RDC76
Adventurer
my goal was to make something that was clean and complimented the truck. Be light weight for a winch bumper and offer as much clearance without cutting anything on the truck. And utilize the factory mounting. The main box or center winch bay is all 1/4 inch plate steel. And the wings a 10 gauge steel fully tig welded on the outside and stitch welded with mig on the inside. So far I am very happy with how it is coming along. I run synthetic cable so I needed to spec out a fairlead. I was going to make one but it was one of those things were for the price I'll just buy it and save the time. I believe Factor 55 makes some of the best stuff available. So that is what I chose. I also bought their Prolink.
Another objective was to keep the winch as low as possible and not block the radiator as I've read some people have had overheating issues with to much in front of the radiator. I also wanted to run a light bar and not round lights as I think they look cleaner and also will not interfere to much with airflow. So the bumper was designed for that too.
So some other food for thought. And feel free to give input. With wanting my winch low but my fairlead as high as possible. It brought forth a challenge? The line spools from the bottom. As we all know. And I've always had it. I wondered and couldn't find a definitive answer as to why it couldn't feed from the top? And not by respooling and reversing the connections but by simply turning it from left to right. Backwards if you will. Other than increasing the load and stress on the winch feet ( not worried about my base plate) I wouldn't be changing anything? The brake and clutch should function as it should and the controller buttons still work the same. To double check I called and spoke to two people at WARN and they said after some thought that it is fine to run it that way! They said their industrial line and some other models feed that way. So I'm gonna try it! Now my winch is low and my fairlead is where I want it. It's centered between the empty top part of the drum and where the last wrap would be. And about 5 inches higher than where it would have been if I had to go from the bottom. I also recessed the fairlead area back so only about a 1/4 protrudes from the bumper to clear on full side pulls. But doesn't stick out far. I went with Factor55's 1.5" fairlead as well.
Another objective was to keep the winch as low as possible and not block the radiator as I've read some people have had overheating issues with to much in front of the radiator. I also wanted to run a light bar and not round lights as I think they look cleaner and also will not interfere to much with airflow. So the bumper was designed for that too.
So some other food for thought. And feel free to give input. With wanting my winch low but my fairlead as high as possible. It brought forth a challenge? The line spools from the bottom. As we all know. And I've always had it. I wondered and couldn't find a definitive answer as to why it couldn't feed from the top? And not by respooling and reversing the connections but by simply turning it from left to right. Backwards if you will. Other than increasing the load and stress on the winch feet ( not worried about my base plate) I wouldn't be changing anything? The brake and clutch should function as it should and the controller buttons still work the same. To double check I called and spoke to two people at WARN and they said after some thought that it is fine to run it that way! They said their industrial line and some other models feed that way. So I'm gonna try it! Now my winch is low and my fairlead is where I want it. It's centered between the empty top part of the drum and where the last wrap would be. And about 5 inches higher than where it would have been if I had to go from the bottom. I also recessed the fairlead area back so only about a 1/4 protrudes from the bumper to clear on full side pulls. But doesn't stick out far. I went with Factor55's 1.5" fairlead as well.
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