Badland Apex 12,000 lb. Winch installed

[Aleph]

Oppsss .....

I misread your original comment. I see you are not using the original factory steel bumper so the length of the bolts may (or may not) be an issue for me with the Apex 12000. In any case, good luck in finding what you need.

They probably won’t be a problem for you with the rubicon steel bumper. But thanks for the Grainger link! That somewhat helps.

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[kbechtel]

You guys seem to have it easy, I installed a Hooke Road Grill, and the plate needed new holes to align to the Winch. That was the easy part. The bad thing is that the cut-off switch works in the "Off" position, and not the "on", I even tried changing the posts, but it didn't matter. The cables became very hot, and it killed my battery. When trying to jump-start, the jumper cables even got warm. I'm not too concerned about the battery it was old and needed to be replaced, but with the excessive heat, and the drain, I've not reconnected the winch when I replaced the upgraded battery. I have just sent an email to Harbor Freight, but I was wondering if anyone else had these issues and how they solved them.

FYI I heard back from HF, I seem to have gotten a bad unit and need to exchange it. I'm glad it wasn't something I did.

 

[Improper_1]

For longer winch mounting bolts, bulldog winch has a kit containing four M10 x 40mm grade 5/8.8 bolts. There are several online retailers that stock it. It is their products BDW20180


https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Bulldog-Winch/BDW20180.html

I also use bolt depot to find any hardware that Ace Hardware does not have. For some reason with the Jeep it seems there is always some custom solution needed.

 

[Jaxmax]

FYI I heard back from HF, I seem to have gotten a bad unit and need to exchange it. I'm glad it wasn't something I did.

Still a strange thing that the battery disconnect worked backwards, being on in off position and off in on position , then also motor probably has a short which gave high power draw which is something else. When they give you the new winch be doubly sure connections are correct and tight and cables are not nicked or anything. The switch thing could be as simple as the handle is installed incorrectly. Glad you were on it and no real damage was done…..Jack

 

[kbechtel]

Still a strange thing that

Yea, well, seems to be the story of my life, if it's strange and bad, I get to encounter it.

 

[kbechtel]

Well, I feel I should provide you all folks with an update. The local Harbor Freight store did a swap out, no fuss, no muss, easy as going in, talk to the manager and swap boxes. I had to wait two weeks before I could attempt the new install, but that's not important. When we unboxed I put each switch on a meter and verified functionality, I also hooked the winch to an RV battery, and function tested, then waited for ten minutes. In the original installation, the wires were hot to the touch after a minute or two. The installation itself went as smooth as any mechanical installation can go and minimal cuss words were uttered (surprisingly no parts or tools walked away during the install). It's now 48 hours later, I still check the power line for heat, but all seems to be good.

I still haven't replaced the AUX battery, I tried doing the bypass, but no joy, and I aborted the pulling of the fuse box, I recon I'll bite the bullet and pay for it to be replaced (yes I have a replacement). I want to get the fog-lights for the new bumper connected before I do that though.

All in all, as easy as the rest of you all had it this time.

 

[Mr Miami]

Well, I feel I should provide you all folks with an update. The local Harbor Freight store did a swap out, no fuss, no muss, easy as going in, talk to the manager and swap boxes. I had to wait two weeks before I could attempt the new install, but that's not important. When we unboxed I put each switch on a meter and verified functionality, I also hooked the winch to an RV battery, and function tested, then waited for ten minutes. In the original installation, the wires were hot to the touch after a minute or two. The installation itself went as smooth as any mechanical installation can go and minimal cuss words were uttered (surprisingly no parts or tools walked away during the install). It's now 48 hours later, I still check the power line for heat, but all seems to be good.

I still haven't replaced the AUX battery, I tried doing the bypass, but no joy, and I aborted the pulling of the fuse box, I recon I'll bite the bullet and pay for it to be replaced (yes I have a replacement). I want to get the fog-lights for the new bumper connected before I do that though.

All in all, as easy as the rest of you all had it this time.

Glad to hear that things went well with the replacement unit. Good to hear that HF was responsive to the initial problem. I'm going to do my install with the Apex 12000 as soon as the Grimm winch plate arrives (I ordered it about 6 weeks ago and was told it was on backorder until sometime in March. I called last week and was told they have gone through the powder-coating process and are preparing to be packaged for shipment). Anyway, good luck with the new winch. Keep us informed regarding how it is working and anything that would be helpful to pass along regarding the install. Thanks.

 

[Aj58]

For everyone who ordered the Grimm winch plates. Looks like they are starting to ship out! Just got my tracking number and an update that they were starting to show up in the warehouse!

 

[Mr Miami]

For everyone who ordered the Grimm winch plates. Looks like they are starting to ship out! Just got my tracking number and an update that they were starting to show up in the warehouse!

