either cut plate down like I did, or wait unknown to me time for the redesign to come out.

Or...get the goremantech mount.

GTS Winch Kits - 2017+ Ford Superduty Tremor Winch Alternative at less than half the cost using a Harbor Freight APEX Badland Winch

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gormantechservices.com

At this point I'm downright confused why it isn't a stronger consideration for everyone. Cost?

Don’t forget about the Goremantech option, from @04sshd here on the forum (link below). $600 with no fitment issues, though only the Apex Badlands winch is guaranteed to fit. And built stronger (thicker metal) than the Rough Country mount.

GTS Winch Kits - 2017+ Ford Superduty Tremor Winch Alternative at less than half the cost using a Harbor Freight APEX Badland Winch

width=device-width, initial-scale=1

gormantechservices.com

For my money, even with the added cost of hiring someone to weld it, it seems worth it. Especially if you’re having to modify the Rough Country one just to get it to fit in the first place.

(Not just you, but everyone on the thread.)

 

[19mystic96]

Or...get the goremantech mount.

GTS Winch Kits - 2017+ Ford Superduty Tremor Winch Alternative at less than half the cost using a Harbor Freight APEX Badland Winch

width=device-width, initial-scale=1

gormantechservices.com

At this point I'm downright confused why it isn't a stronger consideration for everyone. Cost?

For me, it's the loss of the adaptive cruise control. I can't put it behind my grill since I have the platinum and I've read that the "chrome" or whatever metal it is messes with the sensor.

I would've purchased the Gorman a while ago if there was a solution that didn't require me to replace or paint the grill

 

[ccw]

For me, it's the loss of the adaptive cruise control. I can't put it behind my grill since I have the platinum and I've read that the "chrome" or whatever metal it is messes with the sensor.

I would've purchased the Gorman a while ago if there was a solution that didn't require me to replace or paint the grill

Ahhh I didn't realize it required relocating the adaptive cruise sensor. Thanks for clarifying that for me! That's a large factor, and makes a lot of sense.

 

[Starwhitecclb]

Or...get the goremantech mount.

GTS Winch Kits - 2017+ Ford Superduty Tremor Winch Alternative at less than half the cost using a Harbor Freight APEX Badland Winch

width=device-width, initial-scale=1

gormantechservices.com

At this point I'm downright confused why it isn't a stronger consideration for everyone. Cost?

To me it wasn’t an option for the following reasons.
Price point of product for virtually the same thing as RC (yes I know about thicker material)
Then paying a welder to weld it (small project could be hard to find a welder for)
At that point I would still have to install it or pay someone to install it.

What happens if I have a problem in the future with the product whatever that may be? I foresee a finger pointing between Goreman and the person that welded the product up and myself.
In my life I have found countless times the more people involved the more of a blame game happens.

If I can eliminate one component (welder) I will.

The above may not be a consideration for anyone else but it is for me.

Not saying the Goreman mount isn’t a good product.

Now if they sold them welded and ready to go for the same price of $600 I would have certainly considered it.

 

[BroncOh]

Bump @cfoster you there?

Can anyone confirm if the winch plate has been updated so no cutting is necessary now out of the box?

 

[Vecman]

For me, it's the loss of the adaptive cruise control. I can't put it behind my grill since I have the platinum and I've read that the "chrome" or whatever metal it is messes with the sensor.

I would've purchased the Gorman a while ago if there was a solution that didn't require me to replace or paint the grill

I wasn’t under the impression the Gorman required relocating the sensor - I thought it stayed right where it normally is? I bought the Gorman originally and ended up going aftermarket bumper instead - never even opened the package from them. But I got that kit specifically to keep the factory bumper factory and not mess with the ACC sensor.

 

[19mystic96]

I wasn’t under the impression the Gorman required relocating the sensor - I thought it stayed right where it normally is? I bought the Gorman originally and ended up going aftermarket bumper instead - never even opened the package from them. But I got that kit specifically to keep the factory bumper factory and not mess with the ACC sensor.

I wish I was wrong but unfortunately it does need to be relocated. I remember reading it in his thread and I found this on his website.