How To Install a Winch on a Polaris Ranger XP 1000

The 2021 Polaris Ranger XP 1000 Trail Boss comes with an angry-looking front winch bumper. When it came time to spec out our preferred additional accessories, we knew that a winch was a must-have. Not only is it a crucial piece of safety and recovery equipment for the trail, it can also be a useful tool for work around the farm. This particular Polaris Pro HD kit comes with a synthetic winch cable, wireless remote, and all the accessories needed for a total install.

Let’s crack open the box, get a beverage ready to go, and discuss what it takes to get this install going.

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You’ll need a set of sockets or wrenches (15mm and 10mm), a flathead screwdriver or clip pry tool, and an 8mm hex wrench. While not required, a torque wrench and a rubber mallet are also really useful additions. Also grab a strong friend or a jack stand.

But safety first. Before we start dissecting our Polaris, pop open the battery cover under the passenger seat and disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Just make sure you cover the negative terminal or secure your battery cable. The last thing you want is to bump that rig and have that cable make contact with the battery in the middle of your wiring job.

Next, we need to remove that beefy front bumper. The process is relatively simple, requiring the removal of just four bolts and some plastic trim.

In preparation for some of the wiring to come later, pop out the cupholder on top of the dash. A screwdriver or clip tool can make sure you don’t break the retaining clips. Make sure you put the trim piece and the clips somewhere safe so we can reinstall them later.

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To access the first set of bolts you need to remove the bumper, you need to pop out the front grille. A set of plastic thump clips are holding it in. You can find them just above the “P” and the “S” in the Polaris logo. The whole kit just leans forward and slides out.

Once you can get behind the grille there is a pair of 15mm bolts you need to remove. The outside nut is tucked into a small pocket, making it hard to get a socket wrench in there. A set of box wrenches is the way to go to make easy work of the task.

Now crawl under your rig and look for the last pair of bolts. They are mounted on the far corners near the back. Once again you need some 15mm wrenches, with a box wrench being particularly useful to hold the nut on the top side. Be careful when you pull these bolts loose. The bumper is very heavy, and there is a risk it could fall on you. So have a friend ready just in case.

Thanks to the excessive level of mud and gunk our Ranger has seen, the front bumper was dirt-glued to the frame. We used a jack stand to support the bottom of the bumper and then used a rubber mallet to politely ask the bumper to come loose from the frame.

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While we have the bumper off, go ahead and install the fairlead. The inset holes face outboard, and the electrical lead goes to the top and passenger side of the bumper. For the rear bracket, be sure to keep the welded nuts toward the rear of the Ranger so you have the flush side of the plate against the bumper. The bolts used to attach the fairlead are 8mm hex, so you can finally put that 15mm wrench down.

Your winch has a set of hooks on the top. These hooks need to rest on the bumper mount frame, just between the area we removed the first two bolts. Make sure you remove the little rubber caps from the winch hooks or it won’t sit correctly on the frame. You can see the hooks, mount location, and rubber caps all in the photo above.

Time to get the sockets back out. Once you have the winch hooked on the bumper, let’s bolt it in. There are two mounting holes directly inboard of the frame hooks we used in the last step. The wiring and location makes these a little hard to get to, but if you can get a torque wrench in here, the spec for these bolts is 40 pound-feet. These are the bolts that secure the winch to the Ranger, so make sure you have these tightened down properly. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to throw a dab of threadlocker on there for good measure.

Once the top bolts are secure, install the nuts and bolts for the bottom mounting holes. Again tighten these down to 40 pound-feet and consider a touch of threadlocker. With that, your winch is technically installed. Now it’s time to move on to all the electrical work.

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To prepare for the wiring run, make sure to undo all the twist ties and stretch out the cable. There are several plastic clips and mounting pegs installed already. Be sure to leave these where they are. The cable run is designed to be installed in only one location, and all these mounts are premeasured to match up with holes in the Ranger.

To route the wires, tuck them directly under the bumper mount and route them upward alongside the radiator. The lowest wire clip will attach to the mounting plate for the sway bar. The second clip gets inserted into a small hole about halfway up the radiator. Finally, route the cable through the large opening at the top of plastic bodywork to get into the cavity under the front hood.

Once you get the wires routed, pop open the hood access on top and secure the wiring into the small mounting hole near the headlight housing. With that, you should have all the major wiring routed to power your new winch.

Next up, remove the boot from the red positive lead and attach it to the wiring terminal on the front firewall of the Ranger. There are multiple grounding points here to attach your negative wiring lead to as well. Just make sure all your connections are clean and properly tightened.

Now connect the wiring main to the actual winch controls. The bundle of wires that comes prewired on the Ranger and the wiring set on the winch have matching four-pin plugs with purple insets. Just mate them up and you are good to go. Make note of the white leads here. These will be for your fairlead attachment later when we put the bumper back on.

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Next let’s mount the wireless receiver for the winch remote. Under the front hood access near where you wired in your power leads there is a flat mount location with predrilled holes for the wireless receiver. Bolt it down and run the wires through the large rubber grommet on the firewall.

Now we finally get to the reason we pulled the cupholder out of the dash. Just under that cupholder is another one of those square four-pin plugs with the purple inset. Take that wireless receiver lead and plug it up. You may have to cut some tape to get to it. Our wiring loom was a little too tight to access it. Tidy up all the wiring with some zip-ties and you can put your cupholder back in.

We are nearly finished. The next step is to set the control dial on the side of the winch to neutral so you can let out some line. Feed the line through your fairlead and prepare to remount the bumper. The bumper goes back on the same way it came off. Just set the top mounts onto the frame rails and tighten the 15mm nuts and bolts. Make sure you get the bottom two bolts as well.

Now that you have the bumper reinstalled, it is time to finish up the wiring. That small white plug we mentioned earlier is ready for its time to shine. Take the plug coming off of your bumper fairlead and wire it up. This is your auto shut-off for the winch.

With all the wiring finished, it’s time to clean things up. There is now a small rat’s nest of cables near the top left of the winch. Take all these cables and secure them to the side of the bumper frame to keep them out of the way of winch operation. The winch kit came with a big bag of zip-ties, so be sure to use as many as you need. The last thing you want when in the middle of some sort of winching emergency is to get your wiring all caught up in the winch cable.

Now for the worst part of this entire install. You have to thread your winch rope through the fairlead magnet. Polaris suggests using a zip-tie around the rope to thread it through. Seven broken zip-ties later we decided to step things up and use fencing wire. Put the wire around the winch rope and thread it through the magnet. Then attach the end of the wire to something sturdy and pull.

We are finally done. Just thread your tow hook through the end of the winch rope and make sure to properly secure the cotter pin. You have successfully installed a winch into your Polaris Ranger XP 1000.