2006 LC w/ Slee Blueberry Bumper and M12000 Winch

[SkyHunter]

Here's the set up on the front end of my 2006 Land Cruiser. I have the Slee Blueberry front bumper with a Warn M12000 winch. This size winch is a very tight fit. We trimmed the top of radiator grill in order to reach the clutch knob (see photo below) without getting my arm stuck in there . The controller box is wedged in as shown. In order to not get a ticket from law enforcement I have zip tied and bungeed my license plate in front of the controller box. It is easy enough to remove the license plate to plug in the hand controller when needed.

I will be switching to a synthetic winch rope and a hawse fairlead in the near future...

 

[SkyHunter]

More pictures...

 

[Blackwater]

Hunter, looks great..

Glad to see a member with a Slee/Warn 1200 setup because thats what im leaning towards.

Throw up some more pics of your truck when you get a chance. I would love to see it.

 

[SkyHunter]

Thanks Blackwater. I need to take more pictures... Most of my best ones are already here. I have a couple videos pre-modifications too.

 

[Blackwater]

Thanks Blackwater. I need to take more pictures... Most of my best ones are already here. I have a couple videos pre-modifications too.

Yea no worries. Just if you get a chance I would love to see some side profile, and rear pictures.

Do those 275 GY MTR's seem to fit fairly well with you 2.5 lift??

 

[BamaHeel]

I would like to see more pics of the wings and the gaps between the body and the bumper.

 

[SR.GRINGO]

Thanks SkyHunter Sharp Cruiser!

 

[hoser]

Skyhunter, is your m12000 winch installed backwards?

 

[SkyHunter]

Skyhunter, is your m12000 winch installed backwards?

Hoser, if you mean is it backwards because the cable unreels off the topside then yes . When researching synthetic winch ropes I have learned that unreeling off the topside will put undue wear on the rope and lead to failure.

This is the first winch I've owned and I have never done a cable replacement on one. Question: can I switch directions on the rope when I replace it? I really don't want to pull the bumper to flip the winch around...

 

[hoser]

By no means am I an expert on this but AFAIK, not only does the cable need to unspool off the bottom end, the winch is designed to power-in, in one direction because of the brake design. So, the way you have the winch oriented and if you were to switch the cable around, you'll be pulling the weight of the vehicle and against the brake (I think? I'm trying to visualize it in my head!).

Typically, you can power-out for small adjustments but you usually freespool the cable out and engage the clutch to power-in. Otherwise, you can overheat the brake and even melt your expensive synthetic line to the drum. I believe this particular winch has the brake within the drum.

So, you need to flip your winch around so the motor is on the driver's side. After you take the winch out, you can carefully clock the clutch handle end assembly so it is oriented towards the front and within easy reach right in front of the grill... or clock it towards the rear to make the handle a little more 'protected.' Search "clock winch" for more details.

You might be able to remove the grill and take the winch out from above... without even removing the bumper. But I have not seen an '06 up close, so I don't know for sure. I can do it on my LX but I had to cut a piece of horizontal section.

Also, after you switch the winch around, make sure your AT cooler rubber lines aren't touching the winch, it'll eventually rub through.

 

[ChuckB]

Very nice!! I'm looking at getting an '05-'06 100 next summer and want the Slee Bumper. We'll have to go wheelin' once that happens!

 

[CappyKD]

Looks good!

 

[SkyHunter]

Installation update: July 2012

Hi everyone, I am updating my post to show how I finally got my M12000 installed on my truck. I had to solve a few problems along the way so I thought I’d share the lessons learned…

Hoser was very observant that the original M12000 installation was bass ackwards. After consulting with Warn, they confirmed that the M12000 is designed to pull in one direction because the brake is installed in the center of the drum. Warn calls this design a low profile winch, but it is still a bear to fit. Thanks Hoser, it is nice to have members here that take the time to look at what people are doing and offer their knowledge and experience.

The first thing we learned during the re-install job is Toyota added a cross-brace on the 2006 model below the front grill that spans the width of the vehicle. I’m not sure if 2006 was the first year but I know it is not there in some earlier versions. This cross-brace restricts the volume to fit large winches so this added a challenge to the job. After flipping the winch around, we tried routing the winch wires below the cross-brace as shown. This was fixed in the second wiring iteration.

The other problem created by this cross-brace was it interfered with the clutch knob. Clocking the clutch assembly did not help. Clocking it forward resulted in the knob hitting the bumper. We could not clock the clutch assembly behind the cross-brace due to the AT cooler lines.

 

[SkyHunter]

Installation update: July 2012

There were two problems with running the wires under the cross-brace: 1) interference with the winch rope and 2) the wires rubbed on the cross-brace and that would eventually cause a short. The wiring fix was easy. I cut away some of the heat wrap protection on the winch side of the power and ground line and adjusted the bend coming from the battery to allow the power line to run under the motor. I then routed the control wires coming out of the solenoid box to run in front of the cross-brace.

Before


After

 

[SkyHunter]

Installation update: July 2012

In order to fix the clutch knob interference, I decided to cut a notch in the cross-brace. Using my handy Dremel tool, I cut a notch in the front face of the cross-brace. The cross-brace is non-structural and considering there isn’t one in the earlier models, I am not concerned about any loss of strength in this piece of metal. I suppose I could have cut the whole thing off but chose to leave it there. Toyota must have had a good reason for adding it.

Almost through


Cleaned up the notch and now the clutch knob is free to rotate.

 

[SkyHunter]

Installation update: July 2012

And finally here it is with the grill back on.

 

[SkyHunter]

Installation update: July 2012

Finally, a note about the orientation of the winch. Warn states the M12000 is to be mounted feet facing forward and there has been discussion of this on IH8MUD and other websites. This bumper has four mounting holes on the bottom of the bumper and two mounting holes on the front face of the bumper. This winch is buttressed against the inside front face of the bumper so my plan was to use all six mounting holes and the only way to do this was put it feet down with all four feet bolted down and then run two bolts through the front of the bumper into the winch. Unfortunately, the two front holes did not line up. While there are no front fasteners for my installation, the winch does rest against the inside front face of the bumper. Since it can’t move forward under load I don’t expect a problem with the feet being mounted down. If the front bumper ever needs to come off again, I will look into rotating the winch but I am tired of removing the bumper for now…

In the meantime, I will winch with care. The reason I have a winch is it is insurance. I broke my old Cherokee’s front axle yoke pulling my friend’s FJ62 out of some deep mud with a tow strap (tried to back him out). I decided I didn’t want to break anything on my LC so now I carry some insurance. Is a 12,000 lb winch too big? I don’t know yet, but if I run across this in my travels I will let you know.


One can always hope .

 

[cruiser100]

Have you thought about relocating your control box? I moved mine under the hood just behind the fusebox and have an extension cable that I route just below the windshield on the DS when wheeling.

 

[hoser]

SkyHunter, looks like you have it all sorted out. I mentioned this before... that AT cooler hose in the upper left corner will eventually fail if it is touching the winch now. There is constant friction between the two as the body moves/flexes in relation to the frame.

You can't really shorten the hose since it has special end fittings. I'd wrap that portion with another hose (split) and double zip tie it away from the winch.

 

[SkyHunter]

Have you thought about relocating your control box? I moved mine under the hood just behind the fusebox and have an extension cable that I route just below the windshield on the DS when wheeling.

Yes, I considered that Cruiser100. I did not want to have to pop the hood open to operate the winch, even though that was my original set up. Do you control the winch from inside the truck?