Yamaha Rhino Warn Bumper & Winch Install - A Rhino's Best Friend

Trucks get stuck. Jeeps get stuck. ATVs get stuck. Despite four-wheel drive and incredible maneuverability, sometimes Yamaha Rhinos get stuck too.

For those who end up in sticky situations, there's just no substitute for a stout, properly working winch and a solid bumper. Warn's legendary winch lineup includes not only the XT40 ATV winch but a Rhino-specific bumper upon which to mount it.

The XT40's standard features are impressive: It's factory-equipped with a synthetic winch rope, a wireless remote, and a manual push-button remote. Its 4,000-pound pulling capacity provides a large factor of safety for pulling lightweight vehicles, such as the Rhino, out of trouble.

Warn's Rhino bumper is application-specific and easy to install. The XT40 winch is intended for multiple applications. This means you'll have to spend some time sleuthing for proper wire-routing and hardware-mounting locations. Warn's instructions are pretty good, and it would have saved some frustration to have sat down and read through them before jumping into the installation, but that's not how it happened. We plunged headlong into the process and had to backtrack and crack open the instruction pamphlet. Our installation session ended successfully, but not without some colorful words and a trip to the parts store for a toggle switch and some extra wire. If you're short on time or patience, it would be worthwhile to pay your favorite Yamaha or Warn dealer to do the installation for you.

Just as with trucks and Jeeps, a winch is something that you may not use very often. Just the same, when you get yourself hopelessly stuck, you'll suddenly understand why a Warn bumper-and-winch combo is a Rhino's best friend.

Here's what we'll be installing....        read full caption Here's what we'll be installing. Most of the hardware shown is associated with mounting the winch. If you don't feel the need for a winch just yet, the bumper can be used alone without a winch. Warn's Rhino bumper looks great and is incredibly easy to install.	There are four main bolts...        read full caption There are four main bolts holding the stock bumper to the frame and two additional fasteners that secure a skidplate to the bumper. Basic handtools do the remove-and-replace job just fine.	Neither the stock bumper nor...        read full caption Neither the stock bumper nor the Warn bumper is heavy, but it's a little awkward to maneuver either one by yourself. Eddy, the owner/driver (right) and his roommate Terry (left) did the bumper handling. As mentioned, four bolts hold the bumper to the frame. No drilling is required. The winch-mounting holes in the bumper are predrilled too. The bolt pattern accommodates multiple accessories; you won't end up using all these holes for mounting the winch.
The XT40 comes with a mounting...        read full caption The XT40 comes with a mounting plate with an integrated roller fairlead. Bolt the winch to the mounting plate, run the winch line through the fairlead, and bolt the winch-and-fairlead assembly to the bumper. You can mount the bumper and winch first; you'll still have access to hook up and run the wires to their final destinations.	Here's the main electrical...        read full caption Here's the main electrical contactor. Note the color coding on the block that corresponds to the wires' colored insulation. Make sure to use the provided cover boots (slid back on the wires during installation) to prevent short circuits. After we'd connected the main wires to the electrical contactor, we searched for a mounting location on the Rhino's frame. The wires should be run, so that they don't contact the suspension or the tires. Wires also need protection from sharp edges and from any source of abrasion.	Here, Terry uses a test light...        read full caption Here, Terry uses a test light to search for a key-on power source in the main fuse box. The search was unsuccessful, and since Warn's installation manual wasn't Rhino-specific, we needed a plan B. Plan B was to round up a toggle switch and some extra wire and hard-wire the toggle switch to the battery. This way, the Winch can operate even without the key being in the ignition. Just flip the toggle switch, and you're in business.
Here's a cool trick: If you...        read full caption Here's a cool trick: If you need a spade terminal, and you only have a ring terminal, you can clip a chunk out of the ring terminal and thereby create your own spade terminal. Mike (another of Eddy's roommates) stepped in and helped run and connect many of the wires. Mike and Terry were the one-two punch for this installation.	The next step was to mount...        read full caption The next step was to mount the receiver. The receiver is the heart of the XT40's wireless remote-control system. The installation manual says, "The receiver should be mounted in a location that is as clean and dry as possible while also allowing access to the programming button." The inside of the glovebox seemed the best place for the receiver. Here's the planned mounting position. It's very clean and dry and allows access to the programming button, which sits next to the wire connector facing away from the user. Since the remote control comes preprogrammed, we probably won't ever have to mess with the programming button. Should that need arise in the future, we can either temporarily unbolt the receiver, so we can see the button, or leave the receiver in place and use a mirror to see the button and its LED indicator light. The toggle switch went inside the glovebox too. It will be used in place of the key-on wire to turn the winch on and off.	Connecting most of the wires...        read full caption Connecting most of the wires ended up being fairly straightforward. Black goes to black and green goes to green. One set of black/green wires goes between the receiver and the contactor, and the other set goes between the receiver and the manual winch-control switch.
The contactor was mounted...        read full caption The contactor was mounted to a frame tube in front of the driver. Self-tapping screws made the process quick and easy. The heavy-gauge blue and yellow wires running to the front of the Rhino carry the heavy current between the contactor and the winch itself. Zip ties were used to hold the new wires in place.	Having a remote control is...        read full caption Having a remote control is cool because you can operate your winch up to 50 feet away from the vehicle. It's also tricky to keep your finger on the button of a solid-mounted manual switch while the vehicle is bouncing around. No such problems arise when using a handheld remote control. The manual switch was mounted within easy reach of the driver under the dashboard.	The new winch-and-bumper combo...        read full caption The new winch-and-bumper combo looks great, but the best part is what it brings to the off-roading table: security and confidence. We added the perforated aluminum Warn skidplate to the bumper after everything else was done.