My cheap solution to moving front camera due to winch/bumper

[ThunderFlash]

Panzer, its 2025 and I'm in the same conundrum you were in a few years ago. My set up is similar to yours. I semi-complicated things by putting my ACC sensor in the center of the light bar slot and mounting Rigid cube lights on the sides. But you wouldn't want to block a light bar either. 7" round lights on top of the bumper. I have a 20 year old (but never mounted) M8000 winch wrapped with steel cable....which needs a steel fairlead. Roller fairlead won't fit. The steel one shown doesn't fit either, not without 1/2" thick spacers behind it (it rides on the lower weld pushing the slotted opening upward and out of alignment without them). Not only is the camera mounting a royal pain, but I also have to deal with a front license plate bracket/camera mount. The plate mount below is temporary. Probably could go plateless, but the best way to avoid trouble is to not go inviting trouble. The front of my Bronco is going to look very busy in the end. How does the image stitching look with your camera location?

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[Panzer948]

Panzer, its 2025 and I'm in the same conundrum you were in a few years ago. My set up is similar to yours. I semi-complicated things by putting my ACC sensor in the center of the light bar slot and mounting Rigid cube lights on the sides. But you wouldn't want to block a light bar either. 7" round lights on top of the bumper. I have a 20 year old (but never mounted) M8000 winch wrapped with steel cable....which needs a steel fairlead. Roller fairlead won't fit. The steel one shown doesn't fit either, not without 1/2" thick spacers behind it (it rides on the lower weld pushing the slotted opening upward and out of alignment without them). Not only is the camera mounting a royal pain, but I also have to deal with a front license plate bracket/camera mount. The plate mount below is temporary. Probably could go plateless, but the best way to avoid trouble is to not go inviting trouble. The front of my Bronco is going to look very busy in the end. How does the image stitching look with your camera location?

It's actually very acceptable. So much so that most probably wouldn't notice. I do because I look for that kind of thing, plus my camera occasionally needs a slight adjustment to left or right from time to time as after all its exposed out front like it is. Its likely me rubbing against it as i walk around the front in my small garage. I also only drilled one hole in my bumper in case i ever took it off, which is why it can shift occasionally. Using 2 screws or supplementing good mounting tape would likely cure that. I have been very happy with it and would do it all over again if that says anything. I can take a pic later today of my screen if you like.

 

[ThunderFlash]

A pic would be great. Your rigorously discerning image stitching eye seems to tell you it's off just a wee bit. Do you think positioning the camera slightly higher/lower or forward/back than the top center of the ADD bull bar would be a small improvement? I have to deal with this front plate which is going to require some bracketry, so I can probably accommodate a small adjustment in the camera position.

 

[Panzer948]

A pic would be great. Your rigorously discerning image stitching eye seems to tell you it's off just a wee bit. Do you think positioning the camera slightly higher/lower or forward/back than the top center of the ADD bull bar would be a small improvement? I have to deal with this front plate which is going to require some bracketry, so I can probably accommodate a small adjustment in the camera position.

Sure here are a couple of pics I took today while in line at CVS...HAHA. you can see a little distortion in the front pic but it still gets the job done.

 

[ThunderFlash]

Right on! Thanks man for following up. I'll post some pics when I have my contraption built, but I know I'm not getting out of this for < $8. I think I just spent $25 on some 5/16" fasteners alone. Crap hardware has gotten expensive. A little teaser....it will likely incorporate a length of 4040 T-slot extrusion!

 

[Im64Bit]

Very clever I might have to try this when I finally get around to putting a wench on the beast - in a few weeks

 

[ThunderFlash]

Probably not the most elegant design but it seems to work. Just a turn of two screws and I can pop the plate off to get to the winch and no blocked lights, parking or ACC sensors and minimal airflow blockage. It wasn't $8, but at least I made use of most of the DV8 kit I had already purchased before I figured out the fairlead was going to be a problem. I made the T-slot extrusion a little longer to maybe mount lights or an action cam and to protect the winch a bit.

 

[jtgensler]

Interesting Idea. I purchased the same cable based on this thread. I think I'm going to try to modify my bar to let the camera sit down into it, instead of being on top of it. And also run the wire through the bar to keep it cleaner & more protected.

