Hawse fairlead conversion (how to)

[Low_Sky]

I just switched from wire to synthetic on my winch and converted from rollers to a hawse fairlead. Here's the how-to, I hope somebody finds it useful. This was an all day project for me, but I spent a lot of time digging for tools, taking measurements, fussing with pulling the grill and almost pulling the bumper before realizing it wasn't needed, etc. With all the guess work taken out, this should take just a couple hours. Please excuse the lack of decent pics, I was working in my poorly lit garage with a headlamp.

Materials:
2"x2"x3/8" hot rolled steel angle, 3.5" long (QTY 2)
7/16"-24 x 1.5" grade 8 hex cap bolt (QTY 4)
7/16" flat washer (QTY 8)
7/16"-24 grade 8 nyloc nut (QTY 4)
3/8"-16 x 2" grade 8 hex cap bolt (QTY 2)
3/8" flat washer (QTY 4)
3/8"-16 grade 8 nyloc nut (QTY 2)
Spray paint
10" double thick fairlead from customsplice.com. Not an endorsement, that's just where I got mine. It's a 10" fairlead, the rope opening is in line with the bolt holes, and it's narrow enough to fit into the factory bumper opening with a little wiggle room.

Tools:
Two socket wrenches
One socket extender
10mm socket
Two 9/16" sockets
Two 5/8" sockets
Clip removal tool (like this one: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3x8fp)
3/16" allen wrench
Needle nose pliers
Measuring/layout tools (dial caliper, steel ruler, scribe, sharpie, machinist's blue, etc.)
Center punch
Hammer
Drill press and vise
Drills (1/2", 7/16", and 1/4" or similar for the pilot hole)


The steps:
1. Make and paint your brackets. I made a quick and dirty drawing to give you all the dimensions you need. The mounting surfaces on my winch cradle (where the horizontal rollers came out) gave me a 12-3/8" opening. I don't know what the tolerance is on that opening, but it's a cast part so there may be some variability. If yours is different, plug your opening width into this equation: (opening width - 10" fairlead bolt hole center to center)/2 = XXX. Pop that in where my drawing has 1-3/16".

Crappy but adequate drawing. Note that one locating dimension for the fairlead bolt hole is different for DS and PS, so you end up with two mirrored brackets. These dimensions will locate a Factor 55 Splicer or Prolink about as close (sucked in) to the bumper as you can get it. For a Flatlink, you may need to adjust the locations of the cradle bolt holes to stick the fairlead farther out.

Lay out the hole locations. Note that the Driver Side (DS) and Passenger Side (PS) bracket are different in one dimension, so that when installed the holes are offset toward the top of the bracket. Dimple the centers with the center punch. Start the holes with the 1/4" pilot bit. Open them up to final size. Debur, degrease and paint.

2. Remove the plastic valence from the bottom of the bumper. You need a 10mm socket for the bolts at either end, and the clip removal tool for the two-piece plastic clips. Pry up the inner piece of the clip to unprop the petals of the outer piece so it can be pulled out. The bumper and grill don't need to come off.

Holy crap did they use enough of these?

3. Pull out the wire rope. The retaining bolt on the winch drum takes a 3/16" allen wrench.

4. Remove the horizontal rollers. The shafts are held in by e-clips at one end, remove them with needle nose pliers. The vertical rollers don't have to come out, but I took mine out anyway.

5. Bolt the brackets into the holes for the horizontal rollers. Note that the single hole for the fairlead is closer to the top of the bracket (the left and right bracket are different). You'll need a washer on the winch cradle side. I skipped the washer on the bracket side, but it's not a bad idea to put one there for good measure (I didn't notice they only came in a bag of 5 at Fastenal, and I wasn't going back for more).

Driver side bracket bolted in.

6. Bolt the fairlead to the brackets. Put a washer in each of the countersinks in the fairlead, and a washer on the back side of the brackets. There is enough slop in the bolt hole clearance to make fine adjustments to the height of the fairlead if needed; loosen the bolts, adjust and retorque everything.

Looking at the passenger side from inside the bumper.

7. Install and pre-tension the winch line.

My hawse is offset to the low side of the bumper opening. The drawing I provided is corrected to better center the hawse in the bumper opening.

8. Reinstall the plastic valence if you want it.

[Easttnrhino]

Thanks looks good like the double thick hawse, less chance of rope vs bumper. What size and length of rope did you end up with.

[TommyG]

Nice job man. Came out really nice.

[OffroadTreks]

Nice write-up man. I've been thinking about doing this myself when I switch over.

[Low_Sky]

Thanks looks good like the double thick hawse, less chance of rope vs bumper. What size and length of rope did you end up with.

75' of 7/16" "Diamond Line" from Custom Splice. It started life as an 80' rope, but I put a deeper bury on the working end and cut off the terminal end electrical lug in favor of a Brummel eye splice and a loop of smaller braid (MasterPull style) so I can more easily remove the whole rope for cleaning and inspection. Only wrapped four layers on the drum, so there's lots of room to bunch it up on one side of the drum in a side pull.

[Colibri]

Great work sir! Could you elaborate on the eye splice?

[Low_Sky]

Great work sir! Could you elaborate on the eye splice?

I bought the 7/16" main line and a 1/2" extension. All the eye splices had buries that were a fair bit shorter than Amsteel's recommended bury length, and the bury lengths recommended on my Factor 55 fid. They all passed the tag all the way through the standing end once before going in for the bury (seems like standard practice in the winch rope scene, but I haven't seen this recommended by any rope manufacturer or vendor) and "locked" the splice with a sleeve of heat shrink tube. I re-did all the eyes with bury lengths per Samson rope 12-strand class II instructions. I lock-stitched the Splicer on the main line, and used Brummel eyes at the drum end and on the extension.

I'm sure CS's eye splices work just fine, but I'm an engineer and they bothered me so I "fixed" them.

[KevinABQ]

I just pulled the steel cable off when I got it home and installed a master pull line in its place. That was enough work for me.

[Low_Sky]

I just pulled the steel cable off when I got it home and installed a master pull line in its place. That was enough work for me.

Broke a sweat pulling out that bottom wrap of wire rope, did you? I know I did. Working in the garage and didn't have room to walk it out, had to pull it with my arms. Fat boy is out of shape!