New winch on my 4runner

I just put a winch on my 4runner and now I have questions. What have you done to your 4runner that enables you to turn the lever for the free spool and engage lever? I have thought about cutting the grill so I can get my hand in there. Any ideas?

 

I've seen a few people in YouTube videos do this: when you pop the hood there's the big plastic shroud from the grille back to over the radiator, they've cut a hole in that so you can reach your hand down to reach the winch clutch. They've also used door edge trim or a similar to line the edges of the hole so you don't cut yourself on the sharp plastic.

 

Thanks. I have thought of that also. The thing is, you have to raise your hood to work the winch

 

I have a cut out like this. Don't have a better angle picture handy but you get the idea. Make sure your hand fits with plenty of space.

 

Image found in this thread.

 

Thank you. I will cut mine like that. They look better then cutting the grill.

 

With some thought, one could fab up a simple pull-push lever, with it being cable or metal rod to be operated through the lower grill area.
I can see it in my head but, I don't have a winch mounted to see that being made.

Or a rod that comes up from the engage/disengage handle through that cover and selected via T-handle. A little more secure, (see below).

Can anyone else 'see' that.

I'd like to try and fab up something like that but, it would mean that someones 4R would have to be a my house for a few days and I'm not asking that of another 4R owner.

And now that I think about more, it might mean anyone could walk by where ever one lives and turn the handle to free spool and steal the winch rope.

And that would suck balls. I hate thieves.

 

I could see that. A project like that might need a little thought time devoted to it, since you want to make sure whatever mechanism you design will positively engages and disengage the free-spool lever. If it has too much flex or slop, it would get fiddly. Fiddly is no fun when you’re up to your knees in mud and the vehicle is at a weird angle (which is how most vehicles will be when you need to use the winch)

 

You’ll probably want to raise the hood anyway, it’s one more thing between you and high-speed flying hardware if the line breaks.

Also, you’ll need to open the hood to have access to the winch electrical disconnect. I keep my 12v cable to the winch switched off until I need to use it. I’m paranoid about a salt corrosion causing a short, or a fender bender damaging/cutting the 12v supply and shorting it to the chassis.

 

You have the same thoughts about a battery disconnect as I did many years ago on my TJ.
I used a Cat loader bat/disco switch but it corroded on the inside and caused it to malfunction. Nothing bad happened but when it was time to use it, it didn't switch 'on' and I had to bypass it.

 

Being in the salt belt, I assume any of the aftermarket stuff I buy for the 4runner will fail due to corrosion. Like you, I’ve also worried about that switch working when it needs to. Usually I give it a few repeated turns every time I’m under the hood to (hopefully) keep the contacts clean. And if I’m really on top of my game, I will unspool and respool the line on the winch every spring as a function check.

And if I’m super-duper on top of my game, I’ll even change out the batteries on the winch controller when I respool ! Not like last time, where I figured I should put new batteries in 1 minute before everybody else is driving out to the trail.

 

Yeah no shit. When I watch YouTube and hear "I should have changed the remote batteries before I left the shop", I just want to hit them on the back side of their forehead... while laughing at it too.

 

I did this.

 

I have to thank all of you for the idea. My neighbor was up to my house looking and thinking with me. He said that he would not cut a hole in the plastic like you have. He says what if you are sitting on your hood after you roll your 4runner. I thought about that statement for a while and thought, why would you use your winch if you are on you hood. So, I will be cutting a hole as close to what you guys have done in mine.

 

Need better neighbors!

 

I added a cut off switch to the left of the battery so it's always wired and then I access the free spool switch from the front. I suppose someone could walk up and unspool it but if they want it that bad they can have it. Just like my front house door. They can break out my window and crawl in if the door is locked.

 

I should mention a tip I saw on YT really stuck with me. Store your winch controller under the seat or in the glove box. If it's buried you don't want to have to go digging for it if things get hairy.

 

If I was inverted the last thing i would think about is the winch. Besides if I needed to bad enough the C4 has cut outs. What set up are you running?

 

I do this. It's no big deal. One could even argue that it's safer to use the winch with the hood up, as it can keep things from flying through the windshield if something breaks.

But, rather than cutting up the plastic shroud, I removed the clips on the driver's side so I can just lift it and reach down to access the lever.

 

Don't cut the shroud (if you don't really want to). See my previous post ^

 

Interesting setup. Got a pic?

 

Not much to see. But, I can get a picture tomorrow morning. I just didn't want to cut the plastic, and this has been working for me since 2020.

 

In case they attempt this, I suggest having the "Dual Rottweiler" home security system waiting inside for the scoundrel.

 

This x100

 

I planned ahead and bought a bumper with access to the winch control built in. It's amazing how many overlook such a simple thing...

 

This is the way and what I did. Works well.

 

The Warn bumper isn’t the coolest looking bumper, but the access to the spool release is pretty nice, and lets you see the line getting re-spooled too so you can guide it on without it piling up in one spot.

 

Mine lives in a tote that I keep in the 4Runner, always accessible. Once it comes out of the tote, I keep it in the passenger seat or on the floor for the rest of the day.

There are holes in my bumper that allow access. But, once I mounted a light bar in the bumper, it's really tight reaching in there.

 

Ignore how dirty my engine bay is. It's winter.

This really came down to me being lazy. After I installed the light bar, I realized I couldn't reach through the bumper anymore. So, I popped the clips out and lifted the plastic and was able to reach in. I thought about cutting it, but it works just fine as is.





I'm just throwing it out there as an option for anyone who doesn't want to cut the plastic.

 

Depending on where your clutch is, exactly, you could make 3 cuts to the grille and section out basically one diamond shaped piece, and have clutch access. I did this on my '19 (sold) but apparently I didn't take a picture of it. The red lines on the pic of my installed winch show where I made the cuts:



I also used a hole as described by others above: