Solenoid relocation and in-cab winch controls.

Whether to improve air going into your radiator, or you just don’t like the looks, there are many reasons to relocate the solenoids. I wanted mine to move because of both reasons. It’s very simple to do.

Here’s what it used to look like.

And although the location didn’t make the biggest difference in how the air was flowing into the radiator, it did make a difference.

The relocation process is really simple. You just get a hold of some heavy gage battery wires and replace the short ones with the long ones. The key is to make sure that you have the wires on the right connections.

Replacing the wires…

But as you could figure the new location presents a bit of a problem to access

With the plug no longer on the front of the vehicle, you’ll have to relocate the plug for easier access. Or you can build in cab controller for the winch. I did both.

The new solenoid location. You can also see the yellow and green wires leading off to the in-cab controller.

New winch plug location

The in-cab control is comprised of 2 switches.

One is a 2 position on and off. This is tied into the ignition so the winch won’t run without the key being on. It’s also tied into a small LED indicator light on the control box to show when the winch has been activated.

The second switch is a 3 position temporary that self centers. This switch ties into the 3 wires on the solenoid that the original plug is tied into.

The in-cab controller box.

The box itself is a plastic junction box I picked up at a hardware store, spray painted black. A friend made the box cover with some scrap aluminum he had laying around and wired it up for me, while I was working on relocating the solenoids.

The solenoids are moved.

All the wires were run, and secured, and it works like a charm.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to test out the new setup quite a few times on the following weekend in Tuttle Creek ORV.

Including this little winch party that took 4 vehicles 2 winches (double lined) to pull out this truck.

For the low cost and simple amount of work.. this is a great mod!

Thanks to Eddie for his design and help through the whole process.