Rugged Ridge Performance Off Road Winch Install

Mar. 24, 2015 By Josh Burns

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The 10,500 lbs. Rugged Ridge Performance Off Road Winch comes with everything needed for a complete installation.

Recovery gear is an important part of every off-roader’s arsenal, and a winch is at the top of the list of stuff that’ll get you out of a serious jam. Unless you’re tackling hard-core trails every time out, it’s likely that your winch won’t be needed every time you hit the trail, but the day that you or your buddy gets in a tricky spot, you’ll be grateful it’s on your rig.

Filling out its off-road parts portfolio even further, Rugged Ridge recently released a new line of winches. Its new Performance Off Road Winch line features two different models: one rated at 8,500 lbs. and the other at 10,500 lbs. Each winch is available with 3/8-inch steel cable or synthetic rope. For our installation, we would be equipping our Jeep with the 10,500-pound rated 10.5 model with synthetic rope. Included with the winch is all necessary wiring and hardware to hook up the winch to your vehicle’s battery and securely mount it to your bumper, provided you have an off-road-style bumper that will accept it.

For pulling power, the 10.5 Rugged Ridge winch features a 6.6-horsepower Series Wound motor. The winch can be equipped with either synthetic rope or steel cable, and even though it is the pricier option we chose the high-strength synthetic rope. Constructed with Dyneema SK-75 fiber that’s the same fabric used in ballistic body armor, the synthetic rope piqued our interest since it is stronger than the same diameter steel rope and only 1/7th of the weight. Rugged Ridge says the heavy-duty 3/8-inch synthetic rope features a 12-strand braid with a breaking force of 19,310 pounds. It also more durable than steel cable over time and is designed to not splinter, kind or curl. It is specially treated with a protective coating to resist UV rays, abrasion and chemical solvents.

Bill Bruner of SoCal SuperTrucks set the winch on his workbench and started to connect the wiring from the solenoid box to the winch body.

The solenoid box can be mounted to the side of the drum or over the top of it. The side-mount location wouldn’t work with our Trail Ready bumpers, so mounting it on top proved to be the best bet. Fortunately all of the necessary hardware for either mounting location is included.

Once the solenoid box was mounted, the winch was ready to be set in place inside our Trail Ready bumper. There are four bolt holes used as mounting locations on the underside of the winch, and Bill thoughtfully used blue painter’s tape to hold the square bolts in place so they don’t fall out while the winch is set in place.

Detailed instructions for installation of the Rugged Ridge winch are included, and in total the install time should be about two hours. SoCal SuperTrucks in San Bernadino, California, helped us install the new winch, and we turned to the shop’s lead technician Bill Bruner who has been with the shop for over 15 years. Bill quickly went to work wiring up the winch, setting it in place and safely running the wires from under our Trail Ready front bumper to the engine compartment to connect to the battery.

Fortunately the opening on the Trail Ready bumper is plenty wide, so the Rugged Ridge winch easily set in place.

With the winch seated on the bumper, the hawse fairlead is placed through the front opening before it is bolted in place, and the winch wiring is run behind the bumper to it can be fed through the engine compartment to connect to the battery.

Next, the hawse fairlead is bolted into place.

The installation was on the mark at a little less than two hours. Having already installed the Trail Ready bumper previously, we were pleased the bumper accepted the winch without needing to be removed. When it came to mounting the winch to the bumper, the four mounting bolt locations were a little tricky to reach under the bumper, but the Trail Ready front bumper offers enough of access slits to get your hands up there and secure the mounting bolts.

Fortunately the Trail Ready front bumper features cutouts that make it possible to access the winch mounting locations without needing to remove the entire bumper. Otherwise, the winch would need to be installed on the bumper while it is off the Jeep. The two front bolts are a little tight but all four can be reached from beneath.

With the proper socket extensions, securing the Rugged Ridge winch to the Trail Ready bumper was not too bad.

After connecting the winch power to the Jeep’s battery, Bill plugged in the remote to make sure it was fully operational.

The remote features a simple In/Out toggle switch. The remote securely connects to the top of the solenoid box and can be safely stored away when not in use.

The Performance 10,500 lbs. Off Road Winch we installed comes with synthetic rope, a remote control and a hawse fairlead for a price of $921.99. For those looking to save a little dough, the same winch with a steel line retails for $633.99.

All told, the Rugged Ridge winch took just under two hours to install.