I just mounted a warn m8000 on my xj and i have a question. there is a red positive that goes from winch to battery and a black ground wire that goes from the battery to where??? there are 3 studs on the winch and are color coded and I believe they are marked F1,F2, and A.. so which one of these does the ground hook up to?or is ther something I missed?

I hope this makes sense

the ground doest go to the motor lugs. you use one of the bolts at the endbell of the motor. the lugs are for inbound power and dirrection.
http://www.warn.com/truck/ReplacementParts/replacementparts.jsp?refresh=true&family=1&model=M8000&part_number=20910&serial_number=9



pn#53-54

I just mounted a warn m8000 on my xj and i have a question. there is a red positive that goes from winch to battery and a black ground wire that goes from the battery to where??? there are 3 studs on the winch and are color coded and I believe they are marked F1,F2, and A.. so which one of these does the ground hook up to?or is ther something I missed?

I hope this makes sense


well On my mj. since the whole winch is grounded to teh winch bumper, I used one of the mounting bolts to ground to the whole shebang.......of course I torqued down teh winch first then used a double nut to hold on the ground cable

thank you but im still confused,, i need to find a dam picture but i kinda understand.,, and to northernxj- thanks for your reply but where does your ground connect to the winch is what im asking,

thank you but im still confused,, i need to find a dam picture but i kinda understand.,, and to northernxj- thanks for your reply but where does your ground connect to the winch is what im asking,


yes via the mounting bolt on the bottom of the winch...........remember your battery is already grounded to the jeep frame and engine. so all you need to do is ground the winch to the frame, bumper, or engine block to complete the circuit

yes via the mounting bolt on the bottom of the winch...........remember your battery is already grounded to the jeep frame and engine. so all you need to do is ground the winch to the frame, bumper, or engine block to complete the circuit

This is true, but a BAD IDEA. you should ground the winch directly to the battery. The ground strap from your fender to the battery is not even close to being big enough. Winches draw up to 400+ amps, if you don't have enough capacity in your grounding cable your winch will not pull it's capacity, in addiiton it will get hotter faster, both bad news.

BTW, if you have a battery with both top and side terminals, use the top for the winch. The top poles go directly into the battery, the side terminals go through the top then into the battery and the connectors between the sets of terminals can melt under the draw of your winch.

I have an 8274 so I cant help with the grounding, but from what it sounds like any of the mounting bolts would work, from there back to the negative on the battery. Min. of 2 guage wire IMO.

Good luck.

I just mounted a warn m8000 on my xj and i have a question. there is a red positive that goes from winch to battery and a black ground wire that goes from the battery to where??? there are 3 studs on the winch and are color coded and I believe they are marked F1,F2, and A.. so which one of these does the ground hook up to?or is ther something I missed?

I hope this makes sense
sounds like your missing the controller look here for the wiring diagram and pics http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/8274/ http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/M8000.shtml