Winch

Here is my multi vehicle portable Warren winch.
I actually started collecting pieces for it when I was living in Virginia. Aircraft rated cable, a winch switch, picked up a winch reversing relay some where. Then bought a 4.5k Warren winch "replacement core" and portable winch holder.
I focused on mobility. The problem is a real winch, big winch that is not cheap garbage could weigh over 100lb for a 12k winch, with steel cable and on a portable winch holder. Trying to move a 100lb winch, in slick mud or ice, only one logical out come there. Mine weighs around 60lb.

The truck forums thought my winch was too small to be of any use. But I'm not going to take my truck into a swamp and sink it in muck up to the mirrors while trespassing on someone else's land. To me doing anything like that is very juvenile. If you need a 12 or 18k winch and you aren't professional vehicle recovery, logging, or something like that you are probably doing something dumb.
If you don't know how to use a winch, read the manual, understand basic mechanics or do math then you should buy the biggest winch your credit card will let you. The way winches are rated is they measure pulling force with the cable pulled out so the last wrap of cable is on the drum. If you have a full drum and only pull off a few feet of cable so that you still have cable on a full drum that will cut your pulling force about in half. So on a full drum my 4500lb winch only pulls around 2500lb. If you have an 8k winch with a full drum only pulls 4000 to 4500 pounds.
If say for my winch 4500lb isn't enough, then toss the cable around the snatch block and double pulling force. Small winch problem solved.
But you wouldn't know any of this if you didn't at least read the manual.

I think bolting a winch on the front of a vehicle is retarded. So you're going to leave a winch on the front of one vehicle, all year, exposed to the elements, then when you need it that's when you find out it's not working, then if you do use it you are pulling your self into something you should maybe be trying to get out of. Great idea, all around.
My winch is a little over 2 years old and looks and works as if it' brand new, because it sits in the garage when I don't need it, not out in the sun, wind driven rain and road dirt.

My winch sits on a 2 inch Reece hitch carrier. Uses my lithium iron phosphate battery packs with Anderson connectors.
The light is a 100w flood light, this light also has a switch so it can be powered by pack power or external power.
Most of the wiring and connections are inside a weather proof junction box.
And it's fuse protected with a 250 amp ANL fuse, with extra fuses in the j box.
So I have one winch that will fit on the front or back of my suburban. The back of my car, my wife's car, the kubota tractor and the riding mower.
I plan to add a 2 inch front Reece hitch to my tractor too.

 

Very good. I haven't used my winch to get unstuck in the last 5 years on my truck. I have a 3 point hitch adapter for my old tractor and my winch is set up with a wireless remote. Been cutting some trees along a fence line and have used winch 10 or so times in last month to put tension on them to control fall. Handy to snake tree out of tight spot and to where you can hook a log up to the tractor after it falls as well. Don't claim it is a logging winch, but sure is handy.

Haven't tried a light mounted on the winch, but it sure looks like a good idea.

 

I had a winch years ago, but divorced her.

 

Years ago, I was in to fairly serious off-roading. I purchased an HS-9500i, not long after Warn had introduced them. Believe it or not, I pulled a log truck out of a seriously stuck situation, with it. Not loaded full, of course. Just put the bumper against a tree and doubled the cable. Worked like a charm.

I found, though, a decent winch on the rear of your vehicle, will sometimes be a better option for you than continuing forward, in order to get yourself out of that sticky situation.

 

I have two really nice winches but the syllinoids got crushed. I was able to locate new ones but the plastic covers on them are discontinued. One was recoverable but the second one is beyond repair. Been looking for a replacement for a couple of years now.

 

I really like your set up , practical and efficient.
I am quite fond of wenches and lift equipment, and I encourage others to invest in having these tools for them selves.
Unfortunately all I get are excuses ,regardless of the examples of service they perform.
I like the idea of having a receiver on the front an back of my vehicles, not only for the wench , but for moving trailered equipment around the yard . In the boat business we had hitches on half the vehicles both front and back.
I even have a picker on my tool box with a hand wench ,

 

I am pretty sure I just bought a generic winch reversing relay.
The only difference between your old one and the replacement might be different size ring connectors on the power leads and maybe different style on the control wires.

 

Great set up. And well worth the time. I would add "D" loops welded to both sides of the frame so you can also remote winch with a battery or two along side! Get a couple of sand anchors and you have a very good multi use set up for more then truck use. I agree with others here, having a winch on both ends of your rug is really smart, my two BIG fire rucks and 3 pickups have twin winches, beat set up you can do. I love your idea here, j wou of have mine set up to use in the bed of one of my pickups so I could use a genpole setup for loading/unloading heavy things in and out of the bed!

 

Well I guess I'm a retard because every winch I've ever had was/is mounted to the front of my truck(s) except for the ones mounted to the front of the 4wheelers and the one mounted in the bed of the car trailer. FYI they do make covers to protect them from the weather. I have on occasion run the winch cable back under the truck and snatched myself out backwards, but 99% of the time it's been out the front. In 30+years of owning and having to use winches I have never once not had one work when I needed it.
Not knocking your set up, but the winches on our 4 wheelers are 3,500 pounders. A 4,500 pounder wouldn't come close to pulling out our lightest 4x4 if it was really stuck.

 

I like this idea a lot, I have been thinking of adding a winch to my Willies CJ2A, but don' like the idea of having something permentally attached to the nose, this would be slick if I could Some how come up with something over/under the pintle hitch so i can still use my trailer! Be suprised at bow many times i get it stuck until I realised it' because the dark thing is so light!

 

I have snatch blocks.
If I want I can rig up 16,000lb of pulling force.

 

Speaking if wenches and lift equipment ,I have several harbor freight truck cranes ,the shorter version . and several pieces of equipment even a small trailer and places on the property I installed posts so I can switch any available head to for loading or unloading a visiting truck with no lift capabilities . I have both hand wench and electric wenches on my crane heads , makes any lift operation a breeze .
Recently my brother had given men his old shop truck and I put a crane on it, but it was the taller version and it takes too much deck reinforcement to be practical. Ill either make a new base for it for that truck, or reinforcement to the bed wall and lumber rack.
The beauty of a crane over every other lifting device , is it doesn't matter what the shape or how it's weighted .motorcycles are easy. and most every thing i can do alone.
I have a friend that I have encouraged from time to timer to get a truck crane because he's getting older and in the landscaping business there's lot of lifting . well he won't go to the trouble and now he has an injured back and though he keeps on working his back is getting worse. So much misery he could have saved for the price of that picker.

 

Well the winch is coming up on 2 years old and it's still brand new.
No rust, no corrosion on the electrical connections, just a bit of dust.

 

From sitting in the garage.

 

If you can't find a regular reversing solenoid, if can be worked around by using four regular starter solenoids. You need to switch both positive and negative feeds to the winch.

 

Ouch.


I always bought the 45 degree weld hitches. I figured if the weld wasn't stress relieved it would break at the edge of the weld. I couldn't figure out how that happened till I realized it was an 8 inch drop hitch....

 

I need to get at least a 4500lb winch for the back of the tractor as the frontend is always the first place to sink.

 

On any work, it is best to use the correct tool for the Job.
Remove the hitch and install a hook designed for the job.

 

yep this.