Engo Hawse Fairlead Question

[cj80cruiser]

I have an addicted offroad front bumper and an engo es-10,000s synthetic winch. It came with a hawse fairlead but the bolts wont fit through my bumper.

I figure fairlead mounts are standardized for the most part and all hawse fairleads will be made with the same size mounting holes. I think some of the hydraulic and military wrinches are different but electric should be the same. Right so far?

Well I slide the bolts in the fairlead today but the head of the bolt 19mm fills the recess in the fairlead to the point I cant get a socket or wrench in the hole to tighten it. I could probably get a set of needle nose on it just to hold the bolt well enough to tighten the nuts on the back side.

I planned to use the needle nose pliers but the bolts wont fit through my addicted offroad hawse fairlead mounting holes. The only other bolts I have with my winch are for mounting the winch to the plate.

I don't want to widen the holes in my addicted offroad bumper if they are the standard size and engo sent me the wrong hawse fairlead.....not sure if they sell a hydraulic winch or not.

Anybody know what the standard size hole should be for a fairlead?

Edit...the 2 larger bolts are about 7/16 and the 4 smaller ones are 3/8

 

[Bandit Runner]

If I understand your situation correctly, I would just get 2 smaller bolts and use those for the fairlead. Then you should have more head clearance for a socket, and they should fit into the bumper holes.

I don't think there is much stress on a fairlead, so going one size smaller on the bolts shouldn't be an issue. Maybe get grade 8 just to be safe.

Good luck.

 

[KidVermicious]

There's absolutely stress on a fairlead, when you're doing a side pull.

I have a similar problem - the holes in the Engo fairlead aren't the same size as the holes in the Trailgear winch plate, and the winch sits too close to the backside of the plate and doesn't leave room for nuts on the back of the bolts. I'm going to have to get some carriage bolts and see if I can slip them in there backwards, but the bigger problem is the chance of the fairlead slipping sideways on the smaller diameter bolts. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

 

[packweco]

Yeah there's a chance of the fairlead sliding around if you use smaller bolts, there is quite a bit of pressure on a fairlead when you aren't pulling straight on.

You could get some socket head cap screws, or button head cap screws to get over the issue of accessing the head (allen head). As far as the size, I would either drill the bumper out to the size of the fairlead and use larger bolts, or try to find some sleeves to fit around the smaller size bolts that fit nicely inside the fairlead holes, just to take up that extra slop.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Good point about the side stress, and the fairlead slipping on the smaller bolts. In that case, I would enlarge the holes in the bumper to the same size as the holes in the fairlead. Then use the largest socket head cap screw to fit in the holes. Then you can use an allen wrench instead of a socket to tighten the bolts.

Edit: Arrg. Wooden Payload beat me to it.

 

[packweco]

Good point about the side stress, and the fairlead slipping on the smaller bolts. In that case, I would enlarge the holes in the bumper to the same size as the holes in the fairlead. Then use the largest socket head cap screw to fit in the holes. Then you can use an allen wrench instead of a socket to tighten the bolts.

Edit: Arrg. Wooden Payload beat me to it.

Sorry! Great minds think alike. :bravo:

 

[KidVermicious]

or try to find some sleeves to fit around the smaller size bolts that fit nicely inside the fairlead holes, just to take up that extra slop.

This is kinda what I'm leaning towards, it'd be pretty quick work for a machinist to turn a couple sleeves/bushings that would press fit nice and snug. I'm reluctant to enlarge the holes in the winch mount, on the off chance that Trailgear is using a standard size and Engo isn't.

 

[NateMob]

My engo 10s fit up without issue on my CBI Hybrid, I would go to fastenal for the button head idea.

 

[Snowy21]

No issues bolting up my Engo hawse fairlead to my 4xInnovations tube bumper fwiw

 

[criera]

I had a similar experience, sort of. Only one of several sockets i had would fit and even then the tolerance was on a nano scale. I suggest taking the fairlead and a bolt to sears or napa or somewhere and find a thin walled socket that will fit.

Edit: i suppose there could have been a machining error, fwiw my opening measured right at 7/8" and the bolts are roughly 10" from center to center.

 

[cj80cruiser]

This is kinda what I'm leaning towards, it'd be pretty quick work for a machinist to turn a couple sleeves/bushings that would press fit nice and snug. I'm reluctant to enlarge the holes in the winch mount, on the off chance that Trailgear is using a standard size and Engo isn't.

This is why I didn't immediately enlarge the holes on the bumper.

My engo 10s fit up without issue on my CBI Hybrid, I would go to fastenal for the button head idea.

No issues bolting up my Engo hawse fairlead to my 4xInnovations tube bumper fwiw

So both you guys got the same bag of bolts I got right? 2 large and 4 slightly smaller? I'm thinking it would be better to just enlarge the holes in the bumper. I believe I can hold the bolt head with pliers and get it tight enough with the split washer.

 

[KidVermicious]

So both you guys got the same bag of bolts I got right? 2 large and 4 slightly smaller? I'm thinking it would be better to just enlarge the holes in the bumper. I believe I can hold the bolt head with pliers and get it tight enough with the split washer.

That's what I got. The bolts are prox 7/16th in diameter, and the bolt head is a really tight fit inside the recessed portion of the fairlead. I think what I'm going to do is get a long bolt and flip the fairlead. It won't look as good, but I need to use a carriage bolt or really low profile bolt head from the inside out, so screw it.

 

[Snowy21]

So both you guys got the same bag of bolts I got right? 2 large and 4 slightly smaller? I'm thinking it would be better to just enlarge the holes in the bumper. I believe I can hold the bolt head with pliers and get it tight enough with the split washer.

Yeah I got 2 large and 4 smaller bolts. I have some thin walled sockets so I guess that I didn't even notice the possibility of not being able to tighten the fairlead.

 

[AddictedOffroad]

There's absolutely stress on a fairlead, when you're doing a side pull.

I have a similar problem - the holes in the Engo fairlead aren't the same size as the holes in the Trailgear winch plate, and the winch sits too close to the backside of the plate and doesn't leave room for nuts on the back of the bolts. I'm going to have to get some carriage bolts and see if I can slip them in there backwards, but the bigger problem is the chance of the fairlead slipping sideways on the smaller diameter bolts. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

Run the bolt through from the inside. It helps clear the winch and will not effect strength at all.

You can open up the holes to 7/16" if you want. We do that on installs inhouse, when the fairlead bolts are bigger. Its not a big deal.

 

[cj80cruiser]

Run the bolt through from the inside. It helps clear the winch and will not effect strength at all.

You can open up the holes to 7/16" if you want. We do that on installs inhouse, when the fairlead bolts are bigger. Its not a big deal.

I meant to ask you about this the other day when we talked on the phone. I was afraid the engo fairlead was NOT the standard size and I would run into issues if I wanted a different fairlead down the road after drilling out the holes larger.