I hear ya! I took the long way & followed the instructions, I think mostly to know how to get access to any place on the machine & it was a tail - whip! Hope you enjoy the winch. I use mine more than I thought I ever would & a thumbs up so far. Good luck.Thanks for your reply - I ended up taking the supplied ground wire back to the ground point designated in the instructions however I did not have to take the whole machine apart to do this. Not sure who writes the instructions for Honda but they should be FIRED!