Hey all! figured I’d post my take on the modification of the trailhawk to fit a Warn VR8 behind the factory bumper. Inspired by the mopar concept with the hidden warn winch I discovered @persquank ‘s post with his similar mod: https://toasterjeep.com/index.php?threads/my-renegade-photos.1091/page-3 I was able to get AVID to respond about purchasing a bumper support bar by itself. They just so happened to have one for the contour “laying around.” $235 shipped I knew it was going to need some trimming but waited patiently for the install. Fast forward almost 4 months, I ordered a Warn VR8 from amazon $498 with the steel cable I plan to switch out later. This thing is a beast! Sat it on the tray (or attempted to) and it was big brain time. The contour is designed for the atv winches, and I didn’t want to waste the time or money on those. The width of the tray is for 1 inch too narrow plus it needed new mounting holes. My original plan was to ditch their recovery points and keep the original trailhawk hooks, but this isn’t possible. The hooks mount to the stock impact bar and doesn’t come close to the new support bar. Anyways, here’s how I cut it: after the cuts: the corners above were trimmed for clearance with the radiator lines. Sprayed the cuts and mounted it for a test fit. ran the wiring through the drivers side, and sat the control box on top of the battery for now (don’t have the relocation bracket yet) the inside of the solenoid is wired as shown: top to bottom: armature, positive lead to battery, F1 then F2. (nevermind the writing.. even I don’t understand my chicken-scratch)
Wow, that is great. Nice pictures, thanks for posting. How is the quality of the Avid bumper support ? I would love to get one of their Contour bumpers and the 1.5" lift.
yea no kidding lol I was too lazy to throw a couple screws in the fenders.. kept breaking my small bits cause I was going too fast. all the rub is gone again
quality is good! nice finish, but when I put it up to the jeep I can tell it was made for all renegades. that or they didn’t take in account for a couple of things. the main gripe were the radiator lines (metal ones on either side) came very close to it. I felt it was necessary to trim for. the other was the hole for the trailhawk hook passenger side had a lip of about a 1/8” so i had to grind that down in order for the bar to sit flush. I’m eager to see what their radius setup looks like (my next feat.. many months from now) I have to figure out how to reinforce the bumper with the fairlead. for now it’s not supported behind it and about a inch or so of a gap between the head of the nut and the winch. I’m thinking of running to home depot and using a couple of L brackets trimmed to length to press up against the fairlead or even if I get lucky, mount the fairlead to. we’ll see, I gotta let these knuckles heal!
oh, did anyone else notice the thickness difference from their recovery points? kinda funny what shows is nice and thick
I didn't notice it until you said it, but yeah! And the way they are attached, all the beef in the recovery points is doing no good! It looks like there isn't a full bead down the outter attachment for them either, just the ends, or is that the light not letting us see it?
of so, the vertical part with the recovery point is all one piece. welded along the inside from side to side. they certainly weren’t designed for use without the added support from the rest of the bumper, that’s for sure. we’ll have to see how it lasts with use. Also, the recovery points would stick out of the lower end of the contour bumper and my idea is that would probably keep it from flexing too much as well. probably safe to say they should only be relied upon for straight pulls, if that at all!
Yup, That's the part I was looking at and thinking it was two pieces, I'm surprised it's one piece, But looking at the edge thought it might be. I agree the bumper probably supplies support to keep it from flexing
thanks to you @persquank this was all possible! was starting to think I’d never end up getting to it too having a newborn in the house now. anyways, did you experience any problems with your badlands winch? read they weren’t too reliable past the second or third use.
I put a Smittybuilt on mine, but just cause Rocky Road says it and the Zeon are the only ones that fit their winch bumpers. I've been using Bad Lands winches on most of my other Jeeps for over ten years, and never had one out right fail after a few pulls, I have replaced the solenoid boxes ($40) on a few of of them after a few years use, and had the crappy wired controllers wear out, but overall, they've done me well, They're slow, and over heat on multiple pulls so they stop till they cool off (Any light duty winch will, so figure any winch under $800). But for Value at the price, I love them.