Voltage drop for 15 ft of wire wouldn't be much at all. 4/0 should be your minimum anyway. For a 4.5hp (9,000 lb winch) motor at 12v your drawing 248 amps which for copper 4/0 you'd need cable rated at 90*C/194*F according to national electrical code. You'd be maxing out any 4/0.

Frankly I'd bump to a 250 or 350 gauge even running to the front, or atleast put a few inches of 3/0 inline as close to your battery as possible to act as a fusible link.

 

I assume you are going to leave the solenoid pack mounted to the winch, to eliminate running additional cables for motor direction. And that way, you only need a pos and neg cable running to the front or rear...with some sort of quick-connect (possibly like the Boss snowplow units use). Plus, you could always just ground the cable in the rear to the frame (allowing you just to run one cable the entire length of vehicle).

Like anything, always a few options to hammer out. But, I believe you would want to keep the installation as smooth as possible, quick connects and such. Just picture myself in a ditch full of freezing water and snow...trying to hook up some wires and stuff...not pretty. That reminds me...I have to move to hell out of this snow belt area...lol.

Brian.

 

Sorry to revive this old thread... it's still very relevant today and looks like a great project.
How did it go after using the winch? I'm considering the same mod or the Terrafirma hidden winch plate but being able to remove and move to the back would be a plus.
What is the hitch receiver you used as a basis for the project? Was it exactly the right width to fit the frame?