Added a Front Receiver for 590E S4 (gator) now wiring & an old winch and new cable

[nikdfish]

I installed a front receiver (JD part # BM23363) on the 590E S4 this afternoon. It is the install kit with the receiver, nuts, bolts & backing plates. Installation was pretty straight forward, but in an awkward location. No real access even with the wheels turned to the stops. The hassle being getting bolts & plates in place when gravity wants to make the bolts fall back the way they came.

I was getting a bit frustrated until I remembered a technique I'd seen on a tow hitch install that required blind bolts (think carriage bolt) installed inside a frame rail. The trick was a stiff wire with a coil at the end. Screw the bolt into the coil, fish the wire through the frame to the square hole & pull the bolt through. I had some music wire & replicated the process with it.

The top bolt & plate went in first, then the bottom with the wire through plate & hole.

All done.

In addition to adding a front tie down/recovery point, I'm also adding a winch to the mix. Rather than a permanent install, it will be on a receiver winch mount that, now, can be mounted on the front or back of the machine. I have welding cable & 175A gray anderson style disconnects coming in so I can install runs to front & rear. Besides winch operation, I also have jumper cables with the same 175A gray connector that can make use of the winch connections.

 

[plastikosmd]

Thx for this

Hopefully I’ll remember this when I need it

 

[nikdfish]

I've been adding 4 AWG cable runs to front & back receiver locations. I printed TPU enclosures for the 3 way lug connections at the battery. I'm doing it this way to only have one additional connection on the battery posts. The cable is routed through the same tunnel as the coolent tubes & drive shaft. The trick was keeping it away from potentially rubbing on the drive shaft. It is inside the frame components & safe from snags or abrasion from terrain.

The 175A anderson style connectors with dust covers on front & rear (not their final positions).

The lugs & connectors were crimped on the wire. The 175A connector contacts bore was oversize (a vendor misrepresentation - 1/0 instead of 2-4 AWG) so I ended up making "bushings" from a tightly rolled strip of dead soft copper sheet to take up the difference. I used a rod matching the wire diameter as the armature & wrapped until it matched the connector ID. This let me get a good crimp connection.

 

[nikdfish]

About 4 years back I had picked up a 3000lb ATV winch (Traveler) from tractor supply while on sale. I thought it might be handy if I needed to pull something up on the car hauler or dump trailer. 175A anderson connectors were added to the deep cycle "solar power" battery in the tractor shed & the dump trailer deep cycle & on the provided wiring for the winch

The small gauge wire & inefficient configuration bugged me, so I picked up a proper sized contactor & a 10' wired IN/OUT switch for use on handle bars. These got used to upgrade the winch I had mounted on an old plate of 3/16" stainless, along with some left over 4 AWG from a welder re-cable & another 175A connector.

Fast forward to the present. I had almost forgotten about the winch on the shelf when I started the S4 winch cable/receiver installs (In fact, I had forgotten it was a 3K winch & thought it was a 2K). When I pulled it off the shelf, I figured it might be a stand-in until I order something better & was happy to see the 3K on the label. I ordered a simple 2" hitch winch mount & 45' of 3/16 synthetic winch line. Those came in today.

I removed the winch & contactor from the plate after despooling the cable, then removed the old mount. I dug up some 4 1/2" band clamps & mounted the contactor to the motor housing.

Then mounted the winch & fairlead to the new hitch winch mount

All that's left now is to get the battery cables crimped (the lugs came in also) and to load the drum with the synthetic winch line.

I may add a bolt on 2" receiver to the front of the car hauler ...

 

[nikdfish]

I added 43 feet of 3/16 synthetic winch cable. I had to trim the end down to a taper that could fit through the hole in the drum & covered that with shrink fit. No screw, just a tight jam fit, then first wraps over the sideways tail. The cable stopper is one I printed from TPU with a 50% infill. I used the rear power connection on the gator to run the winch during winding.

ETA: Test fitting the winch at front & rear receivers revealed that the loops on the front receiver hit the winch plate before its in far enough for the pin to go through. Going to need an extension to make it work

ETA II: A 12" hitch extension from Harbor Freight works for the front & brings out the receiver face to level with the bumper at the rear (good for trailer hookup)

 

[nikdfish]

Okay, the last piece is done. I added a 150A fuse on the hot side of the winch power cable. The fuse block is sized for 4 AWG. A spare fuse went in the glove box.

I wanted a fuse mostly because of the long run through the drive line "tunnel" to the front position. Although I routed it (& zip tied it) to avoid wear points, I was worried about a worst case scenario that might result in a short to the frame or drive shaft.

 

[nikdfish]

I loaded up the S4 to go over to the acreage & do some trimming. The front receiver loops made tiedown simple. I'm using 2" ratchet straps on front & rear. Most of the length is rolled up & secured, the fixed strap portion has been replaced with swivel "J" hooks to make use of short lengths easier.

 

[Zebrafive]

Nice write up.
I would switch to a Hause style fairlead from the roller fairlead for synthetic rope.
If you have trouble with the fuses blowing during hard pulls, switch to a resettable circuit breaker.

 

[nikdfish]

A follow up of sorts. I added a receiver to the front of the car hauler to accommodate the winch on the hitch mount. Not terribly robust, but should do to pull a rolling item up onto the deck.

The winch would be powered by either jumper cables with anderson connectors on one end or the deep cycle battery with anderson connectors from the tractor shed solar panel setup.