I installed a Gorilla on a good friend's new Rancher this past summer. He used the mounting plate supplied by Gorilla. There are no "tricks" to the install. I found locating the mounting plate a bit confusing initially, but once figured out, the mounting was straight forward. My friend also has a new Foreman and I installed a Gorilla on that as well. On both, the fairlead was at a strange angle once the installation was complete. A crowbar "realigned" to to look much better. On one of the two machines (and I can't remember which, this is why I note both) the contactor was mounted directly behind the winch, and on the other it was mounted behind the CD module (right side, rear) using one of the same bolts as the CD module. The wiring trunk was placed along the right side of the frame which involves removing some of the plastic. Don't remove it all, the wire can be threaded behind the panels. The trigger wire for the contactor (red) is co-located with the wires for the "in and out" switch (green and black (?)) and was tapped in near the gauge cluster. There is plenty of wire and one wire drives the winch in, the other out and can be reversed if you desire. This you may want to do depending upon where you mount your switch. I.E., mount on top of the steering bar and pushing the rocker to the "outside" draws the winch wire "in." Rocking the switch "in" drives the winch wire "out." Reversing those two wires makes "out" equal "out" and so on. I also shortened them for a better fit. If you have access to a wire crimper and electrical connectors you might consider removing the existing connectors as they are larger than they need to be and are lacking in thickness (my only complaint about the winch). You will then be able to shorten the cable for a more custom fit. I doubled the wire alongside the frame on the right side and tied the wires with tie straps. Do not use the tie straps that come with the winch, they are weak and will break. After you are done, call the company and relay your comments. They are receptive and will welcome your input. They pass along customer comments to the mfgr during their 3-4 times per year trips back to China to discuss improvements, etc. Expect to take three to five hours for your initial install, taking your time to get it right. The next will go a lot faster, two to three hours.

 

I got a Gorilla 3000 lb winch for my Ranger. What a peice of junk. Got it last Sept. 06 used it a few times with a Swisher dump setup. Lasted about 8 trips hauling a load of road rock around the building. The gears were completely stripped. This was early Oct, notified them it failed they sent a replacement unit. Installed it hauled a few more loads of rock, a few days later had a good snowfall, 4 inches of fluff. Put the plow on and proceeded to clean up the drive. Got about half way done and the unit locked up. Took it apart and the planetary gears were shattered. Contacted them again, no response. Tried numerous times they just ignored me. Even tried to BUY the replacement parts, no response. It is now March 07, they won't honor their warranty they don't have or won't offer parts. Crappy outfit to do business with. According to other posts many people have used 1500 and 2000 lb winches with utility dumps on their atvs/utvs without any problems.

 

It was posted somewhere else on this site that it is a good idea to replace the ELcheapO grease that they use with a good synthetic... (runs quieter, faster and lasts longer) I had a 2500 extreme winch on my kodiak worked great! and just installed a gorilla 2500 on my uncles 03 polaris 600 all thoses E-bay brand winches are the same...

 

I think i started the whole Grease bit, with Venom winches. But im sure that goes with all of those Ebay sold winches, they seem to be worthy and duable, you just have to upgrade the maitenance on them (Synthetic grease, higher grade wire,...)

 

Perhaps, but the real problem is the failure of the vendor to clear up the problem. If they don't backup their warranty claims let alone just meeting you half way how do they expect to remain in business!!!

 

I went the cheap way as well. I got a Viper 2500 for the wife's ATP 500 and a Venom 2000 for my Can-Am. All hardware was included with both. Same handelbar switch as a Warn and same controller. The mounting plates worked great just a minor mod needed for the Polaris since I have the front push bar on it. Anyway had them for about 6 months now and had zero problems with them. Use them all the time from liftling the plow to anchoring the bike to the trailer. Now I wasn't awear of the new grease trick. Any suggestions on which grease to use (name / grade).

 

I noticed this hold true for cheap drills also....I always open them up and pack with grease

 

I use an Amsoil Synthetic Marine grade grease