I just bought and installed a Polaris 3500lb winch on my sportsman. Is there anything special i should know about using it? I cant find the manual that came with it.

I have seen/read about people burning up the motor on it and want to avoid it. Is it recommended to be spinning the wheels while winching (mine would be used to get unstuck from mud).

Any advise on the use of a winch would be great. I had a 1500lb on my scrambler and it never pulled me out of anything.

 

If the quad is on a flat surface it should pull it. If you're stuck in mud and it seems like it's straining you might want to invest in a ****** block pulley like this: 20 000lb New HD Pro Recovery Pulley Tow Winch Grease Port ****** Block 20000 Lb | eBay A tree strap and a shackle to link the two together. Like this: 2 Pak 3 4" 19mm D Ring Shackle 4 5 Ton Boat Marine Anchor Bow Screw Pin | eBay

You throw the tree strap around a tree or big rock, put your winch cable over the pulley and use the shackle to tie the winch cable to the tree strap. Run the winch back to your quad and attach it to a strong point. It pretty much halves the effort of the winch. Used that technique in mud, and deep, deep, snow many times.

Once the quad is out of the deeper mud/snow it doesn't hurt to see if the quad has enough traction to get the rest of the way out. You don't want to dig holes deeper and deeper. It will make it harder to get the quad out. Another trick a guy I know uses is to get a chunk of wood or something around the width of a tire, tie your winch strap off to a good anchor, place the tire in front of the winch angled away from it and under the cable. Once you pull the cable in it will lift the front end out.

 

That's good advice about using a ****** block. A 3,500 pound winch will pull with 7,000 pounds of force. I had either a 2,000 or 2,500 winch on an old quad and used the trailer hitch of my truck as an anchor. I was trying to pull out a small tree and with the ****** block it had enough force to pull the back of my truck sideways.

 

Ditto on the ****** block! Also, be sure to freespool your line out instead of using the switch. Another thing I usually do is once I've let it out to pull I'll wind it around the bumper instead of winching it all the way back in every time.

 

is there a certain amount of time i should run the winch before letting it cool down? Ive heard stories of people burning up a winch and im not sure why

 

I usually winch until I'm unstuck even if it takes a few minutes, but if your winch feels hot you should probably take a break. I always winch with the quad running so I don't drain the battery.