Warn Winch Helps Ford F-Series Super Duty Trucks Clear Their Way

While I was watching a recent episode of The Weather Channel’s “Highway Through Hell,” I watched intently as a family of expert truck wreck wranglers worked on a tricky truck mess at the bottom of a steep hill. I noticed something about how winches played critical parts in enabling the successful wrecker mission.

Ford F-Series Super Duty Trucks Have Winch

As I watched the rescue, I remembered something that I saw from Ford last week, about a new winch that owners of Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks with the Tremor Off-Road Package can have installed by their Ford dealers. As I watched, I could see the value of winches as the truck wranglers took care of business. And, on thinking about it, I could also see the importance of a winch that is available when you need it.

For example, let’s say you are bushwacking along a back-country route in between Nowhere and FurtherfromNowhere, Maine. It is the type of path that even your GPS tries to forget, but can’t quite manage. Suddenly, you find your route blocked by a massive tree that has fallen in the middle of the road. Okay, you have prepared for this eventuality – this is because you have learned lessons from other blockages -- and you have a chainsaw amongst your equipment, gassed and ready to go.

So, you start up the chainsaw and begin whittling things down to size. Since it is a formidable tree, but your chainsaw isn’t up to logging grade; it does take more time to whittle it down, but you do it. After a time, you have it all cut apart; however, it’s now in many pieces. This is the point where the winch comes in very handy as you move your F-Series pickup into position, run out the winch cable, wrapping it carefully around the pieces you have cut up, and you move them quite efficiently out of your way. Pretty soon, you have cleared the roadblock, and you are on your way again, thanks to the winch.

Warn Winch Helps Ford F-Series Super Duty Trucks Keep Going

If you do lots of back-country traveling, well away from the roads with mileage markers to tell you where you are, the winch is well worth the $3,000 price. You can either order the winch kit as part of your Ford F-Series Super Duty Tremor Off-Road Package. Or, you can order it through your dealership for installation if you have already taken delivery of your pickup. Ford recently showed the full Tremor option at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. I took a look at the improvements that come with the Tremor option and what they mean.

It is the first time Ford Performance Parts is offering a Warn winch. The winch is capable of 12,000 pounds of winching power. Integrated into the front bumper, the winch is available for both gas- and diesel-powered Ford Super Duty Tremor pickups.

Ron Meredith, Ford truck vehicle personalization planning manager, said in an interview that Ford Performance Parts “developed this unique winch in cooperation with Warn specifically to meet … truck standards for our new F-Series Super Duty.”

Ford F-Series Super Duty Trucks Have Added Tool

He continued that “having a winch specially designed to our … standards gives our hard-working Super Duty Customers yet another tool to extend this truck’s capabilities, whether at work or on the trail.”

Ford developed the winch with safety and capability in mind. The integrated winch mounts behind the front steel bumper The placement optimizes airflow and clearance regardless of engine choice. The winch uses a high-tensile strength, abrasion-resistant synthetic cable. The cable can drag almost any rig out of the muck. Or, it can easily pull a pickup over an obstacle like a half-buried rock in the road or a partially sunken log. Or, the winch can move trail-clogging barricades like fallen trees. The winch includes the only wireless remote control in its class, along with a provision for wired remote control. The Ford Performance Parts winch by Warn will be available starting in mid-2020.

Looking at the 2020 Ford F-Series Super Duty line (250/350) more closely, you will find it is quite a series. When equipped with the Tremor Off-Road Package, it has a maximum towing capacity of 15,000 pounds for conventional trailers. The towing rating goes up to 21,900 pounds for gooseneck trailers, with the available diesel. It has a maximum payload capacity of 4,210 with the all-new 7.3-liter gas engine. The new powerplant provides all the towing and payload capability customers expect of their F-Series Super Duty.

Tremor Off-Road Package Available On Ford F-Series Super Duty Trucks

The Tremor Off-Road Package is available for XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum F-250 and F-350 Super Duty trucks with the available 7.3-liter gas-powered V-8 or the third-generation 6.7-liter Power Stroke® diesel V-8.

Both workhorse and adventure machine, the Tremor Off-Road Package is available for XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum F-250, and F-350 Super Duty trucks with available all-new 7.3-liter gas V-8 or third-generation 6.7-liter Power Stroke® diesel V-8. Ford builds the 2020 F-Series Super Duty line at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky., and the Ohio Assembly Plant at Avon Lake, Ohio.

Marc Stern has been an auto writer since 1971. It was a position that filled two boyhood dreams: One was that I would write, and two that I write about cars. When I took over as my newspaper’s auto editor, I began a 32-year career as an automotive columnist. There isn’t much on four wheels that I haven’t driven or reviewed. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, and others. Today, I am the Ford F150 reporter for Torque News. I write how-to and help columns for online sites such as Fixya.com and others. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Most of Marc's stories can be found at Torque News Ford coverage. Check back again and search for Torque News Ford F-150 news for more F-150 truck news coverage. Read most of Marc's stories at Torque News Ford for daily Ford automotive news coverage