Lobo Off-Road WNC Front Winch Bumper

[Ghecko90]

Yes, in the images of the original post, the bumper is equipped with our prototype light only mount. We will be providing a couple plate and tube options as well.

Do you have a release date for the tube options?

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[Lobo Off-Road]

Do you have a release date for the tube options?

unfortunately at this time I can not say. I have a handful of products that I am working on to release. I hope to have a better idea on the release of the tube options in the next month or so.

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

WNC Front Winch Bumpers are in stock and ready to ship! Along with our HNT Aluminum Front Skid. Grab yours at https://lobooffroad.com

 

[Rodeoman]

The WNC Front Winch Bumper is now available to order!

The WNC Front Bumper is designed to incorporate the High-N-Tight design ethos of our HNT series bumpers, but with accomodations for mounting a winch on/in the bumper while maintaining as much ground clearance and approach angle as possible. We’ve managed to shoehorn the workhorse Warn EVO Series 12,000 lb. winch within the envelope of the bumper shell. Compared to the HNT Bumper, the WNC bumper sticks out only an additional 1-7/8 inches in the front, for a total of slightly under 4" past the surface of the grille (not counting the recovery tabs). The underside lines tuck up sharply as they extend outward toward the bumper ends, allowing maximum clearance for tires to grab rocks and ledges to pull the Bronco up and over extreme obstacles. The bumper shell incorporates a fairlead mount and cutout on top to access to the winch’s clutch lever and drum.

In addition to high clearance, we’ve worked to achieve the lightest weight and lowest center of gravity possible. We achieved that by using 1/8-inch thick plate steel for the bumper’s outer shell. This is thicker material than the factory Modular steel bumper, but lighter weight than most heavy aftermarket bumpers which are made of thicker plate. But we did provide the beef where it counts, as the bumper shell mounts over our beefy Frame Brackets and Winch Mount Cradle, which are made of 3/16″ thick plate steel. These components provide the structural rigidity required to support the winch as well as the bumper’s Recovery Tabs. They also incorporate Outrigger Braces for the bumper shell and provide a rigid attachment point for either the HNT Front Skid Plate, or the factory skid plate that came on Broncos equipped with the steel modular bumper. The weight of this beefy under-structure is concentrated where it is needed, and absent where it would be a waste.

The 1″ thick CNC machined Extreme Duty Recovery Tabs are fully incorporated into the beefy structure of the Frame Brackets and protrude through CNC laser-cut slots in the Bumper Shell. These Recovery Tabs accept standard heavy duty D-ring shackles and soft shackles, and are fully boxed and braced to handle the most severe recovery duty or even tow-bar attachments for flat towing. The Bumper Shell’s center and outboard cut-outs are filled with removable CNC laser-cut mesh panels that may be painted a contrasting color by the end-user, if desired. The HNT Front Bumper is designed to be fully compatible with parking sensors but will require relocation of the adaptive cruise control (ACC) module (relocation brackets are available now from other manufacturers, Lobo Off-Road will offer one of our own soon).

The WNC Front Bumper is made entirely of 1/8″ and 3/16″ thick mild steel plate, CNC laser cut, precision brake-formed, and professionally fixture welded for a consistent fit and finish. Premium hardware and detailed installation instructions are included. WNC Front Bumper comes standard with a durable multi-stage light-textured black powder coat finish. For those who wish to paint or coat it a custom color, the bumper may be special-ordered raw (please allow extra production time).

The top-mount light bracket shown in these photos will be sold separately but is not yet ready to order. Note that the light mount may obstruct access to the winch's clutch lever.

One thing that is important to note with the WNC bumper is that we had to limit the choice of compatible winches, in order to tuck it in as well as we did. We designed it around the WARN EVO series winches, which does give you the choice of up to 12,000 lb. winch capacity. If you're planning on using a different brand or series of winch, just make sure it fits within the size envelope of the Warn EVO series (spec's available on WARN's website) and has the ability to remotely mount the control pack. But we can tell you now that WARN's ZEON Series winches will NOT fit.

The WNC Front Winch Bumper pairs beautifully with our HNT Aluminum Front Skid (shown in these photos) and should also work with the stock skid that came on Broncos equipped with the steel modular bumper. We believe it may also fit with other aftermarket skids that were designed to work with the factory steel modular bumper, but we have not confirmed any other compatibility yet.

If you're interested in the WNC Front Bumper, please go to its page on our website (HERE) to place your pre-order for the first production run which will be completed around November 18 (note that we won't charge your card or ask for payment until the order is ready to ship).

I recently purchased your hidden which kit for my 2.3L Bronco. It seems as if the 12K Carbon Tank winch is going to fit nicely. I do wonder if I’m going to be able to access the winch clutch and if yes what is the best orientation of the clutch handle? Please advise any recommendations for this dilemma.

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

I recently purchased your hidden which kit for my 2.3L Bronco. It seems as if the 12K Carbon Tank winch is going to fit nicely. I do wonder if I’m going to be able to access the winch clutch and if yes what is the best orientation of the clutch handle? Please advise any recommendations for this dilemma.

Hi there, thank you for the question. I'm not sure if you're referring to our Hidden Winch Skid, which we have a different discussion thread going for HERE, or if you're referring to the WNC winch bumper that is being discussed in this thread. But in either case, I'm not very familiar with that particular winch. We have not seen or had one in our possession or test-fit one in any of our winch mounts. So unfortunately I can't really give you any guidance on it. But I'll be interested in seeing how it works out for you, as I'm sure others will as well, who might also be considering that combination.

