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Hello everyone, I'm Gonzalo from Overland Vehicle Club and I want to let you guys know I was able to fit the Rough Country hidden winch mount in my 2018 f150 with a 3.3 V6 (natural aspirated) engine after some modifications. Before I explain how this was done I want to point out I have tried contacting Rough country to explain that the claim it will fit a 2018 - 2019 F150 is wrong, as after the facelift the bumper dimensions have changed. They claim it will only fit V8 model however after looking at component locator I saw my V6 (natural aspirated) model had the same dimension as the V8 model, so after some research I saw no reason for this not to fit my F150 if it indeed fits the V8. They also claim it "will accommodate most winches on the market" for this particular setup, due to this claim I decided to do no wrong and bought their 12000lb winch with synthetic rope, well unfortunately things didn't work out as expected. When it came down to fitment, following installation instructions, first you have to mount the winch to the hidden winch mounting plate which was no problem and then you install it in the vehicle but unfortunately when trying to position hidden winch mount plate in position the trucks frame on the left side would collide with the casing motor for the winch itself not allowing for installation, I had to cut 1 inch and a half from the frames front bumper mounting surface on the left side to be able to properly bolt the plate assembly down. After installing the hidden winch mounting plate, I position the bumper into place and what a fitment, it was starting to look as it should but unfortunately when I tried to put the cover into position it was completely off and would not fit due to the cover being taller than the whole in the bumper, after cutting the steel cover several times I was able to fit the cover in place, I can't tell you exactly how much I cut off the cover plate but I can tell you to make sure to cut from the bottom and not from the top of the plate as you will damage the whole made for the winch cable extension connector mounting surface if you do. Also if you're doing this for you 2018 F150 and up do not follow the cutting instructions for the front bumper as you will leave a big gap from the bumper to the cover plate if you do, this hidden winch mounting plate will fit but you will need to cut some steel for that to happen.
I'm putting this out there not to criticize the design by Rough Country but to simply help people that want to install a hidden winch mount in their F150s. In fact I can't do more than to thank Rough Country for the dedication and effort they had to invest so we could have this item available for our F150s. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, Overland Vehicle Club wishes you all a great rest of the year.
Maybe that's why they claim it only works on the V8 or v6TT/ race intercooler. Perhaps the 3.3 is different in that area and they didn't want to have to deal with explaining to others a way to modify it to fit a different application.
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Hello everyone, I'm Gonzalo from Overland Vehicle Club and I want to let you guys know I was able to fit the Rough Country hidden winch mount in my 2018 f150 with a 3.3 V6 (natural aspirated) engine after some modifications. Before I explain how this was done I want to point out I have tried contacting Rough country to explain that the claim it will fit a 2018 - 2019 F150 is wrong, as after the facelift the bumper dimensions have changed. They claim it will only fit V8 model however after looking at component locator I saw my V6 (natural aspirated) model had the same dimension as the V8 model, so after some research I saw no reason for this not to fit my F150 if it indeed fits the V8. They also claim it "will accommodate most winches on the market" for this particular setup, due to this claim I decided to do no wrong and bought their 12000lb winch with synthetic rope, well unfortunately things didn't work out as expected. When it came down to fitment, following installation instructions, first you have to mount the winch to the hidden winch mounting plate which was no problem and then you install it in the vehicle but unfortunately when trying to position hidden winch mount plate in position the trucks frame on the left side would collide with the casing motor for the winch itself not allowing for installation, I had to cut 1 inch and a half from the frames front bumper mounting surface on the left side to be able to properly bolt the plate assembly down. After installing the hidden winch mounting plate, I position the bumper into place and what a fitment, it was starting to look as it should but unfortunately when I tried to put the cover into position it was completely off and would not fit due to the cover being taller than the whole in the bumper, after cutting the steel cover several times I was able to fit the cover in place, I can't tell you exactly how much I cut off the cover plate but I can tell you to make sure to cut from the bottom and not from the top of the plate as you will damage the whole made for the winch cable extension connector mounting surface if you do. Also if you're doing this for you 2018 F150 and up do not follow the cutting instructions for the front bumper as you will leave a big gap from the bumper to the cover plate if you do, this hidden winch mounting plate will fit but you will need to cut some steel for that to happen.
I'm putting this out there not to criticize the design by Rough Country but to simply help people that want to install a hidden winch mount in their F150s. In fact I can't do more than to thank Rough Country for the dedication and effort they had to invest so we could have this item available for our F150s. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, Overland Vehicle Club wishes you all a great rest of the year.