So it looks like Santa Claus is coming early ... or maybe just really late. In any case, my Apex 12000 is patiently waiting in the box.

 

[NULL POINTER]

Well, I feel I should provide you all folks with an update. The local Harbor Freight store did a swap out, no fuss, no muss, easy as going in, talk to the manager and swap boxes. I had to wait two weeks before I could attempt the new install, but that's not important. When we unboxed I put each switch on a meter and verified functionality, I also hooked the winch to an RV battery, and function tested, then waited for ten minutes. In the original installation, the wires were hot to the touch after a minute or two. The installation itself went as smooth as any mechanical installation can go and minimal cuss words were uttered (surprisingly no parts or tools walked away during the install). It's now 48 hours later, I still check the power line for heat, but all seems to be good.

I still haven't replaced the AUX battery, I tried doing the bypass, but no joy, and I aborted the pulling of the fuse box, I recon I'll bite the bullet and pay for it to be replaced (yes I have a replacement). I want to get the fog-lights for the new bumper connected before I do that though.

All in all, as easy as the rest of you all had it this time.

Glad to hear it. I got an APEX 12000# winch from HF and after successfully testing that it worked in and out with both the wired and wireless remote, I installed it only to find it would not freespool without great effort. After trying some suggestions from the forum, I uninstalled it and took it back to my local HF where I got it.

Exchange was easy, no BS, they just asked me why I was returning it after they brought out a new one for me. Great customer service and yes, the replacement is much easier to freespool.

 

[Stingray 5517]

Glad to hear it. I got an APEX 12000# winch from HF and after successfully testing that it worked in and out with both the wired and wireless remote, I installed it only to find it would not freespool without great effort. After trying some suggestions from the forum, I uninstalled it and took it back to my local HF where I got it.

Exchange was easy, no BS, they just asked me why I was returning it after they brought out a new one for me. Great customer service and yes, the replacement is much easier to freespool.

Mine free spooled fine before the install. Then I was going to pull the line out and do a stress respool and if was very difficult to get the line out. So I used the remote to line out. Any ideas? I'm not going to uninstall the winch and return. Too much work lol.

 

[NULL POINTER]

Mine free spooled fine before the install. Then I was going to pull the line out and do a stress respool and if was very difficult to get the line out. So I used the remote to line out. Any ideas? I'm not going to uninstall the winch and return. Too much work lol.

Unfortunately I did not test freespool on that winch before the install. I had a HF APEX 12K on another vehicle and it freespooled so easily. So what could possibly go wrong? Lesson learned.

People said it would loosen up with usage. I hooked my lawn tractor to it and must have unspooled it about 8-10 times in freespool using the lawn tractor. Even after that it was a beeatch to manually freespool it. I pulled the handle out and reseated it. I poked around with a screwdriver in hole where the handle goes, nothing seemed stuck and plenty of grease in there. The only way to get the line out was to freespool it using my lawn tractor, or using the remote to spool it out with the winch motor.

There was another thread either here or on the wrangler forum where someone else had the same issue with the HF APEX 12K winch. That person also ended up exchanging theirs. I know it is a lot of work to remove it and install another one, but after a few days messing with it without success, I bit the bullet. Happy that I did the return.

All the best of luck to you. If you decide not to return it, word of warning that spooling the line out with the wired or wireless remote could cause overheating of the drum which is not good for synthetic line.

 

[wachuko]

So it looks like Santa Claus is coming early ... or maybe just really late. In any case, my Apex 12000 is patiently waiting in the box.

For everyone who ordered the Grimm winch plates. Looks like they are starting to ship out! Just got my tracking number and an update that they were starting to show up in the warehouse!

That is great news!! Mine is still in the box as well.

 

[Mr Miami]

That is great news!! Mine is still in the box as well.

Keep us informed with your progress. I will do the same. This is my first time taking off a bumper and putting on a winch. Definitely a learning experience.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I've had my Apex winch on two Gladiators so far. In a month or so it will be on a third.
I used the Bulldog winch plate and love it. Super heavy, the ears go behind the frame end flanges - nice for when pulling a bumper off to do other stuff, the winch and plate pretty much stays put.

I have a whole lot of stuff up front in the summer - the winch (A is winch plate)
B is the 2" receiver and C is the snow plow mount I remove in the summer (takes off about 30-40 pounds?)

It will be very interesting to see how it all fits on a Mojave - likely a lot of messing around relocating the shock reservoirs and so on.

I may want to space the winch up about 1/4" as well - at least on THIS bumper and truck combo, the line sort of sits low in the opening. The winch could sit just a tad higher to make things better.

This is how I had it wired on my 2020 - with the switch that was supplied with the winch. Worked just fine.

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