Question about winch mounting

[Bennylava]

This is just a broad and general question about winch mounting on a trailer. I'm looking for a car/suv/light duty truck hauler, but none of them seem to come equipped with a winch already. Just wanted to ask if anyone knows what to watch out for, or if there is any reason that a winch couldn't be mounted to the front of any given car hauler. Is there anything I should know? Figured some of you out there must have experience with this.

 

[koditten]

I've given up on electric winches. I've gone thru 3. The last one the magnets in the motor can delaminated. Pulled the can from the motor, left the armature. Now I use my cordless drill to power the winch. Simple and it works just fine.

My next winch purchase will be a 2 speed, manual boat winch. Nothing to go bad and super cheap and dead reliable.

 

[Buckgnarly]

I've given up on electric winches. I've gone thru 3. The last one the magnets in the motor can delaminated. Pulled the can from the motor, left the armature. Now I use my cordless drill to power the winch. Simple and it works just fine.

My next winch purchase will be a 2 speed, manual boat winch. Nothing to go bad and super cheap and dead reliable.

What brand were the 3 winches?

 

[koditten]

Ramsey, Ramsey and whatever they sell at HF. The HF was build the best, but if you live on dirt roads, sand blasting the winches everyday kills them pretty fast.

I tried boxing them in, but then I couldn't get a car loaded as far forward as needed to have a proper balance.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Ramsey, Ramsey and whatever they sell at HF. The HF was build the best, but if you live on dirt roads, sand blasting the winches everyday kills them pretty fast.

I tried boxing them in, but then I couldn't get a car loaded as far forward as needed to have a proper balance.

Always heard Ramsey were pretty good, maybe not anymore.....glad you did not say Warn, my one electric is Warn. The Jeep has a hydro milemarker that I am very happy with, though useless on a trailer.

Not sure I would permanent mount any winch on a trailer though, removable would be ideal I think.

 

[koditten]

My problem was I would use MY car hauler to move a car twice a year. The rest of the fam used the thing every week. I got tired of fixing ****, so I stopped.

If someone does not loan out their tools, this is a non issue.

 

[fourjeepin]

Re: Home Depot Clearance Thread 2015

Always heard Ramsey were pretty good, maybe not anymore.....glad you did not say Warn, my one electric is Warn. The Jeep has a hydro milemarker that I am very happy with, though useless on a trailer.

Not sure I would permanent mount any winch on a trailer though, removable would be ideal I think.

Warn is the best, hands down. They helped me find parts for the model 8200 I have which was last made in the 70s.

The hydro winches are very powerful but SLOW.

 

[mrolds88]

I have a 10k unit on my trailer. Came off of a rollback. built the mounts for it across the tongue. Been using it for 10 years without issue. It was old when I got it and did replace the motor on it the other year.

 

[nikerret]

My Warn 9K winch stays in the heavy duty toolbox, with the battery and tie downs, until needed. It is then taken out and mounted into the 2" receiver that is welded to the tongue. It's pulled up a dead minivan and some heavy random scrap metal. It's also pulled a 2500HD out of mud that was several inches over the frame. We had to have a guy holding he brake pedal down, in my truck, with all wheels chocked, to stop the winch from pulling everything into the 2500HD, but we got it!

The D ring, in the front, is for use with the ****** block, should it be needed.



Everything in the box, ready to go. The battery charges when the truck is in Tow/Haul Mode or the headlights are on. It's a huge battery, made for large dump trucks.:





Just drop the hitch pin in, to hold the winch plate in place.


There are a few things I don't like. Most of it is the plate the winch is bolted to. It was built, in my absence, and needs some changes made, but it is functional. The biggest issue is the fairlead can't be mounted, the way the plate is, now.

The 2" receiver is mounted on a 2X6 tube that is on a piece of Channel that goes from the coupler to the front of the main frame. The 2X6 is welded everywhere it touches the trailer frame and the Channel.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Re: Home Depot Clearance Thread 2015

Warn is the best, hands down. They helped me find parts for the model 8200 I have which was last made in the 70s.

The hydro winches are very powerful but SLOW.

I love my Warn (removable setup that I use on truck and tractor) but my MM hydro is my workhorse. It is slower than the electric, but my PSC steering setup closed that speed gap considerably

 

[kerrynzl]

My problem was I would use MY car hauler to move a car twice a year. The rest of the fam used the thing every week. I got tired of fixing ****, so I stopped.

If someone does not loan out their tools, this is a non issue.

A man of your resources needs to mount a winch into a hitch receiver.
Then you can remove the electric winch and swap in a manual winch for all the relatives [preferably a 1:1 manual winch]

 

[koditten]

Its family, what are ya gonna do? I love to hate them. If it wasn't for them, I'd have nothing to talk about.

 

[Bennylava]

A man of your resources needs to mount a winch into a hitch receiver.
Then you can remove the electric winch and swap in a manual winch for all the relatives [preferably a 1:1 manual winch]

Haha! Yeah I bet they'd stop borrowing it. To cut out the begging and guilt trips and asking for the winch, just say it died and you don't want to buy another one right now for whatever reason. But they're free to use that hand crank 1:1.

But I'm glad I made this thread cause I didn't even know people put winches on hitches. That's a good idea! I'll be doing that. Is it a big pain to move it all around and hook it all up?

 

[kerrynzl]

Haha! Yeah I bet they'd stop borrowing it. To cut out the begging and guilt trips and asking for the winch, just say it died and you don't want to buy another one right now for whatever reason. But they're free to use that hand crank 1:1.

But I'm glad I made this thread cause I didn't even know people put winches on hitches. That's a good idea! I'll be doing that. Is it a big pain to move it all around and hook it all up?

This was posted on another thread.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5520629#post5520629

The person needed a lightweight winch mounted high[ish] to drag plastic water tanks onto his trailer while he was guiding it [ he had a long remote ]

Then I made a lower heavier winch mount for an 8000lb winch.

Electric winches get stolen a lot, hand crank boat winches a lot less

 

[mikegt4]

Holy Moly nikerrt, you need some covers over those battery terminals!!!!

I have a winch setup on my trailer. I welded in a 2" receiver tube and measured how much "rise" I would need on a mount to get the winch in the right position to work on my trailer. It is a short deck so I mount the winch forward of the deck. I welded a plate to the mount that had holes drilled to allow me to rotate the winch 180* so that I could also mount the winch in the receiver on the tow vehicle. Several times I have used the receiver to mount a ball at the front of the deck. I can winch an unroadworthy trailer (bad bearings, flat tires) up onto the deck then swap the winch for a ball and hitch the tongue to it then strap down the back end.