View attachment 2319128Over the weekend I bought and installed the somewhat new harbor freight badlands Apex 12k lb winch. It was 599 and with a coupon came to 480. My LC is a 2000 but with an ARB 2003 and up version of their bull bar bumper. This one is supposed to fit a 12k lb winch, which it does. The mounting holes face forward so the winch has to be mounted with its "top" facing back. This necessitates the removal of the control box and usually the rotation of the housing for the clutch. The apex winch comes with a relocation kit for the control box, but doesn't have the ability to clock or rotate the clutch.
I finished up the install today. It took way too long but I really wanted the details to be right.
As said before the housing won't rotate so you have to access the clutch from below. I cut a 4" hole in the splash guard for access and fitted a 50 cent 4" knockout plug from home depot as a cover. It just snaps in.
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I wanted the control box to sit on top. The bracket they give you to relocate it is more cumbersome than the box itself. And the box is plenty strong so I got some 50mm/2" long m6 bolts at Oreillys and some 3/4" spacers at Ace hardware and I drilled the bumper where I wanted the box mounted. I then used m6 rivet nuts so I didn't have to through-bolt it which would be a pain. The spacers keep the box from touching the bumper and rattling or wearing through the powder coat. Unfortunately the back bolts ran into a verticle support on the underside of the bumper which was inconvenient. A 1/4" more forward would have been perfect.
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The fairlead needs to be mounted right through to the winch mounts and the bolts they give you are the wrong size. I got some m10 1.5 50mm long class 10.9(grade 8) bolts at Oreillys.
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I fitted the battery cut off switch both to protect my circuits and to prevent unauthorized use of the winch when I'm not around. The switch is next to the battery under the hood.
I also used some 3/8this hose to protect the heavy battery cables as they passed by or through body panels etc...
If it rotated this would be nearly a turn key deal. The synthetic rope, hook, relocation kit and wireless remote included are a fantastic bargain. About 10 bucks in extra bolts to make it work. You could do this without the riv nut tool but I just bought one so I was happy to find more uses for it.
I bought a recovery kit to go along with the winch as well from 4 wheel parts wholesale. Its just a smitty built kit but has the basics you need to get started. I've never winched before but watched some really great videos on YouTube by Ronny Dahl.
instead had to drill out the factory bracket slightly to get a hole to line up. There's no adjustment really in the bracket other than oversize holes. Installing the two bolts into the shock bracket on the back is a little fiddly and I can't get a wrench on one of the nuts inside so can't properly tighten. I would actually prefer to have one through hole ands long bolt that goes all the way through even though it requires drilling. It will make removal of the shock much easier in the future. I may still do this. I think it's possible as is.
