Can anyone give me tips and/or pics on how they ran their wires. I'm trying to mount it in the dry box under the seat and it looks like it's going to be rough to get all the wires there. And what about the wires ran from the winch...anyone afraid they are going to hang them on something?

 

you will need to get some plastic pull tie's to tie ALL the wire's to the frame,,,,i have a '05 grizz,but i mounted the relay in the trunk under the seat too,,,all i did was fed the wires along the frame under the seat ON THE LEFT SIDE,to keep them from the exaust,and when i reached the trunk,i drilled seperate holes to feed the wires through

if you pull tie the wires real good,you will have no worries about them getting snagged,pinched,cut,or warn

also you need a cheap $2.00 tester to find a hot wire (around the fuse box area for me),the wire should only be hot when the key is in the on position,,,,the tester is just a simple 2 wire with a light that comes on when it has juice,no need for a expensive,elaborate one,2 bucks a Lowes or like

 

i forgot,the wire that is only hot when the key is on,is for a wire from the switch that mounts to the handle bars

you will need a wire splice connector,its just a piece of plastic that goes aroud the "hot wire" and the wire to the switch that will splice them without actually cutting any wires,it clamps over the 2 wires with a little pin that pierces the casings tapping the 2 wires together

also i mounted the control switch on the left handle bar,about half way down,pointing inwards,this keeps it from being it caught from a branch

 

Where did you run them on the left? Everything is so tight and jammed. Now we orriginally thought to run the wires with all my other display wires on the right. And then the wires from the winch along the skid plate.

 

i'm not sure what a Kodiak looks like under the seat,but on the Grizzly,it was tight to feed the wires,,on the grizz,there is a white plastic piece under the tank,that sorta wraps around the frame,i tucked some of the wires under it,and some basically to the underside of the frame (same area),,,,i do remember now having to feed them under the bracket that clamps the battery in place too,which was like trying to stuff 10 pounds of crap,into a 5 pound bag getting the bracket back on

you do most definatly want to keep them from the heat of the exaust,thats why Yamaha ran their harness on the left side themselves,,,its not easy,but it can be done,i remeber being frustrated myself

 

i fed them up the frame from the winch (also keeping them from the radiater,and hoses),and under the front plastic,and along the upper portion of the frame under the seat,,,,i wanted the as high,out of the way,and unexposed as possible

what gets me,is other manufacturers run the wireing for a winch from the factory,whether or not they sell it with a winch or not,,,why cant Yamaha?

 

its going to be agrivating,but if you do it,it makes a real clean install job

 

Thanks for the info man!

You stated yamaha ran there wires on the left but to me it looks like they ran them on the right. On the right I have about 5-6 inches of wide openness above the head sheild on the header where some other wires(looks to be comming from the ignition but I could be wrong) are ran.

I'll take some pictures in the morn and make a good look over everything again.

Thanks again!!

 

I just picked my 06 Kodiak up, and they couldn't get the winch installed for me before they closed. The mechanic showed me how he installs them there, and said he taps into the "brown" wire under the key switch panel for the "red" wire of the winch.
He also said he runs the wires under the seat to the frame right under the rear rack, and drills two small holes there.

 

I installed mine pretty much the same as Hoo, but I hooked my hot wire to my head light wire. That way the winch isn't drawing all the time my key is on, it only draws power when I turn the lights on.