How to Install a Warn Winch on JL/JT O.E. Steel Bumper 

Glad I got my winch plate today and saw this comment. My man beer on me.

I did notice that too after I ran into clearance issues! I just installed mine today but ran into problems. How the heck do you get the fairlead on!? I dont have any room to attach it once the bumper is flush up against the plate. I feel like my only option is to some how fish it thru the fairlead itself, with the head of the bolt towards the winch, not exposed. And then maybe get a cap nut to make it look decent. Suggestions?

@@malifestro3319 I ordered one of these to fish the bolts in: “CURT 58410 Fish Wire for 7/16-Inch Diameter Bolts” They are $3-4 on Amazon. And you are correct - the head of the bolt goes toward the winch and the nut goes on the outside against the fairlead. I think my Warn kit came with a couple chrome acorn/cap nuts for this.

Check out this video here, it shows how we typically wire in the winch here in the DIY Garage: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i2S_6DkSL8U.html

Correct, we went from a factory plastic bumper to a factory steel bumper.

Glad they helped.

We now have the front bumper removal video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-U2CFjGSGi3g.html

Yes you can, you need to slot the two lower holes just a little to make up for the additional plate thickness.

That was an editing error. Yes, you should wait on the fairlead until you have the bumper mounted in place. One trick to make it a little easier is to leave the winch bolts a little loose, so you can move it around to help get the fairlead bolts tightened.

@@northridgenation- Unfortunately the bolts provided are not long enough to put the fairlead on ahead of time(I don't think you would want to anyway, because of the bolt heads being sandwiched in between the winch plate and the bumper), you have to go through the 1/4 inch winch plate, steel bumper, the plate in front of the bumper(license plate holder), and the fairlead thickness. We went and got longer bolts and installed the fairlead last. I suspect that installing the fairlead ahead of time, like the video shows, could be the culprit of the skid plate not fitting. That bolt head thickness that is sandwiched in between the winch plate and bumper is probably 1/4 inch. I keep reading about people having to drill out the back 2 holes of the skid plate. Ours fit perfectly, but we didn't have the fairlead bolt head worth of thickness to deal with, because we waited until the end.

The VR-EVO 10 and 12K winches are the same size.

Sounds like a fun build. Are you going with a Rubicon model or other? The larger fender openings on the Rubi model allows more tire with smaller lift. Look at doing a D60 for the rear. The D44 will be a little light duty with 37s. Adams driveshafts would be a good upgrade too.

@@northridgenation If he's adding a lift, and changing axles to prorock, he's literally removing 90% of what makes a rubicon a rubicon, isn't he? Other than the gearing in the transfer case. And lets be honest.. if you are removing all the other components anyway, why not save the $10k "rubicon tax" and spend that on an atlas t-case?

The owner of the Gladiator wanted that blackout look, so we installed the Warn Epic Black Fairlead: www.northridge4x4.com/part/fairleads-fairlead-brackets/100655-warn-epic-1-0-fairlead-black

If you have decent mechanic aptitude, you should be able to get this done in a couple hours. Don't forget to do the grill hack to make removing the grill easier in the future: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wXnxPlB3v34.html

Awesome, thank you!

Not sure why they are saying that. While we haven't tried the Warn winch plate on an Ecodiesel, we have tried the Grimm Off Road winch plate with the factory steel bumper on a 2021 Rubicon Ecodiesel and it fit just fine. www.northridge4x4.com/part/winch-plates/10067-grimm-offroad-steel-bumper-winch-plate

Yes, you can.

Do you have a stock Jeep steel skid plate? You will need to slot the rear two holes a little bit to get the bolt holes to line up.

We haven't seen a problems with the skid plate brackets yet.

Craigslist.

Check out the LoD Flip-Up license plate holder. It mounts under you fairlead. No drilling required. www.northridge4x4.com/part/license-plate-solutions-1/jlp0731-lod-universal-front-bumper-fairlead-flip-up-license-plate-mount

Anything is possible with cutting, LoL. But that's not something we've seen yet.

@@northridgenation What were the Jeep engineers thinking here? They could at least given us an option to purchase a recovery package and/or made the bumper to accommodate a later upgrade, rather than us having to do an aftermarket hack job.

