Just thought I would send in a pic of my front winch bumper. Great story where a buddy is a welder/fabricator and a guy who wanted an extreme hd bumper for pushing around cars at his wrecking yard didnt show up to pay the bill. I bought it for $900. Its so heavy! 3/16\" steel, had to use a bobcat to lift it into place. Winch mounts inside, cant steal it and weather protected.

 

I agree,,
the thieves are not going to be able to get my winch either, it is buried inside the Ranch Hand bumper.
i love it, works super great with the HF Bluetooth controller...
that thing can work from Longer distances than I want to walk....

much better than a Key Fob for a car.

I have seen Casey LaDelle use his HF Bluetooth controller with two Winch line extensions inline with the 80 ft Winch line... all are the new Yankum Rope synthetic lines....





I saw a Winch test a few days ago, the HF Apex is slower than nearly all the other brands, but that BT controller out-bested all of the others.

I have no complaints.

 

@greygriz Looks beefy. Looks to be a lot more bumper there than you'd get with many of the "offroad" bumper options.

Couple of questions...

What fairlead is that? I think I've seen it or one similar on one of the YT channels, but I don't remember who made it.

Are you talking actual bluetooth controller, or just the HF wireless remotes? I've seen their wireless remotes, but never noticed a bluetooth controller or built in control options for their winches. At least nothing sold in their stores.

I've got one of the remotes to hook into a 5k HF winch I've got. It's setup on a hitch plate for my trailer or in a reciever hitch, but the two times I've used it have been with jumper cables direct to a battery. Really need to get a control box set up for it.

Recently bought another 3.5k badlands to install on my ATV, will probably get another wireless remote for that, but I think the plug will have to be cut off and hard wired in. I don't think it's got a remote socket like the bigger winches. It was primarily bough to drag deer from places I don't want to drive into, and the handle bar switch isn't going to cut it for that.

Remotes get lost, BT control from my phone as primary or backup would be awesome.


Where did you find the Winch test, I'd like to give it a watch or read. Probably not going to matter, I doubt I'll be buying another winch. Got those two and there's a 8274 on the front of my F-100 that needs rebuilt. Classic truck is keeping the classic winch, but it will get a rope. I don't see the F-250 getting a winch and winch bumper, but you never know.

 

I completely agree. I used the stand-alone Badlands Apex controller with my old Engo 12K winch until I replaced it with the Apex winch. I even cooked up a printable adapter to make it easy to use the cord if the remote battery ever died in the field.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5335754
This video has the pinout,

 

it is 05:15 here now, Oh-dark-thirty.

once Daylight arrives, I will go outside and take a series of photos to show the Bluetooth controller module, which is mounted on the passenger side, in the Ranch Hand bumper horizontal plate next to the Ford's grill.

and a picture of the Bluetooth hand controller.

the Fairlead is Yankum, a pricey gadget, but the Badlands winch synthetic rope will one day need to be replaced, or at a minimum, I need to remove the hook, and braid their line into a loop, so that it can be looped over the Yankum Fairlead. And, once I have a loop in the winch line, I will be able to use Winch Line Extensions with then work properly with the Yankum smooth shackle which I have.

Offset Shackle Ring that I have, with this you can make a 3 part winch line with ease.
https://yankum.com/products/offset-winch-ring

Fairlead that I have
https://yankum.com/products/winch-hawse-groove-fairlead


Here is Casey LaDelle showing how to use the Off-Set Winch Ring.

 

The Apex Winch Control Module, I have it mounted on the Passenger side behind the Ranch Hand bumper.
HF intended for it to be mounted on top of the Winch itself, not enough room the way my winch is mounted.. on a typical Jeep install, yeah, mount it on top of the winch.





the BT hand controller



which has a nice strong Magnet on the back, let's me stick it to the hood
while working with the lines.



and just to put everything in one post, the Apex Winch as mounted
on my truck




On the right side of the Winch, as pictured, the bumper pipe is cut out, to allow me to reach in and move the Release Handle, so the line can be pulled out by hand.