12k pound Winch on Ford Transit

Within the first week that I began the Upfit, I had purchased a number of items that I was simply not sure when I’d get to them, but I wanted them ready to go when I did. Two of those items were the Lift Kit (yet to be installed) and the Winch Mount from Van Compass. I had elected to go with a winch over the 4×4 option as I wasn’t ready to drop $18k on a 4×4 conversion – just yet, but I wanted to be sure I could get myself out of trouble if I found myself stuck anywhere. There are two options for a winch on the Ford Transit. The Aluminess system replaced the entire front bumper – which looks nice, but it exposes the engine compartment, which I didn’t like. The other was a Winch mount from Van Compass that retained most of the front bumper. I liked how this looked – mostly.

https://vancompass.com/collections/transit-2015/products/van-compass-ford-transit-winch-mount-and-front-receiver-hitch-2013?variant=13544283111520

The first thing I did after receiving my Winch Mount and tow hooks was to ship them off to be Powder Coated red instead of the basic black. They’d been sitting in the shop in Washington since January, but when I headed to Oregon for a month of work down here, I took them with me figuring I might have some time to get them installed here. I was right.

Once my winch arrived here in Oregon, I took to the cutting up of the front end to make way for the install. If you think cutting giant holes in your new vehicle is worrisome, try cutting out and up your bumper. The total install time was probably about 6 hours, but I didn’t spend all day on it. Instead, I did it over a couple of days. When it came time to cutting the large opening in the bumper, I wanted to be extra careful as I was already planning on doing something with it after. i didn’t like how exposed the radiator was and had planned on making some kind of cover with it.

After I was done with the install, I spent a few days looking at it trying to decide how to “finish it off” Then it clicked. A flip up lid. Took me another day to figure out how to make it work, but in the end – I love how this came out.

The Winch is a 12,000# Smittybilt with Steel Cable
Smittybilt 97412 XRC Winch – 12000 lb. Load Capacity

I also added a Rugged Ridge Red Cable Stopper
Rugged Ridge 15102.05 Red Winch Cable Stopper

To complete my winch set up, I also got two Red D Ring shackles
3/4″ Red D-Ring Shackles

a Rugcel 10 Ton Snatch Block
RUGCEL WINCH 10T Heavy Duty Recovery Winch Snatch Block

and a 4″ x 30′ 20 Ton Tow Strap
GearAmerica Recovery Tow Strap 4″ x 30′