MAXIMUS-3 FORD BRONCO REMOVABLE WINCH SADDLE

[socal_bronco24]

Thanks. Just put in the orders for both. Curious, do most of you who went the Maximus route mount the winch before you hit the dirt? Or keep it in the cargo area and mount it on only when the need arises? I’m debating tradeoff between (some/minimal?) loss of approach angle if you install first vs. trying to install when you've already found yourself in an awkward situation.

I install it from the comfort of my home. I have a 2 door so it would take up most of my rear cargo to carry with me. Also, I think it sits fairly high so I haven’t had any issues with clearance during my routes. But this really depending what kind of off-roading you do. All winches will cause a small loss in approach angle. And I do think the last point you mention is a valid one. I think if I have to winch, it’s going to be trying to get over an incline and installing it at that point would be difficult.

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[Rob-Dude]

Been a while, but I finally had a chance to complete my install. This is what comes in the box, including the wiring quick adapter (which I haven't done yet) and the frame horn reinforcements (bottom silver units).

Quick note about the frame horn pieces, the existing hole in the frame is too small. At some point Ford made it smaller. 1/2" bit on your drill and you're good to go. No big deal at all. The hardest part here was the wiring on the bumper, I could not get my hands in there and needed my neighbor to help as I was holding the bumper up to the side. If you don't have the parking sensors, you won't have this difficulty.

This is the installed unit with the Warn Zeon 10S. I will need to figure out a better system for the wiring, but that was not today's project. The alignment of everything was perfect. Those red pins slide in and out nicely. The wholes lined up perfectly for the Warn mounting positions. Bolting it on was straight forward.

Someone had asked about how much the front will sag, looks to be about 1/2". This is a 24 Wildtrak with the Hoss 3.

For those of us with all the cameras, here is what the image looks like. I knew the camera would be blocked, but honestly not as bad as I thought it would be.

For me, this isn't worth the hassle of a camera relocation kit, but maybe for someone else?

In all fairness, I didn't actually take out the stopwatch, but with hardwiring it into the battery, we're looking at 5-7 minutes to put on and take off. That could be cut in half with the quick connect wiring. The weight of the winch with the plate is about 110 lbs. You will need to be able to lift this weight comfortably as you need to line up the pins and tilt.


So far the only winching I've done with it was to wind the rope under tension by pulling the Bronco up the driveway anchored to another car. I'll let you know how it goes. So far pretty happy.

Dr Dan,
I appreciate that you measured the suspension drop when installed. I'm assuming your '24 Wildtrack has the Hoss 3.0 suspension. Do you notice the weight of the winch while driving around with it installed? Are there any impacts to the ride or handling (for example hard brake dive) that you've noticed?

Thanks for your insight,
Rob

 

[Dr Dan]

Dr Dan,
I appreciate that you measured the suspension drop when installed. I'm assuming your '24 Wildtrack has the Hoss 3.0 suspension. Do you notice the weight of the winch while driving around with it installed? Are there any impacts to the ride or handling (for example hard brake dive) that you've noticed?

Thanks for your insight,
Rob

Hi Rob. Yes, Hoss 3.0. I did not notice any handling differences in it. Maybe someone with a very refined sense of vehicle handling could, but I couldn't. The biggest thing that keeps coming up when I have it on is to remember to turn off the parking sensors because once you start it and put it in gear you get the warning alarms. I also found out as I was driving to a trail is that the adaptive cruise will not function as a standard cruise control if you have the sensor blocked, it's all or nothing.


On the few trails I have had it on, I haven't had a need to use it, but I did try to pull a stump from in front of my house. I pulled the bronco up a 15 degree slope with all 4 wheels locked and the winch and saddle were fine. The stump didn't move and the lawn was a mess, but the strength of the attachment worked just fine.

 

[Rob-Dude]

Hi Rob. Yes, Hoss 3.0. I did not notice any handling differences in it. Maybe someone with a very refined sense of vehicle handling could, but I couldn't. The biggest thing that keeps coming up when I have it on is to remember to turn off the parking sensors because once you start it and put it in gear you get the warning alarms. I also found out as I was driving to a trail is that the adaptive cruise will not function as a standard cruise control if you have the sensor blocked, it's all or nothing.


On the few trails I have had it on, I haven't had a need to use it, but I did try to pull a stump from in front of my house. I pulled the bronco up a 15 degree slope with all 4 wheels locked and the winch and saddle were fine. The stump didn't move and the lawn was a mess, but the strength of the attachment worked just fine.

Thanks for the quick reply. This is exactly what I was looking for. I'm trying to decide between this temporary use solution and a permanent installation. Base on your thoughts I won't worry about a permanent installation messing up my truck's ride.

Cheers!
Rob

 

[crewchief182]

Any feedback from those who have installed and used this winch mount?

