Mike levine confirms that winch will block camera view

[Chief1301]

That sucks! But I'm still holding out hope Ford will make this right. Mike Levine hasn't been right about most of the things he's said! Let your heart not be troubled.

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[Chief1301]

I, too, have started drinking early.

I'm a little lit myself. Gin & tonic and Pliny the Elder. Happy Halloween Everyone!

 

[Bmadda]

I, too, have started drinking early.

I don't understand what you mean...I'm talking stupid? My idea is bad? I'm not drunk. Did I make a grammar mistake?

 

[earmentrout]

Warn does have a relocation kit for the control pack. It could help some.
https://www.warn.com/what-are-zeon-relocation-kits.

 

[ZackDanger]

What the Bronco with front camera needs:

This is basically exactly the same spot where the Bronco winch is. The difference is the Jeep’s bumper sticks out from the body on either side of it. The Bronco’s bumper is flush with the grill.

 

[bmclain]

How hard will it be to take off and put on? Thinking if its a problem, I will keep it off until needed.

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

Glad everyone is backing out of the winch now, means I wont have an issue getting one I've installed/mounted 3 grill cameras (2 of those 360 degree systems that Ford and Jeep didn't offer at the time. Ive already come up with my fix for the Bronco.

Moving the solenoids will not fix the problem. clearly this was an afterthought on Ford’s part.

For those saying you dont need a front camera, Im going out on a limb that:
1. You dont off-road outside of dirt/forrest roads, if that.
2. You obviously dont have one now installed on your current vehicle.

the purpose of it is to see in front of you as you are climbing steep trails , cresting a ridge to see whats on the other side, and when driving sketchy mountain shelf roads with steep drop-offs and hairpin turns.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

How hard will it be to take off and put on? Thinking if its a problem, I will keep it off until needed.

Take what off and put what on? The winch? If so, I'm guessing you've never installed a winch. They are heavy AF and the clearances you are working with are typically extremely tight. Couple that with the need to run heavy gauge wiring, routing through the engine compartment, and it's anything but trivial. And even if it was somehow a snap-in affair it still wouldn't address the issue - when you are out on the trails you want to have both the winch AND the camera available and the winch is going to block a large part of the camera's view.
The root cause is really the streamlined, close-in bumper. It looks great, really! But in this case it's a matter of form not following function. Compare to the stock steel Wrangler bumper or the many after-market Wrangler bumpers - they don't look nearly as "nice" (my opinion, understanding beauty is in the eye of the beholder) but the design of most of them provides for a considerably lower and more tucked in mounting solution when compared to the Bronco's.

I think the stock steel/modular Bronco bumper seems pretty good, so long as you don't intend to mount a winch (at least with the OEM solution though I can't see how anybody else could do much better). I'll be waiting to see what the aftermarket offers and accept that it might not be as elegant as stock but hopefully more functional. It's still really early in the game here and they aren't even building these yet - there's still a lot that Ford and the aftermarket can come up with. I'm confident that eventually a solution that's better than what we are currently seeing will be made available, somehow, it's just unlikely to be there on Day 1.

 

[Suke996]

We know on the Badlands overlander build the winch blocks the front Camera.

I have a First Edition reservation and while doing the Build and Price, noticed the front bumper brush guard looks like it will also block the front camera.

In the reservation picture from 7/13, the brush guard seems to block the whole Bronco logo where the Camera sits, the picture from the Build and Price seems to be a different design but still seems to block the camera.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Hossamus Prime]

I think it shoots under that bar. It’s pointed down at about a 45 degree angle. Now if you have the winch, that does block it.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

I'm worried about the other drivers. For many people in Chicago parking is done mostly by Braille and the way Ford has that whole assembly jutting out like a boxer daring an opponent to hit him in the chin it just seems inevitable it's going to take a beating.

 

[Wolf1961]

Does anyone know if the camera comes on anytime? My Raptor only works when in 4wd low.

 

[BossMann]

Listening for feedback. Hilarious. What else would we say? ‘Oh, no worries our front trail cam is blocked.... it’s fine with us!’

 

[BroncoFanBoy]

The problem is that the purpose of the front camera is supposed to be a center view of the front bumper and the ground or whatever the car is about to touch. No matter how high you stick the camera In The grill, a winch is going to block the intended view, which is down! If you just want to look forward, look through the wind shield.

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