Dual winch questions....

i was thinkin the same thing.. cuz im thing bout putin a 3.0 on the front and rebuiltin this 2.5

I use two 2000lb Champion winches. Front is custom mounted to frame. Rear is mounted to custom bumper. Controls would depend on what comes with the winch. Biggest drawback of these cheap winches was the clumsy control box. Most just ty-wrap them to the rack or bars. I made two seperate elect boxes that I can use with one removable control box. Winches that use relays or contactors are easier to rig a selector switch. Handle bar switches are convenient but I like the fact that I can reach my winch and cable while using the controls.

I know, I get into way too many situations where a rear winch would have saved hours of time. Just trying to find the best way to do it.

I use the rear much more often than the front.

I have thought about removing the rear storage box and making some type of mount. Biggest problem I can think of is wiring. How to make a switch from front to rear would be tricky.

warn has a dual winch kit. heres a neat vid on how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEaKV6UsYA

I don't want that set up. I want a permanantly mounted front and rear winches. Just imagine trying to get the winch on the rear when you are stuck over your wheels in sh!t.............no thanks.

QUOTE ("350hondaman":1vol9sx6)

warn has a dual winch kit. heres a neat vid on how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEaKV6UsYA

Click to expand...

That is a great ideal. The only problem I can see is. I'm stuck up to the racks and have to move the winch from the back to the front. The winch would be about a foot under the mud.

I thought it was a great idea until you guys made your points. It would suck having to move it like that. I was thinking that someone made a mount that bolted on your hitch. Anyone else seen one?

QUOTE ("Eric":1s5335f0)

I have thought about removing the rear storage box and making some type of mount. Biggest problem I can think of is wiring. How to make a switch from front to rear would be tricky.

Click to expand...

It would be easiest to wire each winch seperately. You can get a handheld or even a wireless remote for the rear. Handle bar switches are convenient but you will really appreciate a longer reaching control once you use one. Makes it easy to respool and control your cable when your alone. Plus it allows you get out of the way of the cable when your really stuck and putting a lot of strain on the cable. I've seen them break and you don't want to be in line with the cable when it does.

As for the movable winch, check out the WYSE midspan winch system. Not as convenient as 2 permanatly mounted winches but a lot better than digging in the mud to find and move a winch. Plus it can be rigged to pull from any angle and is totally portable between any number of bikes or even sleds.

<a href="http://www.wyse-design.com/video2.html" target="_blank">http://www.wyse-design.com/video2.html</a>

Yeah I love my 3000 Wireless. I want one handlebar switch and wireless remote to run both winches, I would then need a switch to choose between A or B winch. You know what I mean.

Know exactly what you mean. I'm sure if I knew how your controls were wired I could figure out a way to hook up a selector switch. It's hard to tell without seeing it. What about a battery selector switch like you would use for a boat or RV. Just use the reverse principle. Instead of 1 load and 2 batteries just hook it up to switch 2 winches and 1 battery. This should work. Wire BAT 1 to one winch. BAT 2 to the second. Hook the output to the wires that run to your existing winch from the control contactors. Could even set the switch to "BOTH" to see just how tuff these Hondas really are.
<a href="http://www.bepmarine.com/showproduct.cfm?productid=1060" target="_blank">http://www.bepmarine.com/showproduct.cfm?productid=1060</a>

Almost forgot. You would need a 2 pole switch that would switch both the pos & neg wires.

I have the Warn multi-mount and I really like it.It's not that big of a deal to switch it from the front to rear or vice-versa.It does stick out kind of far when it's on the front though.The warn multi-mount uses a 1 and 1/4" receiver and it's mounted up higher than the one in that video.

H4.. I like the idea of that selector, that is exactly what I was thinking of. Smaller would be even beter... maybee if you can switch just the control wires and not the power. If switching the power is the only way, I might just do that. I haven't looked an the contactor yet to see if maybe two of the feeds can be switched in a DPDT toggle. I do audio/video work for a living and I am sure I could figure something out.... I was just trying to find the "easy" way out. May not be an option. H4.... do you think any boat dealer would carry those?

Thanmks for everyone's help!

Any marine shop should carry a similar switch. As for switching the control wires I'm sure it can be done. I haven't seen how they wire the contactors. I thought they might already be using a DPDT setup in the control wiring to reverse polarity at the motor so it should be possible to get this to work as a selector, just not sure how complicated it would be or how waterproof you could make it.

A very easy and cheap solution would be to install a female connector to the power wires that feed the winch from the contactors. Wire the 2 winches with male connectors and simply plug in the winch you want to use.

Why can't you just wire them both up? Why do you need a switch? You wont use them both at the same time so whats the big deal?

probley would kill your battery..just a thought

QUOTE ("big_daddy_bigfoot":vipf4ga6)

Why can't you just wire them both up? Why do you need a switch? You wont use them both at the same time so whats the big deal?

Click to expand...

Like I said earlier, no reason why you couldn't just wire both normally.This is the easiest way. I think Eric and homie189 are looking to get away from having to use two or( more if wireless also) seperate controls. One selectable control to operate both winches would be a nice custom setup. Won't make any difference to the battery as only one at a time will be used.

Right on the nose H4.... I just like the idea of only having one switch on the handle bar. I mighht just have to tinker and see what I come up with.