First winch setup. Smitybilt XRC 9,500lbs

[youngPreacher]

Gotcha! I saw an old post from 2010 talking about someone hooking up a super winch to the back of his long bed crew cab, and the conclusion was he at least had to use 2/0, but probably better with 4/0. One suggestion was instead of running a single 4/0, run two 1/0 wires parallel. Does that make sense? Said they would share the current equally


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[unseenone]

Welding Cable will get you there. I'd personally prefer a single run vs a dual run if it is possible.

It seems the ready made warn wires would be rated for the task, and length though for your purposes. Bigger is almost always better with wire like this though. I don't think I would go with an inexpensive set of jumper cables (Warn makes a set), usually when you get into it, you find the insulation is quite thick, but the wire leaves a bit to be desired. You'll also have the added planning of having the correct crimping tools for the Anderson connectors, battery connectors, etc.

A 2nd disconnect relay can be obtained separately, it was in the links, though, I don't see why you can't use one, and connect both front and rear wires to it. You are not going to use them both at once, and that will simplify the installation. The only other suggestion would be an an Anderson disconnect at the battery for convenient disconnect perhaps.

You will need to allow for some provisions for grounding. Your battery cable negative to body ground should be as large as your main power cables. The winch I have has 3 cable connects, + - and a ground wire to body. Some folks just use the ground provided when you bolt it to the body. I'm not sure how critical that one is..

The red Anderson connector on the left in this picture is + and - quick disconnect outside the battery box. In your instance, you'll have it at the winch on both ends of the vehicle. The wire used is the warn I listed, with added heat shield.

Finally, you can significantly cut down on the amperage and increase pulling power by using one or more snatch blocks. Get at least one, I like the ARB, smitty built also makes some. At least a couple of shackles would be handy, I like smitty. This helps on a number of fronts, the more wire/cable off the spool the better it will pull, the less load on the motor, the better it will pull. You can also consider shorter cable on the winch to help pulling power (less turns on the spool) I use an 80' and carry an extension.

I hope this helps, just my opinions, this is always a highly debated subject.

Good luck with your installation.

 

[patoz]

Welding Cable will get you there. I'd personally prefer a single run vs a dual run if it is possible.

It seems the ready made warn wires would be rated for the task, and length though for your purposes. Bigger is almost always better with wire like this though. I don't think I would go with an inexpensive set of jumper cables (Warn makes a set), usually when you get into it, you find the insulation is quite thick, but the wire leaves a bit to be desired. You'll also have the added planning of having the correct crimping tools for the Anderson connectors, battery connectors, etc.

A 2nd disconnect relay can be obtained separately, it was in the links, though, I don't see why you can't use one, and connect both front and rear wires to it. You are not going to use them both at once, and that will simplify the installation. The only other suggestion would be an an Anderson disconnect at the battery for convenient disconnect perhaps.

You will need to allow for some provisions for grounding. Your battery cable negative to body ground should be as large as your main power cables. The winch I have has 3 cable connects, + - and a ground wire to body. Some folks just use the ground provided when you bolt it to the body. I'm not sure how critical that one is..

The red Anderson connector on the left in this picture is + and - quick disconnect outside the battery box. In your instance, you'll have it at the winch on both ends of the vehicle. The wire used is the warn I listed, with added heat shield.

Finally, you can significantly cut down on the amperage and increase pulling power by using one or more snatch blocks. Get at least one, I like the ARB, smitty built also makes some. At least a couple of shackles would be handy, I like smitty. This helps on a number of fronts, the more wire/cable off the spool the better it will pull, the less load on the motor, the better it will pull. You can also consider shorter cable on the winch to help pulling power (less turns on the spool) I use an 80' and carry an extension.

I hope this helps, just my opinions, this is always a highly debated subject.

Good luck with your installation.

Good points all around!

 

[Airmapper]

As others mentioned, my advice is also just mount to the front. I know it's not as guaranteed as a rear mounted winch, but you can recover yourself from the rear using a front mounted winch. It takes 3 snatch blocks and hopefully a few suitable anchor points, but it can be done. Look up rigging techniques, those will serve you well and give you an opportunity to think outside the box.

I had to use larger cable because I remote mounted my controller box up under the hood, making a much longer run. I like the setup, but wiring it was a challenge and I had to buy specialized equipment, like a terminal press and some heavy duty heat shrink.

I used 2/0 welding cable on my winch, but it was higher strand count, it's very flexible and carries more current than standard 2/0 since it has finer strands for more copper density for it's diameter. But what shocked me, is somehow I got the stuff cheaper than regular 2/0. This is high quality cable, was a pleasure to work with, easy to route, and very tough.

https://weldingsupply.com

 

[NYresQ]

The nice thing about welding cable is you can normally buy it with the pos and neg cables connected together with a common over sheath instead of running two seperate cables.

As to the question of running two smaller cables, yes they will share the load and it can be done, but keep in mind if one cable gets damaged (severed, connector broken, cable cut or crushed by debris while driving, or has a loose connection) you will never know it as the other cable will still provide power and everything will function just fine under a light load. Then that moment will come when you have the winch pulling a heavy load and all the draw is on one undersized cable and poof... overheat, flame, burnt up truck...

And the price difference isn't enough to buy twice as much 1/0 cable as it is for a single 2/0.

You need to check an amps vs wire size/length chart to see what one vs two cables will give you. then imagine the same load on only one of the smaller cables. its easy to see how fast an overload situation could happen.

 

[youngPreacher]

Thx for the input. I posted this question up on the jeep forum and got zilch. I figured this forum would have some more experience with winch use 🏻 thx


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[youngPreacher]

Is there a thread on calculating necessary weight ratings for things like snatch blocks and tree savers and such?

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