So my winch arrived yesterday and I began the install. Went downhill very fast. The new VRX series winches are not a direct bolt up on the UXV700's. Installed the fairlead 1st. Uses 10mm cap head bolts with short lock nuts from factory. When I set the winch in I quickly discovered the bolt holes on the winch do not line up with the holes in the winch plate and it doesn't matter which way you mount the fairlead bolts. The front of the winch housing hits the fairlead bolts preventing the holes from aligning between the winch and plate. Called WARN and the tech I spoke with said the housing for the new VRX series of winches is different from the discontinued vantage and provantage winches. His only suggestion was to send the VRX back and order a vantage or pro series winch. So not a lot of help. So I guess if you want to avoid this problem you'd better order an older winch before they're gone but those older winches are not water proof and their warranty is not as good as the new ones.
So here's what I've come up with so far. Replaced the cap head bolts with a 3/8 bolt. The hex head on a standard bolt is slightly more than .2 inch thick which is considerably thinner than the cap head or a nut. Put the bolt in backward, head facing the winch and thread facing out. Still had to grind the head down on 1 bolt, maybe 1-2 mm to get the holes for the winch to line up. Only problem is that if I ever need to change the fairlead I will have to loosen the winch to be able to get a wrench on the head of the bolts. Probably a better fix would be if Kymco changes the round hole on the fairlead plate to a square hole and then you could just use a carriage bolt and wouldn't need to get a wrench in there. If I put a pulley fairlead on for a plow I will probably file the hole and install carriage bolts. Also the passenger side of the winch hits the passenger side diagonal support for the bumper. If that support was any closer I would have had to bend it to get the winch in.
Winch controller switches require a key hot connection as I'm sure most of you know. What I found is that in the box where the battery is housed there in a connector that looks like a flat 4 pin trailer plug but with only 2 pins. It has a black cover on it. One of those is actually a key hot. You can get a 2 pole connector for a trailer at most auto parts stores. I'm going to wire any key hots into that connector and the plug it into the one in the box. This should make for a better connection than the inline splice fittings that come with the winch. There are empty connectors all over this machine. I found 2 more up around the radiator and 2 more in the harness for the drivers from light.
So I guess today will start with a trip to the auto parts store for the connector and then try and decide on a location for the plug for the wired remote. I'm thinking about mounting it to the side of the storage box under the hood. Not crazy about putting a hole in it but I think I can get it sealed with some RTV and it just looks like the cleanest location. Hopefully I won't run into any more issues.
