Ramsey ATV 2500 Winch - SportQuad.com Product Review and Adventure

Product Review and Adventure Ramsey ATV 2500 Winch

May. 01, 2002 By Fidel Gonzales

Email
Print
Discuss

May 2002

Product Review and Adventure
Ramsey ATV 2500 Winch The Ramsey Winch Adventure by Fidel Gonzales

Don't Leave Home Without It

The Bombardier 650 Quest is a perfect candidate for a winch. It's an easy bolt-on procedure that should take you no longer than three easy hours. At the bottom of the picture, you can see the factory slot for the roller fairlead. Up above where the Bombardier emblem is located, is where we chose to stash the relay and wire harness.

I'll be straight with you. I'm not much into utility quads. And when the Bombardier Quest 650 showed up at the shop, I thought of little use for it. If I needed a four-wheel drive, I'll hop in one of my Jeeps. Otherwise, I'll stick to two wheels, thank you. Soon enough though, I was eating crow. All the cheap shots I took at it in the beginning were coming right back at me. At the races, I was seen hauling heavy items between pits and lugging around an array of photo equipment to places where a Jeep would have been just too much. At the shop and around the house, I was moving trailers, transporting and loading up gear for long race weekends in the motor home and even taking a few day and camping trips up into the local mountains of Nevada and Utah - rock crawling on a quad. Got to love the four-wheel drive, the massive secured storage space, the 12-volt outlet, ride-for-days fuel range and sheer power of the 650 Quest Rotax motor beneath the seat.

Looking forward to the front of the Bomb, you'll want to remove the sub-frame just behind the plastic skid plate and beneath the storage/ice chest compartment.

Anyway, one day, a winch arrived. And this is where the story takes a bit of a twist into the adventure zone. "Hmm, what's this thing for?" I said to myself, rubbing my chin with a uncertain enthusiasm. "It sure in the heck ain't for the one ton Ford in the driveway. Here, let's take a look." I cracked open the box, and WAM! It's an ATV 2500 Ramsey Winch. I glanced over at the bomb, scoped out its undercarriage, and said, "We're going to go along way together. I'm talking the nasty stuff that I bypassed several weeks ago on a day ride."

This is what you'll want, a naked front end. Expose the Bomb to your shade-tree skills. In doing so, you'll need to little more than a screw driver and a couple of metric wrenches.

Before we get into the installation part of this project, let's proceed into what exactly happened on that cold dark day. It started off just fine for an early Saturday in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. My eyes were still a bit groggy as I stepped out of the garage and into the stiff chill of the wind. This is nothing I couldn't handle. It'll warm up real nice. The bright morning sun was lifting up over the crest of the mountain range off to the east. The quad was loaded up with the usual food and beverage products, tools and clothing. I slid on into my riding gear that I had just removed from the clothes drier, jump into them and hoped onto the Bomb with a scary look in my eyes and grin beneath the chin guard.

Ah, the rolling wet bar. . . I mean storage compartment. From the factory, there are four pre-drilled holes at the fram. You will need to find and align these holes with a drill bit and drill away four simple holes to bolt the winch on.

Just when I fired up the 650 Rotax in a roar of fury, my neighbor stepped out of his garage. "It's looking like a nice day, but you never know. Where you headed?" "I'm headed for the hills, buddy! This thing is taking me where the a Jeep won't go." "Yep, we're taking the Jeep out ourselves. Loading up the ice chest now." I revved up and roared out of town, headed for whatever I considered impossible and vast. I was looking for the kind of terrain that left me out of the societal loop, to be my own nuisance, my own dependence. After little more than two hours, I was reaching scattered snow on the backside of the mountain, caught a glimpse of a wondering doe on a grassy ridge. I stopped for some water and a salami sandwich. You got to love that fat and cheese.

Mounting the relay switch and wires with duct tape, you'll want to line up and attach them to the front of the quad to prepare for two final holes that must be drilled. The relay provides for four holes, but we were lazy. After torturing and racing the quad with winch attached, it remained in tact.

Your goal will be to align and squeeze the relay into the slot alloted on the face plate. We're uncertain whether this is by Bombardier's grand design that the relay should fit this well, but it is pretty genius nonethless. The relay and wires fit snugly and secure behind the protection of this plastic shield.

Once you're certain the relay will fit within the face place, drill and bolt into the top holes as shown here. Go for four it if you so choose. It's your choice. It's your quad. Take charge! You're the only you'll have to answer to if things go wrong.

Ramsey supplies you with all the nuts, bolts and detailed instructions needed for a fully functional winch. Because we were mounting to non-reinforced plastic, we opted to ad thes large fender washers to the mix for added stability in attaching the relay.

So, after chewing the fat with a bottle of Gatorade and some loneliness and not a camera to capture the moment, I stood from the makeshift picnic table on the hood of the Bomb and caught a frigid blast of wind.

Before you put the front end back together, run the wires as indicated in the instructions provided with your Ramsey winch. We ran the wires from the winch, along the left-hand side of the inner front fender, up to the dash, and parallel to the factory wires to the rear where the Bomb's battery is, attaching them via zip ties along the way.

I was starring up into gapping blue skies. But it was the odor of those skies that caught my attention. I was pretty far back and resting in some pretty rough terrain. The visibility was just fine down wind, but up wind was a different story. I was blinded but by the scent. And, it smelled quite like thunderclouds over the 10,000-foot mountain peak. I loaded up the gear and moved on. Just a little further into oblivion as I call it. Freedom. Some enough I was barricaded into a beautiful canyon. The cold chill of wind was becoming moist and I became concerned, something I should have concerned myself with long before. Now it was raining and the old goggles were fogged up. The arid canyon was drooling. It was tough to detail, which drops were sweat and which were rain. With the plummeting mercury, I was getting pretty hot to find my way out of this canyon. With the rising tide, the ground was losing too much traction for me to head back into the steep from where I came. Some parts were gummy sand others were slick mud.

