New Apex 12K Harbor Freight winch Install

[Rainman519]

Bleda-2002: All very good points and well-taken. I encountered everything mentioned and managed to sort them out (the installation wouldn't have been possible w/o a jack and 2x4 for bumper and skid plate). A couple of additions I encountered. Note they pertain to the Warn mounting plate (P/N 101255) and Badland Apex 12K winch.
- I needed to "ovalize" the rear bolt holes on my skid plate. Others have mentioned it, some have not, but with the spacers added to the front bumper, it moves the bumper 1/4" farther out so there was no way around it that I could figure out.
- zip ties are totally worthless, see comment about jack and 2x4
- The engage/free spool handle on the winch will not move completely to free-spool w/o hitting the bumper. I plan to grind off a small amount of the handle today.
- Inside bolts (closest to frame rails) are a total PITA! Wrapped them in painters tape so they stayed in the socket and then very carefully got them threaded. Was then able to get my ratchet between bumper and winch to tighten.
- If you plan to replace the 5 torx bolts that held the winch cover plate on the bumper so everything looks standard, do it BEFORE putting your bumper back on. Impossible to put the nuts on between bumper and winch after it's on.
- On the JTR, when you mock-up the wing plates, they look (re: are) angled downward. This threw me as I couldn't figure out why and actually I thought I got the wrong mounting plate. When you add winch plate, it's angled so the plate is perpendicular to the ground and level. Whew!
- Plan for 3-4 hours of work when you tackle this job. It's not hard, but time-consuming.

I attached a couple of pics of before/after, and one of the wing mentioned in #3 of above post and the angle I mentioned. I'm thrilled with the results both functionally and aesthetically, but I'm happier that the project is completed!

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[DeepSea]

- The engage/free spool handle on the winch will not move completely to free-spool w/o hitting the bumper. I plan to grind off a small amount of the handle today

That's what the Poison Spyder Zeon Winch Spacer Plates are for. They raise the winch just enough so you don't have to modify the handle and they only cost about $10-$15.

 

[NateSamJT20]

That's what the Poison Spyder Zeon Winch Spacer Plates are for. They raise the winch just enough so you don't have to modify the handle and they only cost about $10-$15.

Are they still making these cause when I went to their site, I couldn’t find them

 

[DeepSea]

Are they still making these cause when I went to their site, I couldn’t find them

I did a search and found them here for $10.99

https://www.4wheelparts.com/s/_/?Ntt=Poison+Spyder+Zeon+Winch+Spacer+Plates&_requestid=4513

 

[DV8R]

Tring to make sure I have all the parts before I get started.. I'm putting the Badlands Apex 12k winch on a Warn winch mounting plate on the Jeep steel bumper.. I have the winch and the winch mounting plate, and I've ordered the Spyder spacers.

Do I need a fairlead plate?

Do I or do I not need to buy any nuts or bolts? I've seen some people say they had to get some longer bolts.

 

[ttn333]

Tring to make sure I have all the parts before I get started.. I'm putting the Badlands Apex 12k winch on a Warn winch mounting plate on the Jeep steel bumper.. I have the winch and the winch mounting plate, and I've ordered the Spyder spacers.

Do I need a fairlead plate?

Do I or do I not need to buy any nuts or bolts? I've seen some people say they had to get some longer bolts.

Go through OP's list. Are you planning to relocate the control box? You left you the M8-1.25 flange nuts to re use the hex screws to cover up the holes from removing the winch cover plate on the bumper. You may want to relocate the connection cable from the back to the side by drilling out an exit hole on the side of the control box. This way you won't have rubbing against your grill.

edit: It comes with a fairlead plate but it's chrome. Otherwise pick one up, and a license plate mount too if your state requires one. Being a dummy, I bought a factor 55 fairlead plate and a rugged ridge flip up license plate and forget to install the flip up plate until I've finished mounting everything. I'm not sure what I want to do now cause I really don't want to redo everything to get that license plate holder in.

 

[Rainman519]

DV8R - the Warn mounting plate kit includes a fairlead plate.

 

[DV8R]

Got everything, except for the spyder spacer plates, they're out of stock everywhere. But I'm ok with grinding the spool handle a little bit. Attempting the install this weekend.

 

[ttn333]

Hardrock 4x4 plate fit well but the two cradle pieces didn't quite lined up for me. The bolt holes were abotu 1/4" off. Put it on a vice and bent it out a little got it all lined up.

 

[DV8R]

It's done. Took about 6 hours and I had help for about half of it. The sypder spacer plates I ordered are on back order and out of stock everywhere so I didn't have those and had to grind the spool nob down to clear the bumper like others had to do. I did not have to ovalize the skid plate bolt holes so that was nice. Honestly, snaking the wires up through the engine compartment to the battery was maybe the hardest part for me. I do wish I had connected the ground wire to the rear of the winch before mounting the winch because it was hard to access once the winch was in place. I haven't tested it under load yet but I'm excited about having it. Thanks everyone for the instructions and help.

 

[99ls1tj]

Hardrock 4x4 plate fit well but the two cradle pieces didn't quite lined up for me. The bolt holes were abotu 1/4" off. Put it on a vice and bent it out a little got it all lined up.

Hardrock or Rockhard? I'm looking at the rockhard for my wife's JL.

 

[ttn333]

Hardrock or Rockhard? I'm looking at the rockhard for my wife's JL.

Rockhard.

 

[DV8R]

Sigh.....after doing all that to install the winch, I go unspool it to respool it tight, and it has a very frayed segment about 24" long right in the middle of the length of the cable. It's never been used by me, showed no signs of being repackaged when I open it up, and I'm within the 90 day from purchase window that they guarantee, so obviously I'm submitting a warranty claim for a new cable.

My main question is do I have to uninstall and reinstall the winch in order to replace the cable? My hope is that I only have to take off the fairlead plate.

I have about 6 or 7 weeks until I take the family on an overlanding Christmas trip, so I'm really hoping I can get it all taken care of by then.

 

[bleda2002]

Sigh.....after doing all that to install the winch, I go unspool it to respool it tight, and it has a very frayed segment about 24" long right in the middle of the length of the cable. It's never been used by me, showed no signs of being repackaged when I open it up, and I'm within the 90 day from purchase window that they guarantee, so obviously I'm submitting a warranty claim for a new cable.

My main question is do I have to uninstall and reinstall the winch in order to replace the cable? My hope is that I only have to take off the fairlead plate.

I have about 6 or 7 weeks until I take the family on an overlanding Christmas trip, so I'm really hoping I can get it all taken care of by then.

I believe the apex winch just screws on, so should be able to just replace it with it on the vehicle.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I haven't checked that part of the manual that comes with these - is it possibly "in the book"??
I read a lot of the other stuff that came with the winch, but never bothered looking at that part.
I ran mine out and used my neighbors big stationary generator to respool and wind it up tight (he needed it pulled off a cart and onto a concrete pad anyway, so I volunteered)
Mine was fine end to end but never looked at how it's secured on the spool.

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