Lobo Offroad WNC Front Winch Bumper | Bronco

WNC FRONT WINCH BUMPER

The WNC Front Bumper is designed to incorporate the High-N-Tight design ethos of our HNT series bumpers, but with accomodations for mounting a winch on/in the bumper while maintaining as much ground clearance and approach angle as possible. We’ve managed to shoehorn the workhorse Warn EVO Series 12,000 lb. winch within the envelope of the bumper shell. Compared to the HNT Bumper, the WNC bumper sticks out only an additional 1-7/8 inches in the front, while the underside lines tuck up sharply as they extend outward toward the bumper ends. This allows maximum clearance for tires to grab rocks and ledges to pull the Bronco up and over extreme obstacles. The bumper shell incorporates a fairlead mount and cutout on top to access to the winch’s clutch lever and drum.

In addition to high clearance, we’ve worked to achieve the lightest weight and lowest center of gravity possible. We achieved that by using 1/8-inch thick plate steel for the bumper’s outer shell. This is thicker material than the factory Modular steel bumper, but lighter weight than most heavy aftermarket bumpers which are made of thicker plate. But we did provide the beef where it counts, as the bumper shell mounts over a beefy “Backbone” substructure, which is made of 3/16″ thick plate steel and ties together super-strong, triangulated Frame Mounts, a braced and gusseted Winch Mount Cradle, extreme duty reinforced Recovery Tabs and extra strengthening by tying in to the HNT Skid Plate system. The Backbone also incorporates Outrigger Braces for the bumper shell, strengthening it out to its narrow ends. The weight associated with this beefy under-structure is concentrated where it is needed, and absent where it would be a waste.

The 1″ thick CNC machined Extreme Duty Recovery Tabs are fully incorporated into the Backbone and protrude through CNC laser-cut slots in the Bumper Shell. These Recovery Tabs accept standard heavy duty D-ring shackles and soft shackles, and are fully boxed and braced to handle the most severe recovery duty or even tow-bar attachments for flat towing. The Bumper Shell’s center and outboard cut-outs are filled with removable CNC laser-cut mesh panels that may be painted a contrasting color by the end-user, if desired. The HNT Front Bumper is designed to be fully compatible with parking sensors but will require relocation of the adaptive cruise control (ACC) module (relocation bracket sold separately). When ordering choose between parking sensor mounts or parking sensor delete plugs from the options above, according to how your Bronco is equipped.

The WNC Front Bumper is made entirely of 1/8″ and 3/16″ thick mild steel plate, CNC laser cut, precision brake-formed, and professionally fixture welded for a consistent fit and finish. Premium hardware and detailed installation instructions are included. WNC Front Bumper comes standard with a durable multi-stage light-textured black powder coat finish. For those who wish to paint or coat it a custom color, the bumper may be special-ordered raw (please allow extra production time).

The top-mount light bracket shown in these photos will be sold separately but is not yet ready to order. Note that the light mount may obstruct access to the winch’s clutch lever.

THE HNT DESIGN ETHOS

LOBO Off-Road’s proprietary High-N-Tight Design Ethos guides the product development of this and every component in our HNT Series. The HNT Ethos strives to tuck every facet of the bumper, slider, skid or component as close as possible to the vehicle components it protects, in order to yield the maximum clearance possible to slip past the tightest obstacles. While HNT Series components are built to take a hit if necessary, they are designed to minimize the risk of contact in the first place. HNT design language also incorporates low-drag surfaces with ramp angles and facets for guiding the vehicle up and over obstacles when contact is made, rather than hanging up on sharp corners and protrusions. While the HNT Design Ethos is silent on the subject of aesthetics, we believe that adhering to the High-N-Tight philosophy has the unintended consequence of yielding the best looking armor products possible.