How To Install 2010 Ram 1500 hidden winch

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Dantheman

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The cross member is integral. It holds the bumper pad. The bumper pad holds the fog lights and bumper cover.

I am going all through this to keep my light bar. It's a lot of work, but it's what I do.

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I see. If I were you, I would have whatever winch you’re using before you go any farther. I would take some angle and weld it all around where you cut the crossmember. Inside and outside around the edges. Just match the contour and send it home with weld. If you’re worried about the cable/rope rubbing i would take a roller fairlead and put it inside the crossmember then run it out through the bumper in the hawse fairlead. That way you have double the rope guidance and strength on pulling at angles. As far as a winch plate, I would just go to harbor freight and get one (and some cut off wheels because that thing is pretty beefy). 20% coupon on pretty much everything, was like $40 from what I remember. Already drilled for the winch and you can cut it up to whatever you want. Get some steel tubing to mount the bumper fairlead.


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Dantheman

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Too tired to speak details but got it done. Only thing left is make some lower supports, but it pulled the truck through the yard in Park without issues.347d28fc1e1575a596f870fb1dfc872b.jpg12a87aead70fd67d59fb1f180186194a.jpgd811457ae7829e0183f38d3f3b06d410.jpg

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Curious to see some behind the bumper pics if you have any


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misfit77

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Son of a ***** i thought i took more pics. I dont have pics if all the metal pieces installed. I ended making a pretty robust fairlead holder its the 3 pronged object between the bumper and winch plate in the pic of parts on the ground.

There are random holes, but thats what you get you buy scrap metal


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misfit77

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I am making lower supports this weekend. Ill take more pics. I will also post a link to my google photos.

I would try to score a cheap bumper bar from a salvage yard and mock everything up before trimming the bumper cover. At least it will be reversible. People are worried about resale. Its a Ram, resale is out the window already.

Oh ya putting it in the lower grill would much easier than what I did. You might be able to use the kit from vice. I think I could have used the kit from vice but I didn't want to spend $600 to find out.

Total investment, not including new tools and winch was $65.
 
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misfit77

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Im finally finished as of last week. Just too lazy to post pics till now.

Installed lower supports and a big ass switch.

Please excuse the crappy welding.312d71aac3ecb228796768fb005da11d.jpgbe26e089668644198f28e9568096ef72.jpgdf50fee791ac78f709f777a074733203.jpge058411c64e700bb20e56b35d7a6b8c8.jpg

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DILLIGAF

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And it starts

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daveray9

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Id buy this..

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Dantheman

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@Dantheman are you still making those winch mounts? Also, do they work with the late 4th gen sport bumpers?
I am not really making these anymore. It is just not cost effective, especially in shipping, for one person to do. I can do them locally but shipping one of these is outrageous.

Is there a difference between any year 4th gen sport bumpers? I installed one on a sport bumper that required a decent amount of trimming but it worked.
 

daveray9

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I am not really making these anymore. It is just not cost effective, especially in shipping, for one person to do. I can do them locally but shipping one of these is outrageous.

Is there a difference between any year 4th gen sport bumpers? I installed one on a sport bumper that required a decent amount of trimming but it worked.
09-12 sport bumpers are different than 13+
Where are you located...

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misfit77

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Dont do the angle iron route.

The steel just isnt strong enough. Sure everyone claims it fine, but i dint buy it.

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Dantheman

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Dont do the angle iron route.

The steel just isnt strong enough. Sure everyone claims it fine, but i dint buy it.

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Not sure why you don't "buy it". Anytime you bend steel, it is stronger than flat bar. 1/4" angle iron can withstand a lot more force than a flat 1/4" bar. Pretty simple physics behind that. Considering I have 1/4" angle welded and bolted to 1/4" plate, I'm more worried about sheering the entire front end off before the mount even budges.

But hey, to each their own.
 

John Wooten

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Not sure why you don't "buy it". Anytime you bend steel, it is stronger than flat bar. 1/4" angle iron can withstand a lot more force than a flat 1/4" bar. Pretty simple physics behind that. Considering I have 1/4" angle welded and bolted to 1/4" plate, I'm more worried about sheering the entire front end off before the mount even budges.

But hey, to each their own.

Angle iron has two supporting sides, as flat bars only has its self...

That said; the angle iron probably won't work on my project as I has a sport bumper and it's has a different clearances...
 

Gixxer750

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So, I have searched everywhere, and couldn't find any info on this, so the following is my solution.

Problem: I wanted a winch, but didn't want a huge winch bumper. I don't plan to take this truck wheeling, but I do live in farm country and getting stuck or needing to pull somebody else out is common. I also don't want a 2" receiver and 'removable' winch, because likely it'll be sitting at home the day that I need it. I want to know that its always there, 'just in case'.

There is an enormous space behind the front bumper, so I set out to get a winch in there.

I started with 2.5" angle iron across the mounting bolts for the tow hooks. this gave me a surface to start working from. my target is to get the fairlead to come out through the opening below the license plate. I removed the original to hook bolts, and replaced with longer bolts of the same size.
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I then took a harbor freight winch cradle I had from a previous project and cut it to fit on top of the angle iron, and between the bumper mounting brackets.
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after a lot of measuring, and repositioning (don't forget, the winches aren't centered, my warn is offset by an inch or so). I managed to get it to sit really close to center, but the fairlead is still off center by about 1/2". only noticable when comparing it to the location of the license plate. I used a couple pieces of 1/4" plate for spacers to get the height just right. And after I was happy, I drilled and bolted the cradle to the angle iron.
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next to add a little support to the front of the winch mount. I used a couple small sections of the angle iron, and drilled 1 hole in the side of each bumper mounting bracket. this is mostly for stability, as the bolts through the tow hooks will take the force of the winch.
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Now for the fairlead. I decided to use synthetic cable and a hawse fairlead. more sleek look, and lighter weight. I used 1.5" tubing for the stand-off brackets, and needed bend the lower part of the bumper 'lip' down slightly to make enough room for it to poke through.
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Time to weld! While the whole thing could probably be bolted together and be plenty strong, I wanted to weld everything together to make it rock solid. then throw some paint at it.
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Re-installed the mounting plate, bolted in the winch, notched out the plastic 'filler' piece for a finished look, clocked the winch clutch lever to the back so it can be turned by reaching under the bumper, re-installed the plastic airdam, used a wireless winch controller so I didn't need to re-locate the control box.
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I used an 8,000 lb warn winch, and feel that this is sufficient for my winching needs. If I regularly took this truck off road, and had a 10-12klb winch installed, I'd probably be looking for additional bracing, but am confident in this setup.

I will take additional 'finished' pics when the lighting is better so they can be as clear as possible.

I hope this is helpful for anyone wanting to do something similar.
So pumped to read through this!
 
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