Dual Use For Winch

Harold H · Jun 16, 2011

For Father's Day I am giving myself a 12,000# winch which I am going to mount on a receiver hitch on the front of my Ford 4x4 pickup. My utility trailer currently has both a hand winch and a small electric winch, both of them together which have to strain to load a dead tractor or such. I am going to mount a 2" receiver to the front floor of the trailer so that I can use my new 12,000# winch for either a truck winch or a trailer winch. This should easily load anything that I need to pull up on the trailer.

Harold H

rustyfarmall · Jun 16, 2011

(quoted from post at 09:14:46 06/16/11) For Father's Day I am giving myself a 12,000# winch which I am going to mount on a receiver hitch on the front of my Ford 4x4 pickup. My utility trailer currently has both a hand winch and a small electric winch, both of them together which have to strain to load a dead tractor or such. I am going to mount a 2" receiver to the front floor of the trailer so that I can use my new 12,000# winch for either a truck winch or a trailer winch. This should easily load anything that I need to pull up on the trailer.

Harold H

Sounds like a plan! I would suggest going one step further and mounting a 12 volt battery on the trailer to power the winch. Wire it right into the trailer wiring so the second battery gets charged from the truck, and then leave the truck running while winching those dead tractors onto the trailer.

smallercrawler · Jun 16, 2011

Hi Harold, I haul dead crawlers (usually) and the following has worked well for me: I suggest mounting the winch receiver about 18-24 inches ABOVE floor level (mine's on tounge just at rear of hitch, tag type trailer). This will give a straighter pull in most cases and will allow hooking lower on the dead tractor to more easily start it onto the ramps and get it over the ramp/deck transition; if using tounge high mount, deck length is not compromised, but WATCH tailgate/winch CLEARANCE on hills and turns. Also if not wireless, run a semi-permanent "extension cord" on trailer frame that plugs in/out of the winch on one end and has a plug at the rear of the trailer to plug the control pendant into; gives essentially longer reach on cable. One person can ride and steer them onto the trailer while operating the winch.
I put about 6 feet of appropriately sized chain with hook on the end of the winch cable to avoid cable kinks. Truck is wired for switched 225 amp service to rear bumper.Good luck.

cd1 · Jun 16, 2011

you better look into battery isolators or something along those lines to keep it from pulling on your charging wire which is typically not heavy enough, or just unhook the trailer plug when using it.

JimEvans · Jun 16, 2011

If you use long "jumper" cables to power the winch, make sure you unplug the trailer plug before using it. If the ground cable isn't connected well, the 400 or so amps will try to travel back to the battery via the trailer plug connection. You will melt the wiring harness from the front to the back of the truck in about 2 seconds.

JimEvans · Jun 16, 2011

If you use long "jumper" cables to power the winch, make sure you unplug the trailer plug before using it. If the ground cable isn't connected well, the 400 or so amps will try to travel back to the battery via the trailer plug connection. You will melt the wiring harness from the front to the back of the truck in about 2 seconds.

smallercrawler · Jun 17, 2011

Jim, your point is well taken. To minimize this I have done the following: Winch negative is solid welding cable from bumper plug to battery post; negative is grounded to truck frame rail at rear plug; both batteries have auxilliary grounds from negative posts to solid frame rail grounds. All ground conductors are welding cable, crimped and soldered to terminals, bolts use radially ridged lock washers on both sides of connections, all frame points were clean. Lots of overkill, buuuuut?
Could fuse truck side of trailer plug ground pin at connector with fast blow. (Hitch/ball will also provide somewhat of a ground path.)
You've got me thinking unplugging still might be the safest idea, thanks for raising the point; old adage about two heads better than one always applies.

Pitalplace · Jun 18, 2011

I made my own receiver mount for my winch. Mounted a receiver on the trailer about 18 inches above the floor. This way I can use this winch where ever I want. I also have a receiver in a 3pt. hitch for my tractors. Right now it is setting on the floor chained to an anchor in my shop and I am using it to pull the car I am restoring back into the shop. It seems that it has been in and out of the shop several times for cleaning and painting projects. I broke down and bought a remote for this winch which makes this an easy job. Anyway I am so glad I did not mount this winch permanently to the trailer.

VicS. · Jun 18, 2011

I have a old 8000 Warn, I made a mount for a receiver hitch. I also have a battery mounted on the winch. and a receiver on my trailer. We don't use it very much but when we do, it saves the day.

Tramway Guy · Jun 19, 2011

Is that actually 12000 lbs line pull, or 12000 lb. 'rolling load'??? Big difference!

Harold H · Jun 21, 2011

From the manual, rated line pull per layer of cable on drum. Layer 1 12,000#, layer 2 9,550#, layer 3 8,000#, layer 4 6,800#, and layer 5 6,000#. It has 100 ft of .375" 7x19 galvanized steel aircraft wire rope rated for 14,400 pounds. I received it yesterday afternoon.

Harold H

cd1 · Jun 21, 2011

you better see if that is breaking strength or working load limit, big difference.

Harold H · Jun 21, 2011

Working load.

Harold H · Jun 21, 2011

Performance table: line pull lbs/line speed fpm/amp draw @ 12v: 0#/16.4fpm/72amp, 2000#/14fpm/115amp, 4000#/9.9fpm/159amp, 6000#/9.1fpm/198amp, 8000#/7.6fpm/242amp, 10000#/6.1fpm/281amp, 12000#/5fpm/320amp.

cd1 · Jun 22, 2011

what I am saying even on wreckers and the like, the winch will far out power what the winch line is capable of taking safely, so you use snatch blocks and so fourth. You can do a little looking on the net and find about what that line is rated for. I doubt it's what you think.

Dual Use For Winch

Harold H

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rustyfarmall

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smallercrawler

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cd1

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JimEvans

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JimEvans

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smallercrawler

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Pitalplace

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VicS.

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Tramway Guy

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Harold H

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cd1

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Harold H

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Harold H

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cd1

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