The curved plate is held onto the mounting plate with 3 screws and locking washers. The curve of it will be orientated towards the rear of the winch and keeps tension on the rope when the unit is put into Free-spool mode (clutch released), this prevents the rope from doing what we call “Birds Nest” or releasing all of its tension and making a big mess of the rope. This will apply a small amount of pressure against the winch / mounting plate when the customer attempts to mount it with the mounting bolts.
Sometimes after mounting the spring plate it is easier to mount the roller fairlead with the bolts inserted from the winch side out and the nuts on the roller fairlead side before mounting the winch to the mounting plate.