Installed the Rough Country winch mount yesterday. One hour, by myself. Used a floor jack to lift it in place.


Only problem was removing the plastic molding which came in the spot the fairlead will be. Just a small rectangular plastic molding with a couple of bars down the middle for looks. It had two screws on top edge, and two pushpins on bottom , but also was molded with two catches on each side on the back I did not see. When I figured it out, and squeezed with just my fingers, little too hard and snapped one catch on each side. They slide into a slot and catch but wont be doing that ever again. Oh well.


As for mount, solid and easy to install. I used hand tools as the air gun would only hit one of the bolts for the front tow hooks. The other was blocked by plastic molding. No big deal.


Hidden Winch Mounting Plate for 09-14 Ford F-150 Pickup [1010] | Rough Country Suspension Systems®

 

Sounds good mod, got pics on how it looks at the front?

 

The filler plate gets mounted with winch fair lead so that's next week. The mount is only the rectangle in the middle. Not anything seen on the sides, that is Ford truck on the sides. Not sure what it's for, guess eco plumbing or mounting.

 

Looking down inside

 

Close up of holes on mount. Wet from a wash





Poor picture of stock tow hook two bolts that are reused and one new bolt and flag nut which is further back. Flag nut is just a nut on a long stem to hold and position since you can't get inside the frame to hold it. If you look above tow hook, inside frame to the right, you can see the very end of the flag which the nut is secured to on other end. This allows something to hold to position the nut while bolt is inserted in the boxed frame. Pretty easy to use. Three bolts to frame on each side.

 

 

That looks as though it makes for a nice clean install. Nice job. Is that synthetic cable in the winch? And how much does the whole thing weigh?

 

The winch is a Smittybilt x2o comp 12k with synthetic rope. Amazon says it weighs 63 pounds. I think less, like under 50. The synthetic rope is reported to be 1/7th the weight of steel cable, and the reason I picked it. Also easier to use and an aluminum hawse fairlead also weighs less than a steel roller fairlead.




In measuring bumper before and after I had less than 1/4 inch sag to the front. I photographed it and compared both, no noticeable difference.

 

 

Look at 28 1/2 and then next picture is not yet to 28 1/4

 

Went out on Easter to an empty lot and pulled brother in laws Jeep with it. Had to pull in with 1000 pounds pressure to wrap it on spool tighter and place the "guard" on it. The guard is for abrasion to protect the synthetic rope. Spooled in perfect under load and no problems. So easy I think I might have done something wrong!!!

 

That looks excellent.
Sadly, Rough Country doesn't make a winch mount for my 250.