Winch bumper installed

[craig333]

Finally got an aluminum winch bumper from aluminess. Took forever. I want to say eight weeks, need to double check that. Communication was terrible. I never received progress updates from them. They charged my card before I even saw the invoice. They tried to ship it to my house /ack. My brother picked it up at the freight company on his lunch (their terminal is just down the street from where we work) and its a good thing he did. They packed it in a huge box. I never would have gotten inside my truck.

Installation instructions suck. Turns out they screwed up the angle brackets. Huge gaps that nothing I tried could get rid of.

Getting ready to install.

Bars could have been better, but at least I'll have a place to hang my clothes.

Sorry, not the best lighting.

Its kind of ugly but that will grow on my, plus by the time I hang lights all over it it won't be as noticeable. The fit issue bothers me though. Curious to see what aluminess says.

 

[K6ON]

Looks good Craig, Now all you need is that Warn 12000lb winch and you'll be all set.

 

[leadsled9]

Looks good Craig, Now all you need is that Warn 12000lb winch and you'll be all set.


Might just as well go for the Warn 16,500 lb. winch.

 

[craig333]

You mean I shouldn't be looking at the harbor freight winch? Its a heckuva lot cheaper! Well, it is time to start doing my due diligence on winches. Curious to see how much difference there is in weight.

 

[Samo]

Craig,

Thanks for posting this! I hope they give you better follow up customer service.

I check Yelp even though I think they are shady. If you get crappy service, say so on Yelp

because that may make them better when it effects they're sales.

 

[Silvertip47]

You can forget about a Warn 16.5 in an Aluminess bumper. The winch cavity is too small. I doubt it would even hold a Warn 12K. Maybe a Chinese 12K.

I all ready bought my 16.5 and ordered the Aluminess. Sent it back after it would not fit and got a Fab Four.

 

[craig333]

You can forget about a Warn 16.5 in an Aluminess bumper. The winch cavity is too small. I doubt it would even hold a Warn 12K. Maybe a Chinese 12K.

I all ready bought my 16.5 and ordered the Aluminess. Sent it back after it would not fit and got a Fab Four.


Do you have the measurements? Mine sure looks like theres plenty of room in there.

Customer service? Still waiting for the corrected parts they promised me.

And not thirty minutes after I posted this the parts showed up.

 

[SLO_F-250]

Craig,
Great looking bumper. Bummer on the service though. I've heard the same. Good product but service is less than top notch. Good luck with the winch/lights!

 

[Silvertip47]

Do you have the measurements? Mine sure looks like theres plenty of room in there.

Customer service? Still waiting for the corrected parts they promised me.

And not thirty minutes after I posted this the parts showed up.


I don't have any measurements. Just know the 16.5 dwarfed the cavity. Aluminess may have cured this in the last couple years. But when I got it, it was advertised as accepting all heavy duty winches.

 

[pods8]

Warn has a drawing of all their winches right on the sight, easy enough to do a comparison.

 

[craig333]

Completed. Mostly. I may upgrade the lights down the road but its all wired up. I went with the Engo winch. Good reviews and I understand even though its a chinese winch the company ceo is the former head of superwinch. I tend to buy it since the instruction manual was clearly written by someone for whom english is not a second language. Its a 12,000lb er with synthetic cable. I went this route to save money, several hundred dollars cheaper than a warn and its my intention to make little use of it. If I never unspool the cable I'll be happy. I don't intend to put myself in situations where its likely I'll need it. Just the same its good insurance to have and lots cheaper than an offroad tow.

I purchased the winch from http://www.rockridge4wd.com/ I can't say enough about the service there. Very prompt communication. Shipped the same day I ordered it. They responded quickly to all my emails and were most pleasant to deal with. I don't normally recommend companies but I'll make an exception this time.

They just make my recent unpleasant experiences with aluminess and rallylights all the more inexplicable. I placed an order with rallylights (susquehanna motorsports) on 10-3. Two weeks go by they finally say it shipped. No tracking info. Finally I contact them and they say it delivered on 10-19. Unfortunately I find this out on 10-25. Finally get a tracking number. Now I find from UPS it didn't even ship to my house. Went to the wrong address (not ups fault, rallylights). Lucky for me ups told me where it shipped and after four attempts I found the occupants home and they still had the package, unopened sitting there and handed it to me. Rallylights still hasn't acknowledged there was even a problem. Needless to say they won't receive anymore of my business.

Btw, I put the hella rallye 4000 compact fog lights in the bumper buckets. I expected the pattern to be cut off by being inside the buckets and it did, but not nearly as much as I feared.

 

[Ted]

Craig, if we're ever traveling at night, I want you leading the way.

Seriously, you've been putting a lot into your truck and camper lately. It has become quite the impressive rig. Nice build.

 

[craig333]

Thanks Ted. I've had more money than time this year. Hopefully that changes next year. I umm mean hopefully I can have both!


P.S. Heading over to Dillon Beach next weekend with some friends. Going to be weird camping there with assigned spots.

P.P.S I'll be happy to lead the way at night. /sigh I need a 12 step program. I've already ordered more lights

 

[Silvertip47]

Looks good Craig!!!

But you need to run the line out all the way and run it back in under a load. I hooked mine to a pole and drug myself up to it with a light load on the E brake. This wraps the spool tightly so if you ever do need it and you run out a few feet of line it could sink under the loose wraps and tie itself up!! Not a fun thing to try and unsnarl that mess!!

 

[craig333]

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[ntsqd]

A friend of mine does that after getting home from any trip where he's used the winch. His shop's parking lot has this handy Palm tree planted in *just* the right spot. A tree-saver wrapped around it and away he goes.....

 

[leadsled9]

If you get your cable pinched in the spool.....just hook the cable to a stout tree.....make sure the winch is in neutral.....and just back up. Works every time.

Then put the line under tension and respool....you are good to go.