Recent content by Kach Vartan

Technically Sunday - hit some trails in the local Sierra Paloma mountains. Nice mix of forest, grasslands and desert.

Thanks, are you putting the shim in from the back side of the short piece, from the inside of the cargo area?

Hi, I'm looking into this solution, but it wasn't clear to me from the pictures where you install the shim. Can you point it out in one of the pictures you had posted?

I have this setup and like it. Might switch to Bartact bags some day, assuming they leave enough room to hold a “standard” size water bottle behind the bag.

Great info, will be looking into this too! Are you planning on “installing” the winch before you leave home, or put the whole kit in the cargo area and install at trail head?

First time in Anza Borrego. Just a day trip. Ran Canyon Sin Nombre, Diablo Dropoff, Fish Creek and Sandstone Canyon. Dinner in the charming little town of Julian on the way back. Too bad the pie shop was closed…but a great day nonetheless.

It definitely causes a visible sag, maybe 3/4 of an inch. I think any larger winch would do that unless you had heavy duty springs up front. Doesn’t bother me too much though as this is not a permanent mount.

It’s held up really well. I’ve been on a few tight trails where I was scraping dry brush and no long term pinstripes, so the self healing must be working. I do have one corner of the film on the rear passenger door that has peeled very slightly. I think more the installer’s fault than anything...

I’m using quick connect cables that I will leave disconnected until the winch is needed. The longer end I’ve left coiled up under the hood as there was plenty of space. Hopefully they hold up to the extreme heat environment. The shorter end I have to figure out a way to fix to the winch or the...

I didn’t want to permanently carry the winch for a variety of reasons (weight, suspension sag, aesthetics), but wanted something that was fairly stout. I think the Maximus mount checks both boxes, but haven’t really tested it yet. I would note that the Maximus mount, at least on my truck, has...

Installed Warn winch and Maximus mount. About 2 inches of sag on the front end with everything installed. More pictures in my build journal.

Wrapped up the install of the Warn Zeon winch and Maximus 3 winch mount. Probably took 5-6 hours all in over a couple of days working alone, including adding quick connects to the winch and adding the frame home reinforcements from the FP winch kit. Still have a few minor adjustments to make as...

Slowly making progress. Installed the quick disconnect wires to the winch. Hardest part was removing the control pack to access the wiring. It its held in by 4 screws underneath the pack/above the winch drum. Had to unspool the winch a bit to make it easier to access with an Allen key...

When you say "only install it when necessary", is your plan to mount it after you (or someone else) is is already in a recovery situation? I thought about doing that and just keeping the winch strapped down in the trunk until needed. But after I lifted the winch and plate together (must be...

I am planning to use the frame horn reinforcements from the Ford Performance winch kit. Hopefully they work and no drilling required. I did buy the battery quick disconnects too, but later realized that would require splicing the winch wires (thought they’d come connected to heavy gauge wire...