I’ve seen pictures of Lucky8 with a hole cut in the front bumper for a winch. Has anyone else tried this? Is there a product that has a winch mount that allows for the OEM front bumper to be used?

 

Check out PowerfulUK on youtube. They are installing a winch on the their Defender 2020

 

They install the factory setup. I wish their video had been up before I installed mine. I do really like the factory setup, it does work best with the Warn Zeon Platinum 10-S winch. I didn't purchase the winch from Land Rover as it's 1/2 the price elsewhere. After watching the video, I now know exactly what the additional money Land Rover is charging you is for. I would probably still not buy the Factory version of the winch, but it does come with an extended antenna, pre-spooled cable, wiring to the fusebox that signals the winch when starting, and a 450A fuse. I purchased the 450A fuse, I've not had any issues with the wireless remote signal strength, It is a bit of a hassle to spool your own cable, but all in all, $1700 is $1700 and I feel like I've been generous enough with the money I've paid LR ;-)

 

One thing I'd recommend if you're doing the OEM Winch & A-frame is to install two of the long light harness kit. This way if you decide to install auxiliary lighting you can just hook it directly to these kits and control the lights via the wireless winch remote.

 

I had a Zeon on the jeep I sold when I ordered the Defender and used the auxiliary lighting on a light bar. It worked great not having to wire an extra switch. The only negative is that there is a switch on the winch that has to be turned on to utilize the remote. If the jeep was going to be parked for weeks at a time I would turn it off. I never did check to see if there was any draw on that circuit. You also have to periodically charge the remote.

 

SmokinV10:

Maybe take a look at this thread Self install winch and bull bar ? There are some nice install photos there.

The parts come from Australia, so shipping is very expensive (basically doubles the cost) -- but I think it looks better than great. 2oolander was good enough to share with me the contact information. I reached out to the folks in Australia and they got right back to me with the quote.

I am delaying ordering it in order to give me time to install the Lucky8 rock sliders which are purported to be headed my way (my first priority --- protect the sills !), and hopefully by then Lucky8 will come out with their kit for a bull bar and winch (something they have stated they are working on). We shall see.....