T-MAX EW-9500 Electric Winch


Here's a pic of all the parts you should get with your new T-MAX EW-9500 winch. The yellow package is a T-shirt
I picked up a Toys by Troy winch plate to mount the T-MAX winch on and can say this thing is stout!!
Using a 3/8" socket, remove the 2 bolts on each side of your Jeep attaching the front plastic cover to your frame
Using a Torx T-55 bit, remove the 2 bolts on each side of your front bumper attaching it to the frame (or tow hooks to it if you have them)
Using an 18mm socket and wrench, attach your roller fairlead to the winch plate using the bolts and nuts supplied with the kit.
Slide in the square nuts provided with the kit into the slots at the located on base of the T-MAX winch
Using a 16mm socket, Attach the T-MAX winch to your winch plate. The bolts will thread into the square nuts
Because I am still using a OEM front bumper, I had to stack 3 washers on top of the swaybar bushing in order to fill in the gap between it and the winch plate.
Bolt the T-MAX winch and plate to your bumper. The design of the Toys by Troy winch plate does not allow you to use Mopar tow hooks so you will need to pickup a pair of aftermarket ones or not install any
This is a detailed photo of all the cables coming out of your control box
Using a flat head screwdriver, attach your control box to the 2 mounting clips provided with the kit
Place the 2 clips on top of the upper winch tie-bars and then secure it by tightening lock screws
This is a detailed photo of the terminal bolts B, C, and D located on top of the T-MAX winch
Using a 14mm socket, fasten the respective cables to the appropriate terminals on your T-MAX winch
This is what the cables should look like once secure and with the protective boots on
Slip both the thin ground wire from the control box and one end of the negative batter cable to the Terminal 'A' bolt and fasten it to the bottom on the T-MAX winch
Slip your battery cables through the grill and run it along the fender as shown
Using a 1/2" wrench, connect the positive and then negative batter cable to your Optima Deep Cycle battery
Here's what your new T-MAX winch will look like when all is said and done

T-MAX EW-9500
Features & Specifications

• 9500 lbs. rated single line pull
• 5.5hp Heavy Electric Reversible Motor
• 94ft. of 5/16” Galvanized aircraft cable with replaceable clevis hook
• Motor: 5.5hp12V Series Wound: 6hp/24V Series Wound
• Control: Remote Switch - 12' lead
• Gear Train: 3-Stage Planetary
• Gear Ratio: 218:1
• Clutch: Sliding Ring Gear
• Brake: Automatic In-The-Drum
• EW-1100 Drum Size: Diameter 2.52" Lengths 8.82"
• Wire Rope: (28m) x 5/16" (8.2mm)
• Fairlead: 4-way roller fairlead
• Remote Control: Included
• Recommended Battery: 650 CCA minimum for winching
• Battery Leads: 2 gauge, 72"
• Finish: Black / Dark Gray
• Weight: 79Lbs
• Overall Dimensions: (L x W x H) 21.3" x 6.3" x 8.6"
• Mounting Bolt Pattern: 10.00 0.015IN x 4.50 0.010IN

T-MAX EW-9500 Electric Winch

What Jeep is truly complete without a winch. Beyond looking way cool, they are one of the most functional pieces of recovery equipment you can own. The problem, a good winch suitable for a Jeep can run anywhere from $400-$1000+ depending on the make and weight capacity. If that weren't enough, you can't mount a winch to your Jeep unless you have a winch mounting plate or a bumper that allows you to attach one to it and they can run anywhere from about $50 (winch plate) to $500+ (new front bumper)!! So, the question is, do you go with a name brand you can trust like Warn and pay through the nose or, do you go with a cheap no name brand unit like the kind you can buy at Harbor Freight?

What You Will Need

• T-MAX EW9500 Electric Winch
• Toys By Troy Winch Plate
• 3/8" Socket
• 1/2" Wrench
• 14mm, 15mm, 16mm, 18mm Socket & Wrenches
• Torx T-55 Torx Bit
• Ratchet
• Ratchet Extension
• Torque Wrench
• Flathead Screwdriver (Medium & Small)
• Standard 10,000 lb. Tow Hooks if you currently have Mopar
• Optima Yellow Top or equivalent Deep Cycle Battery
• Zip Ties

Installation

1. As with any new mod, open your packages and verify that you have all the pieces you need to do the install. There's nothing worse than getting half way through and install only to find that you need something you hadn't anticipated especially when your Jeep is the only ride you got. In my case, I soon realized that my Mopar tow hooks would not work with the Toys by Troy winch plate and so I went out to my local 4Wheel Parts store to pick up a couple of standard 10,000 lb. aftermarket hooks.

2. On to the installation. To begin, park on level ground and then remove the plastic 'Jeep' cover located just behind the front bumper using a 3/8" socket.

3. Using a Torx T-55 socket, remove the 4 bolts (2 on each side) on top of your bumper securing it to the frame. If you have tow hooks, the bolts securing them are ones you need to remove.

4. Using an 18mm socket and wrench, attach your roller fairlead to the winch plate using the bolts and nuts supplied with the kit. Make sure that the bolt is slipped in from the back of the mounting plate so that the threads are pointing out and the nut is up front touching the fairlead.

5. Place your winch plate on a flat surface and set your new T-MAX EW-9500 winch on top of it. Then, slip in the square nuts provided with the winch into the slots as shown in the pic to the left.

6. With the T-MAX winch still sitting flat on the mounting plate, thread in the two rear bolts from underneath. You may need to move the square nuts a bit to get the threads to catch. Tighten these bolts down enough so that you can tilt both the T-MAX winch and mounting plate without it falling apart.

