2011 500 winch install

[rale]

thats weird.... i just bought a 2011 500 and looked at the wires. i can find a red and a black wire in front at the radiator, but in the back of the atv where the battery is is only a loose black wire with a plastic cap on it. not a red one. im confused now.

im not going to buy a polaris winch. i found a winch at runva.com for $129 and kfi got the winchmount for the 2011 500.

thats much cheaper

[limeport]

Originally Posted by CarFanatic

In the back of the ATF you have to hook up the red power wire to the battery. Also you have to use the wiring in the kit to wire the switch in. There are 2 12 volt sources under the hood (orange wires with white stripe) then you should be good to go!

That is my last problem to install a KFI winch. It has a red wire that is supposed to be spliced into power source off ignition switch. I guess it is the orange/white wire you talk about. I do not know what you mean by "under the hood"

I am installing on 2011 Sportsman 400

[antoniodef]

Limeport

Are you talking about the main power for the winch or the hookup for the switch? There is a orange power wire that would work for the switch under the hood. There is a red and black wire already ran by the radiator for the winch. "Under the hood" is referring to the small, removable piece under the headlight pod. It is where the fuses are located.

I circled where the wire is in the pic...although I have a Polaris winch the wire should still work regardless the brand switch.

[limeport]

Originally Posted by antoniodef

Limeport

Are you talking about the main power for the winch or the hookup for the switch? There is a orange power wire that would work for the switch under the hood. There is a red and black wire already ran by the radiator for the winch. "Under the hood" is referring to the small, removable piece under the headlight pod. It is where the fuses are located.

I circled where the wire is in the pic...although I have a Polaris winch the wire should still work regardless the brand switch.

That is the wire I was looking for. From the picture, it seems that you have to take off more than I did. I took off the headlight the top part of the pod. It doesn't have anything that looks like your pic. It looks as if you took off front rack and stuff below. Is that how you get to this wire?

Sorry for being so dumb. I just got the ATV and having problems finding all the stuff. The orange/white wire is last step (I hope) I think I have found all the other connections.

Thanks for the help. I would appereciate the steps need to get to that wire. Thanks again

[GLT68]

Bringing this back from the dead, but which winch mount are you guys using? I have the Cycle Country mount from Rocky Mountain ATV, 25-3290, they tell me that it is for a Sportsman 800 efi, but it will not fit. The top holes line up, the bottom are about an inch off, and the mount hits the front differential. I am supposed to call their tech line on Monday, just wanted to see what I could find out before then.

Also, inside the headlight pod cover, I found a plug for a 9 volt battery, what is it for? I was guessing that it held the system memory in case the battery was unhooked.

[limeport]

The winch mount seems to have changed for the 2011 models. The only mount other than Polaris I was able to find in March of this year was KFI's. ATV winches, mounts and accessories for KFI Products - KFI ATV Winch, Mounts and Accessories I have a Polaris 500. The mount was terrific-- fit perfectly and was stable for some heavy duty use. Good luck!

[GLT68]

I am guessing that some manufacturers have not updated their product lines for the 2011+ models. The mount I have looks to be designed to mount around the round tube front frame where mine is square tube. I looked at the KFI mount and it looks as though it will work, thanks for the link.

[ElorOnceDark]

Ok, I have a question related to the winch install. I'm setting up a Superwinch LT3000 with a KFI mount on a Sportsman 500 HO. I've followed all the instructions up to reconnecting the battery, but when I try to reconnect the negative lead the terminal sparks horribly! I can't even get it started in the threads. Everything is off so it shouldn't be under a load, right? I'm perplexed!

[ElorOnceDark]

Oops! Ok, my bro-in-law came over and helped me to figure out that I had the solenoid wired backwards! DOH! Everything's Ok now. I had to make up a custom mount for the solenoid though. The Superwinch bracket isn't long enough.