Wanted to follow up with my experience installing with the aforementioned Badlands 12000.
First impressions on getting the cradle were great - welds look fantastic, the thing as a whole is beefy but not overbuilt. The shipping and such were great, so totally happy there.
When I did a test fit I was sad to find out that the frame was a hair too wide and the cradle wouldn't simply slip over and bolt on. The difference was a couple millimeters so I was confident I could figure something out. So I sent it in to get powder coated anyway. I chalk this up to a nearly 30-year old frame being a little off from factory, and general tolerance variations. So no biggie.
I'd emailed TNA about the size difference and he had pretty much the same ideas I did for getting it on - heat, ratchet strap and some trial and error. Fast email reply btw, even though he was on vacation! So kudos for customer service.
After getting it back from the powder coater I did another test. I was able to ratchet strap the ends of the frame inward enough, but ultimately that technique wouldn't allow me to get the cradle on with the winch in place because the strap would block where the cradle needed to go.
So, next thing I tried was simply having my fiancee take a BFH to one side while I pressed the cradle forward. Bingo.
So, I put my winch on, moving it slightly to one side in the mount notches to avoid any frame-winch interaction, and tried again. Once the cradle was over the initial edge it was a pretty simple matter of kicking and pushing to get it to line up with the holes. After that everything was pretty spot on. Bolted it up and checked clearance.
This is where I ran into the only real problem I had with the whole thing: bolt length.
Now the rear mounts of the cradle connect up to the sway bar mount holes, and I can only assume that you're supposed to use the same bolt for the sway bar mounts and the cradle. Unfortunately the supplied 4 bolts to do this are a tad short, to the point where you can get either the front one or the rear one slightly threaded with a nut, but not both.
The simple fix for this was I went and got longer bolts. The supplied ones are 1.5" so I just got 2" ones and all was well.
As you can see in the photos there's no clearance issues with the frame, however the engagement lever slightly interferes with my trans cooler lines. I think replacing these lines and fittings with lower profile ones, possibly routing them differently will fix this. In the mean time it's actually not un-usable, so not a major issue.
I haven't finished the wiring, and I haven't installed the fairlead because I have a delrin model on order. But, the cradle is on and I love it. I'll likely be ordering up the "wings" from TNA sometime in the near future and doing the whole "fangs" trimming, but until then I'm pumped to now have some recovery gear installed with a great looking winch cradle. Thanks TNA!
