No your right, their is not much room, even on the factory cut ones. With a muddy glove on, I think I would just rip it off and freewheel from there. When I cut mine I made it just the size of the fairlead so I have to take it off to reach the **** on mine.

 

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I got my winch yesterday in the mail! - This thing looks NICE - way better than I expected. I will be installin it tomorrow - I'll take pictures and let you know how it goes. I know you all have one - but I"M excited [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

ever see a 39year old get so excited about a winch LOL

 

yea i have. have you ever seen a 40 yr old cry when hes buried out of sight w.out one. lol.

 

ok - started looking at the parts and planning the install. It came with a new style contactor that doesnt fit in the location in the front wheel well like the older ones do. The posts sit sideways instaed of on top. Also the the prewired pos and neg wont fit because the spacing is a hair off compared to the posts on the contactor.

Anyone else mounted the new style and where did you put it? I really wanted to use as much of the prewires that are there. The direction say to mount by the battery - does that really make a difference? I really dont want to run new wires when the wires are already there. It s reall y not a big deal but the less wires to run the better

SHould I search for the old style contactor and put it at the bracket already there?

Any ideas? I am thinking about just making a bracket up front somewhere.

 

brute, your contacter isnt the same as ours by the sounds. cant you take the plate off up front and mount it to the frame thier where the wires are and just cut the prewires apart where there together? got any pics of it?

 

hey sten - Thats exactly what I did (upon your idea) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] it's working out good so far. Can you wrap these contactors to keep the mud and water off them or are they just fine they way they are with the connections being open to the "elements".

I wouldnt mind wrapping it up if anyone has

 

oh another question - seeing how these machines are prewired - where is the hot wire (with ignition on) that gets connected to the handlebar switch? I know I could find one but is there a particular one allready to go?

 

just make sure it has power when the key is on. but my directions say top use the orange/white wire in the wire harness.

 

You can reach the freewheeling **** with the guard on if you cut the opening a little oversize on that end.

Also, get some of the corrugated PVC wiring harness (Checker Auto) to cover the rough edge with. It's a lot nicer to stick your fingers in there to work the clutch, and it covers up the wandering jig saw lines in the cutout.

 

Got my winch installed works like a charm. didnt do any real winching yet but it goes in and out. LOL

I took my winch panel and made my own cut out instead of buying one for 50 bucks. I dont think they make one for the new center drums anyways. I used a dremmel tool and it came out really good. You can not get to the freewheel **** at all. I figured I would keep the hole as small as possible to keep the winch clean as possible. If I nee to get to the **** I'll pop off the cover and throw it in the storage box.

The winch has a reverse on it so why cant you just use that to let the line out instead of pulling it out by hand? just for less "wear and tear" ?

I have PICTURES up if anyone wants to see [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]