bobzdar
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Pete
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2017
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 248
- Reaction score
- 317
- Location
- Richmond, VA
- Vehicle(s)
- '24 Rubicon X 4XE, '23 Defender 130
- Thread starter
- #1
I installed the pair of these on my JLUR with factory steel bumpers yesterday and had a couple of issues - the biggest being that the Rugged Ridge winch plate rear mount plate does not clear the sway bar disconnect motor on the Rubicon. I had to leave the rear plate off - it will require a 1" wide by 1-2" notch ground out of it, but before I do that I'm going to contact Rugged Ridge to see if they have or are considering a redesign. This lower plate bolts to the skid plate mounts. As it's already held in by 10 other bolts to the frame, I'm not too concerned, but I'm not going to try to hang my Jeep from a tree "the Gods must be crazy" style.
The 2nd issue is that due to the side mounted solenoid box on the Superwinch TS series, it has to be mounted offset to the driver's side. RR put an extra set of mounting holes there presumably just for this, and it all works fine, the only issue being it is a little tricky to get the cable wound nicely on the drum due to the offset in relation to the fairlead. NBD on this one, but if I had to do it again I'd probably get a different winch or order the remote solenoid kit for it. I went with the synthetic rope version of the winch and may order the remote solenoid.
As to the install, it was all fairly straightforward - remove the skid plate, unplug the fogs, remove the bumper, put the RR winch plate on with just the 2 rear bolts (not all the way tightened), install the winch, run wiring, remove winch blankout and license plate holder from bumper, install fairlead, install the bumper, tighten the bumper bolts, tighten the rear bolts, loosen the skid plate mount bolts, install the skid plate, tighten the skid mount bolts and done. The instructions call for notching the skid mount bolt holes due to the bumper moving out, but there's enough play in the skid mounts and skid plate to compensate so it wasn't necessary for me.
If you don't have a rubicon, you can install the rear plate without issue. It's odd as they put a cutout for the sway bar disconnect but seemingly did not account for it with the rear mount plate, almost as if it's an afterthought.
if I get the remote solenoid, moving the winch to the different mounting holes should only require removing the skid plate and not removing the whole bumper, so should be a fairly easy change to center the winch perfectly. I'll see how it works out in the wild first.
The 2nd issue is that due to the side mounted solenoid box on the Superwinch TS series, it has to be mounted offset to the driver's side. RR put an extra set of mounting holes there presumably just for this, and it all works fine, the only issue being it is a little tricky to get the cable wound nicely on the drum due to the offset in relation to the fairlead. NBD on this one, but if I had to do it again I'd probably get a different winch or order the remote solenoid kit for it. I went with the synthetic rope version of the winch and may order the remote solenoid.
As to the install, it was all fairly straightforward - remove the skid plate, unplug the fogs, remove the bumper, put the RR winch plate on with just the 2 rear bolts (not all the way tightened), install the winch, run wiring, remove winch blankout and license plate holder from bumper, install fairlead, install the bumper, tighten the bumper bolts, tighten the rear bolts, loosen the skid plate mount bolts, install the skid plate, tighten the skid mount bolts and done. The instructions call for notching the skid mount bolt holes due to the bumper moving out, but there's enough play in the skid mounts and skid plate to compensate so it wasn't necessary for me.
If you don't have a rubicon, you can install the rear plate without issue. It's odd as they put a cutout for the sway bar disconnect but seemingly did not account for it with the rear mount plate, almost as if it's an afterthought.
if I get the remote solenoid, moving the winch to the different mounting holes should only require removing the skid plate and not removing the whole bumper, so should be a fairly easy change to center the winch perfectly. I'll see how it works out in the wild first.
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