I just finished installing my Warn 100022 hidden winch bumper on my 16 Trail.
I thought I'd make some comments while it's fresh in my mind and making my back sore.
My bumper arrived via ups around noon. Our UPS guy informed me that my tobaggan had arrived and slid it down the driveway. (which is covered in snow) I had it installed by 4:30.
It's actually rifle season here and I hiked through the woods all morning. I was getting some blisters from my insulated boots and decided to chill so I go out again tomorrow.)
The box was ripped at some point and taped back up. No damage on the bumper surprisingly. Everything was there except the instructions, just a random page of them had survived.
This is where I found out that Warn's website sucks. They don't have the instructions posted there. Fortunately, summit racing does have them, so I pulled them down and printed them off.
The instructions are ok, but not great. To do the install, you need to trim the radiator shrouds - the instruction is Hint: you'll need to trim these.
I figured it out, but they should show a before and after shot of the trimmed bits. This wasted quite a bit of time as the things aren't easy to get back into place. I feel a similar way about the bumper cutting, they really should provide better photos and instructions.
Aside from that, the bumper looks pretty good. I'll probably take the front clip off again some time and sand things a bit. I needed this done so I left some rough edges.
I installed a Tigershark TS9500SR into the bumper. I've had the winch sitting on my parts bench for a couple of years, so it was nice to finally open it. I've used these winches on three trucks now and they've served me well.
Specific notes about the Tigershark on the Warn bumper....
0) The SR has the synthetic rope, I like them. Total installed weight is 166lb based on shipping weight of each.
1) The solenoid pack fits in there just fine! No relocation needed.
2) The AC line did not need to be bent.
3) The.... power steering cooling line just needed to be unbolted and pulled back to allow the winch to be mounted after the bumper was installed.
4) The mount holes are standard and it was trivial to bolt the winch down.
5) I think I need to add a spacer to the fairlead. I think there's a risk of abrading the line against the edge of the bumper just above the fairlead. I really like that the fairlead is vertically mounted, it's just too deep in there.
6) Running wiring to the battery is very easy. I punched through a foam seal and added some tubing to the power leads to prevent abrading of the insulation.
7) TS specific - My last one suffered from corrosion on the ground connector of the motor housing. (snow would pile under there alot) I pulled the connectors apart and added some dielectric grease to them before reassembling. The winch has more protection from the elements so I think it'll be less of an issue.
8) I don't like the superwinch breaker packs. They have huge exposed bus bars that just disturb me. On my jeep I wrapped the whole thing in self vulcanizing tape and located it a plastic only area. Interestingly, Warn winches don't bother with breakers according to their install manuals.
9) I lost some height. I will be correcting that sometime soonish. It's livable but I know I'll be happier once I've compensated.
10) The access holes do allow access to plug in the winch remote and use of the clutch. (I will be adding a wireless remote and in cab control sometime soon however.)
11) Unlike SSO AFAIK Warn adds some extra brackets to brace the frame to the bumper. They are mildly annoying to install but otherwise I think they add some mounting strength.
12) Warn used a combo of standard and metric bolts/nuts here. Thanks warn.
I think that's all, install was a success, I'm going to pick up some door edging sometime and clean up those edges. I think I'll care next summer.
I will be adding some spacers or washers to push that fairlead out a bit. I can see that becoming a real issue if I needed to pull the front end out of a ditch.
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