- First Name
- Grant
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2020
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 60
- Reaction score
- 124
- Location
- Northern Colorado
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 Bronco Badlands
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey everyone, just thought I'd give you the anthology of what I went through to get the Fab Fours premium Winch bumper installed on my 21 Badlands. Spoiler alert, it all could have been fixed by actually going to get measurements myself.
So, at the beginning I was planning on getting the FabFours Stubby bumper because it seemed like about the best option out there that works with the factory skid and didn't have an awful approach angle for a winch bumper. Then they released the Premium Bumper, which is essentially just the bumper portion of a Grumper, and actually looked pretty good approach angle wise and everything. By the time I had ordered the Premium bumper I had already picked up a Badland Apex 12k winch from HF for a steal of $450. Which according to the HF website would fit just fine (listed width of 21 1/4" and depth of 6 5/16") This was the first mistake, trusting HF on their measurements.
Bumper comes in, I'm stoked and super excited to get this thing put on. I go to test fit the winch... doesn't fit. Actual dimensions are 23 1/4" wide and 6 11/16" deep), with a space of about 22 1/2" wide and 6 1/4" deep in the bumper, the project begins.. It's like a picture book, so I apologize if you have slow internet..
The plan was to cut the side plates marked in red out and spread them apart enough to fit the winch.
After many hours of cutting, grinding, and using about every tool known to man, I got the side plates cut out and moved out far enough to get the winch in place. Excuse the glove in frame..
Test fitting the cut down side plates to make sure they fit well enough to weld back in.
Flux core welding is a lot of things but I don't think anyone has ever called it pretty.
"Grinder and Paint makes you the welder you ain't"
After painting and clearancing the access holes for the winch mounting bolts I was finally able to set the bumper relatively close the the bronco and get a feel for what it was going to be like.
Routed the sensor harness out of the way of the winch, plus wired up my Diode Dynamics Fog lights to the factory harness to save an upfitter switch.
After much cussing, and discussing holding the bumper up, got it solidly mounted and aligned fairly well.
Ford even gave us a nice little no drill mounting spot for the battery disconnect on the Winch.
The view out of the front camera isn't half bad either.
All in all, I'm please with how the bumper turned out, I will probably be the only person with a Badland 12k winch in one of these, so that's pretty cool. But the moral of the story is, don't trust HF on their measurements, go to a store and grab a tape measure to find out for yourself.
So, at the beginning I was planning on getting the FabFours Stubby bumper because it seemed like about the best option out there that works with the factory skid and didn't have an awful approach angle for a winch bumper. Then they released the Premium Bumper, which is essentially just the bumper portion of a Grumper, and actually looked pretty good approach angle wise and everything. By the time I had ordered the Premium bumper I had already picked up a Badland Apex 12k winch from HF for a steal of $450. Which according to the HF website would fit just fine (listed width of 21 1/4" and depth of 6 5/16") This was the first mistake, trusting HF on their measurements.
Bumper comes in, I'm stoked and super excited to get this thing put on. I go to test fit the winch... doesn't fit. Actual dimensions are 23 1/4" wide and 6 11/16" deep), with a space of about 22 1/2" wide and 6 1/4" deep in the bumper, the project begins.. It's like a picture book, so I apologize if you have slow internet..
The plan was to cut the side plates marked in red out and spread them apart enough to fit the winch.
After many hours of cutting, grinding, and using about every tool known to man, I got the side plates cut out and moved out far enough to get the winch in place. Excuse the glove in frame..
Test fitting the cut down side plates to make sure they fit well enough to weld back in.
Flux core welding is a lot of things but I don't think anyone has ever called it pretty.
"Grinder and Paint makes you the welder you ain't"
After painting and clearancing the access holes for the winch mounting bolts I was finally able to set the bumper relatively close the the bronco and get a feel for what it was going to be like.
Routed the sensor harness out of the way of the winch, plus wired up my Diode Dynamics Fog lights to the factory harness to save an upfitter switch.
After much cussing, and discussing holding the bumper up, got it solidly mounted and aligned fairly well.
Ford even gave us a nice little no drill mounting spot for the battery disconnect on the Winch.
The view out of the front camera isn't half bad either.
All in all, I'm please with how the bumper turned out, I will probably be the only person with a Badland 12k winch in one of these, so that's pretty cool. But the moral of the story is, don't trust HF on their measurements, go to a store and grab a tape measure to find out for yourself.
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