I am in the process of mounting a Warn 2.5ci winch on my 2003 P650. Do I need to install a mounting bracket on the ATV to mount the winch. I know the Prairie has a place to mount a winch, but this particular winch doesn't seem to fit in there correctly. With a winch mounting bracket installed, the winch sits up to high witch will require me to remove the plastic shield mounted for the bottom of the radiator and trim the side plastic radiator shield. I'm sure some of you have mounted this winch on your Prairie's.
I know I must be missing something simple here. What have you found the best way to mount this winch to be.

Thanks for your help.

 

I used the mounting bracket didn't have to trim side plastic,but I left the bottom radiator gaurd off because I couldn't see the cable when rewinding I didn't want it all to ball up on one side.I took off both sides of plastic put winch in then reinstalled both sides and bottom,but then took the bottom back off.I haven't had any problemsat all.It will all fit but you have to fight with it.

 

definetely just by the warn bracket everything will bolt right up nice no cutting or leaving any thing out unless you wanted to.be sure to mount the rocker switch out of harms way i put mine on the left handle bar just to the right and slightly higher than the choke lever. hope this helped and good luck

 

I think my problems are due to the mounting bracket that I have. I have a Moose mounting bracket and the winch will fit on the bracket allright but it seems a little off center and high. I will buy a Warn mounting bracket and see if this solves my problems. Thanks for the help.

 

When I bought my 03 p650 I had the dealer mount a warn 2.5 on it for me....When I got it home and looked at it I could see the tech had to cut away part of my black side plastic to make room for the winch. I also noticed the winch sat off center with part of it protruding out one side closer to the tire. This is primarily because the holes drilled in the mounting bracket are not in the right place in my opinion to center the winch properly.

So I removed the winch and bracket and re drilled the holes on the mounting plate so that the winch would be centered inside the front of the machine and so that none of it protruded out past the black side plastic cover. It is now better but the roller fairlead still sits off to one side on the mounting bracket..This is not ideal so I will be attempting to get a different mounting plate or have one made up to my own specifications...

If anybody knows of one that not only centers your winch inside the front but also has the roller mounted squarelly in the center please let me know.

P.S. how do you get the winch cable not to bunch up when rolling it in..shouldnt these things have some sort of cam that distributes the cable back and forth evenly onto the spool ?

 

My roler sets to the left as yours did It sure would look better if it sat in the center.When I rewind my cable I just move the cable back and fourth until its rewound this keeps to much from going on one side.

 

Ya, I do the same thing when winding it back in but when im winching under tension the thing wraps up to one side its almost impossible to distribute it evenly when a load is on it..
Any tips ?