Those stiffner brackets may need to be removed depending on the length of the winch you install.

www.northridge4x4.com/part/hooks/00050-04-factor-55-flatlink-black

That's a big possibility. Speak up viewers.... who else wants to see a bed mounted fridge? Of course the best exposed bed fridge would be the ARB Elements fridge: www.northridge4x4.com/part/refrigeration-coolers/10810602-arb-all-weather-fridge-freezer-63qt ARB Slide Mount: www.northridge4x4.com/part/refrigeration-coolers/10900040-arb-elements-fridge-slide-63qt ARB Tie Down Kit: www.northridge4x4.com/part/refrigeration-coolers/10900038-arb-elements-63qt-fridge-tie-down-kit

We had to slot the lower holes about one bolt width.

Have you seen this grill mod? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wXnxPlB3v34.html

No! This makes total sense though. You’re a lifesaver.

Yes, the same size, the difference is in the internals.

If you have the factory steel bumper, it will work.

@@northridgenation my bumper has a plastic cover, no exposed bolts. I can send you pictures.

The factory steel bumper does not come with a winch mount.

It would depend on the flat tow base and how it mounts. The Maximus 3 Tow Loops will work: www.northridge4x4.com/part/towing-hitches/jl1025tl-maximus-3-tow-loops-red The RockJock Tow Base Plate requires some modifications to the winch plate brackets. RockJock Tow Base Plate: www.northridge4x4.com/part/towing-hitches/ce-9033jls-rockjock-tow-bar-mounting-kit

Yes, it can be a problem.

Yes, it will, but it can be tight. We'd recommend doing the grill mod to make grille removal a lot easier: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wXnxPlB3v34.html

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You need to slot or enlarge the lower two holes on the air dam/splash shield to get it to bold back in place.

We haven't tried one yet. Looking at their instructions, that JL baseplate mounts to the outside of the frame and hangs down lower than the bumper, so there's a chance it will.

Yes it will I am currently doing it and have seen it done on several here at Jeep Invasion.

Problems?

Thanks! Glad you like them.

@richard kemna How-To program your JL/JT Aux Switch video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-irV9ElFxuVo.html

What model do you have? A Rubicon has higher clearance flares and can fit 37s with a 2.5" lift. A Sport will need a 3.5"-4.5" lift or a 2.5" lift with a set of Rubicon flares. The axles in the Rubicon and Max-Tow Gladiators are also wider, which will give you more tire clearance at the frame.

Northridge4x4 thanks for the feedback and I appreciate your help! I did compare my max tow to my buddy’s rubicon and your 100% correct his fender flares are higher and even the curvature is a bit different allowing more clearance so I will proceed with shopping 3.5 lifts!

Really depends on what you're doing with the JT. Towing, it would be a good idea. Super slow rock crawling, again a good idea. Cruising the streets and weekend warrior off roading, probably not needed.

Before we slid the OE steel bumper back in place.

Correct.

The VR and Zeon are pretty much the same for installation. The older VR is a little smaller, the new VR2 is very similar in size to the Zeon.

We haven't tried that one. The front facia bolts should be pretty close, the lower brackets are going to be the issue.

I just installed a JL Mopar steel bumper and winch on my JK. The JL bumper bolts right up but You’ll need to use the JK Rubicon Hardrock/anniversary winch plate, not a JL winch plate like used in this video.

The rule of thumb for winch sizing has always been 1.5 x vehicle weight. The Gladiator weighs in around 5100 lbs. (depending on model and options), so the 10s will be plenty big for your Gladiator. www.northridge4x4.com/part/jeep-truck-suv-winches/89611-warn-zeon-10-s-winch

We shot it, unfortunately the wind was so bad, the audio sucked, so we couldn't use it. We will shoot another one on our next winch install video. In the meantime you can check out a write-up we did awhile back: www.northridgenation.com/warn-jl-elite-winch-bumper-install/

That one isn't available yet. Coming soon.

Easy you don't need a video for that. Hook it to a good support (post, tree, etc..) and put the vehicle in neutral and wheel it in. You need at least 1000lbs of tension. On the last 10 ft. , you can use body tension to wheel in. Simple as that.