Trailer winch

[EBodiesRule]

Greetings fellow garage-heads.

This has to do with my "mobile garage" - my race trailer.

I want to install a 12V electric winch, but I only use it a half dozen times a year and don't want to spend a grand on a mega-winch. I have seen a ton of them on eBay, but I also don't want one that has a 10 foot-per-minute line speed!

Have any of you heard of Rand winches? Check out this link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...d=1,1&item=8041896490&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT. This is a 4500 lb model. Everything I have read says you should buy a winch that is 20% over your rolling weight and 4500 lb should do it.

Have any of you purchased one of these (or larger)? What has been your experience?

Thanks for any input.

 

[REFLEXX]

Probably some unknown Chinese brand.

I'd suggest the Harbor Freight units, they're cheap. Not from personal experience, but they have 2 year "no questions" warranty (cheap) and at least they will not dissappear.

 

[kartracer55]

I can ask on Pirate 4x4 if you dont midn waiting a day or two to know. DId you check west marine?


Jim

 

[HotRodderAZ]

Down with the Harbor Freight winch. I tried to pull a rolling fox body on a trailer and it burned out before even hitting the trailer. I did not buy the warranty, goes against my beliefs, HF and warranty do not fit in smae sentence. Want mine I will sell cheap, just kidding. Good luck finding one, I am still looking for an inexpensive winch for limited use.

 

[rdnkjeeper]

Get a brand name! I use one all the time, but on a 4x4. Get a Warn, Ramsey, or milemarker.

 

[Luckydevil]

Have you looked at the Mile Marker winches that Summit sells?

http://store.summitracing.com/defau...winch&N=115+-44381&D=-44381&Ntk=KeywordSearch

The Army uses them on their Hummers.

http://www.milemarker.com/army.html

It is $100 more than the one on ebay, but at least you won't have to worry about it dying on you.

 

[OldCarGuy]

I have a Dayton Winch mounted in the nose of my enclosed car hauler. It has a single line pull of 3,000 pounds that has easily pulled dead cars and machinery up the ramp and into the trailer over the past seven years. If you need more pulling power just use the pulley block and double up the cable. A helpful suggestion would be mounting the winch off the floor with a short piece of 6 to 12” “I” beam. That way the cable will clear the floor when it reaches beyond the door to ground level.


Interesting I actually have that model Rand you mentioned that a good friend gave me when he up-grated his car hauler. It has been used very little and I plan on mounting it on my open car trailer. It looks like a good unit.

 

[the intimidator]

Get a brand name! I use one all the time, but on a 4x4. Get a Warn, Ramsey, or milemarker.

i'll second that get a good winch i have used cheap ones on my atv's and they work off and on but they always die or break when you really need them i have now seen the light and will be bying a warn in a couple months for my atv take a look at thewarn works 3700# it should be more then enough to pull your car up into the trailer. and that rand winch on ebay may pull 0# at 19 fpm but i will guantee it will not pull 19 fpm at 4500# or even at 2000# here is the 3700 pound warn for 359$ http://www2.northerntool.com/product-1/200197824.htm

 

[evildky]

if your dealing with smoothly rolling cars and not too steep a ramp a cheapie or even a good warn winch intended for 4 wheelsers, they are a lot cheaper than the full sized units, I uave a warn pull pack and a reciever I welded to my trailer, it hooks up with heavy duty quick connects adn has never let me down, it was not cheap! but it has been worth it in the long run

 

[cranker]

Get a good one and be done. I have a superwinch on my bronco it has always worked. Just remember the big ones pull some serious amps.

 

[autoist]

I use a Warne 2500 ATV winch on my trailer - I only pull MG's & found that it works great by doubling the cable with a ****** block! Been using it for a couple of years with no problems.

 

[EBodiesRule]

Thanks, guys!

Wow. This is why I brag-up this BB with others! Thanks for the great advice everyone. I really liked the Warn model that the Intimidator suggested. Also, the MileMarker model that Lucky Devil suggested.

Does anyone have a Rand brand unit?? What's been your experience? I noted that the hp rating of the Warn model matches the Rand unit as does the gear ratio and the planetarys. Hmmm...makes you wonder if the Rand model is manufactured by Warn and marketed as a lower price option. That's done all the time...

Thanks again, guys.

 

[cotton]

I have used the HF $50 for two years without any problems. Well worth the money for me. The heaviest it's pulled was a 72 Buick GS or 79 Trans am and it didn't stuggle a bit.

 

[rdnkjeeper]

http://www.rocky-road.com/tmax.html

Those are supposed to be a cheaper model of warn, either made for warn or made by them.

 

[IGOR]

T-Maxx are not associated with Warn at all. You are thinking of Tabor.

 

[trovato]

While we're on the fascinating subject of winches, how are you guys mounting your winches to your trailers? I've seen some just bolted to the deck, but it seems that may interfere with the usable space. Also, for an intermittently used trailer, I was considering something removable both for security and to keep the winch out of the weather. I thought about welding a 2 by 2 receiver tube to the trailer in a vertical position, and mounting the winch to a trailer ball mount. Any thoughts?

