Ford Performance WARN winch on capable bumper — Yes it's possible!

[thenewjs]

This will increase the value of the Capable bumper

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[RagnarKon]

This will increase the value of the Capable bumper

Hopefully. At least it gives people with the capable bumper (like the Heritage folks) more options.

The real question is why Ford doesn't just make the minor adjustments to the capable bumper themselves to make it work. And I suspect the answer to that question is "we want to sell more HD modular bumpers".

 

[Rover's Dad]

Aghh, I have an Non-Sqatch Badlands with the High Package, so it sounds like this would not work for me.

 

[RagnarKon]

Aghh, I have an Non-Sqatch Badlands with the High Package, so it sounds like this would not work for me.

I MAY work for you...

The problem would be the front sensors. Since I have the Mid package, I don't know how those front sensors are wired in the bumper, and therefore I don't know if it would cause a problem or not. But feel free to take apart your bumper and see if it would be feasible. If you do, take pictures! I would be curious.

You would have to disable the front parking sensors if you went with this winch though.

 

[Mudlight]

Yes they would be obstructed. One of the reasons why I went with the Mid package was to avoid dealing with sensors.

But as @BrentC mentioned, several aftermarket companies have relocation brackets for the camera. I don't know any that have relocation brackets for the parking sensors though... I suspect most people just turn them off.

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Which brings up a really good point. If someone has the High/Lux package with the capable bumper and ends up giving this a shot... post pictures! Curious what you had to do with the front parking sensors.

There is a procedure for winch configuration per Ford/Forscan. I believe it covers air bag and parking sensors. Check out this YT vid at the end 39:12 minute mark.

 

[nolimits]

I REALLY wanted to go that route, and I reached out to a handful of companies locally. The one company that agreed to do it for an obtainable price said they needed the Bronco for up to 2 months, and it was clear that it was somewhat outside of their wheelhouse.

I could have potentially built it myself—my welding skills are decent, but I definitely don’t consider myself a fabricator—more of a “put back together what was once broke” sorta person. So it would have been quite the stretch for me, and since I don’t have a garage to work in I wasn’t crazy about the idea.

Unfortunately I’m in New England which doesn’t really have a strong off-road/overlanding/vehicle modification culture. Companies that do custom fabrication for vehicles is few and far between. Those that do are largely geared towards heavy equipment or boat fabrication. (Jealous of everyone who lives out west, I should probably move back.)

Back in my Jeep days I joined a local club. One of the best parts was the brotherhood. Additionally a few of the guys was starting an off-road parts store and offered killer deals to the club. This along with installs and custom fab work was a side gig to their main business. Another one of the guys was all about fabrication and built many custom cages, sliders and bumpers for many in the group. Costs were very reasonable as it was mainly materials, supplies and reasonable labor rates.

Best part was the stuff was crazy strong and heavy duty because thick plate and stronger materials was always used as most were pretty serious rock crawlers. Not so great for suspension sag, lol.

Similar to you, I priced out a front bumper and goodies I’d want and got to $3k with no winch. So pretty easy to reach $4k all in.

I’ve moved since my Jeep days but will join a local club in hopes to get a similar experience or at least learn who some of the contacts are to discuss some custom options. Hoping the Bronco groups have that same brotherhood mentality. It was like having extended family before.

 

[Little Foot]

I own a 2022 Badlands with the capable bumper. I bought the capable bumper over the HD modular bumper primarily to get the factory fog light wiring/switch, assuming I could also find an aftermarket bumper I really liked to add on a winch. Well it turns out there are VERY few aftermarket bumpers I like, and the ones I do like are prohibitively expensive—especially when you add on shipping costs.

So I began searching for a winch mount for my capable bumper. The two I found were by JCR and Rough Country. I've had some pretty shaky prior experiences with Rough Country in the past, so I wasn't too keen on it. And this post by @Tricky Dick definitely wasn't giving me the warm or fuzzy feelings I was looking for prior to purchasing the Rough Country mount. I'm sure it's fine, and I'm sure there are lots of people who've had very good experience with it, but pass for me. Based on what limited information I could find with the JCR mount, it seemed like it too may have similar issues to the Rough Country so I passed on that one as well. Though I admit both are more economical than the approach I went with.

And then Ford released the press photos for the Wildland Firefighting Command Rig. BAM. Capable bumper with the Ford Performance winch. So I knew it was possible—probably with some modifications—but I knew it was at least possible.

