How to Install a Winch on a Polaris Ranger
The Polaris Ranger is a beast on the road and it undoubtedly has some really amazing features. One of those is the most recent winch installation kit. Installing a winch has now become necessary as fixing bigger tires or getting lift kits.
This also goes for the side-by-side industry, the use of winches is gradually increasing.
Instead of calling for help each time your vehicle gets stuck, it’s better you know how to install a winch and get yourself unstuck in a quick and easy manner.
In this structured guide, you will learn all the fundamentals on how to install a winch on a Polaris Ranger, coupled with some helpful tips.
How to Install a Winch on a Polaris Ranger
Installing a winch on your Polaris Ranger is about to get simplified. You should know that your winch can only perform its best when you get the installation right, and the steps below will ensure you do that.
Step 1: Remove the battery
The last thing you want while installing a winch is to get shocked by electricity.
Hence, you must take out your battery to avoid it.
Raise the passenger seat of your Ranger to disconnect the battery. Simply grab it by the edge when you see a storage container, and it should easily fall off. It is there where the battery is.
Use a wrench of the appropriate size to remove the battery key, which will loosen the socket.
You can either remove it as it comes off or sandwich a piece of dry clothes or other insulating material between the key and the battery’s body. This is done to avoid the possibility of electrical activity.
Step 2: Remove the hood
The next action is to remove the front hood from the Polaris Ranger. There should be two lateral locks on the top of the hood that is easily removed by giving them a quick turn.
Step 3: Remove the front grill
It is not a barbecue grill. It’s an automobile grill secured by a few locking clips. To release the front grill, spin the locking clips as you did in the preceding steps.
You can check your service guide on how best to do this, as some models may differ. You might have to deal with two to four locking clips.
Step 4: Remove the cup holder and bracket
Take a wrench after climbing back up into the cabin. The screws holding your cup holder base together should be loosened.
Additionally, you might find a couple of push pins that require unlocking.
The cup holder can then be removed by grabbing it by the edge. Your bracket ought to be available in the meantime as well. To remove the bracket, use a torque screw of the proper size.
Step 5: Remove bumper
Thankfully, this is the final stage of removal if you are growing tired of having to undress your car as you continue to remove items. Now you need to remove your bumper in order to fully access that area.
Gently use a wrench to take out the fasteners holding the bumper firm.
Step 6: Auto fairlead installation
You’ll need to install the auto fairlead and the backer plate because your bumper is now no longer in place. The backer plate fits behind the front bumper assembly and resembles the letter.
The convex portion of the backer plate should face upward while installing it. Prior to locking the backer plate and fairlead together, you should secure the fairlead in place. Once this is done, head on to step 7.
Step 7: Hang the winch
The winch will now be suspended from a metal bar on the front of your car.
Ensure you thread the wire from the winch through the space between it and the bottom bar. This will serve as support. The winch must then be fastened to your vehicle with four bolts.
Step 8: Connecting battery cable
The situation now becomes electrical. There are only two wire pairs needed for this phase. The battery cables should be taken first, and they should be inserted through a space behind the front stabilizer bar.
Remember to move vertically. Then, to secure them in place when it enters the bonnet, you will attach them with a Christmas tree clip. The battery cables must then be connected to the terminal bars after that.
Also, know that the black pin connects to the underside of the terminal bars and the red-capped section to the positive terminal. Hold on, we need to connect one more thing.
Find the vehicle’s harness connection and attach it to the winch’s harness connector. You may tell if anything is at the ideal location when you hear a click.
Step 9: Install the wireless receiver
An electric winch is operated by a remote controller, and in order to locate signals, it will need a receiver.
Additionally, since your receiver will be installed in the front cab area, you might need to drill the area first to make it easier to enter screws.
Once the receiver is in position, take their connectors (thick pair of wires) and thread each one individually through the center of the car.
It needs to be connected to another car harness connector as it enters the dashboard. The sculpture has the appearance of multiple wires coming together in one location.
Step 10: The finishing touch
Feed around a foot of rope into the fairlead of your unattached bumper after releasing the rope from the winch. Reinstall the front grill and bumper after that, and secure it with the bolts.
The rope’s free end will then be looped through a magnetic stop.
The fat part of the rope should be facing the sky. And for the magnetic rope, the beveled part should face the metal hook and the flat surface should face the rope.
Final thoughts
Once you’ve gotten your winch fixed correctly, and all wiring secured, you can now go ahead in testing the winch. You can review our article on how to connect a battery to a winch to help you with the right wiring.
Hopefully, you won’t be caught in a tough position without a winch.
You can easily pull out your vehicle from mud pits and tree stumps with a winch you installed correctly.