7. Tilt the whole setup on its front face (sitting on the roller fairlead) and then thread in the two front bolts. There were no torque specs with this winch so I decided to torque all 4 bolts to 70 ft. lbs.

8. Carefully lift your new T-MAX winch and mounting plate up onto your front bumper and check the fit. I found that my Toys by Troy winch plate is designed with holes in it that allow you to use the swaybar bushing bolts in addition to the bumper bolts. Unfortunately, because I am still running an OEM bumper, I found there was a small gap left between the mounting plate and swaybar bushing that needed to be eliminated before bolting it all down. I found that 3 washers did the trick perfectly. If you have a winch plate that can use these extra bolts, you will need a 15mm socket to remove your swaybar bushing bolts.

9. Bolt the winch plate to the frame of your Jeep using the factory bolts you removed earlier. If you have Mopar tow hooks like I did, you will need to pickup a pair of standard 10,000 lb. aftermarket ones. The design of the Toys by Troy winch plate will not allow you to reuse the Mopar square based ones. Or, you can always just leave the hooks off altogether. Make sure to torque the 4 Torx T-55 bolts down to 80 ft. lbs.

10. Take your T-MAX control box, lay it face down and then attach the 2 mounting clips to the back of it with a flathead screwdriver as shown in the pic to the left. Make sure that the hooked side of the clips are facing forward.

11. Place the 2 clips on top of the upper winch tie-bars (the clips hook on the front tie-bar and slides onto the back bar) and then secure it by tightening lock screws as shown in the pic to the left. Tightening the lock screws will require a small screwdriver and a bit of effort.

12. Your new T-MAX winch has 4 electrical terminal bolts, 3 of which are located on top and color coded. The fourth terminal is the ground terminal and is located on the bottom side of the winch housing. Connect the appropriate color coded cables to their respective terminal bolts using a 14mm socket or wrench (There are 2 red cables coming out of the control box. You need to attach the short one with the protective boot. The longer one will need to be connected to your battery) See pic to left for reference). Then attach both the thin black ground cable and one end of the negative battery cable to the ground bolt on the bottom of the winch housing (see pic to left).

13. Slip the protective weather boots over the terminal connections.

14. Carefully route your positive and negative batter lead through the grill of your Jeep and then up the side of your fender as shown in the pic to your left. Secure them in place using zip-ties.

15. Secure your positive lead cable to your Optima Yellow Top battery using a 1/2" wrench (NOTE: make sure your negative lead is not touching anything metal) and then attach your negative lead cable.

That should be it! Your new T-MAX EW-9500 electric winch and Toys By Troy have now been installed!! Now it's time to test it out.

T-MAX EW-9500 Winch Operation

1. To test out your new T-MAX winch, begin by finding an empty parking lot with a bumper pole or other sturdy anchor point.

2. Park an adequate distance from the anchor point, engage your parking brake, kill the engine, shift the clutch lever on the winch housing to the "OUT" position and then pull the winch cable out to the desired length.

3. Place a tow or tree-saver strap around the anchor point, attach your winch cable to it (WARNING: never wrap the cable around an object and hook it back on to itself. This will case damage to the object and can kink or fray the cable) and then re-engage the clutch to the "IN" position.

4. Check and the re-check all the cable rigging before proceeding.

5. Remove the rubber plug from the face of the winch control box and then plug in the remote hand control.

6. Make sure your Jeep is in neutral, start up your engine and then release the parking brake. Stand clear to the driver side of your Jeep and then switch the hand control to "IN" and/or "OUT" until your Jeep has been retrieved. Check the winch cable on a regular basis making sure that the cable is winding onto the drum evenly.

7. When finished, remove and store your hand remote control safely inside your Jeep.

Post Installation Notes

07/21/04
Well, so far so good. Installing the T-MAX EW-9500 winch and Toys by Troy mounting plate was a piece of cake and a monkey with a wrench could do it. Out of the box, I can tell you that I am very pleased with the quality and construction of this winch. I will admit that the only testing I have done with this winch to date has only been a simple line out and Jeep retrieval test on flat pavement. This test went as would be expected and the T-MAX EW-9500 worked flawlessly. I will be sure to post an update as soon as I have the opportunity to really test it out on the trails.

As far as winch plates go, Toys By Troy makes one so beautiful and beefy that it was almost a shame to cover it up with a winch. This is the very first product I have purchased from them and I am very pleased with their quality and attention to detail. Based on this purchase, I will be buying products from them in the future.

03/20/05
Since installing my T-Max Winch, I've used it several times for light duty work but this past weekend, I really put it to the test. While wheeling in Anza Borrego, I ran into a few guys who managed to get themselves seriously stuck in a alkali marsh. One was a full size Ford and the other was a full size Chevy pick-up and both had completely sunk their front ends into the muck. Fortunatly, the surface of the marsh was still firm enough that if you could carfully navigate across it but the first sign of tire spin and you're gonna dig in.

Parking my little Jeep TJ on the most solid ground I could find, I proceeded to extract both vehicles using my T-Max EW-9500 winch. Make no mistake, this was by no means an easy task. In fact, the Ford was so severly stuck that at one point it acted as an anchor causing my Jeep to be dragged towards it even though I was standing on the brakes. Need I say, the T-Max never heistated, the motor never complained and it performed flawlessly. The only problem I had was by the third pull, my winch cable crossed over and got crimped. I guess I'm gonna need to get me a new synthetic line :-)

Below are a few pics of the rescue.