So as a first responder, was your second job being an electrician? Leaving a 2awg positive wire at the front bumper, with constant power, is not small risk. A minor accident, on or off road, where that positive cable gets pinched and touches the frame, is a fire.
Getting hit in the front is always a really small risk, and yet - look at the threads in this forum, which is a fraction of the total Gladiator owners, showing how their vehicles were crushed by some stupid or drunk driver - blowing a sign or light, turning in front of them, whatever.
The other major risk is a broadside hit near the passenger tire. That’s often where the winch cables route from bumper to behind the inner fender, up to the battery. A bad hit there with an energized + cable will push it right into the frame.
my bad.As to why that route? Personally just cleaner with other things that will be wired in as well. Its the long wire past the metal bits that are directly connected to the battery that is of concern personally to me, not whether the winch itself turns off or stays off until you activate it. Accidents aside and the risk that may exist.... I've had critters chew a battery cable on a daily driver before, that made the car stink for months.
I guess my small hijack of the thread, started that debate again. Should have posed that question to a different thread anyways...
Although I wasn't talking about the winch, this time. I had already decided the route that will wire that in: Winch -> to power interupter kit -> Voswitch module -> switch on voswitch bank.
It will allow me to turn power off and on plus can setup to only have ability to turn it on if wire to acc fuse. (Switches will already be there and have an extra one or two available.)
As to why that route? Personally just cleaner with other things that will be wired in as well. Its the long wire past the metal bits that are directly connected to the battery that is of concern personally to me, not whether the winch itself turns off or stays off until you activate it. Accidents aside and the risk that may exist.... I've had critters chew a battery cable on a daily driver before, that made the car stink for months.
So just as an extra safety precaution, nothing wrong with that is there.
Needed? Eh maybe that's debatable but it is cheap (Like $90 for power interrupter kit on amazon currently.) and will most likely be relatively easy to do.
Extra thing to break? Yeah, but I can still in the field easily just wire it to the battery if need be in a pinch. Not that it's rocket science to do so if it was designed to do that in the first place.
