Steel thickness for receiver winch

[fred d]

I have some quarter inch plate that I was going to make a cradle for my winch to move from my pick up to my car hauler to my IH Scout(but mostly the car hauler)
Concerned that the weight of the plate I have will make the whole thing when assembled too heavy.

The design was going to be similar to the one in the picture.
I also have some 1/8 inch plate that I can cut to the same shape, but was afraid it would not be stout enough

I am not a welder and will probably get some help from a experienced one for this project
Thoughts

 

[fred d]

This is what I have got so far
Also bottom will be cut at white line once I have the base plate in hand
Will probably be 7” deep by 26” wide when finished

 

[Mitchw123456]

the only way I would go with 1/8 is if it had a ton of gussets which likely would be in the way of the winch. Are you mounting an 8K+ winch?

 

[fred d]

Yes
8k

 

[davewo]

I would definitely go with 1/4". It will add about 7 pounds over using 1/8"

 

[Bretny]

1/4 for sure. And yes its going to be heavy. The winch alone is prob 45-75lbs. I would rather a heavy winch plate than a light bent one.

 

[chilow]

I assume your winch uses a steel line instead of synthetic? If so, definitely 1/4" thickness minimum. I have a 10k winch and even with the synthetic rope, it weights around 65 pounds.

 

[nikerret]

I’ll have to go look, but I think I used 3/8” for the mounting plate on a 2” square tube (for putting in hitch receiver).

If I remember, I’ll get pics.

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

I built an aluminum mount to fit my receiver. 1/2" thick, with big holes cut out to lose weight. Still a heavy pig to move. Warn XD9000I.

I'm in the process of losing the roller fairlead and steel rope.

Custom splice aluminum hawse fairlead and syn line should save a noticeable amount of weight.