i have a 400ex and i was wondering why nobody makes a winch mounting plate for it or any other sport quad i know most of u are saying "why would i want to add 15 pounds of weight to the front my quad" well the answer is simple for those of use who do a lot of early spring riding and even winter riding we get stuck. and with a two wheel drive manual clutch it aint allways easy to get out or have a budy with a 4X4 to pull us out all the time. although a winch would add weight i think there would be a pay off for being able to go out riding and not have to worry about geting trapped in a 3 foot deep mud hole miles from any one to pull u out. i think a mounting plae with a quick release system and a easyer to disconnect wiring harness would be great so if u race your quad u can simply take it off to race and quickly put it back on when u go trail riding. but why dont we just buy a 4X4. well that personally is not my style id rahter have a way to get my self out any other sport riders think this is a good idea

 

250rampage and I had thought about doing this winch idea on a sport quad (blaster or 400ex). Around here all the trails have huge truck mud bogs so we often go riding in these.We have big mud tires and really have a blast boring full bore through these. We even went "pond hopping" a week ago and got in really deep. It's all fun til you get stuck in nasty suction mud. Theres nothin funnier to see than a Blaster trying to pull a 400ex out of a mud hole past the back tires. I know they arent really made for this but it is so fun to go to the mx track and race then the next day be out boring through giant mud holes.We really test the limits of our machines. Hmmm maybe explaining why my Blaster is always broken. Well if you ever would want to put a winch on a honda sprt quad it would be so easy because there is plenty of room behine the front bumper and it would be protected.O well I dont think anyone is going to come out with a winch mount for a sport quad so I think if you want one you will just have to fabricate your own setup.

 

I've been thinking the same thing. I ride all winter here in Colorado, and would like to put the lightest, smallest winch on my 300ex or Raptor just for the 4 months when I ride in the snow... I'm not sure how strong the front frame tubes are on my sport models, or whether they would hold up to a winch pulling on them.

Good luck,
Lorrin[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

thr front frame tubes on a 300 or 400ex i think, would be more than up to the task i think the lightest would be a 1500 super winch or a warn im thinking about trying to fabricate my own mounting plate probley out of some 1/4 inch steel for strength im sure the mounting plate and winch wouldnt be over 10 or 15 lbs i dont have a winch yet but im going to try to make the plate this weekend

 

I will agree totally!!! I would love to have a winch on my Warrior. Memorial day weekend I went to Haspins to ride and wasn't there 10 minutes when I crossed a creek and headed up a hill. I lost traction and had to back down. The creek seemed really firm when I crossed it the first time, but this time I went straight down. I spent 20 minutes trying to get myself out, to no avail. Finally some 4x4's came by and I convinced them to pull me out. Good thing I was smart enough to bring a ****** strap.
With a winch I would have hooked to the tree right in front of me and been out in a jiffy.

One other thing... how do you guys carry gear? Straps, shackles, etc? I wrap my strap around the front bumper but for the rest of the stuff I put it in my hydration pack. Works fine, but that thing gets heavy after allot of riding.
Any suggestions would be great, but best of all I would love to have a small storage spot under the rear end of the quad like most 4x4's do.

 

Phaskell-
I know Warn has for sure, not sure about superwinch, but it wouldn't be too hard to modify one-anyway, Warn has a removable winch that slips into a standard 2" receiver, so you can mount it either front, or back of your quad. It uses a quick-dissconnect wiring harness, so you just unplug the thing to remove it, or to put it on the back. This might be just the ticket for you-you could simply fabricate a standard 2" "receiver" either bolted too, or welded to the frame. If you made some brackets, you could weld the brackets on to the frame, then bolt the 2" receiver unit to the brackets, that way your entire winch and mounting system could be totally removeable for the summer riding, thus giving you your lightweight back-well, not lightweight, but still, not packing around the winch and mounting system when you don't need it. Hell, you could even fabricate something to come off the back end as well, with that type of winch you could pull from either front or back! I've had a few times I'd really like a winch in the rear of the quad myself, might be something to look into.

Anyway, Best of Luck to ya! Hell, you might just design something up, get it patented with the quick disconnect system, and get rich! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

Wood Warrior this is a simple way to carry extra stuff. Go to the hardware store and buy 4 or 5 inch wide pvc pipe that is threaded on one end, that is 10 or 12 inces long, (depending on what u want to carry) make sure u buy a cap, glue that to the unthreaded end and (do NOT glue this end)another threaded cap to screw on the other end for easy access. Now after all of this, fabricate some brackets that hook to those two bolts that hold the grabbar in place and mount those brackets to the pvc pipe.

 

Sounds like a good plan. I am going to wait till I have money for a winch before I do anything cause I don't want to mount this and then realize that is where I want to mount the winch and have to move it. It's no big deal at this point, so I will just wait for the time to be right and I am good to go. The Warn winch set up sounds good to.

Thanks.

 

you can probably modify a dg front bumper enough for a winch to fit there. All of you people who have DG bumpers might get what i'm saying. You can put the winch in between the metal pieces that bolt to the frame. I'll try to draw a picture of what I'm saying. I'll let everyone know when I'm done.

 

i carry my stuff around in a back pack cowboy i was thinking a recever would work its a good idea i think i could bu all the stuff i need at the store im gonna mount it bolted to the frame that way people dont have to weld it and im gonna make it so i can put a roller to my prm bumper so it will work smooth