Hello everyone, I'm Gonzalo from Overland Vehicle Club and I want to let you guys know I was able to fit the Rough Country hidden winch mount in my 2018 f150 with a 3.3 V6 (natural aspirated) engine after some modifications. Before I explain how this was done I want to point out I have tried contacting Rough country to explain that the claim it will fit a 2018 - 2019 F150 is wrong, as after the facelift the bumper dimensions have changed. They claim it will only fit V8 model however after looking at component locator I saw my V6 (natural aspirated) model had the same dimension as the V8 model, so after some research I saw no reason for this not to fit my F150 if it indeed fits the V8. They also claim it "will accommodate most winches on the market" for this particular setup, due to this claim I decided to do no wrong and bought their 12000lb winch with synthetic rope, well unfortunately things didn't work out as expected. When it came down to fitment, following installation instructions, first you have to mount the winch to the hidden winch mounting plate which was no problem and then you install it in the vehicle but unfortunately when trying to position hidden winch mount plate in position the trucks frame on the left side would collide with the casing motor for the winch itself not allowing for installation, I had to cut 1 inch and a half from the frames front bumper mounting surface on the left side to be able to properly bolt the plate assembly down. After installing the hidden winch mounting plate, I position the bumper into place and what a fitment, it was starting to look as it should but unfortunately when I tried to put the cover into position it was completely off and would not fit due to the cover being taller than the whole in the bumper, after cutting the steel cover several times I was able to fit the cover in place, I can't tell you exactly how much I cut off the cover plate but I can tell you to make sure to cut from the bottom and not from the top of the plate as you will damage the whole made for the winch cable extension connector mounting surface if you do. Also if you're doing this for you 2018 F150 and up do not follow the cutting instructions for the front bumper as you will leave a big gap from the bumper to the cover plate if you do, this hidden winch mounting plate will fit but you will need to cut some steel for that to happen.
I'm putting this out there not to criticize the design by Rough Country but to simply help people that want to install a hidden winch mount in their F150s. In fact I can't do more than to thank Rough Country for the dedication and effort they had to invest so we could have this item available for our F150s. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, Overland Vehicle Club wishes you all a great rest of the year.
How do you access the Free Spool mechanism on the Rough Country winch you bought?
Hey Steve, so to access the free spool mechanism you just move the lever which can be accessed by just reaching behind the bumper from the bottom. I was worried of how that was going to work at the beginning but it turns out it's really easy and simple. obviously not as convenient as having an exposed winch with easy access but worth the extra work if you want to conceal your winch.
All, New to forum posting, this is my first one. Thought I'd share another successful Rough Country hidden winch install. I did this about 9 months ago. The Rough Country mount will work in the 2018+, however their provided fascia plate - the one that would otherwise fit in the lower valence opening - does not fit the 2018+s. I had a machine shop fabricate a new plate to fit the opening. Incidentally, the 2018+s have a slightly shorter and wider lower opening than the 15-17s. FYI.
All, New to forum posting, this is my first one. Thought I'd share another successful Rough Country hidden winch install. I did this about 9 months ago. The Rough Country mount will work in the 2018+, however their provided fascia plate - the one that would otherwise fit in the lower valence opening - does not fit the 2018+s. I had a machine shop fabricate a new plate to fit the opening. Incidentally, the 2018+s have a slightly shorter and wider lower opening than the 15-17s. FYI.
this went on without any other problems? Just bolted right up?
Yes, this went on without any problems outside of the different lower valence opening sizes (15-17 MY vs 18+ MY) as noted in my post. The actual winch mount from Rough Country fit fine to the 2018 frame. No issues there. I mounted a 12,000 Smittybilt winch. I think most winches have a standard mounting bolt pattern, and the Rough Country has pre-drilled holes for that standard. I have a 5.0, no intercooler to worry about. Hope that helps.
Bottom Line: Pretty easy install, biggest hang-up was finding a machine shop to fab the custom plate for the lower valence opening.
I went a little different direction with mine. I used the Swarfworks hidden winch mount for the Raptor (same mount I used on my 16) and relocated the intercooler with a Full-Race intercooler. Put the mid section of a Raptor bumper and took off the fog light mounts. Really happy with the way it came out giving it the pre runner look. I was going to make custom fog light mounts but never got around to it.