 

[rdnkjeeper]

T-Maxx are not associated with Warn at all. You are thinking of Tabor.

Don't recall, but have you noticed the amount of "new" winch manufactures on the market?

Have heard a few good things about the tmaxx....

 

[rdnkjeeper]

While we're on the fascinating subject of winches, how are you guys mounting your winches to your trailers? I've seen some just bolted to the deck, but it seems that may interfere with the usable space. Also, for an intermittently used trailer, I was considering something removable both for security and to keep the winch out of the weather. I thought about welding a 2 by 2 receiver tube to the trailer in a vertical position, and mounting the winch to a trailer ball mount. Any thoughts?

Use the miltimount, they are designed to fit into recievers.

 

[red caddy]

This is how I solved the problem, I put a mount plate on the front and back of my pit dragger, with a plug-in. now the winch goes where I need it. RED

 

[Paradise Ridge]

I'll jump in also.

I've got two winching systems I use, one for my little 12' flat trailer and one for my 7 ton dumpy.

The one on my flat trailer is a 2k model I bought at Costco for $48.00. I fab'd up a mounting plate level with the bed and on top of the tongue. Mounted it in a plastic toolbox to keep everything secure and protected, plus it gives me a place for bungees, tie downs and a ****** block.

My other winch, a 10k Ramsey, is mounted to a receiver mount "saddle" that I can switch between the Dodge, the Chevy and the Ford and anything else (tree?). To use it in the dumpy, I welded an 8" long 2"x2" stinger in the middle, bottom, front floor of the dumpy bed. It doesn't interfere with anything when I'm not using the winch and it only takes a minute to slide it in.

To power both units, I picked up a heavy duty pair of jumper cables (25') and installed welder cable quick disconnects on one end of the jumpers and also on both winches. When I need to power them, I pop the hood and connect to my rigs battery. I just grab the jumpers whenever I'm going to winch something. Short cables between the winches and the welding connectors makes everything easier to pack around.

The 2K Costco unit has pulled a couple of N series ford tractors with little problem. If I need something bigger I go grab the 10K Ramsey.

Just something to throw in the mix,


Scott

 

[the intimidator]

make sure the freespool knob is fully seated before you use the winch also if it is used in colder weather put some lightweight grease or heavy oil in because the stuff that is in there is **** and is really thick in cold weather. i have had two of those costco winches fail because the free spool did not reingadge properly and it has sheard the gears off over time

 

[trovato]

This is how I solved the problem, I put a mount plate on the front and back of my pit dragger, with a plug-in. now the winch goes where I need it. RED

Cool. Where do you get mount plates and matching insert pieces like that? That would be great.

 

[trovato]

I fab'd up a mounting plate level with the bed and on top of the tongue. Mounted it in a plastic toolbox to keep everything secure and protected, plus it gives me a place for bungees, tie downs and a ****** block.Scott

Scott, So was that whole inner beam that makes the 'A' shape all added by you for the winch? Also, in retrospect, do you think it would be more convenient if you mounted the toolbox the other way so the top would open without hitting anything?

 

[Paradise Ridge]

Scott, So was that whole inner beam that makes the 'A' shape all added by you for the winch? Also, in retrospect, do you think it would be more convenient if you mounted the toolbox the other way so the top would open without hitting anything?

All I did was weld a 6" x 12" plate to the front of the bed outer rail to keep things flush and then added 2-45 degree supports to keep the winch from pulling the plate up while winching.

I added the plate before I had the box, so natch it didn't quite fit. In retro, I would have made the plate 8 x 12 and slid the box out 2".

The lid on the box hit the upper guard rail when I tried to mount it with the opening to the rear, so I turned it 180 degrees. With the extra 2", I could have mounted it either way and the box would open fine. also, a slightly larger box would hold the winch, control, tie-downs and bungees much better.

Hindsight is always 20/20!

Scott

 

[red caddy]

Hammer to fit, paint to match.

Trovato, When I needed to mount the winch I spent a little quality time with my mill, lathe and some scrap steel from the drop box. I stole the idea from an old J.C. Whitney cat.
Necessity is not the mother of invention, desperation is... RED

 

[trovato]

Trovato, When I needed to mount the winch I spent a little quality time with my mill, lathe and some scrap steel from the drop box. I stole the idea from an old J.C. Whitney cat.
Necessity is not the mother of invention, desperation is... RED

Well, that's unfortunate, as I don't have a mill or lathe. I guess I'll have to come up with another plan. Thanks anyway.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

Have you looked at the Mile Marker winches that Summit sells?

http://store.summitracing.com/defau...winch&N=115+-44381&D=-44381&Ntk=KeywordSearch

The Army uses them on their Hummers.

http://www.milemarker.com/army.html

It is $100 more than the one on ebay, but at least you won't have to worry about it dying on you.

the milemarker and the HF unit appear to be the same unit, the specs. are the same on a 4x4 article I read word for word the same specs. but I really don't know. Ed ke6bnl