P500 Superwinch installation

[lil_country]

I bought my Pioneer 500 last Saturday. The only options I bought from the dealer were the hard top and the cargo tray. I have several accessories on order including a Strongmade bumper and Superwinch Terra 3500 (Got it on Amazon for $160.00). Can anyone tell me if the Winch comes with all the wiring I need? Also, any tips for installation would be appreciated. Also, I've seen a few post about adding a second battery. What is the purpose of the second battery? Is it a necessity? I'm pretty good with mechanical things, but I don't know much about electrical wiring, so any tips would really help. Thanks

 

[Admin]

 

[trigger]

Congrats on the new ride. Winch will come with the cables, some have complained that they're not long enough. Take off your skid plate and route the cables that way. Some instructions have you taking the floor boards out, not necessary.
Second battery is just to have more power stored. These are the same batteries that have been on quads forever and now we've added light bars and stereos. Better safe than sorry.

 

[JTW]

I bought my Pioneer 500 last Saturday. The only options I bought from the dealer were the hard top and the cargo tray. I have several accessories on order including a Strongmade bumper and Superwinch Terra 3500 (Got it on Amazon for $160.00). Can anyone tell me if the Winch comes with all the wiring I need? Also, any tips for installation would be appreciated. Also, I've seen a few post about adding a second battery. What is the purpose of the second battery? Is it a necessity? I'm pretty good with mechanical things, but I don't know much about electrical wiring, so any tips would really help. Thanks

I put the super winch Terra 35 on my p500 and it worked fine. Everything is there. Just runnyour longer Cabelas to the battery.. it changes the color or wire that goes to the terminals but just remember which is positive and negative and you'll have no troubles.

 

[bigbore]

, so any tips would really help. Thanks

This is the post from my install. I bought 10' lengths of high quality stranded wire and made my own battery cables but most use the included wire. Be sure to scroll through it as it is broken up into parts and there are good comments from others about alternatives. There is another great post on here with good pictures that should come up with a search also.

P500 - Obsessive winch install.

 

[lil_country]

Thanks for the responses. I'm confused about the wiring. I don't know anything about winches, so maybe I'll understand when I get the winch and can actually see all the parts. You mention wiring to the battery, and also using the accessory harness. I don't understand the reason for power from two points. I have picked up a lot of good tips from this forum though. Thanks for the help. I'll probably print out some of these explanations, and take them to the shop with me when I start the installation.

 

[lil_country]

I just got an email saying my winch will be delivered Saturday. Next week I will have accessory installation day with my Strongmade bumper and gun rack, moose hitch, mirror, overhead bag, cargo tray and winch. Should be a good start.

 

[bigbore]

Thanks for the responses. I'm confused about the wiring. I don't know anything about winches, so maybe I'll understand when I get the winch and can actually see all the parts. You mention wiring to the battery, and also using the accessory harness. I don't understand the reason for power from two points. I have picked up a lot of good tips from this forum though. Thanks for the help. I'll probably print out some of these explanations, and take them to the shop with me when I start the installation.

Think of it as a simple circuit, thick cable from the positive of the battery to the positive of the winch, and a thick cable from the negative of the battery to the negative of the winch. You have to cut the positive cable at two places, once(typically near the battery-see my post) to put a circuit breaker in line so it opens the circuit if the winch draws too much power, and one cut under the hood to put in the relay/switch that you use to control the heavy current flow to winch. The relay/switch is what requires the small current from the accessory harness to open and close it, to bring the big power from the battery to the winch. IIRC, the negative runs through the relay also. The winch has a wiring diagram but it has caused confusion for some, me included. I did some unintentional welding when I wired mine.

 

[lil_country]

I got the bumper and winch installed. Going to try to include photos. I mounted the switch and remote plug in a different location than others. I plan to clamp the remote plug to the bar next to it. I think it will be protected by the bumper. Your tips were very helpful along with the installation guide from JasonS. Thanks.

 

[OutdoorEd]

I have the exact same setup coming; strongmade bumper with the terra 3500. Did you mount the winch to the bumper first before installing bumper? I've heard that to install the winch to the bumper is a PITA when it's on.

Any pointers you can give would help tremendously!

 

[JTW]

I have the exact same setup coming; strongmade bumper with the terra 3500. Did you mount the winch to the bumper first before installing bumper? I've heard that to install the winch to the bumper is a PITA when it's on.

Any pointers you can give would help tremendously!

It would be a good idea! But I can't remember if there was clearance to do so or not?