The Bomb has a digital ODO and trip meter. The speedo is analog and easy to read at speeds of 70-something miles per hour. On the right side of the handle bar dash is a instrument cluster. On the left, is open to your imagination. This is where we mounted the weatherproof switch. Keep in mind, there is also room for other switches should other goodies, such as lights and radios, arrive at your door step.

I finally made my way into a box canyon, where the Bomb and myself were pinned up like pig on feast day. The canyon was cinched shut by rock walls a hundred-odd foot into the freezing, 30-mile an hour rain. A thin sheet of snow was forming just above me to freedom. I though back to the terrain before further up the canyon. What section was the most promising escape route? Which had the best traction? Which had the safest ascent? Which had the most rock and vegetation to cling to? Which would afford me my much-needed way out. With each question I pondered, flowed an increasingly swift rush of water at my boot heals. "Wow, it's a real bummer they don't make riding boots water proof," I thought. "Idiots!" It was now only heal high and appeared to be rising with every thought.

Once you've attached all the wires and made sure the winch functions using both the remote and dash-mounted switches, it's time to bolt the front end back together. Use an open end wrench to carefully position the nut on the backside of the skid plate and bolt the roller faillead back together.

A light bulb went off in my head crawled the Bomb back to a spot about a quarter-mile up the canyon, where a couple of boulders were within winching distance. If I could get within range of them, I could most certainly dot-to-dot my way up into the pines and up to what later became a plateau back to the main trail. The slick rocks were a pain for any quick progress. Since I had a 12-volt air compressor, I took the tires down a few PSI for better grip and a quicker escape. By the time I reached my destination, the water had risen to just above my ankles in the deepest sections. I knew this because it was time to play spider man. With a confident grin, I ripped the 20-foot tow strap from the Bomb and unspoiled the full 50-foot of 3/16" galvanized aircraft cable emanating from the Ramsey ATV 2500 freedom-fighting winch. With winch cable to spare, I latched onto the anchored boulder and backed more than 50-feet away from the Bomb, igniting the thumb-activated remote. The Ramsey winch obeyed the command and the Bombardier Quest began climbing straight toward the heavens. It was steep, rocky and muddy as ice, but it never let up. Never.

After you attach the Clevis hook and install the Cotter pin, do the right thing and unspool the winch and then reel it in under moderate load, being sure to evenly lay cable on the spool and preventing it from binding. One clown I know, didn't do this and severely kinked his winch the first time he attempted to use it. Get in the habit of doing this after each time you winch.

The Bombardier 650 Quest has been known to drag Jeeps around like a cheap date in the town of Bedrock. Not only has it save the quad from peril and a rider from a very cold night in the mountains, the Ramsey winch has also been used to load trailers and move dead cars around. Here, Eddie Perez moves one of the double axle trailers around with ease.

Remember, the remote! Don't leave home without it.

Once I got into position, I anchored the Bomb with a shorter tree saver tow strap, unhooked the cable and larger strap from the rock, and went for the trees. These were easier winches to a great degree, nothing to the near-vertical slick and rocky climb from the torrent canyon walls. Perhaps the greatest benefit of purchasing anything from the Ramsey line of winches is the safety, security and mobility of the key chain remote. Standing at the edge of near-vertical canyon walls, you don't want a winch that you have to baby sit. You don't want a winch that ties you to danger.

Fidel Gonzales

Quick Notes and Referrence Material

The ATV 2500 comes with a workhorse motor that uses less amps when winching.

The 50 ft. of aircraft quality wire rope is attached at an anchor point in the winch drum for maximum safety and pulling distance.

The ATV 2500 comes with a roller fairlead, a high strength clevis hook and the cam-actuated clutch.

Plus, you get standard, the Ramsey wireless remote control.

FEATURES
12-volt electric reversible motor
Weather resistant solenoid assembly
3-stage planetary gear system for fast line speed
Optional automatic load-holding brake for strength and reliability
Cam action clutch disengages planetary gear system for free spooling
Wireless remote with manual operation switch
6 ft. (1.83 m) 6 gauge battery cables with connectors
4-way roller fairlead
Limited lifetime warranty

SPECIFICATIONS
Rated line pull....... (single line) 2,500 lbs. (1,133 kgs)
Gear reduction ratio....... 136:1 (12V)
Motor....... Permanent Magnet - 0.9 hp (12V) DC
Overall dimensions........ (LxWxH) 13.19" x 4.50" x 4.75" (335 mm x 114 mm x 121 mm)
Drum size.......Diameter 1.75" (44 mm) Length 2.97" (76 mm)
Weight....... 21 lbs. (45 kgs)
Cable supplied....... 50ft. (15m) of 3/16" (4.8 mm) galvanized aircraft cable with replaceable clevis hook
Mounting bolt pattern....... 3.00± .015 IN X 4.88± .015 IN (76.2 x 124.0 mm)

Line Speed & Amp Draw - First Layer
Line	lbs.	NO	500	1,000	1,500	2,000	2,500
Pull	kgs	LOAD	227	453	680	906	1,133

Line	fpm	20.8	17.6	15	12.3	10.2	8.5
Speed	mpm	6.3	5.3	4.5	3.8	3.0	2.6


Motor Current	amps		18	45	63	84	96	121

Line Pull & Cable Capacity
Layer of Cable		1	2	3	4	5

Rated Line	lbs.	2,500	2,090	1,800	1,580	1,400
Pull per Layer	kgs	1,133	947	815	716	634

Cable Capacity	ft	7	15	25	37	50
per Layer	m	2.12	4.56	7.6	11.3	15.2