Damage while using winch on improperly installed Rough Country High Mount

[RC Bronco]

Not bad for a bunch of nerds, eh???

Nerds? I was thinking more like a bunch of do it yourself so it’s done right boomers

kidding! We all know we’re here to nerd out over Bronco’s (and to justify spending more money on them)

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[Karl_in_Chicago]

Excellent post, I really appreciated your knowledge dump!

Ditto! More frame-nerd convo's, please!

 

[Jdc]

Not bad for a bunch of nerds, eh???

It sucks for @Tricky Dick but it's a great teachable moment. I was hoping to install my winch this weekend but now I've ordered the brackets and will wait until those get here

 

[zuke]

Doing so off road is no issue, I was thinking from a different angle - the legal one.

You're absolutely correct about this, it is a legal issue, it also states pretty clearly in my Nationwide Policy (And many others I'm sure) that a lift over 2.5" won't be covered and will put me at liability in accidents as well. Insurance companies can and will find everything they can to push off liability... That said they do actually allow 2.5", which is a pretty useful amount of lift on a Bronco!

 

[BAUS67]

Nerds? I was thinking more like a bunch of do it yourself so it’s done right boomers

kidding! We all know we’re here to nerd out over Bronco’s (and to justify spending more money on them)

I was making that joke because an earlier post had made a joke about this being a nerdy thread.

 

[BAUS67]

You're absolutely correct about this, it is a legal issue, it also states pretty clearly in my Nationwide Policy (And many others I'm sure) that a lift over 2.5" won't be covered and will put me at liability in accidents as well. Insurance companies can and will find everything they can to push off liability... That said they do actually allow 2.5", which is a pretty useful amount of lift on a Bronco!

Boy, you ain't kiddin about that!!!! One time I was at a red light and it turned green and I proceeded to go through the intersection and BAM!!! got hit by a girl going through her red light.


Insurance company blamed 30% of the accident on me because I should have proceeded through the intersection with caution.

 

[Ingridthehorrible]

How thick are they? They look like only 1/8 or 3/16.

The LoD brackets are 3/16, had to use a ruler, mislaid the digital caliper and couldn't find it.

Bought the kit over a year ago, still trying to find time to build a winch mount, got other more pressing projects to finish first.

Contents of the LoD kit

 

[Tricky Dick]

OK....so this is highly embarrassing and I feel like a total idiot but I need to come clean. At least some good discussion became of it and my Bronco is undamaged. I still believe after seeing the DV8 bumper video, this scare, and how Ford does it from the factory, that LOD plates or similar are wise.

I got it dissembled and it turns out this is 100% on me.

I left out some very crucial parts. I don't know how I missed them, but when I went digging through the old box they were there, shiny and new.

 

[mcinfantry]

I have one of the later ones in three pieces. I'd say the single piece is probably the better design, as all the bolts in the 3-piece fit so tight in their respective holes that there's really no misalignment adjustments you can effectively make, you're relying on bolt joints to hold everything together (I decided to upgrade mine with grade 8 hardware), and you've also picked up 12 bolts that could potentially come loose over time. You also can't fit the Apex 12K in the 3-piece design unless you put the side bolts in afterward, which makes assembly and installation that much more awkward.

What I can't tell from your pic is if the single piece has the two additional rearward facing tabs for the bolts going into the crossmember. If yours doesn't, maybe that was the reason why they went with a 3-piece design, to better facilitate manufacture with those tabs that add a lot of strength to the structure (and giving the 3-piece a small edge over the single). If it has those tabs, well, I don't really see much of any benefit to separating the tray out in three pieces. Even with shipping, it wouldn't really make the box any smaller than the one mine came in, it was way bigger than necessary. Maybe it was more labor intensive to keep everything square making a single piece that required four 90deg bends (plus maybe two for the tabs?), as opposed to one piece that only needed two bends plus the two tabs, and two pieces that only needed one. Just a guess.

The warn zeon platinum won’t fit in any rc variant
But does fit in the lobo off-road hidden mount….

 

[redone17]

@Tex - for what it’s worth, the original single piece plate has those tabs. Took some digging - because I couldn’t quite remember. But, between @NorthShoreBronco original video (around the same time I installed mine) and this image from the original PDF - it’s safe to say that didn’t change. Now I’m just curious on what changes in the filler plates and skid plates that they’re possibly having to send an entire kit so that I can replace the skid…but, I’ll shut up now and let this thread continue without further discussion of the hidden mount…

 

[JonDW29]

OK....so this is highly embarrassing and I feel like a total idiot but I need to come clean. At least some good discussion became of it and my Bronco is undamaged. I still believe after seeing the DV8 bumper video, this scare, and how Ford does it from the factory, that LOD plates or similar are wise.

I got it dissembled and it turns out this is 100% on me.

I left out some very crucial parts. I don't know how I missed them, but when I went digging through the old box they were there, shiny and new.

Sucks that this happened but I've found this thread to be a great learning experience. Are those just spacers to even the plate up with that lip? I don't have the RC kit so just curious.

 

[kevin.gt]

OK....so this is highly embarrassing and I feel like a total idiot but I need to come clean. At least some good discussion became of it and my Bronco is undamaged. I still believe after seeing the DV8 bumper video, this scare, and how Ford does it from the factory, that LOD plates or similar are wise.

I got it dissembled and it turns out this is 100% on me.

I left out some very crucial parts. I don't know how I missed them, but when I went digging through the old box they were there, shiny and new.

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly resulted from not using the washers/standoffs? Mount bent?

 

[huey]

It sucks for @Tricky Dick but it's a great teachable moment. I was hoping to install my winch this weekend but now I've ordered the brackets and will wait until those get here

Absolutely! Hate that it happened but it's awesome he shared so the rest of us can make choices on how to move forward
Cheers to @Tricky Dick

 

[cbrownabq]

Ok, so where do those missing spacers go?

 

[Tricky Dick]

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly resulted from not using the washers/standoffs? Mount bent?

This is the surface the mount ears sit on, without the spacers it's not flat and solid.

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