Warn Bumpers

Warn: The Winch Came First

Warn started in 1948, when Arthur and Sadie Warn began selling locking hubs for surplus World War II Jeeps out of a Seattle shop. The winch that made its name came in 1959, a battery-powered unit that let a driver pull the truck out under its own power. Warn holds over a hundred patents now, and its winches have taken SEMA Best New Product and Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice awards. More than seventy-five years on, it still designs and builds its Ascent truck bumpers here in the USA.

Across the Warn bumpers we ship, the Ascent HD outsells every other Warn series combined. Most go out on heavy-duty diesels like the Chevy Silverado 2500/3500, the Ram 2500/3500, the GMC Sierra 2500/3500, and the Ford F250/F350 Super Duty. The owners who put a Warn on the nose tow heavy and work off pavement, and they expect to pull themselves out, not wait on a tow.

Why Truck Owners Choose Warn

Plenty of bumpers bolt a winch mount on behind the steel as an add-on. Warn starts from the winch, because a winch is what gets you out when you're stuck, or pulls a buddy off a trail when no one else is coming. Since Warn builds both, the bumper is a winch platform first. The cable feeds straight into a mount set where the load actually pulls, and the front end is rated to take it. You get the recovery gear and the armor in one piece, from the same company that builds the winch.

That pays off because the front of your truck takes the first hit. The Ascent puts a winch mount and heavy steel where the factory hangs plastic and foam, so the same front that pulls you out of a washout also takes a deer or a curb instead of your radiator.

The Warn Series, and What Each One Is For

Warn builds its truck bumpers in the Ascent family, plus the Elite line for the Bronco and Jeep. Half-ton trucks are the F150, Ram 1500, and the 1500 Silverado and Sierra; three-quarter and one-ton trucks are the F250 and F350, Ram 2500 and 3500, and the HD Silverados and Sierras. Warn covers both. Steel gauge runs backward from what you'd expect. A lower number means thicker metal, so 11-gauge is already heavy plate.

Ascent

Start here. The Ascent is the core Warn bumper, cut from 11-gauge and quarter-inch steel, and it sits low and close for a clean look and a good approach angle, so the front end has room to climb without scraping. It takes most Warn mid-frame winches, the size most trucks run, up to 12,000 pounds, including the ZEON, ZEON Platinum, and VR EVO. On many trucks it also comes as a matching rear. Run the Ascent on a half-ton, or on a heavier truck where you want the winch and the look without the bulk of the HD.

Ascent HD

This is the heavy one, and the Warn most of our HD buyers reach for. It's welded one-piece from quarter-inch and 3/16-inch steel, and its mount is rated to 18,000 pounds, more than any winch you'll hang on it, so it carries Warn's large-frame winches with room to spare. It comes with or without a pre-runner guard, the tubular hoop that arcs over the grille, and it clears oversized tires. Put it on a three-quarter-ton or one-ton truck that tows and plows and lives off pavement.

Ascent XP

Want the steel without the winch? The XP is the same Warn front with no winch mount, on 11-gauge and quarter-inch plate, so you're not paying for hardware you won't use. You don't have to buy a winch bumper to get a Warn.

Elite (Bronco and Jeep)

The Elite is Warn's off-road line for the Ford Bronco and the Jeep Wrangler. It runs 3/16-inch and quarter-inch plate, tested to a 12,000-pound pull, in front styles with or without a grille guard, plus a matching Bronco rear. It's the weekend trail build, and it holds a winch the same way the Ascent does.

The Winch It's Built Around

Because Warn makes the winch too, you can match the bumper to the exact winch the mount was built to hold. Two Warn winch lines cover most trucks. The ZEON is the flagship. It seals to an IP68 waterproof rating and carries a limited lifetime warranty on the mechanicals, with many parts machined in-house, in 10,000 and 12,000-pound pulls. The VR EVO is the value side, sealed to the same rating, in 8,000, 10,000, and 12,000-pound pulls with a corded remote. A mid-frame winch like these runs from about $680 for a VR EVO to the $1,200 to $1,900 range for a ZEON, bought separately from the bumper. The Ascent HD takes these too, and steps up to Warn's large-frame Heavyweight winches, which run from about $2,400 to $3,150. Our team can help you size one to your truck.

What to Know Before You Buy

Fitment. Every Warn bumper is cut for a specific truck and year, and nearly all of them bolt on with no drilling, using the brackets and hardware in the box. A couple of fitments do call for drilling, so read the fit notes on your product page. A steel front runs well over a hundred pounds, which makes it a two-person lift, though most owners set one in place at home in an afternoon.

Finish. Warn seals every bumper in a black textured powder coat, a work finish that hides scratches and stands up to gravel and weather. The Warn bumpers in this collection are built in the USA.

Lights and sensors. Fronts carry ports for aftermarket fog lights, and rears are made to reuse your factory parking sensors. On some fitments a Warn front will not keep adaptive cruise or a forward camera, and a grille guard can sit ahead of the camera on trucks like the Bronco, so check the fit notes for sensors and cameras on your year before you order.

Value. A Warn is priced as recovery gear, not a trim piece. The Ascent runs from about $1,385 to $2,900, the no-winch Ascent XP from about $1,725 to $2,055, the heavy-duty Ascent HD from about $3,300 to $3,500, and the Elite for Bronco and Jeep from about $1,110 to $1,635. Warn backs the steel with a limited warranty, and BumperStock backs the fit: if the bumper listed for your truck and years does not fit, we make it right.

Buying and shipping. BumperStock is an authorized Warn dealer carrying the full Ascent lineup, so each bumper ships new and free across the lower 48. Pick your truck from the menu to see the styles and the exact years that fit it. Then reinforce the front with the winch and the steel Warn builds as one.

Frequently Asked Questions