[Holton345]

Yeah, I did not get an installation guide and some parts were missing, but I got the winch mounted. It works great! It is nowhere near as loud as I had expected, and it has a decently fast line speed.

However, I have some questions and issues and am fully expecting to be pounced on for how I tried to work out my installation.

I am *fully* prepared to disassemble and fix anything in my setup that is not fully safe or that might cause a problem with other things. Some of it I already *know* is jacked, but that is why I am here.

School me, Wrangler Forum...

1. I did not get anything other than a very thin guide with two pics and no torque specs. Some of the included parts are not shown in the two tiny illustrations.

2. I did not get any hardware to bolt down the three power wires from the contactor to the motor. Jerry Bransford suggested they were probably M8x1.25 (he was correct, of course) and I grabbed some at Home Depot on the way home from work today.

3. An envelope with two longer mounting bolts was included with the instruction that they were to be used if the feet of the winch are mounted forward, and they were to be used to bolt the fairlead/hawse through the plate and into the square nuts retained in the winch base. Right. Got it. Okay. So then that leaves me with these two black, plastic snap-in caps. There are no holes anywhere I could find for these. They are not in the two tiny illustrations in my booklet. Since I did not get some parts, could these be to some other winch and not something I need to worry about?

4. I could not figure out what to do with the three power lines. They are too long. Or too short. Or...? I decided to try and keep them clear of the spool by running them around one of the slats in the grille. They fit nearly perfectly that way. I do not know whether they are too close to the radiator, though. Suggestions?

5. I ran the two battery cables through the same grille slot and on either side of the air box. Right now they are pretty rednecked. The holes in the connectors are too small for my military terminal bolts. I will drill them out later. Right now they are on the actual clamp bolts. I will try to clean up the routing of these two cables later.

6. WTF with the ground wire? Where did you guys put it? I ended up putting it beneath the nut on the corner of the radiator. Bad idea? I tried to hook it to the stamped steel info tag on the base of the grille, but I could not get the screw all the way out. So it is on the radiator now, running through the same slot in the grille.

Are these cables and the wire going to be damaged this close to the radiator fins?

Anyone know if there is a torque spec for the cap bolts on the frame where you mount the contactor bracket? I tightened them to what felt like it took me to get them loose. But these seem like parts that ought to have a spec. Yes? No?

Here is a packet of photos. Please feel free to ream this install. I want it to be correct. By the way, the winch works well, no arcing or places that are hot with current. I think I *may* have gotten this right, but it is - you know - critical. I want it to be correct so that it works when I need it.

Thanks!

 

[Holton345]

More pics. One of these shows the *extra* plastic caps. At least I hope they are extra...

 

[Holton345]

Anyone?

I am particularly concerned about those plastic caps I did not use...

 

[WatlooBoy]

"WTF with the ground wire?"

 

[WatlooBoy]

Holton, the ground wires

from the contactor and the battery attach at the bottom of the winch motor.

I threw those caps in a drawer.

 

[WatlooBoy]

I could not figure out what to do with the three power lines. They are too long. Or too short. Or...

I curved them around behind the winch motor. If you place the contactor on its bracket, coil the wires, THEN tighten their motor connections, you can avoid kinks and neaten their arrangement behind the motor.

 

[WatlooBoy]

The power wires stay relatively hidden behind the winch motor, and aren't routed where chafing risk lurks.

As for the contactor support bolt torques, I did not have that info, either. I just cranked them down good. You could use a little Locktite for peace of mind.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

It would be a very good idea to add a little extra insulation to the pair of cables that lead to the battery, where they pass under the grill area. Like plastic wire loom or scrap garden hose slit up the side held on with zip ties. There are some sharp edges under the grill that can rub through the insulation.

 

[Holton345]

"WTF with the ground wire?"

I don't have that illustration. Thanks! So I need to remove the power cable that came attached to the motor, and put the ring connector of the ground wire on that?

Again, thanks!

 

[Holton345]

It would be a very good idea to add a little extra insulation to the pair of cables that lead to the battery, where they pass under the grill area. Like plastic wire loom or scrap garden hose slit up the side held on with zip ties. There are some sharp edges under the grill that can rub through the insulation.

The positive battery cable came with a plastic loom on it. The black did not. I will get some of that stuff at AZ later today. I routed them through the grille to keep them from being exposed under the jeep. I did not feel any sharp edges, but I will go back and look over every inch.

I have the red routed between the fender and the fuse box, and the black routed between the fuse and air boxes. Does that sound okay?

 

[Holton345]

The power wires stay relatively hidden behind the winch motor, and aren't routed where chafing risk lurks.

As for the contactor support bolt torques, I did not have that info, either. I just cranked them down good. You could use a little Locktite for peace of mind.

View attachment 2795201

I will take a look at my wires later today. I like the idea of some blue locktite on the two cap head bolts that hold the contactor bracket to the frame rods. Thanks!

 

[UrbanHillbilly]

The black plastic caps are for a solid fairlead (hause?), if you have a roller like me then you dont need them. My M8000 sits down in my bumper and getting to the winch ground cable bolt is a PIA, so I drilled out an existing hole in the center body mount bracket on the frame and grounded my contactor to that. That little wire is only for the remote/contactor, so it isn't really necessary to get it straight back to the battery like the motor ground. Just ground it like any other ground wire. The main ground wire from the motor still bolts under the winch and goes to the battery. I routed my cables under the corner of the grill and brought them up to the airbox and then routed them like you. Positive along fender and under fuse box, negative between fuse and airbox, plastic loom all the way.

 

[Holton345]

The black plastic caps are for a solid fairlead (hause?), if you have a roller like me then you dont need them. My M8000 sits down in my bumper and getting to the winch ground cable bolt is a PIA, so I drilled out an existing hole in the center body mount bracket on the frame and grounded my contactor to that. That little wire is only for the remote/contactor, so it isn't really necessary to get it straight back to the battery like the motor ground. Just ground it like any other ground wire. The main ground wire from the motor still bolts under the winch and goes to the battery. I routed my cables under the corner of the grill and brought them up to the airbox and then routed them like you. Positive along fender and under fuse box, negative between fuse and airbox, plastic loom all the way.

I thought the plastic caps might be to cover the bolt heads on an aluminum hawse, as you said. Good to know with my roller fairlead that I did not forget to install something.

I re-did the ground so that it now lives on the same post with the black battery cable from the motor.

 

[Dustdevil]

It would be a very good idea to add a little extra insulation to the pair of cables that lead to the battery, where they pass under the grill area. Like plastic wire loom or scrap garden hose slit up the side held on with zip ties. There are some sharp edges under the grill that can rub through the insulation.

This was the only obvious thing I noticed. While the front of the grille is rounded and smooth, the back is sharp and could wear through the insulation on the power cable, especially. Mine is routed under the grille, between that and the plastic cover over the sway bar. It has plastic wire loom cover over it, but I still want to beef that up even more. If that wears through, and grounds out on any metal attached to the frame or grille, you'll wish you had paid more attention. While the winch may draw up to 400 amps, the potential is for more, and it doesn't require anywhere near that much to cut or weld steel.