New Apex 12K Harbor Freight winch Install

[RufusMalloy]

Finished up the wiring and cut up my old sport plastic panels to fill in around the winch and to cover the back of the fog lights. Need t clean up the piece on the left.

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[OHJeeper]

Word to the wise on anyone with the factory steel bumper and the MOPAR winch guard...

The winch guard (hoop) blocks the clutch handle from turning:

I went through the trouble of manufacturing my own winch plates out of 1/8" stainless (instead of the poison spyder ones)... Unfortunately, I still need to modify the handle now which I was hoping to avoid

Also, I had 1/8" stainless to use for this, but in reality that extra 1/16" to get to 3/16" (or even 1/4") would have been better. The handle still barely touched the bumper without the winch guard.

 

[OHJeeper]

Oh! and for others attempting this with the Warn winch plate...

1) The zip ties they give you don't hold sh*t (this has been mentioned before)
2) I, for the life of me, could not get a jack under the plate and still get the bumper on, so I improvised:

Ratchet strap to the hood latch area behind the grill (NOT to the plastic grill itself!!!)

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I posted about how the clutch release lever hit the guard. You simply take it to a band saw (or use a Dremel metal cutting blade) and take a bit off the end of the lever. It's easy to remove the lever and cut it off.
I also showed how I used a floor jack under the winch plate to hold it all up while I slipped the bumper into place. Granted I used the plate that comes with the bumper, but still, a small block of wood on my smallest floor jack did the trick. No zip ties needed and the bumper easily slid into place without any issue.
Apparently the warn plate fits differently.......

 

[rm1515]

I posted about how the clutch release lever hit the guard. You simply take it to a band saw (or use a Dremel metal cutting blade) and take a bit off the end of the lever. It's easy to remove the lever and cut it off.
I also showed how I used a floor jack under the winch plate to hold it all up while I slipped the bumper into place. Granted I used the plate that comes with the bumper, but still, a small block of wood on my smallest floor jack did the trick. No zip ties needed and the bumper easily slid into place without any issue.
Apparently the warn plate fits differently.......

I did the same thing. Used a grinding wheel and actually cut off about a 1/2 inch of it. smoothed it and it works fine.

 

[OHJeeper]

I posted about how the clutch release lever hit the guard.

Must have missed that one in the 10,000 posts in winches

I am comfortable making the mods to the handle, just wish I didn't have to...

 

[slim chance]

first, i have read all 14 pages of this thread and several other threads about winches AND have owned winches for large boats and ATVs ... now i am shopping for a winch for my JTF ... one issue is "duty cycle" ... this is how HF Badlands defines duty cycle ...
"Duty Cycle (Duration of Use)
Avoid damage to the Winch by not winching for more than the prescribed
duty cycle time. The Duty Cycle defines the amount of time, within a
15 minute period, during which a Winch can operate at its maximum
capacity without overheating. For example, a Winch with a
5% duty cycle at its maximum load must be allowed to rest
for at least 14 minutes, 15 seconds after every 45 seconds
of continuous operation. Failure to carefully observe duty
cycle limitations can easily over-stress a Winch contributing
to premature Winch failure." they (HF) then tells you this winch has a 5% duty cycle .. i called several Warn dealers and they had no idea what "duty cycle" meant ... one dealer gave me the 800 number for Warn Factory Customer service ... called them and they also had NO idea what i was talking about, they said Warn does not rate duty cycle ... now really 45 seconds of use with an over 14 minute rest time seems extreme

 

[WK2JT]

first, i have read all 14 pages of this thread and several other threads about winches AND have owned winches for large boats and ATVs ... now i am shopping for a winch for my JTF ... one issue is "duty cycle" ... this is how HF Badlands defines duty cycle ...
"Duty Cycle (Duration of Use)
Avoid damage to the Winch by not winching for more than the prescribed
duty cycle time. The Duty Cycle defines the amount of time, within a
15 minute period, during which a Winch can operate at its maximum
capacity without overheating. For example, a Winch with a
5% duty cycle at its maximum load must be allowed to rest
for at least 14 minutes, 15 seconds after every 45 seconds
of continuous operation. Failure to carefully observe duty
cycle limitations can easily over-stress a Winch contributing
to premature Winch failure." they (HF) then tells you this winch has a 5% duty cycle .. i called several Warn dealers and they had no idea what "duty cycle" meant ... one dealer gave me the 800 number for Warn Factory Customer service ... called them and they also had NO idea what i was talking about, they said Warn does not rate duty cycle ... now really 45 seconds of use with an over 14 minute rest time seems extreme

Watch some of the Matt’s Off-road Recovery videos on YouTube. He uses the Badlands winch and works it over.

