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If you purchase badland apex winch you don't need to purchase fairlead from mopar. Badland fairlead will fit. The only difference is mopar's fairlead is made by Warn and it's all black. Badland's is chrome. Also you don't have to purchase the lower grille. I reused mine and did not have to spent time removing whole bumper to be able to remove the grille. See instruction below to what I did and what I would do differently with the grille if I had done it again.
1.So first I need to remove the bumper air dam. It's very simple and easy to do. By removing the air dam I was able to lift winch with my jack (see steps below) Remove all nuts with 10mm socket and two clips with special tool or whatever you can come up with.
2. Below you can see my lower grille before I cut it with sawzall and metal blade and next photo shows after I cut it open. Took me maybe 40 seconds to do that. If I did it again I will probably just leave it there till the bracket is mounted and then cut whatever I need . (see third photo from some other guy)
3. Now if your truck came with tow hooks pre-installed from factory you need to remove nuts that are holding them in place. Two on each side. You also need to remove one black nut from each side. To remove "silver" nuts use 24mm socket and the black one is 18mm. Leave the bolts installed do not remove them. If you truck didn't come with the tow hooks you need to order 4 bolts from the table above. (#1)
4. Now attach bracket on each side right/left (sorry about the picture. I took one but without flash and realized I can't see anything on it till I installed the frame). Each bracket is attached with the 3 bolts.
5. If you cut open the whole lower grille section go to step 6. If you plan to cut out a hole for the winch bracket only (3rd photo from step 2) install fairlead brackets now (#5 in the table) with 4 M12x40 bolts (#7 in the table). Otherwise you won't have an easy access to that space later on.
6. Now both brackets will act like shelves. Lift winch frame and let it rest on top of the brackets. Use two M12 x 65 mm bolts to attach the frame to bracket (#8 in table) (see photo above for reference). There are two holes in the frame. I used the front one and everything fits perfectly.
7. Once you have the frame installed attach both fairlead brackets to the frame (#5 in the table) with 4 M12 x 40mm bolts (#7 in the table)
8. Now insert 4 nuts in the winch slots , that came with the winch (if you plan to install the badland apex winch other winches might use different hardware). WInch need to be located with the clutch release lever on the passenger side so the rope feed from top. Lift the winch with floor jack and attach it to the frame with four bolts M10 x 50 mm long. Stock winch bolts are too short. I had to go and purchase longer ones from my local home depot.
9. Once you attached the winch you can attach the fairlead and wire the winch.
Whole process is pretty straight forward. It's not complicated at all you just need to use some muscle to attach everything.
Hidden winch mount will not work on the Cummins trucks, the intercooler would be blocked and there's not enough clearance.
My truck is 2020 Ram 2500 tradesman with Hemi engine. PLENTY of room behind the bumper. No sensors no fog lights so no wiring that I had to worry about. Parts list:
My truck is 2020 Ram 2500 tradesman with Hemi engine. PLENTY of room behind the bumper. No sensors no fog lights so no wiring that I had to worry about. Parts list:
PART REF. | PART DESCRIPTION | MOPAR PART NUMBER | PRICE PER UNIT | QTY | TOTAL PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LEFT/RIGHT BRACKET TO TRUCK FRAME BOLT (THIS IS REQUIRED IF YOU DON'T HAVE TOW HOOKS IN FRONT INSTALLED) | 6512808AA | $2.78 | 4 | $11.12 |
2 | WINCH FRAME | 68400221AA | $547.80 | 1 | $547.80 |
3 | WINCH FRAME TO CAR FRAME BRACKET - RIGHT | 68349985AB | $34.47 | 1 | $34.47 |
4 | WINCH FRAME TO CAR FRAME BRACKET - LEFT | 68349988AB | $34.47 | 1 | $34.47 |
5 | WINCH FAIRLEAD TO WINCH FRAME BRACKET | 68378859AA | $12.71 | 2 | $25.42 |
6 | WINCH FAIRLEAD (OPTIONAL SEE NOTE BELOW) | 68378860AD | $101.37 | 1 | $101.37 |
7 | FAIRLEAD BRACKET TO WINCH FRAME BOLT (M12X1.5x40) | 6105078AA | $5.14 | 4 | $20.56 |
8 | WINCH FRAME TO LEFT/RIGHT BRACKET BOLT (M12X1.75X65) | 6102018 | $7.32 | 2 | $14.64 |
9 | FAIRLEAD TO FAIRLEAD BRACKET BOLT | 6512961AA | $6.66 | 2 | $13.32 |
10 | LOWER GRILLE (ALL BLACK LIKE POWERWAGON) (OPTIONAL SEE NOTE BELOW) | 68384299AA | $24.73 | 1 | $24.73 |
11 | BADLAND APEX 12000 | HARBOR FREIGHT | $599.99 | 1 | $599.99 |
12 | BOLTS TO ATTACH WINCH TO WINCH FRAME | HOME DEPOT 887480035087 M10-1.5 X 50MM | $1.47 | 4 | $5.88 |
13 | |||||
| | | | TOTAL | $1,433.77 |
If you purchase badland apex winch you don't need to purchase fairlead from mopar. Badland fairlead will fit. The only difference is mopar's fairlead is made by Warn and it's all black. Badland's is chrome. Also you don't have to purchase the lower grille. I reused mine and did not have to spent time removing whole bumper to be able to remove the grille. See instruction below to what I did and what I would do differently with the grille if I had done it again.
1.So first I need to remove the bumper air dam. It's very simple and easy to do. By removing the air dam I was able to lift winch with my jack (see steps below) Remove all nuts with 10mm socket and two clips with special tool or whatever you can come up with.
2. Below you can see my lower grille before I cut it with sawzall and metal blade and next photo shows after I cut it open. Took me maybe 40 seconds to do that. If I did it again I will probably just leave it there till the bracket is mounted and then cut whatever I need . (see third photo from some other guy)
3. Now if your truck came with tow hooks pre-installed from factory you need to remove nuts that are holding them in place. Two on each side. You also need to remove one black nut from each side. To remove "silver" nuts use 24mm socket and the black one is 18mm. Leave the bolts installed do not remove them. If you truck didn't come with the tow hooks you need to order 4 bolts from the table above. (#1)
4. Now attach bracket on each side right/left (sorry about the picture. I took one but without flash and realized I can't see anything on it till I installed the frame). Each bracket is attached with the 3 bolts.
5. If you cut open the whole lower grille section go to step 6. If you plan to cut out a hole for the winch bracket only (3rd photo from step 2) install fairlead brackets now (#5 in the table) with 4 M12x40 bolts (#7 in the table). Otherwise you won't have an easy access to that space later on.
6. Now both brackets will act like shelves. Lift winch frame and let it rest on top of the brackets. Use two M12 x 65 mm bolts to attach the frame to bracket (#8 in table) (see photo above for reference). There are two holes in the frame. I used the front one and everything fits perfectly.
7. Once you have the frame installed attach both fairlead brackets to the frame (#5 in the table) with 4 M12 x 40mm bolts (#7 in the table)
8. Now insert 4 nuts in the winch slots , that came with the winch (if you plan to install the badland apex winch other winches might use different hardware). WInch need to be located with the clutch release lever on the passenger side so the rope feed from top. Lift the winch with floor jack and attach it to the frame with four bolts M10 x 50 mm long. Stock winch bolts are too short. I had to go and purchase longer ones from my local home depot.
9. Once you attached the winch you can attach the fairlead and wire the winch.
Whole process is pretty straight forward. It's not complicated at all you just need to use some muscle to attach everything.
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