So against my better judgement I dropped several thousand dollars on a Ford Performance winch without knowing it would work. And guess what?? It works!! Some minor modifications, yes, but it works. Video below



Picture Dump

The bolts holding the bumper on. Three on each side.

Wiring connector for the fog lights (and presumably the sensors, if you have those):

Factory tow hooks:

The new brackets. Notice the three holes don't line up due to clearance issues.

Fixing the clearance issues:

Final product (pre-paint):

Grille clearances

Suspension sag. Note I have a Badlands non-Sasquatch with the 2.3L.

BEFORE:

Easter Egg I found on the capable bumper. Reads "Congratulations on ponying up for a more capable bumper":

FINAL PRODUCT

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If you too are like me and have the capable bumper, definitely consider this approach if you want a winch. It really wasn't that bad. Yes it did take me four days to complete the installation, but much of that admittedly was me dodging rain and fussing around with the cameras for the forums/YouTube. If you are organized and know ahead of time what you are getting into, this is easily a weekend project.

Link to Ford Performance WARN Winch - Part No. M-1821-B

And shop around when purchasing your winch. Several Bronco6G sponsors are also Ford Performance dealers—such as @LethalPerformance and @Northridge4x4 —and they offer the winch kit for cheaper than what you can get Ford. That said, this item does ship via freight, so make sure pay attention to shipping costs. May ultimately be cheaper to buy from Ford and ship to your dealer.

Cheers!! Let me know if you have any questions.

Awesome Video. Love it!!!! I prefer the Capable bumper over the Modular Bumper. Unfortunately the Capable bumper was not an option for my Bronco.

 

[OldMetal]

I own a 2022 Badlands with the capable bumper. I bought the capable bumper over the HD modular bumper primarily to get the factory fog light wiring/switch, assuming I could also find an aftermarket bumper I really liked to add on a winch. Well it turns out there are VERY few aftermarket bumpers I like, and the ones I do like are prohibitively expensive—especially when you add on shipping costs.

So I began searching for a winch mount for my capable bumper. The two I found were by JCR and Rough Country. I've had some pretty shaky prior experiences with Rough Country in the past, so I wasn't too keen on it. And this post by @Tricky Dick definitely wasn't giving me the warm or fuzzy feelings I was looking for prior to purchasing the Rough Country mount. I'm sure it's fine, and I'm sure there are lots of people who've had very good experience with it, but pass for me. Based on what limited information I could find with the JCR mount, it seemed like it too may have similar issues to the Rough Country so I passed on that one as well. Though I admit both are more economical than the approach I went with.

And then Ford released the press photos for the Wildland Firefighting Command Rig. BAM. Capable bumper with the Ford Performance winch. So I knew it was possible—probably with some modifications—but I knew it was at least possible.

So against my better judgement I dropped several thousand dollars on a Ford Performance winch without knowing it would work. And guess what?? It works!! Some minor modifications, yes, but it works. Video below



Picture Dump

The bolts holding the bumper on. Three on each side.

Wiring connector for the fog lights (and presumably the sensors, if you have those):

Factory tow hooks:

The new brackets. Notice the three holes don't line up due to clearance issues.

Fixing the clearance issues:

Final product (pre-paint):

Grille clearances

Suspension sag. Note I have a Badlands non-Sasquatch with the 2.3L.

BEFORE:

Easter Egg I found on the capable bumper. Reads "Congratulations on ponying up for a more capable bumper":

FINAL PRODUCT

---

If you too are like me and have the capable bumper, definitely consider this approach if you want a winch. It really wasn't that bad. Yes it did take me four days to complete the installation, but much of that admittedly was me dodging rain and fussing around with the cameras for the forums/YouTube. If you are organized and know ahead of time what you are getting into, this is easily a weekend project.

Link to Ford Performance WARN Winch - Part No. M-1821-B

And shop around when purchasing your winch. Several Bronco6G sponsors are also Ford Performance dealers—such as @LethalPerformance and @Northridge4x4 —and they offer the winch kit for cheaper than what you can get Ford. That said, this item does ship via freight, so make sure pay attention to shipping costs. May ultimately be cheaper to buy from Ford and ship to your dealer.

Cheers!! Let me know if you have any questions.

I watched the whole video. Thanks for being the first guy through the wall on this upgrade. It looks great and your video does a great job explaining everything needed to do the install. Awesome!

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