Winch finally installed

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, my bad. You're only my favorite Youtuber for Jeep, so I wanna support ya. I canceled and re-ordered using your link, so hopefully it'll get attributed to ya.

:cheesy: You didn't need to do that but I do appreciate your willingness to support us :eek:
 

StingRubi19

New member
So I plan on tackling this tomorrow but just realized I dont have the 90° lever on my zeon 10s. [emoji849] I read that you can call warn and get the lever. Is there any draw backs of not being able to "free spool"?
I dont use my winch a whole lot. Really only when I help friends get outta snow when were playin around. So is it something I should do or should I not worry about it and just install it anyway?

Sent from my SM-G955U using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

Fetzer

New member
I too am looking to purchase a zeon 10-S and keep seeing where a JL ready 90 degree lever is available but have tried like hell to find one with no luck. I have the warn plate, but sent the winch back due to my confusion. Can anyone confirm that there is in fact a JL ready zeon? Or do I just need to reach out to warn for their fix?


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

doubletapdaddy

Caught the Bug
I would just reach out to Warn. I needed some replacement parts a few years ago for the 10s on my JK. I contacted them by good old-fashioned telephone, and they were very fast to respond with what I needed.
 

ambrose

New member
I too am looking to purchase a zeon 10-S and keep seeing where a JL ready 90 degree lever is available but have tried like hell to find one with no luck. I have the warn plate, but sent the winch back due to my confusion. Can anyone confirm that there is in fact a JL ready zeon? Or do I just need to reach out to warn for their fix?

I followed wayoflife's link here: https://jlwrangler.com/showthread.php?439-WARN-Winches

The 10-S on Amazon that I ordered has the right 90deg lever that fits on the stock bumper. YMMV.
 

CalSgt

Member
Holy crap...

I did this install last night/today with the Warn Plate and Warn 9500XP-S, got the winch from a Reno Craigslist add for about half off if you include the wireless remote & FACTOR 55 thimble that came with it ($900 for everything). Ran to Summit Racing in Sparks, they had the Warn mounting plate in stock.

Got the winch plate in the frame & zip tied, I started the carriage bolts in the back brackets. I Gently set the winch on the plate for a test fit and BANG... The zip ties snapped, thank goodness i still had a hand on the winch or I would have broken a foot. I think the zip ties failed because it was about 35 degrees out, they are probably a little more playable in warmer climates.

I used some 12Ga wire & tied the mounting plate up to the frame since my trust in zip ties had been compromised.

The other issues I came across:

Mocked the bumper up with the winch in the mounting plate, the control pack would not allow the bumper to go on all the way. Warn offers a control pack upgrade that switches everything out to make it look like the zeon. I called every shop in the area (on black Friday BTW) and no one had the control pack upgrade in strock. So I flipped the control pack bracket so the control pack is over the drum, I trimmed the control pack mounting bolts all the way down to the nuts to get a little more clearance above the spool.

Mocked the bumper up again, the factory holes in the Warn plate are too far to the passenger side to accommodate the 9500XP. The motor end cap entirely covered the bolt holes for the bumper, not enough room for the bumper bolts to come through the frame. Sooo... I drilled new holes about 1.25 inches over, winch fits like a glove now.

Sure wish I would have noticed the bumper bolt issue first, the new holes in the mounting plate would have fixed the control pack clearance issues.

Since i moved the winch over, now the fairlead hawse doesn't line up with the spool. I guess I will make a new trim plate out of some .25" steel & relocate the fairlead mounting holes for the hawse so I can get the line to spool evenly.

I think if I had to do it again I would have tried the Mopar mount. Mopar doesn't include the fairlead trim piece, you have to choose a zeon type or M-8000 type fairlead trim separately. I would assume since they have trim for the two different styles of winch that their mount would accommodate the 9500XP.

Sorry for typing my life story... I just needed to vent after getting my ass kicked by a simple winch.

0416DA70-A5C4-4EF0-AD92-6F87C2D59A28.jpg

02D393C7-C77D-4A22-A242-BD8CB4FA281F.jpg

Before I moved the winch over it was nearly touching the bolt head-on the side of the frame, it was so far forward there was maybe 1/4" of space where the bumper bolts come through.

3C8E1461-5A26-405E-8CB5-884A4745B31A.jpg

ETA bumper bolt clearance pic

C757442E-DCBF-485F-ADF9-05E77C2F0849.jpg
 

Last edited:

CalSgt

Member
So I made a new bumper fairlead trim out of 3/16" steel, cut the fairlead hole in the bumper and bracket wider, drilled a new mount hole, and fabled up a heavy washer to fill in on the other side. Line spools up evenly now.

65C4783F-0DC2-421D-BA5E-4A457AE73584.jpg
 

Top