Pages: 1
Posted by: MUDDY4LIFE
Montana Jack sells the MJ 3 point hitch system that will move your winch from front to rear and mounts it much higher than stock,but man,is it EXSPENSIVE at 449 bucks..There just was no way I planned on paying more to mount my winch than what the winch itself costs me.
I took my Warn 2500 lb Winch and my New 2005 King Quad to my local welding shop and the owner fabricated me RACK HIGH front and rear brackets that will allow me to plug in my winch into the front or rear of my quad by just pulling 2 pins from the brackets.What a great job he did fabricating these brackers.The brackets will unbolt in just a few minutes if needed too?
I went to my local Fork lift shop and bought some heavy duty connectors to plug/unplug the winch from the front rear of the quad.The welding cost me 200 bucks and the plugs for the front/rear of the winch cost me 21 bucks..I painted the brackets myself.I dont have to dig into the MUD to find my winch cable if I get stuck.
Posted by: Dragginbutt
Once you high side a machine, no matter what tire you have, you aren't going anywhere. There are some manufacturers tha have a winch setup that allows you to move it from front to back. I believe Warn has one, but you will need to look and see if there is a model for your rmachine.
Doesn't that AC have a universal mounting system? Maybe it would be a simple thing to slide it in the rack, pin it and go.
When making your purchase, make sure you get a tree saver strap to protect the bark.. I also like to have a gunny sack with a short length of chain in it that I drape over the cable just in case it snaps... it willl kill the energy stored in the cable.
Lastly, it may be a good idea to strap a small shovel on the racks as well to be used to dig yourself out in a pinch. WInches won't do you any good if you don't have something to strap on to... there are devices that you drive into the ground to act as an anchor that you might want to consider too, depending on your terrain. By all means, get a remote control and never stand in line with the cable while pulling...
And put together an emergency kit with flares, matches, portable shelter, space blanket, flashlight, whistle and a few energy bars. Maybe a dry pair of socks and gloves and a stocking cap too Should fit in your storage compartments... grab your cell phone too... It might work, you never know. If you are way out in the bush, and have a problem, you might need all of this to walk out or survive.
Posted by: Dragginbutt
Sorry I may have my marketing stuff mixed up with another brand... I thought AC advertizes this ultra fast connection rack system... and the hope was that the winch manufacturers would have an adaptor to mount the winch on the front or back. I have seen them, just can't recall which one was selling it... I thought it was Warn.. but I may be mistaken. It uses a class two hitch mount I think.
Posted by: Cheapass
mount a hook on the back, and thread through it to pull backwards.
try to find a location where the cable drags on skidplates, though. it will saw through aluminum and plastics.
Posted by: weez440
lol thats why i always put a winch on my atv the day i bring it home. get yourself a better pair of tires like 25 inch itp 589's or something like that i was blasting through the snow a couple weekends ago and i couldn't see my tires but i kept going hardly spinning at all and it was pretty hard packed. these tires aren't the absolute greatest in mud i mean they are good but they really shine in the snow and it seems like i carve out a big hole in the snow by hitting it hard then i can back up put it in diff lock. all can say is GET A WINCH that'll learn ya and GIT R DONE
Posted by: weez440
you can get winches now that are quicktatck i think it is one pin and unhook the quicktatch wire harness and it can mount to the back of the machine so you can pull backwards it has been out for a couple years now. you probably have then goodyear rawhides on there them radial tires look aggressive but in all reality they are crap i think i got less then 100 miles on mine. get some 6 ply mud lites or 589's from itp you will notice alot better handling. them rawhides have such a soft sidewall that my stock rims are all chipped up from the sidewall giving and folding under the tire and rocks hitting the rim cause it is basically on the ground. i am running about 3 psi in my 6 ply tires and they don't give an inch so something to consider and with a 400 i wouldn't go any bigger then 25 inch. hmmm maybe we should have talked about this over at the arctic cat site oh well
Posted by: weez440
you are right DB arctic has the multi rack platform but that woudln't hold the winch very good for the weight is meant to be put straight down on the rack not to be pulled on and i think it is warn that has that quick tatch winch. and tires do make a huge different mine are specifically designed for mud and snow and i have gotten stuck with mine and canned it throwing my weight from side to side and the lugs are meant for snow and they will grab any lil bit and pull you forward. then usually the skid plate and front bumper will push enough so you can have some rocking motion then you can get off and push snow down with your feet a lil and bam you got lots of runway. just to keep in mind got myself out of alot of hairy situations with my kamakazee driving skills. good call on the tree saver strap don't need any more reason for the tree huggers to get more mad at us evil atver's
Posted by: weez440
hey muddy you should talk that welding shop into making those kits for all the newer 4x4 atv's and sell them in mass on the internet i bet there would be alot of money to be made if you could make a conversion kit for about half the price and all you would have involved would be labor and a lil steel.
Posted by: Deeplaker60
I went riding yesterday on my hunting land, using my ATV instead of my snowmobile. I didn't think the snow was very deep, and hadn't ridden my AC since early winter.
I rode around for awhile on trails that had been packed down by my snowmobile last week. No problems, so I drove off on a trail that I hadn't snowmobiled on recently. I felt my AC hesitate a couple of times, but I managed to keep going...for about 200 feet. No problem I though. I'll just back up in the tracks I came in on. Wrong! When I put it in reverse, the only way I went was down--deeper into the snow. Snow was coming up through the foot grates. When I stepped off my machine, I sank into snow past my knees. So I gave up and walked home to get a come-along. (I also put a winch on my things to get list.)
As I was walking out, I noticed something that taught me a lesson I'll remember whenever I ride on snow. If you feel your machine hesitate, look behind you between the tracks. You can tell if you are starting to bottom out on the snow. Don't try to go any further.
Posted by: Deeplaker60
OK. I'm definitely getting a winch. I' not sure what brand of tires are on that Artic Cat, but they are the original equipment and they have very aggressive tread. This is the first time I've gotten stuck, but I did it big time.
I used a small come-along to get it out of the holes and onto lightly packed snow. I figured putting my weight on it would just make is dig holes again, so I put it in reverse and walked beside it. Trying to stear an ATV going backwards while walking in knee-deep snow is a challenge, but I got it back to the snowmobile track and was able to ride it out from there.
However, this experience raises a question about mounting the winch. Most that I see are front-mounted, and my Cat has a mounting plate on the front. But, a front-mounted winch would have done me no good in this case. I needed to get back out of there. Going forward was not an option. So, why are most winches mounted on the fronts of ATV's rather than the backs?
Posted by: Deeplaker60
"quicktatch wire harness" "pin it and go" Huh???
Anyway, you are right DB that it doesn't matter what kind of tires you have when you have bottomed out and there is nothing beneath the tires. A shovel would probably have gotten me out of there, but I would have had to move all that snow that was packed beneath the machine. Actually, I did take a snow shovel when I hiked back to the machine the next day. However, by then the snow beneath it was packed so hard that I really needed a spade to get into it.
A winch is definitely the answer. It still sounds like it would be more convenient to have it on the back rather than the front.
