I just installed a warn 2500lb. winch on my '05 500 h.o. and I was curious as to how well the predrilled mounting holes hold up. I was alittle concerned because the mounting bracket doesn't bolt directly to the frame rather it bolts to the rack supports. Do any of you reinforce the mounting plate or are the mounting holes good enough?

 

It doesn't need any reinforcing. The "Rack Support" is actually part of the brush guard, and is pretty stout once you look at the whole geometry of the setup (mostly u-channel or straight flat pieces). Additionally, if you pull hard enough to pull the winch loose...you are only replacing a little piece.....if you pull that hard on the frame....your replacing the quad.

 

that should be good. no extra support needed. I hope you have good luck with your winch, all I can say is keep an eye on your cable to see if it's freying. also keep an eye on your roller fairlead to make sure the rollers are in fact "rolling".

 

On my 05 Sportsman with the Warn 2500 the mounting of the winch plate to the quad frame was with four 5/16 self tapping bolts into non-threaded holes in the frame. I put flat washers and nuts on the back side of the four bolts to eliminate any chance of the bolts pulling out.

My wifes quad was stuck bad in the middle of the Mojave River last week and the winch dragged my 05 Sportsmam on solid ground with all wheels locked up, so its plenty strong.

 

Thanx for the reply's I actually thought about putting washers and nuts on the backside of the bolts for a better piece of mind.

 

So there aren't supposed to be nuts and washers on the back there? My dealer installed the winch, and he put nuts and washers on the back. That made it extremely difficult for me to remove and reinstall the winch, it is hard to reach back there.

 

Yours is a 2004.5 while mine is a 2005. There are differences in the front end design. Yours my be designed for nutted bolts whereas the 2005 is designed for self threading.

 

Oh alright. I didn't realize you were talking about 2005's.

 

Big Kid,

I noticed you put 700 front springs on your 2005 500 HO. What year springs were they (does it make a difference). How do you like the results. Did you get any lift? Does it ride rougher. I have a winch + brush guard + 3.25 gal flat gas can mounted and the front sags a little. Also what did you pay for the parts?

Thanks

 

GMRUBIN,
I was on another site and saw that some people were changing the springs because of the nose diving on SP500's, which I didn't experience on the '03 SP700 I had. They gave the part numbers and the spring rates, I crossreferenced the numbers on Polaris's web site and the numbers for the '05 models are different. As far as trying them out, I haven't had a chance to install them yet. I checked the front ends at the dealer on the 500 - 800 by pushing on the front ends and the 700 seemed to be the best . I couldn't tell the difference between the 700 and the 800. The struts and the strut housings are the same from the 400 - 800's, only the springs are different. From what I read the 700 springs make a huge improvement over the 500 springs especially when adding extra accessories. I didn't put any lift on because I think it sits ok the way it is. I saved the lift for my Suburban. As far as price I got everything from the dealer so things tend to be alittle more expensive especially here in South Texas, the Northern guys seem to get better pricing. I paid an embarrassing $59 apiece. As far as I know the '05's are different from the earlier models.
Have a Good one, Mike