A winch is one recovery tool that can help recover a stuck vehicle, but it can also be used to recover yourself. To make sure that our Can-Am Maverick X3 rs Turbo RR would be able to do both, we turned to Anvil Off-Road and its 4,500-pound winch.
This winch is designed for UTV’s and is compact enough to fit on the front of them without sacrificing any styling. To make sure this would be able to be achieved we went with an Extreme Metal Products’ winch mount bulkhead for the Can-Am X3.
THE BEST THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES
A side-by-side is not the same as a truck or Jeep, and a winch needs to work for it. Our Turbo RR weighs a little over 1,600 pounds and does not need a 17,000 pound winch that you would see on larger full-size vehicles.
Anvil Off-Road’s ATV/UTV winches are small enough to fit and use common bolt patterns supported by most side-by-side mounting brackets. With limited space on the front of a side-by-side Anvil Off-Road added enough extra wire to mount the control box away from the winch.
“The 4,500-pound winch features a 1.6 horsepower motor with a 12-volt permanent magnet, a 180:1 gear reduction ratio, a 6 mm, 35-foot long synthetic rope, and an aluminum fairlead,” Steve Sparkman of Anvil Off-Road said. “The winch also features a standard wireless remote control and wired handlebar switch along with a free-spooling with clutch and brake.”
The rule of thumb is to use a winch that is rated at about two times the weight of the vehicle that is being pulled with the winch. Many off-road parks require the use of a synthetic rope instead of a steel cable since it does less damage to trees, but a tree saver strap should always be used around a tree when using a winch when available.
“The full capacity of the winch is on the first layer of the cable or rope on the spool of the winch,” Sparkman explained. “As the rope or cable goes onto the second or more layers, the capacity is reduced. For example, a 17,000-pound winch can pull 17,000 pounds on the first layer, 13,800 pounds on the second layer, 11,300 pounds on the third layer, and 9,700 pounds on the fourth layer of rope or cable.”
Pulley blocks are a good way to add capacity where the rope or cable is on the second to the fourth layer. It isn’t common for the rope to break, but safety should be kept in mind with use of a winch damper (PN 1160A0R).
GETTING STRONGER
A winch install on the front of a Jeep is completely different than on the front of a UTV. Before we dug into getting the winch attached to the vehicle, we got the winch mounted on to the bulkhead.
No fancy tools are needed to install or just a lot of patience. The instructions for the bulkhead stated that we could do the entire install without removing the front grille/fender assembly, but we opted to remove it to give us more space to work and run the cables.
When removing the factory bulkhead, be cautious as this piece does hold the front control arms and when removed, the arms will move. Removing ours took some grunts and a pry bar to get behind to help push it off.
Once everything is removed, everything else on the winch bulkhead bolts right in, and in no time the winch was mounted on the front of our X3. The wiring was straight forward, and once the wires ran inside, we chose to remove the passenger seat to make running the wires easier.
We put the control box under the center console keeping it away from anything in the cab. We ran the wired winch control to the side of the dash on the driver’s side to allow it to be controlled from the seat.
Buttoning everything up, we were able to test the winch and get our synthetic rope on the spool. We added a rubber stopper by the hook to allow the winch to be pulled tight, not ruin the aluminum fairlead, and prevent rattling.
Overall, from the install to the how the winch has performed, we could not be any happier. The winch has plenty of pulling power to pull the X3 our of a sticky situation or onto the trailer.
We liked the ability to use the wireless remote when needing to use the winch without a second person. It is a great accessory that comes included in the winch and not something that you need to purchase afterward or modify the control box.
For more information or to find a product for your vehicle be sure to check out Anvil Off-Road’s website and the Extreme Metal Products website.
