Design help - 5th wheel winch mount

[AndyL]

G'day all,

Ok, looking for input... Snow hit today - phone calls to come save friends from ditches started...

Want to setup the truck with a winch again - no I don't want bumper mounts / typical hitch mounts. Want it to be removable - because, don't need it in the truck 97% of the year - and it's my work truck, It'll need to come out to accommodate earning a living semi-regularly.

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That'll be the base of the unit... Specifically the base - (the big H shaped steel bit the 5th wheel drops onto) Planning to mount my EPI9000 winch on a 6" channel above that cross bar.

But - need to fabricate something between a Gin Pole and Holmes wrecker - to get the winch line off my tailgate (also gives me lift on recoveries). And this - is where I need help...

Want it to mount fully to the 5th wheel hitch, fixed elevation to clear the tailgate, and removable (ie pull 4 pins and stash the booms under the tool box). Trucks got a 6'6" bed - so only really need 4-5' of boom to get past the tailgate. But - I do want to be sure it's not going to fail in use... I was eyeballing a pair of 2x4x.125 wall HSS tubes I have here... But not sure those will be adequate?

Also debating whether it's best to mount the booms high - with a brace down - or mount the booms low and have the brace going above...

Anyone have some thoughts / words of wisdom (other than call a tow-truck, yes we know these friends... Yes these friends are cheap like me and know I used to drive one...)

 

[awdblazer]

you can get mounts to put in your hitch receiver

 

[AndyL]

I don't want it in the front/rear hitches or bumpers there's a reason tow trucks mount winches between axles not in bumpers... I own a typical class IV hitch mount - I don't intend to use it for a reason...

 

[crewchief888]

what if you remove the tailgate,

fabricate your 'boom" with a brace down to the trailer hitch?

 

[bigbubba]

what if you remove the tailgate,

fabricate your 'boom" with a brace down to the trailer hitch?

This is what i would do if it were me,Maybe make it where it slides into your receiver hitch and clears the tailgate so you can leave it in place.

 

[AndyL]

Possible, but not pretty...

Largely what I'm doing is basically somewhere between 2 designs of Holmes wreckers... Closest to

Except I was planning two longer main supports to the top... Rather than into a single tube like this one, then supporting from the rear of the hitch to keep the vertical angle...

 

[crewchief888]

what if you remove the tailgate,

fabricate your 'boom" with a brace down to the trailer hitch?

This is what i would do if it were me,Maybe make it where it slides into your receiver hitch and clears the tailgate so you can leave it in place.

that was my original thought,
but the more i was thinking,
dropping the tailgate, then d*cking around with a large chunk of steel, trying to get it into both the reciever and connected to the 5th wheel when it's snowing, blowing and cold wouldnt be my idea of fun....

with the tailgate off, you can leave it connected & ready to use....

 

[AndyL]

Tailgate off - the cables probably gonna rip the heck out of my truck - most recoveries will be down below road height (rural highway commute) so elevating cable above the tailgate makes most sense...

 

[Partsman2012]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding but you're attaching the winch to the 5th wheel via a trailer kingpin/6" channel?
My concern is the fifth wheel as it's designed is under a compression load primarily. A winch would put a tension load on it. Trying to pull it out of the bed rather than pushing it down into the bed as a trailer would do.

 

[AndyL]

No kingpin... Just using the base for the king pin as an attachment point and known entity. But no - I have no worries about how the 5th attaches as a winch point.

That's what I'm thinking - obviously with more work than shown, but general layout...

 

[RickP]

You could support the boom with a vertical strut tied to a horizontal beam in the back of your truck bed. It would be in compression, so it wouldn't need to be attached to the bed, and as long as it fit tightly against the sides it would be stable for side loading.

It sounds like your 5th wheel attachment point will provide the base for attaching a boom, but I don't think it will support the end of the boom without some kind of vertical strut to the back of the truck.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Now that you have shown the "boom" sketch, I guess it might be more than what I was expecting you to do. I thought you might be doing more of a winch mounting right off the bed in the 5th wheel mount.

I was going to suggest some type of extended roller fairlead to keep it off the back of the truck. I think it would work as long as you oriented your truck in line with the "pull" and not off to the side.

One thing to think about in your design is the "what if", having that winch in the bed of your truck, what if the cable breaks and comes back. Will it get stopped or do you need to consider the possibility of a headache rack ?

 

[AndyL]

Trucks a real work truck with ladder rack and headache protection - partly why I'm OK with this scenario cable snaps its 99% assuredly getting caught up in something long before it causes damage.

In was eyeballing proper horseheads on awdirect last night (proper boom end shivs) but was more thinking just a typical ****** block on a clevis originally for simplicity's sake...

 

[NUTTSGT]

Trucks a real work truck with ladder rack and headache protection - partly why I'm OK with this scenario cable snaps its 99% assuredly getting caught up in something long before it causes damage.

Glad to hear.