Starting a fresh topic to cover my winch wiring project, so here goes...

My winch is attached to my race car trailer. I have a quick disconnect cable on the trailer with a few feet of cable and I only connect it when I'm using the winch.
I started the re-wiring for my winch tonight. I am using a pair of 2 gauge wires to connect my winch quick disconnect at the rear bumper to a solenoid under hood. On my 05 F150, I used zip ties to attach the cables to the outside of the frame rail. My F150 had the fully boxed frame rails so I couldn't run the cables inside the "C" channel.

So, I started at the rear bumper with the intention of running the cables with the factory wire harness on the inside of the driver's side frame rail (inside the C-channel). The exhaust is a little too close on the passenger side and I was planning to connect to the driver's side battery anyway. It was pretty easy til I met the fuel tank. The tank is mounted close enough to the frame (less than a half inch) that I had a tough time running the wires between the two. One pointer...instead of holding the two cables together with zip ties like I did, just wrap a piece of electric tape around the cables every 2-3 ft. The zip ties get hung up on stuff and slow you down. As I got close to the front of the bed, I was unable to route the cables on the inside of the frame so I came outside to clear one crossmember. The cables are only visible if you crawl under the truck. The rest of the cable routing was easy. I ran the cables with the factory harness up the frame rail, past the fuel separator/filter unit and up into the engine compartment. I ran the cables up under the firewall next to the master cylinder to the battery.
Since this truck is almost 4 ft longer than my last truck, I will have less slack at the rear bumper than I did with my F150. I had plenty of slack before, so it should still reach. I have at least 1 ft of extra cable as it sits now.
My current issue is where to mount the solenoid. I need to mount it within 3 ft of the battery as I already have that jumper wire cut and terminated and want to minimize the length of that wire since its hot all the time. Anyone have any ideas where to mount the solenoid?? There's not a lot of room in there.
I located the under hood pass-through wires for the upfitter switches, so that part should be easy and clean.

 

Jimmy,
I was following the previous post somewhat and will offer my recomendations here. As far as the mounting of the solenoid the only consideration should be as close to the battery thats possibly feasable to minimize cable resistance. I am not sure of your winch size but assuming its for light vehicle usage less than 6000lbs and your cable is the length of the truck you may reconsider doing the following for saftey reasons:

1) Remove the negative battery cable running the length of the vehicle.

2) Install a short as possible length of 2AWG or larger from the battery to the frame rail and at the rear the same from the frame to your disconnect. The frame rail should be drilled, tapped and spot faced for a min 3/8" hex bolt with either a internal or perferably a external tooth lock washer. These should be irridited steel or similar. Stainless can be used but galvonic paste should be used do eliminate corrosion with the dissimilar metal (the frame) A battery terminal or gasket spray is an easier alternative.

3) Increase the size of the 2AWG positive cable. The 2AWG length you currently have again may be inadequate depending on the size of the winch as this length will exhibit a higher than prefered resistance level causing a low voltage drop. This will cause the winch to run at it's less than required voltage as well as a increase in current consumption resulting in heating of the wire.

4) Run the positive cable in a sheath or plastic wire loom and attach to the frame with metal-insulated clamps and keep away from high heat or moving sources as well as fuel lines etc..

I realize you have the system currently already wired as you described and the system may work ok but again this will depend on the current requirements of your winch set-up but this is the proper and safest way to do this.

The main supply from your battery to your relay can be fused with high current DC fuses or circuit breakers but are typically only available up to about 250amps. This would be the safest route if again your winch requirements are within those means. Further improvements can be made with High current battery terminal or junction blocks to minimize multiple taps off your stock battery terminals.

Here's a link for some high current automotive wiring products.
Wire Terminals, Automotive Wire, Battery Terminals & Electrical Supplies

I have seen a couple of incorrectly wired systems cause fires and battery explosions and im sure you don't want to see your SD go up in flames
Happy and safe wiring
Dave

 

First, I REALLY appreciate the suggestions. A few more details that I forgot to mention...the solenoid I am using is from of the Warn interrupt kit and the extension cables I'm using are also from Warn. The winch is a Warn M8000. I following their instructions and figured I was buying a thoroughly tested setup. From most of what I've seen and read Warn is top of the line stuff.
A few questions...
Why don't you like the ground cable running the length of the truck? I can see where the frame would provide ample ground especially with the short runs you suggest on either end (like the superwinch setup) but I think this provides a better, more direct ground to complete the circuit for this winch.
Also, I will be rerunning the cables with plastic wire loom as you suggested. I'm going to attach a long cable as a "pull string" for the removal to make the reinstall easier.
As for the solenoid mounting location, it looks like there's just enough room on the firewall in the corner where the pass-through wires are.