2003 Ford F350 SD King Ranch 6.0 I'm changing out front and rear bumpers. Looking for recommendations on a winch for emergency situations in the mountains of CO without breaking the bank. I would also use it to pull others out when needed.

 

I was looking at ARB and Ranch Hands winch ready bumpers but during Covid the prices, shipping and wait times went bonkers. I have a F 250 2002 XLT CC and was priced at $1,800.00 for a ARB front bumper. I haven't checked the rear ones yet. Let me know what you find as I am not in a rush and will wait for the smoke to clear.
PJ

 

I bought these bumpers...
Fab Fours® FS99-RT1350-1 - Red Steel Full Width Black Powder Coat Rear HD Bumper
Fab Fours® FS99-RS1662-1 - Red Steel Full Width Black Powder Coat Front Winch HD Bumper with Hoop

With the lights...

 

I havent personally used one, but the smittybuilt winches are priced right and get good reviews. Maybe try looking into those.
edit: Go big with whatever you choose. Your truck is no lightweight.

 

I believe a lot of guys are having good luck with the Harbor Freight Badlands Apex winches (You'd want the 12k lb one). There are a lot of budget winches out there, I can't imagine they are all that different...
The last winch I bought was an ENGO 10k with synthetic line and it was less than $400... That was close to 20 years ago... I still have it and it works great. I am planning on getting a 12k Badlands for the F350 though.

If you're planning on using the winch on a weekly/monthly basis, I would lean towards a Warn. I think for most people a budget winch being used once a year at most would be the best option, unless you've got the money.

 

I just made spacers and pushed my own front bumper forward three inches and change. That let me bury my old Warn M12000 between the frame rails with a minor relocation of the power steering cooler.

I just bought a M8 Warn for my Jeep. I've heard a lot of good things about Harbor Freight but we still make winches in the USA...that and I live in Oregon...kinda figured I'd support the local economy. Shout out to Stage 3 motorsports for a good price and fast, free shipping.

-Mac

 

I'm going to go as big as it can handle would rather have OVERKILL then not enough.

 

It sounds counterintuitive, but I give my vote to the Harbor Freight Badlands winch. It does surprisingly well and holds its own against the competition. That's what I would put on my vehicle.

I'm not saying this just because of it being harbor freight, but always have a plan B with getting yourself unstuck.

 

I'm a fan of Made In USA, and Warn fits that bill (but not for all Warn branded products).

The Warn M15000 that I've had since it was first introduced was Made In USA, and has never failed over the last 20 years.

I tucked the M15000 into Warn's semi hidden kit for the 1999-2004 Super Duty, but the M15000 has a standard bolt pattern that will likely fit in the aftermarket bumpers you chose.

 

I put a Harbor Freight winch on mine, had to use it a couple times and it worked fine, and you can't beat the price of them.

 

I had the Warn winch and bumper on my 1990 and liked the looks, but rarely used it. Forget which one, but it looked fairly stock and hid the winch.

 

Don,
If you click any of the links only the front bumpers is shown. The Rear bumper link doesn't load.....

 

Warn called it the "Enforcer", and it also had cut outs for rectangular fog/driving lights, and black rubber end tips, and the size and location of the lights in the bumper lined up with and matched the rectangular composite headlights on the brick nose Ford trucks of that 1990 era, making the ensemble appear all OEM. Very nice look. Made the front cover of a lot of magazines back in the day.

 

I have a winch (Off Road Boar - Amazon) on the receiver cradle so I can use it front or rear on any vehicle. Gauge 0 copper jumper cables retrofitted with Anderson connectors to power winch. Factory bumpers with heavy duty receiver hitch in the front. Inexpensive and flexible. I like the look of factory bumpers as most aftermarket have too much bling for me.

 

Gotta have the youth and the back to hand carry a winch large enough to meet the 1.5 times vehicle weight (8,000 lbs truck weight x 1.5 = 12,000 lbs winch capacity).... and adding 0 gauge copper means having to have a bigger back.

Gotta have the spare space in the bed to store a hand carry winch, along with the boots to trudge into the snow or mud to and kneel down in the muck that the truck is stuck in so as to install the winch into the receiver at the time of need.

Gotta have some type of cage or security method if storing the winch jutting out on the front receiver, because a locking receiver pin doesn't prevent thieves from unbolting the winch from the cradle, or using a battery sawzall to just cut off the insert tube of the cradle at the mouth of the receiver.

Gotta have the winch if leaving the winch securely at home in the garage, because Murphy's Law dictates that the time when a winch is required is the time when least expected.

So there are a few benefits to having a built in winch, that is always there when needed, without having to get in the muck to get it in place, without having to trip over it in the bed, without having to worry about it getting swiped while in the parking lot of Home Depot, and without having to have hernia surgery after carrying it around.

Not saying that one choice is better than the other.... just identifying some reasons for having the winch built in.

And on that note, one non winching reason for having a winch comes to mind, that applies to temporary or permanently mounted winches positioned within or ahead of the front bumper:

That reason is weight distribution ballast weight when towing.

A front mounted winch puts weight forward at the furthest position possible in front of the front axle, which helps maintain steering traction when towing a conventional trailer whose tongue weight wants to relieve weight from the front axle.

Storing a winch in the truck bed has the opposite effect, adding to the weight on the rear axle, and thus adding to the impact of tongue weight reduces steering traction.