Figure I would post here some of you guys have to be able to help me out anyways I have this brand new winch sitting in my garage just waiting for me to get my jeep done but its getting to the point where its been sitting there for 3 weeks now and I never even hooked it up yet so Im getting a winch cradle for my trailer hitch and I want to mount it on the back of my truck just so I can use it here and there till the jeep gets done only problem is im not sure what ga wire to run im thinking like 4 or maybe even 2 but I cant really be sure all I know is ill never pull 9,500 lb like what the winch is rated for maybe like 6 at max so should I run 2 or 4 ga and no im not getting the wiring kit thats like 200.00 for 10 feet of it thats what they make napas for 2.72 a foot for 4 ga

 

have u checked the website of the maker of that winch and looked at the installation diagrams, to see what gauge they reccomend, it should have like a parts list of what comes in the wiring kit for installation

 

Im pretty sure there is 6 ga on the winch now(ill look to make sure) but 6 seems to small to me

 

Ok well I looked and its 4 ga so it looks like ill need to run atleast 2ga thing is ill need 20 feet cause pos and neg but idk if I can just ground it to frame or not anyone know?

 

Yes 2 gauge will be best. The frame will be a good ground if prepared right. I'm not sure on the 2nd Gens. But 1st Gens. has 2 grounding points from the battery, 1 to the fender and 1 to the engine.

So adding 1 or 2 extra grounding cables with a 4 gauge or better ground wire from the battery to the frame rail would be what you need. Clean the frame rail at all grounding cables, get rid of all rust and paint that connector will contact.

That is what i have done for my winch. I ran two 2 gauge wires just for the positive cable. I want to be sure I get all the power possible to it. There are online resistance charts that show how much power you will loose due to the resistance in the cable per foot and guage.

 

Alright Ill do that then I looked online and found welding wire thats 2 ga for 2.00 a foot so ill most likey get that stuff to use thanks for the help guys

 

2 gauge is fine up to about a dozen feet or so. Can get by with it for a 20' run, IF you don't pull for long or real heavy. Keep your ground wire as short as possible.

Seen 4 gauge get REAL hot REAL fast running a 8000# winch.

 

Well thats the thing I wont be using this to much to be pulling vehicles maybe one or 2 wont be over 6,000lb. right now we are cleaning up our 1,200 acres at camp and there is place where people have dumped stoves washers crap like that and winch would work great to get that crap out plus that means money for scrap lol

 

I ran a frame mounted rear winch on my trail truck a few years ago, and I ran 2 gauge in a 12 foot run and never had any problems with it getting hot. It was a 12.5 warn, and I did some fairly long and hard pulls with it, and never had any problems. Good luck with it!

 

if it's a reversible dc motor, better check the wiring diagram to see how the motor is switched from forward to reverse directions. this is usually done by switching the polarity on the motor windings and a chassis ground wouldn't allow that.