Has anyone installed this winch mount on the 2001 rancher? I was wondering if mine was deformed, lol, because the fairlead is on an angle, like the bend on the plate where you bolt the fairlead onto isnt bent so it is straight with the frame, it is bent on the angle of the front skid plate, pointing down.

And also the electrode where you put the wires on the winch hits the back of the head light!! I had to take off the plastic light backing and melt it so I had room to tighten the plate.

In my opinion this is a very poorly designed winch plate, it does bolt on very tightly and it has a great support system but it also blocks a lot of air flow to the radiator. please any input would be great..

thanks

 

The part about the "electrode" where you put the wire touching the headlight cover, you have to rotate the winch motor housing. There should be directions on how to do this in your winch manual. It is two bolts and you have to move two nuts inside the gear housing next to the cable spool. I learned the hard way that you have to be careful or the winch could come apart in your hands. Got it all back together and it worked fine. I also upgraded my soleonoid to a heavy duty, constant service rated, 300 amp capacity one. You won't have to worry about burning one of those up.

 

nobody uses this plate?!