Well the winch worked out awesome, but I had one beef...the lack of controls inside my cab. Sure, I mean I could just plug in my wired remote and run it through my window, but thats kind of lame.
So...I decided in-cab controls were necessitated.
First, removed the front panel,
Decided to first make a switch panel here, instead of the silly step thing Ford had designed. Cut it first with a grinder
then fine tuned with a dremel
at this point, found some suitable material...0.125 aluminum...also known as a stolen road sign
bent it up and cut some holes in it
this is the switch I got from 12voltguy.com it is a push button style, with an LED safety switch, so I cant accidentally hit the buttons.
at this point, gave it a little paint, and bolted in the switch.
Ill save you guys the details about the wiring, heres a pic inside the solenoid box from my winch...kind of intimidating if you dont know what youre doing.
basically I just tapped into the in/out lines that went to the wired remote, as well as the earth ground.
It works fantastic, and its really nice not having to get out of the cab to use the winch. It will be super nice for those rainy/snowy days.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask