P500 winch location

[NitroxDiver]

I will be making a winch mount for the stock front bumper and I need to decide on the position. My plan will be basically to mount the winch upside down below the top mount tubes or on top of the tubes. I dont ride in a lot of water or deep mud at least not for long periods of time. I think the low mount would give a better angle when winching and keeping weight low is always good. What are your opinions?

 

[Admin]

 

[trigger]

I will be making a winch mount for the stock front bumper and I need to decide on the position. My plan will be basically to mount the winch upside down below the top mount tubes or on top of the tubes. I dont ride in a lot of water or deep mud at least not for long periods of time. I think the low mount would give a better angle when winching and keeping weight low is always good. What are your opinions?

You know you need a winch plate right? Can't go wrong with the KFI for a top mount.

 

[JTW]

I like the look of a strong made bumper which allows for a top mount on the winch

 

[Hondasxs]

On the 500, I think the KFI is the best option too.

 

[NitroxDiver]

You know you need a winch plate right? Can't go wrong with the KFI for a top mount.

I will make my own plate just trying to decide if I want to mimic the kfi location or the honda location.

 

[Seg]

I will be making a winch mount for the stock front bumper and I need to decide on the position. My plan will be basically to mount the winch upside down below the top mount tubes or on top of the tubes. I dont ride in a lot of water or deep mud at least not for long periods of time. I think the low mount would give a better angle when winching and keeping weight low is always good. What are your opinions?

Mine is mounted upside down using the Honda Braket(not cheap). I have the Bison bumper which doesn't really allow for a top mount solution. I haven't had any issues winching myslef out of tricky situation and have been using it all winter plowing...

 

[trigger]

I will make my own plate just trying to decide if I want to mimic the kfi location or the honda location.

If you're going to use it for plowing, I like the upper location. Easier on the winch IMO.
Pulling the machine up a hill or out of deep mud, the lower location might serve better. It will see more mud and water that way though.

 

[Mudder]

Pleased with the Strongmade bumper, not worried about bumping trees, the upper bar is a good handhold if you're in the mud winching out, and looks good from behind the wheel.

 

[JTW]

Pleased with the Strongmade bumper, not worried about bumping trees, the upper bar is a good handhold if you're in the mud winching out, and looks good from behind the wheel.

View attachment 36983

In my opinion the p500 NEEDS the strongmade!

 

[AlR]

In my opinion the p500 NEEDS the strongmade!

The StrongMade looks awesome. I got the Honda OEM bumper because it was convenient, but mainly because of the trees that we sometimes push over on the tighter trails. I'd have wiped out my headlights within the first couple of rides. The bumper was handy for mounting the light bar as well (I always pipe-clamp my lights on). The winch is on a KFI mount and sits abit low, but is fine.

Al

 

[NitroxDiver]

So I decided on a Mid mount winch. I added 2 pieces of 1.25" angle to the upper bumper mount for the mounting plate and mounted the fairlead to the existing plate on the front of the bumper. This mounts the winch lower than the FKI mount and puts the fairlead right in the middle between the KFI and Honda mount. The fairlead is angled up a little and probably wouldn't be the best angle if using a plow but for recovery I don't think it will make any difference. If you did this with 1.25 inch tube instead of angle you could mount the winch upside down with a fairlead plate and it would be almost in the exact same spot as the Honda winch. Ill take everything back apart tomorrow and get it all painted and reassembled. A couple things I like about this arrangement is that it keeps it as low as possible but keeps it up top where you can keep an eye on the line as it spools.

 

[NitroxDiver]

Finished mounting up the winch today I think it looks pretty good. I originally thought this may not be good for a plow because of the fairlead angle but with the winch line going straight down the line is not bent more than 90 degrees so I don't think it would be a problem. If anyone wanted to do this type of mount with out a welder I think it would be an easy bolt on modification too. Just use a flat plate bolted to the upper bumper mounts or notch the angle iron so that you can bolt them straight down through the top tubes of the bumper. Buying the angle iron bolts for the fairlead and new bolts for mounting the winch (lost the originals) I mounted up my winch for right at $15.00