Most Popular Freespooling Clutch for 2018 Ford Explorer

Shopped around a lot before I bought this. My boat is heavy (7500 lb) and the wench I had struggled. I took a chance on this as it was rated for the weight. I used the Anderson style connectors and installed a breaker near the battery. Pulled new wire rated for the amp draw. I couldnt be happier! This thing is a beast! Has no prob pulling my boat and cant see that it struggles at all. Highly reccomend. Photo is during installation. I put a cover over it due to my anchor comes close when launching and didnt want it to hit.

Installed cables. 35A breaker is not insulated and required additional cable to connect to modern battery terminal - so had to buy an insulated breaker. On first use, the small gear on the motor drive shaft fell off because it was installed at the factory without a snap ring. Luckily I found it and fashioned a snap ring for temporary use to load the boat (see picture). Then learned the clutch was set excessively low - would not pull anything close to 1000 pounds. Manual says to not adjust clutch more than 20 degrees, but that would not pull as much as a 2000 lb ratchet strap. I see the other good reviews on this product, but clearly mine was built with some serious QC issues. Hard day on the boat ramp. Grateful for the help and patience of fellow boaters. I am beyond the 60 days to return this product since I bought and installed it over the winter to enjoy this boating season.

I had to grind a little bit off the gussets on the mounting plate on my Tracker trailer to mount the winch but the bolt pattern was perfect. The electric cable that was provided with the winch wasn't quite long enough for my 4 door F150 so I used my wife's Explorer with the cable provided and got a longer cable and fuse for my pickup and then put a plug at the rear of both vehicles and a plug to the winch so I can use either vehicle. The winch pulled our 16'Tracker boat up on the trailer easily and I discovered you had tighten the gear locking mechanism quite snug or it would slip. I noticed the pulling belt on the winch is not quite as heavy as the one on my hand winch and I plan on swapping it out. Other than that, I am happy with my purchase.

Works great! The only thing that would make it better is to make the tensioner knob easier to grip when your hands are wet

Put this winch on my Ranger 620 boat trailer a year ago and love it! Haven't had a single problem and it helps trailering when I fish alone. I ran power and ground from my truck battery to a back bumper plug, and have a separate removable cable (shown in pic) to connect truck plug to the winch plug. Grounding to the truck didn't work for me. I have another spare cable and plug rolled up and attached to my trolling motor battery for when my buddies drive. Winch prevents power loading and drawing sand into the motor. DL24055 adapter plate was needed and I put a coupler lock up through the middle of the winch to prevent theft and I bought a cover (shown in pic) to keep the rain out. etrailer sales and support are absolutely fabulous! They helped me figure all this out.

Works great, fit my trail weight boat trailer, with a 24 foot pontoon