Don’t want to wince every time you see your winch? The new Fully Hidden Kit from Warn is designed to help you with that.
It has mounting brackets that let you hook up your winch to the factory bumper, without blocking your vehicle’s safety features. This lets you keep the ugly parts of the winch hidden and leaving only the fairlead, hook, and pull strap exposed. It also saves you the weight, money, and fuel economy ding that a winch bumper will cost you.
Out of Sight, Peace of Mind
The Fully Hidden Kit takes Warn’s semi-hidden kits one big step further. It lets you keep your Warn winch almost completely out of sight behind the factory bumper. The brackets are designed to work along with a special Warn Zeon XC winch.
Warn’s special compact Zeon XC 12-S winch is a version of the larger XC 12-S with a 2.5-inch narrower short drum configuration. The winch has been reconfigured to fit, hidden, behind a factory bumper. This includes the transmission rotated forward so you can access the clutch, even behind the bumper. The winch has been reconfigured to fit, hidden, behind a factory bumper.
Despite its size, it still has a 12,000-pound capacity. It also comes with 70 feet of 3/8-inch Spydura Pro synthetic rope, which should keep it lightweight.
But, it’s not ideal that you won’t be able to see the drum and spooled line while operating the winch. That’s likely a small compromise for most casual users, however.
Front-Mount Sensors Aren’t Covered
Putting the winch behind the bumper instead of on or in front leaves your truck’s sensors exposed. The parking sensors, radar cruise control sensor module, and even front cameras will all still function just like they did from the factory. It also means that your winch won’t break your shins when you walk around your rig, and it won’t be the first thing to make contact in a collision.
The small size has one other benefit, as well. Warn says it’s lighter, so it won’t make your front suspension droop on an otherwise stock-looking truck.
Warn Fully Hidden Kit Available for 5 Popular Off-Roaders
Warn is launching the Fully Hidden Kit for five vehicles from Toyota and Ford. It has kits for the 2024-2026 Toyota Tacoma and Land Cruiser, 2025-2026 Toyota 4Runner, 2021-2026 Ford F-150, and the 2023-2026 Ford Super Duty. The brackets are powder-coated and go through the same 408-hour salt spray test as the rest of the products Warn fabricates.
Pricing for the Fully Hidden Kit starts from $850 for the Toyotas, while the F-150 is $1,000, and the Super Duty is $1,100. You’ll need the winch on top of that, which is $1,750. That’s $25 less than the non-hidden Zeon 12-S.
If you want a winch for off-road peace of mind, but don’t want to put a big steel bumper on your ride, your choices are limited. Warn immediately adds to that short list, and the kits and winch are available now.
Read the full article here