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

Update: I am a little behind on this batch of WNC bumpers, and hope to have them done and to powdercoat next week.
On a positive not, for all that are looking a solenoid relocation kit, I have released a bracket kit that may solve your solution.
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/new-lobo-off-road-winch-solenoid-relocation-kit.78062/

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

All Lobo Off-Road Bumpers are now available in an optional finish: Mica Armor Coat is a super durable polyester powder coat finish with excellent weather resistance properties for high performance and architectural applications. It has built-in UV resistance to reduce fade over time, which is especially important for vehicles that spend their time outside and on the trail rather than in the garage. This polyester powder coat is thicker and more durable than typical coatings, better able to resist scuffs, scratches and chipping. Mica Armor Coat is dark gray in color, with a light 3D Metallic flake (see Finish close-ups in Image Gallery). Please allow up to two weeks additional lead time for Mica Armor Coat.

The standard finish on all Lobo Bumpers is still our Light-Textured Black Powder Coat:

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

Hello guys, I wanted to post a side profile view to demonstrate how little our winch bumper intrudes on the approach angle. I attended the bronco super celebration event in Colorado this past week and many comments were made how many company's talk about how great the approach angle is or only take photos at certain angles and the end user being disappointed when they received the product. I would like to be upfront about out product and really show some of our key features. Front face of the bumper to the valance piece below the grill is just under 4", only 1" forward to the factory mod bumper!!

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

Generic message to all who are attending the off-road expo in Pomona this weekend. The Lobo Off-Road bronco will be in the Optima battery area on display, for all who wanted to check things out in person. I will be there all three days. Any that would like to save shipping, I can bring orders to the event for pick up.

 

[BuaidhNoBas]

Hey guys there has been some discussions lately about the stresses winches and recovery points place on bumpers and the frame mounts, so we wanted to take a deep dive on how our own WNC bumpers fare in that discussion. You've seen what our assembled bumpers look like in the photos above, but we haven't posted many pics of the "backbone" sub-structure that lurks beneath our "High-N-Tight" bumper shell. So here's a look at it:

Question:

What’s the height of the channel I lighlighted? Add me to the list that thinks this would be a perfect bumper if had a spot for a pair (or two) of in-bumper fog lights. I’m wondering If I could do some surgery on the front ventilated piece and wedge a pair (or two) of Baja S2s in there.

Also, do you have any pictures of the front camera view with one or two sets of lights installed? I presume you block a lot of the view with a pair of lights in the central section, but I’m wondering if you just run a pair on the side, if there’s still a decent amount of camera visible.

Thanks!

 

[broncorik]

Question:

What’s the height of the channel I lighlighted? Add me to the list that thinks this would be a perfect bumper if had a spot for a pair (or two) of in-bumper fog lights. I’m wondering If I could do some surgery on the front ventilated piece and wedge a pair (or two) of Baja S2s in there.

Also, do you have any pictures of the front camera view with one or two sets of lights installed? I presume you block a lot of the view with a pair of lights in the central section, but I’m wondering if you just run a pair on the side, if there’s still a decent amount of camera visible.

Thanks!

I admire the bumper design and workmanship but am curious as to how the intercooler (if using the OEM one) gets adequate airflow? I get that vents exist, but the winch and the lights are blocking areas Ford warns about blocking. Recently, this came out:

Although I would love to have a wonderful bumper that has the winch hidden away and a great approach angle I would also love adequate cooling for my intercooler (and ideally the radiator which can be adversely affected by adding a high mount IC) as well. The factory ductwork for the intercooler directs a great deal of air flow across the fins...and your bumper, although it looks air to get to the sides of the IC, is not at all efficient conducting much-needed air across the fins. Have you done testing for pre and post install air charge temps?

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

Question:

What’s the height of the channel I lighlighted? Add me to the list that thinks this would be a perfect bumper if had a spot for a pair (or two) of in-bumper fog lights. I’m wondering If I could do some surgery on the front ventilated piece and wedge a pair (or two) of Baja S2s in there.

Also, do you have any pictures of the front camera view with one or two sets of lights installed? I presume you block a lot of the view with a pair of lights in the central section, but I’m wondering if you just run a pair on the side, if there’s still a decent amount of camera visible.

Thanks!

Inside of plate to inside of plate is 1.7"

 

[BuaidhNoBas]

Inside of plate to inside of plate is 1.7"

thank you, that’s helpful.

For those interested, a Baja Designs S2 is 1.76” high, and Diode Dynamics SS2 is 2” high

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

thank you, that’s helpful.

For those interested, a Baja Designs S2 is 1.76” high, and Diode Dynamics SS2 is 2” high

of course, forbid that things just work, right?

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

I admire the bumper design and workmanship but am curious as to how the intercooler (if using the OEM one) gets adequate airflow? I get that vents exist, but the winch and the lights are blocking areas Ford warns about blocking. Recently, this came out:

Although I would love to have a wonderful bumper that has the winch hidden away and a great approach angle I would also love adequate cooling for my intercooler (and ideally the radiator which can be adversely affected by adding a high mount IC) as well. The factory ductwork for the intercooler directs a great deal of air flow across the fins...and your bumper, although it looks air to get to the sides of the IC, is not at all efficient conducting much-needed air across the fins. Have you done testing for pre and post install air charge temps?

As you can see, there is as much air flow as I could to the radiator and intercooler. To answer your question, I have seen no change in temps.
In my opinion of course, this is why, the intercooler shroud is incorporated with the radiator shroud. So the radiator fan pulls air through the radiator and intercooler at the same time. With the efficiencies of the fans these days, it is more than adequate, as long as the volume of air the front side of the intercooler is able to match the volume of air the fan is displacing on the backend. I obviously would not recommend putting a piece of cardboard in front of the intercooler or radiator, but the winch being stepped off and providing other channels of airflow, I have not had a problem. To some it up the fan is doing all the work except for when you are on the freeway.

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