Joined
·
903 Posts
I've just tried mounting my Champion 4500lb winch for the 4th time...
My Champion 4500#'s forward mounting base sits over the edge of where the lower brace bolts come through, so i had to drill two holes in the Champion baseplate and grind the corners off to make it fit...only to find that the cable exits too low and would always rub the front bumper...
So then i drilled holes in the taller SATV fairlead mount to match my roller FL ( the shorter one would be too short as well ), and then realized that the cable would be forced to go up and over the bottom roller on the FL at all times, and there would always be pressure forcing it down anytime there was a pull. I thought about reversing the cable on the spool to pull from the top, but realized that the cable would then rub the upper brace on the winch.
At this point i resolved to just let the cable go up and over the FL from the bottom, but as soon as i investigated this, i realized that i would have to cut the SATV fair-lead bracket out on the bottom to keep the cable from rubbing there....further weakening the bracket, while having down-force on it at all times...
And so forth and so on...until i just pulled it all back off and said to **** with it.
I bought the SATV mount because i had concerns that the KFI mount i had never even taken out of the wrapper would not have enough support from the bumper welds to hold up under mega loads. It appears that to make the SATV mount work, i will have to grind, cut, and drill so much that any gains would be negated.
At this time i am pretty much resolved to using the KFI, which looks as though it will take all of 15 minutes to mount. I just wish i hadn't ground on the base of my new winch in an attempt to make it fit. Wasted $50 bucks on the SATV mount. If you order it, you better make sure somebody has used the combo before.
My Champion 4500#'s forward mounting base sits over the edge of where the lower brace bolts come through, so i had to drill two holes in the Champion baseplate and grind the corners off to make it fit...only to find that the cable exits too low and would always rub the front bumper...
So then i drilled holes in the taller SATV fairlead mount to match my roller FL ( the shorter one would be too short as well ), and then realized that the cable would be forced to go up and over the bottom roller on the FL at all times, and there would always be pressure forcing it down anytime there was a pull. I thought about reversing the cable on the spool to pull from the top, but realized that the cable would then rub the upper brace on the winch.
At this point i resolved to just let the cable go up and over the FL from the bottom, but as soon as i investigated this, i realized that i would have to cut the SATV fair-lead bracket out on the bottom to keep the cable from rubbing there....further weakening the bracket, while having down-force on it at all times...
And so forth and so on...until i just pulled it all back off and said to **** with it.
I bought the SATV mount because i had concerns that the KFI mount i had never even taken out of the wrapper would not have enough support from the bumper welds to hold up under mega loads. It appears that to make the SATV mount work, i will have to grind, cut, and drill so much that any gains would be negated.
At this time i am pretty much resolved to using the KFI, which looks as though it will take all of 15 minutes to mount. I just wish i hadn't ground on the base of my new winch in an attempt to make it fit. Wasted $50 bucks on the SATV mount. If you order it, you better make sure somebody has used the combo before.