 

[ThunderFlash]

It's not "pretty", but seems functional. No lights blocked, my homemade ACC bracket still works, and no additional air flow blockage. I'm going to 3D print a cover for the back of the DV8 mount portion. Plowing through over growth on trails will put that wiring and washer tubing at risk.

 

[jtgensler]

It's not "pretty", but seems functional. No lights blocked, my homemade ACC bracket still works, and no additional air flow blockage. I'm going to 3D print a cover for the back of the DV8 mount portion. Plowing through over growth on trails will put that wiring and washer tubing at risk.

@Panzer948 - I've made my own mount with inspiration from you & the link you provided to the camera extension cable.
It's working pretty well, with one exception
I'm curious how you're getting the camera to stay tight to the front of the housing.
Mine is sliding back & my camera view is showing the inside of the housing around the edges.

I'd love to hear any ideas you have on that.

I chose to leave the tabs on the OEM housing & use nice stainless hardware for a rugged look.
I'm also imitating the idea of using my fairlead as the mounting location that a lot of the aftermarket options did (Rough Country, Turn Offroad, etc). I drew up & plasma cut a custom pc of 1/8" Aluminum for the bracket.
I'll take it off & paint it later this spring when the weather is nicer.

 

[Rumbloki]

Have you guys considered mounting the camera to the winch controller?

 

[ThunderFlash]

I'm curious how you're getting the camera to stay tight to the front of the housing.

I had already purchased a DV8 relocation bracket before I realized it would not work the way I wanted. I still utilized the mount of that DV8 unit, just not the fairlead plates. That mount has a funky shaped hole in it that allows both the wire and the squirter hose through and I believe it also pushes the camera fwd into the housing. Its the bit in the top right.

 

[Panzer948]

@Panzer948 - I've made my own mount with inspiration from you & the link you provided to the camera extension cable.
It's working pretty well, with one exception
I'm curious how you're getting the camera to stay tight to the front of the housing.
Mine is sliding back & my camera view is showing the inside of the housing around the edges.

I'd love to hear any ideas you have on that.

I chose to leave the tabs on the OEM housing & use nice stainless hardware for a rugged look.
I'm also imitating the idea of using my fairlead as the mounting location that a lot of the aftermarket options did (Rough Country, Turn Offroad, etc). I drew up & plasma cut a custom pc of 1/8" Aluminum for the bracket.
I'll take it off & paint it later this spring when the weather is nicer.

Hi, nice work! Yes I recall mine could easily move back within the housing although it was usually through bumping into it. My simple solution was just to add a little white glue. I selected this weaker glue for a couple of reasons. 1st it dries clear so cant tell its glued in place. 2nd its just strong enough to hold it in place from small impacts or high air resistance while being weak enough to break apart if/when I want to remove it. I got this idea when trying to keep those plastic license plate bolt covers to stay on until ready to remove the plate. So weaker glues have their place in the world. Hope that helps.

 

[ThunderFlash]

Have you guys considered mounting the camera to the winch controller?

I still would have had a lot of bull bar in my front camera view where my controller sits. Plus, the Warn control mount I bought only uses one bolt to mount to the winch frame. I think newer winches come with a mount that attaches at 2 points, mine came with no mount back in 2006. This mount is not super stable and it can rotate several degrees and tilt the camera. Then I still needed to mount the plate. Even if it's only a "fix it" ticket if I were to leave the plate off, I like to minimize my police interactions.

 

[RedTailHawk]

Probably not the most elegant design but it seems to work. Just a turn of two screws and I can pop the plate off to get to the winch and no blocked lights, parking or ACC sensors and minimal airflow blockage. It wasn't $8, but at least I made use of most of the DV8 kit I had already purchased before I figured out the fairlead was going to be a problem. I made the T-slot extrusion a little longer to maybe mount lights or an action cam and to protect the winch a bit.

Anyone on here able to 3D print an enclosure for the camera? If so, can you share the STL file? I'd like to make a design tweak for how I'd need to install between lights on my bull bar.

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