By JC on Sunday, April 08, 2001 - 04:22 am: Edit

I recently bought an arb bumper from my local shop. when i finished putting it on i was trying to figure out how the winch mounts. the bar didn't come with a cradle like the air bag one does. Should it have come with it? any help would be great.

JC

By Bill B on Sunday, April 08, 2001 - 12:53 pm: Edit

Winch mounts directly to the bumper without the need for any other parts. Winch has to be put "in" the bumper before mounting it all on the truck, so bad news - you have to remove the bumper you just installed! There are two sets of holes - one below the integrated fairlead support and one above. Note that the Warn fairleads must be redrilled to match the holes in the ARB bumper. The bottom set of holes is used to secure both the fairlead and thw winch, while the upper set just attaches the winch to the bumper. With the bumper off the truck it is easy - after redrilling the fairlead, just drop it place and secure with four bolts - done (course then it is a PIA to put the bumper/winch on the truck, but such is life.) Also not certain which winch you have, but I'm told that not all Warn winches fit the ARB without modification (I know though that the M12K does!). A couple tips too - mount the solenoid box first AFTER you have pulled all the cables off the winch motor (except battery ground - see below.) You will need the extension battery cables as supplied with the ARB bar, and even then I discovered one that was still too short and had to make another. Also leave the battery ground cable and the overload protection circuit wire attached to the winch motor - otherwise (at least with the M12K) you won't be able to reach the ground connection after you bolt the winch in the bumper. Not much else to it - good luck. Let me know if you need any pix.