Warn Winch, Westin Brush Guard, LED Fog Lights & Lightbar install

[navyaircrew]

Just bought my 24’ Badlands non-sas Bronco January 30th. Short insight, battling colorectal cancer and multiple myeloma cancer for last two years) In between my cancer treatments from my bone marrow transplant and appointments I’ve slowly been putting together a nice family get away rig. We need some happy moments in our life. I’m building a tear drop trailer to go along with this much later as time and energy permits. But for now. I bought this Bronco with off-road trail riding. Nothing hard core. I already have a 71 FJ40 built out for rock crawling. So. Here goes. Using this forum extensively. Got a ton of knowledge from other people. I just did my thing to it. I wanted to show the work that I did and if anyone had any questions be able to provide insight or help out in any way. I truly enjoy doing this build.

I wanted a winch and I feel Warn has made reliable quality products for years and I appreciate that brand. When I saw how much savings the Ford Performance Winch kit was that bolted up to the HD Modular bumper I purchased a kit when I bought the car. $954 out the door delivered to my dealership in 7 days. Later on I ordered the OBDII cable from Amazon to modify settings in FORScan. I added a stock looking LED Fog light (similar to Bronco raptors) set from Extreme Terrain and a different headlight switch to get all stock wiring to function. I then added the Westin Brish Guard and a very good Sylvania LED light bar to mount to it. Wired that into Aux 3 switch (low amp draw) and I mounted up my ditch lights from Rough Country and wired that into Aux 4 (low amp draw).

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[navyaircrew]

Here you can see it all put together

 

[navyaircrew]

Fog light parts. Got the switch from ROCKAUTO and it came in a week. Got the rear fog option cause my hilux package has the rear wiring for it. I’ll eventually pull the rear bumper and add it. But thinking of going aftermarket bumper so I can have better light mounting points, rear d rings and I am going to add the ford factory hitch and enable towing option. For the rear drop trailer later

 

[navyaircrew]

The Westin brush guard took a bit to put together and get everything straight. I did not use the supplied bolts it came with for the bumper mounts but I did use them for the side pieces during assembly. I used a larger washer than supplied. It provided more surface contact to hold things together. I went to tractor supply to get different types of bolts. I spray painted them to add more rust protection before using them to bolt it down. Then applied a tad bit of antiseize to them. Mounting the brush guard or anything as of that matter ontop of these preset nut inserts lifts up the product your mounting. I find it’s not a complete flush mount. It’s solid. Not going anywhere. But unless you grinded them off and had a buddy help you with holding parts in place to bolt it together. These predetermined mounting points work just fine.

 

[navyaircrew]

Adding the front camera relocation bracket took some time. Again I mounted it using different flanged bolts from tractor supply and routed the cable harness and water tubing thru the old parking sensor holes. I suggest use as much of the ford factory tubing as possible. It’s thicker and definitely more robust. I routed it back nearly the same way it was when I removed the grill to gain access to it.

 

[navyaircrew]

Installing the sensor I used a drill bit to center my hole. Then a carbide step bit to wallow it out. Using a jig saw I notched the sensor housing grooves to lock it in place. And siliconed it all in. Let that set for 4 days to fully cure.

 

[navyaircrew]

Used the extension cables for the fog lights. And just wired them into the factory harness in the front bumper. Front fog lights enabled in FORScan and changed it to also remember last known setting when used.

 

[navyaircrew]

The Rough Country ditch lights mounted up to Sparta mounts from Amazon worked pretty good. Mine are angled towards the side and not pointed straight.

 

[navyaircrew]

Quick view

 

[navyaircrew]

Another quick view

 

[navyaircrew]

I did verify that my parking sensor work like normal. In FORScan I have driven around and no DTC show up. My ACC cruise control function works as well. I tested that on a highway drive yesterday for two hours. But I hear some people have issues. I left the ACC module mounted right in front the turbo intercooler in place and it doesn’t give me any errors at all. Surprised that worked because I read so many people couldn’t get it to work. I wanted to ensure my parking sensors worked perfectly so no one hops in this thing and runs into something! My front camera angle is perfect too with clear vision now that it’s been relocated using the DV8 mounting bracket.

 

[navyaircrew]

Ditch light install was pretty straightforward. Do not over tighten. Everything was done by hand. Running the wires was easy. I put 1/4” wire loom to protect the stock harness wires. Ran the lines near the engine bay pinch welds and just zip tied it all night and neat. I cut the harness and only used as much wire as needed. Less resistance on the wiring for improved power flow. I do however have rf and power interference a little bit it seems with the light being near the radio antenna. So I gotta find a line filter of some sort.

 

[navyaircrew]

Inside I added the door pockets which work great. I added the Bullet mounting solutions phone, GoPro , GMRS handheld holders. Very solid mount. And looks rugged. Very functional and customizable for situations. The 3W floor liners front and back are highly recommended and very good quality and perfect fit in the Bronco

 

[mkennedy009]

That is a lot of work for less than a month. Very inspiring, makes me want to decide on a Bronco HE.

 

[navyaircrew]

I added the factory side steps and took off the rock sliders. Last year I broke my back and was paralyzed. Spinal fusion of 5 vertebrae and months and months of recovery and therapy I was able to walk again. But I’m handicapped for life. So the rock sliders did me no good getting in. The attachments to add on to the rock sliders did not seem sturdy enough for me. So I wanted a wide factory step to help me use this thing. I can get to the roof panel better. Get in and out safely. That was my main goal. Safety and function. I drove about 6 hours south towards Detroit Mi to get a set of take offs from a guy that just bought his that came with them. I had to buy a few factory bolts. So just know if you take off the rock slides you will not have all the bolts needed to mount the steps. I even washed and clean underneath and undercoated everything once the steps were mounted to protect everything near there. Brackets. Bolts. Panels. And hopefully add a tad bit sound absorption.

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