Front Hitch Installed on Lightning - Good news

[msdickerson]

Power was simple- Snowsport winch to raise plow has 2 wires. Power (12V) and control switch wires. They are only long enough for a front mount and I had to extend them for my initial rear mount. Anyway the 12 V power cord went directly to the 12V battery and was bolted onto the normal battery terminals. The wire has a fuse in it. I was easily able to drop that wire down to the underside of the truck and zip tie it along the frame to the location I wanted in the front and back. The control switch wire was put up to the cab immediately behind the drivers seat through an existing rubber plugged hole. I did a small cut with a knife to allow that wire to be through that rubber floor seal and still keep the seal. I put it obviously under the rug to under the driver seat and mounted the up down switch on the left lower side seat rail so I could reach down and easily control the up and downs. The 12V battery is continually charged via the HV battery and has no issues with the winch draw. Even with the truck turned off on my 2024 the 12V is charged if I happen to raise or lower the plow while the truck is off assuming you are plugged in. If not plugged in the HV battery will automatically top off the 12V if needed.

I decided to fit the deployable air dam onto the hitch. Sure it reduces ground clearance "permanently" , but if I think its getting in the way it is easily removed. There is now @6" road clearance from the lowest part of the air dam to the road. I did not notice much difference in the miles/kwh since removing the deployable air dam, but I just wanted to try this out. Basically I used existing screw holes to attach galvanized strapping connecting each side to a bumper support member and also used a large hose clamp around the hitch center section and the air dam center area. It is quite stable, and I just wanted to try it out versus storing away the air dam forever. check the pics. The wire bundle is for my snow sport snow plow winch. I might try to make that more cozy later. I also may trim out a bit more rubber on the top area of the wires so make it less tight. Obviously I cut sections of the air dam out, and to make sure it was stable since the center backing was partially removed, I added a cross member of aluminum angle material to strengthen the back supports where the major cut was.

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