I have this setup and it totally blocks my interccooler. Not good. Noticed the high temps on highway (summertime) as well as on the trails when using 4 low while really working the Bronco. I use a RC 9500 and the combination of the winch/mount is way too much for me to casually take on & off. Great in theory, but......

 

[Rob-Dude]

I have this setup and it totally blocks my interccooler. Not good. Noticed the high temps on highway (summertime) as well as on the trails when using 4 low while really working the Bronco. I use a RC 9500 and the combination of the winch/mount is way too much for me to casually take on & off. Great in theory, but......

Thanks for sharing your experience with this Crewchief. Based on your thoughts, I'm going to go with a permanent mount. As an aside, do you notice an on-road handling difference when you have the winch installed?

Rob

 

[crewchief182]

Thanks for sharing your experience with this Crewchief. Based on your thoughts, I'm going to go with a permanent mount. As an aside, do you notice an on-road handling difference when you have the winch installed?

Rob

As far as a difference in handling, yes, I did notice a difference, but this may be due to the suspension setup I'm running. I have the Eibach 2.0 coilovers with standard springs. These springs already give me a very noticeable front end droop when braking. This was definitely amplified with the weight of the of the winch & mount. I would probably need the HD springs in the front if I were to run with the winch on for extended periods, which isn't going to happen due to the intercooler issue.

 

[5280Bronco]

I have this setup and it totally blocks my interccooler. Not good. Noticed the high temps on highway (summertime) as well as on the trails when using 4 low while really working the Bronco. I use a RC 9500 and the combination of the winch/mount is way too much for me to casually take on & off. Great in theory, but......

Really valuable feedback. Thanks!

 

[userdude]

How does it work putting on and off a heavy winch and mount with the front suspension? Seem like you'd be too low with it on or too high with it off.

 

[Deadpool392]

How does it work putting on and off a heavy winch and mount with the front suspension? Seem like you'd be too low with it on or too high with it off.

I just added this setup to my Bronco Raptor, which may not be a good suspension droop comparison, but here are some photos of it on/off.

 

[Mysilvstang]

@Papa Smurf Just came across your post about the badlands winch and the removable mount. I have this mount on order and was wondering if you could post pics of it installed and possibly the grinding you did on it. I am planning on using this winch also just wanted to make sure it fit. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr Dan]

@Papa Smurf Just came across your post about the badlands winch and the removable mount. I have this mount on order and was wondering if you could post pics of it installed and possibly the grinding you did on it. I am planning on using this winch also just wanted to make sure it fit. Thanks in advance.

FWIW, this is the amount of grind I had to to in order for the hooks to sit in properly. The "pucks" sat inside just fine. This is both the hooks pictured together just to check I had done them evenly. I spoke over the phone to the engineers at Maximus (quite a bit actually, these guys are great and took this very seriously) and it came down to a level of inconsistency in the forging of Ford's forged recovery points. It will work on some, require some grinding on the others. Ford didn't design these particular parts with tight tolerances.

 

[Mysilvstang]

FWIW, this is the amount of grind I had to to in order for the hooks to sit in properly. The "pucks" sat inside just fine. This is both the hooks pictured together just to check I had done them evenly. I spoke over the phone to the engineers at Maximus (quite a bit actually, these guys are great and took this very seriously) and it came down to a level of inconsistency in the forging of Ford's forged recovery points. It will work on some, require some grinding on the others. Ford didn't design these particular parts with tight tolerances.

Thank you

 

[Deadpool392]

FWIW, this is the amount of grind I had to to in order for the hooks to sit in properly. The "pucks" sat inside just fine. This is both the hooks pictured together just to check I had done them evenly. I spoke over the phone to the engineers at Maximus (quite a bit actually, these guys are great and took this very seriously) and it came down to a level of inconsistency in the forging of Ford's forged recovery points. It will work on some, require some grinding on the others. Ford didn't design these particular parts with tight tolerances.

Interesting, I didn’t have any issues with the mount or frame horn reinforcements install. Is that specific to using the mount with the badlands winch or just to get the mount installed?

 

[Dr Dan]

Interesting, I didn’t have any issues with the mount or frame horn reinforcements install. Is that specific to using the mount with the badlands winch or just to get the mount installed?

Good. It's my understanding that most people won't have this issue. In particular with me, you can see in Figure A denoted by the arrows is a slight curvature where the two planes of the material intersect. On most units, this is more of a 90 degree angle instead of the curvature shown here. The result of this curve pushed out the hook causing a missalignment of where the pin inserts. If you look at Figure B, there is a crescent of material highlighted in green. These pictures were taken before the grinding. After, the pins are easily inserted. I do recommend a quick spray of WD40 before inserting to make removal easier.

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