 

[slim chance]

@WK2JT .... i have watched MANY of Matt's recoveries, and yes he does work them over ... does HF give him winches??? .. is it always the same winch recovery after recovery???? ... i still say in the Badlands owners manual the "Duty cycle" of 45 seconds and a cool down time of 14 min and 15 sec sounds to me as NOT very much ....

 

[WK2JT]

@WK2JT .... i have watched MANY of Matt's recoveries, and yes he does work them over ... does HF give him winches??? .. is it always the same winch recovery after recovery???? ... i still say in the Badlands owners manual the "Duty cycle" of 45 seconds and a cool down time of 14 min and 15 sec sounds to me as NOT very much ....

What I was trying to convey is he is using it professionally. He’s pretty open about the gear he uses and if it didn’t hold up, I’d expected we’d heard something about it by now. For personal use, it has been perfectly fine for me. In the year and half I’ve had it, I’ve used it a handful of times and run it much longer than 15 secs. If I do manage to kill it, it’s still a quarter of the price of a Warn, so I’m still only halfway in on a Warn with another one. I’m sure the duty cycle language is conservative and cya.

 

[slim chance]

@@WK2JT ... ok, i do get that part .... i bought the Warn winch plate mount yesterday from 4 wheel parts ... today i bought the HF Apex 12K Synthetic along with the 2yr extended warranty ... hope the weather straightens out around here so i can get it mounted soon

 

[ShadowsPapa]

first, i have read all 14 pages of this thread and several other threads about winches AND have owned winches for large boats and ATVs ... now i am shopping for a winch for my JTF ... one issue is "duty cycle" ... this is how HF Badlands defines duty cycle ...
"Duty Cycle (Duration of Use)
Avoid damage to the Winch by not winching for more than the prescribed
duty cycle time. The Duty Cycle defines the amount of time, within a
15 minute period, during which a Winch can operate at its maximum
capacity without overheating. For example, a Winch with a
5% duty cycle at its maximum load must be allowed to rest
for at least 14 minutes, 15 seconds after every 45 seconds
of continuous operation. Failure to carefully observe duty
cycle limitations can easily over-stress a Winch contributing
to premature Winch failure." they (HF) then tells you this winch has a 5% duty cycle .. i called several Warn dealers and they had no idea what "duty cycle" meant ... one dealer gave me the 800 number for Warn Factory Customer service ... called them and they also had NO idea what i was talking about, they said Warn does not rate duty cycle ... now really 45 seconds of use with an over 14 minute rest time seems extreme

HF seems to go overboard on the warnings in a way - and then they ARE talking about MAXIMUM LOAD. Not ordinary use.
I winched a guy through some deep snow out of a ditch and I ran my winch until he was out. It was barely warm.
These winches have been used and abused and there's videos out there to show some really extreme hard-core recoveries using the Apex winches.
There are also other variables to it - at what voltage? If the voltage drops too much (as in engine is off and you are drawing directly off the battery) it's going to get hotter faster.
So many variables, but the rating as I understand it is at the maximum rated load. So if you are only pulling 4,000 pounds, don't sweat it.
There are charts out there as far as what it takes to move a rolling load up various inclines - obviously the resistance or suction of mud will play into it, but I found that a 2500 pound winch will pull a 4,000 pound car up ramps onto a trailer and not break a sweat.

 

[slim chance]

today my son and grand son helped me install the warn winch mount and the HF Apex 12K winch ... first time any of us installed a winch on a jeep .... took about 3 hrs ... only real issue is the fairlead bolts supplied were too short and the ones i bought were M12 1.75 x 50 and they were JUST long enough, would have been easier with 60mm length, but got it done

 

[OHJeeper]

Finished my stealth (relocated solenoid) install last night... still working on what to do with the main switch, I may go 400A continuous-duty solenoid, but for now this is it:

I basically built a plate using a 1/8" thick plastic sheeting and some L-brackets for the lid. The solenoid is mounted to the plate against the battery and wedges perfectly between that and the wire bundle on the fender, forward of the main ground lugs.

The wireless "box" is (right now) just laying in the cavity to the right in the last pic where you see the small red wire.

Total cost was $10 for the plastic sheet (amazon) , $4 for the l-brackets (home depot) and I already had rivets and some rivnuts laying around.

 

[B.rad]

today my son and grand son helped me install the warn winch mount and the HF Apex 12K winch ... first time any of us installed a winch on a jeep .... took about 3 hrs ... only real issue is the fairlead bolts supplied were too short and the ones i bought were M12 1.75 x 50 and they were JUST long enough, would have been easier with 60mm length, but got it done

Looks like a clean install, good job!

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