Winches

SO I bought this older but in very good condition GN trailer a Month or so back. One of its big selling points for me was the 12k Bulldog winch. Bulldogs are very good winches and not particularly cheap winches. LOL It never occurred to me to make sure the remote control was in the tool box, I mean the remote cable was in there........... The control its self I learned Saturday was not It is a older Bulldog with the 5 pin plug instead of the newer 3 pin plug in.


New tires and New Axles under the trailer. Only a 24' and 14,000# and 102" it will haul every tractor and vehicle I have now days and a fair amount of round bales. I sold my Tex 30+4 triaxle with duals LOL not cheap changing out 12 trailer tires when it was time, sold it with 80% rubber and left the Bulldog winch on it.. WITH THE REMOTE Got a fair price of $14,800 for it. Price of even utility trailers now days is nuts. Then called the trailer dealer I use and asked them to keep a eye open for a 24' with singles instead of duals at something resembling a fair price that is in decent shape. A few Months later they found this one buried in their overflow lot and sent e these pics asking if it would work for me at a price of $8000 LOL guess they took it on trade, put new axles and rubber on it and then put it in the back lot and forgot about it for a awhile. And now it is my new used trailer.


We shall not speak of what I did exactly beyond I BROKE THE WINCH on the Big Red Thunder Chicken, All I will say is that a 5,000 pound winch, a 12,000 pound truck and a 11,000 pound tractor stuck in the mud did not end well for the winch

So I went to Harbor Freight to get Red a new winch and a Hitch receiver mount for it. This one has 88% positive reviews and after discounts was only $300 I think the receiver mount was like another $100. Mostly what I use Reds winch for is pulling trees I am felling that lean poorly in the direction I want them to fall, recovering stuck tractors and pulling logs out of places I don't want to back a tractor into, so I don't have to recover a log and a tractor from the mud So I want to be able to slip the winch into one of the rear receivers do what I need to do, take it out and put it back in the tool box and forget about it until I need it the nest time.


This krappy little mount works perfect for my needs.


So while getting the winch n stuff I noticed a wireless remote 5 pin winch control hanging there. I figured what the hell lets see if it will work on the Bulldog winch on the new used trailer. AND IT DOES! Sort of In and out are reversed but other than that it works fine saving me the trouble of ordering and waiting for a Bulldog replacement. Still going to order the Bulldog replacement because I only have half the power quick connect for the bulldog and would much prefer to run the winches direct off the truck batteries than a battery mounted on the trailer. LOL Red does have 3 big batteries and 2 alternators for a reason But this one works and I can get the ford F150 on the trailer and to the mechanic to figure out why its electrical is DEAD. And then the Oliver tractor to the Diesel Shop for his engine and fuel system rebuild. My old 1970s Oliver 1755 100hp tractor is one of the things I will never part with. But I do rag his engine out now and then and need to do the rebuilds to get him up to HP and shooting that 10' flame out of the straight pipe on occasion. I don't really NEED a 100hp tractor anymore, the new Kubota M5660 57hp tractor lifts as much as the Massey 285 could, pulls better and more than Oliver does, The Massey 285 could get more weight in motion with bumping it but that tractor weighs over 12,000 pounds A little momentum + that weight gets a lot of drag weight in motion.

Red weighed 9,000 pounds new off the Dealer lot. Between all of the different hitches I have added, basically doubling the frame and beefing him up I added a bit over 4,000 pounds of additional iron to him over the years. Taking the custom 7 speed tranny out last year and replacing it with a new automatic tranny shaved some weight off and probably brings him down to 11500. LOL really needed better than a 5k winch on Red but it was cheap and worked for a long time. We shall see how this cheap 12k harbor freight badlands winch works out.

 

Those Badland Winches are seriously Awesome, and I dare say, even better then Warn! ( I know, Blasphemy around here) I have a few of them on the Power Wagons and they are bomb proof and POWERFUL! Winches tend to get used a lot here, a full pull isn't uncommon, and this is the ONLY brand to handle that repeatedly with out issue! Spool it up with synthetic rope and you have one serious recovery tool!

Don't believe the hype, check out Matts Off-road Recovery on YouTube, they use the hell out of those Badlands Winches with ZERO issues, that says something!

 

Yeah I am going to run the cable until it starts kinking and then replace it with synthetic. Cable was great until modern synthetic rope came about. LOL world of difference spooling out rope vs cable! LOVE MATTs Channel Pro's, High Entertainment value and even if you know what you are doing you can pick up some new tricks fro them!

 

You might need to use a snatch block or blocks.
I have a little ATV winch on a portable hitch holder like that, it's super handy.

 

Great! I learned two simple but very important things from this thread:

1. "Those Badland Winches are seriously awesome..." I am not in the market for a winch but if in the near future I need one, then I know Badlands makes a damn good winch for the price.

2. Go with synthetic rope instead of the cable.

Thanks!

EDIT: I currently use 3/4" synthetic rope and snatch blocks to pull trees in the direction I want them to fall. The rope is fantastic for durability and strength. I have two them, 100-feet and 150-feet in length. The snatch blocks I use are from Harbor Freight and have served me well, there might be better ones, but these do what I need for now and price is right.

 

Be it rope or cable, always treat the situation with great care and stand aside in the event the line fails.
I hand feed the lines preventing bird nesting even using rope.

 

Had great luck with a 4k superwinch on my old yamaha sxs. Im kicking around a reciever mount setup with a 8-10k winch. It will be a badlands or suv 500 amazon jobber as it wont get used alot. Just do alot of backroading while hunting/fishing. Better t have it and not need it than needit and not have it.

 

I have a pair of the brand new Badlands 12000 pounders on my Jeep, both are spoiled with synthetic rope and soft shackles, makes for a super slick pulling rig, though I haven't had to use them much yet, I'm planning a serious trip to Moab to go play in the rocks! I'm also seriously considering replacing the PTO winches on the 42 Half Cab Dodge, while those Winches work amazingly well, and they pull faster then any 'letric or Hydro winch setup, they are prone to breaking down, or most likely to break the PTO shaft pins, and that's never fun to deal with out in the wilds in the middle of a pull!

 

My Speedy Driver just delivered this for the GN. Looking forward to putting it to work! Never used the Mightee brand before but not a bad price for them and rated at 18,000 pounds.

 

My love of all things Power Wagon is a never ending quest of perfection, those ol girls are the best 4X4 ever made, I would never be happy with anything else, not even my Jeeps! My Baby ( See other thread) is a never ending search for perfection, a rig that continues to grow and get better with age, as long as I keep at it, she will always be ready, come hell or high water, that rig will always run and get me through!

 

just picked up a different SUV - thinking about mounting a front hitch rig this spring - like $250 in the box - add whatever you want to the front end from a winch to a cargo carrier rack to some kind of front end protection ....

 

Having a wench in any vehicle is better than having none at all.

 

I feel so....inadequate.

My winches look like


rated for 8K#

Since my biggest rig is a VW Eurovan, so far so good.

 

My hero! Last time the tractor was in a bog I used one of these to pull it back about 6 inches, Back tire grabbed a root and out she came!