Somebody in the introductions area asked me to post some pictures of my new KQ400, so here goes (reposted from another site). I have had Hondas off and on for years, but they pissed me off last year when they had their lawyers threaten Printables.com, strong arming them into removing any model which mentioned the name "Honda" regardless of whether their intellectual property was being misused. Long story short, I love the new Ariens snowblower I bought last year (had previously been planning to buy a Honda), and now this new King Quad 400:



The first order of business was to get a winch mounted. I got a good deal on a Warn VRX 25, and bought a steel mount for it off Ebay which fits well, so that part was easy enough. The real challenge in mounting a winch is the controls and wiring, especially where to put the contactor unit. Ideally you want it protected from mud, water, and trail damage, away from exhaust heat, etc. This kind of limits the options especially on a more modern ATV which has a lot going on wiring and fuel wise, and more extensive plastic coverage than I was used to with my older machines. The obvious place is the storage compartment in the rear plastic under the seat, but then you end up driling mounting holes in your new plastic, and oh by the way there are components on the other side which would need to be removed to avoid drilling into them, and allow for fastener installation.

I scratched my head about this for a while, and ultimately decided to make a mount which could be bonded to the inside of the compartment, and the contactor mounted to that. The easy thing would have been to drill and tap a piece of aluminum and bond it in place, but I chose to draw up a mount in CAD and print it out of ABS on my Voron 2.4:



This mount uses heat set threaded inserts, and it matches the draft angle of the inside of the compartment. I connected the control wires to the contactor, installed it on the mount, installed the front vertical piece on the mount, and then installed the whole assembly into the compartment on the quad using double stick foam mounting tape. Then I connected the power cables to the winch and the battery.



The biggest challenge of the entire project was the cables. The winch kit included some, but they weren't long enough to reach where I mounted the contactor. I ended up buying 20 feet of 6 gauge cable and crimping my own terminals. I did have to drill a couple 7/8" holes in the plastic at the front of the compartment, and ran the cables through rubber grommets placed there. I can live with the holes in the compartment there since the lid isn't watertight anyway, and I would need to be in water basically up to the seat before it became a problem.

Finally, I installed a lid on the top of the mount. This will protect and cover the terminals, and allow me to still stow things in this compartment.



For the second project, I wanted to install a gear bag on the front rack. Cabela's makes a decent one that's even available in the same camo pattern to match the plastic of the quad, but it's a little too big to mount cleanly on the front rack. I could have put it on the rear or used a different bag, but I like the style of this bag (and that it matches), and I want it on the front so I can more easily access gear while seated on the quad.

I considered modifying the rack or making an extension out of steel tubing to match, but ultimately I decided to try using a couple of printed parts to secure the bag without making more permanent mods to the quad.





In the picture of one of the extensions being printed, you can see the single layer height (0.3mm) "mouse ears" at the end and corners of the part. Big ABS prints like to warp off the build plate, and these help them to adhere better while still being easily removed.

I made a left and a right which are mirror images of each other. They attach to the rack using M4 hardware, and hold a length of 3/4" .035 6061t6 tubing secured with m4 set screws, all using heat set inserts to put the threads into the part.



Quad with bag mounted:





The rack extension is a little vulnerable out in the front, but part of the reason I built it this way, is the aluminum should bend, or the printed parts break before the rack is damaged in the event I smack a tree or something with the front of the quad. And if I decide I don't like the bag after all, there is no permanent modification to the rack. But it seems like a pretty cool bag, so far.