saabman
Well-known member
A while back I purchased a WARN winch and receiver mount kit to allow it to be used on my truck or trailer. I got the same winch that a fellow car club member has front mounted on his GMC truck which I have seen used a number of times. It has a 9000 lb capacity so it should be up to most tasks that I ask of it. I spent a fair amount of time thinking about how to mount the winch on my trailer.
Bolting directly to the deck would defeat the portability aspect of the receiver mount and would not provide a robust mount (wood deck). Adapting an old trailer hitch receiver would have been possible but I did not want to weld to or drill on the trailer frame. My design goal was to make something that was rugged but totally removable. The picture below shows the overall design and fab work.
The principle design concepts are the a) frame clamp b) riser and c) mount plate and tube. The frame clamp consists of the trapezoidal base plate made of 3/8 inch steel and the sandwich plates. Each of these featuring angles that match the trailer A-Frame. The plate is clamped to the trailer frame via 4 bolts on each side. The winch will primarily exert sheer force on the base plate and this is spread over a large area of the trailer frame. Additionally, the base plate buts to the tubular uprights supporting the trailers retaining fence. The riser features a 1/4 inch stiffener/spacer bar and 2x4 1/8 steel tube. The riser precisely locates the top plate such that the mount tube will pass just above the trailers "lip". Lastly the top plate is made of 1/2 inch plate with a Harbor Freight 18 inch receiver tube welded to it. The riser is bolted to the top plate and to the base plate. All connected hardware is grade 8.
In this picture you can see the receiver tube projecting out ove the trailer deck.
And here is the money shot showing the WARN winch mounted to the trailer.
Next I have to run the heavy duty wire from my aux battery (I run dual batteries for the benefit of my snow plow) to the back of my truck. With a pigtail cord I will be able to use the truck wiring to run the winch on the trucks receiver (when the trailer is not connected) or on the trailer via the new mount. The last item I will put is a nylon scuff plate at the duck tail juunction on the trailer. This will keep the winch cable from being abraded.
Chris
Bolting directly to the deck would defeat the portability aspect of the receiver mount and would not provide a robust mount (wood deck). Adapting an old trailer hitch receiver would have been possible but I did not want to weld to or drill on the trailer frame. My design goal was to make something that was rugged but totally removable. The picture below shows the overall design and fab work.
The principle design concepts are the a) frame clamp b) riser and c) mount plate and tube. The frame clamp consists of the trapezoidal base plate made of 3/8 inch steel and the sandwich plates. Each of these featuring angles that match the trailer A-Frame. The plate is clamped to the trailer frame via 4 bolts on each side. The winch will primarily exert sheer force on the base plate and this is spread over a large area of the trailer frame. Additionally, the base plate buts to the tubular uprights supporting the trailers retaining fence. The riser features a 1/4 inch stiffener/spacer bar and 2x4 1/8 steel tube. The riser precisely locates the top plate such that the mount tube will pass just above the trailers "lip". Lastly the top plate is made of 1/2 inch plate with a Harbor Freight 18 inch receiver tube welded to it. The riser is bolted to the top plate and to the base plate. All connected hardware is grade 8.
In this picture you can see the receiver tube projecting out ove the trailer deck.
And here is the money shot showing the WARN winch mounted to the trailer.
Next I have to run the heavy duty wire from my aux battery (I run dual batteries for the benefit of my snow plow) to the back of my truck. With a pigtail cord I will be able to use the truck wiring to run the winch on the trucks receiver (when the trailer is not connected) or on the trailer via the new mount. The last item I will put is a nylon scuff plate at the duck tail juunction on the trailer. This will keep the winch cable from being abraded.
Chris
I like the fact you can remove it so easily and it makes for being very practical and even an anti theft idea.