Trying to figure out what kind of rating I would need for a winch that would pull a disabled vehicle on to my trailer. Let's say a max of 7000 lbs rolling, up the ramps and on to the trailer. What should I be looking at for load capacity?
Not sure what to suggest for specifics, lots of variables. But, assuming you don't get too crazy with dragging broken stuff that does not roll, a rather low rated winch with a snatch block should handle pretty much anything you need as long as you don't get into to much of a hurry.
Or use a snatch block to the front of the trailer and winch your rig up with it's own winch, know what I mean? I wouldn't kill the $$$ on a trailer winch. Another rig (like my K5) parked next to your towrig could easily pull your busted junk up onto your trailer waytogo .02c Burt imp:
Another thing to think about... My hs9500i winch is mounted with a home made "multi-mount". That will eventually let me mount it front or back on my truggy, front of the trailer, back of my tow rig, and front/rear of my 1 ton K5. It will mount in all those locations now except the trailer which needs a receiver welded on. Only problem is getting all the high amp wiring in place, particularly for the trailer and back of the tow rig (which will be the same wiring)...
I'm planning on just a little 2k lb atv winch for my trailer. Anything I winch on will be a rolling load as I don't want to tear up the wood decking. 2k with a snatch block would be more than enough to pull anything my 10k trailer would haul on. I'm also planning on putting a small roller about 1" in diameter and 18" long in the middle of my trailer where it drops so the cable doesn't rub the metal there. Most cars don't have a high recovery point like a 4x4 and who knows when I might get a good deal on a non running classic muscle car.
I want a winch for my truck too and will get one eventually, but that wouldn't help me if I'm loading a dead vehicle other than the truck on to the trailer. The truck is going to be the primary vehicle that the trailer is used for, just trying to think ahead here...
If it's just going to be for occassional "what-if" use, why not just get a cheapie Harbor Freight come-along? That or a cheapie HF 2500lb ATV winch. I wouldn't personally spend too much, but then again, I don't really have the disposable income I used to. Marc
Get a 2 speed boat trailer hand winch. Get some reciver tube about 1' long. On the smaller piece, weld a piece of 3/8" plate to mount the winch too. Weld the reciever end to the front of the trailer, vertically. This way you have a removable, innexpensive method to haul a dead vehicle onto the trailer. It actually works quite well for the few times you have to use it, and can easily be upgraded to an electric winch. Just my $.02
You said you want to eventually get one for your off-road truck too, any reason you wouldn't want to save/spend just a bit more to get the "real" winch, save the money of the "small" winch all together, then use it on both with a multi-mount type setup as I mentioned?
Harbor Freight is having a huge sale this weekend, you want me to stop by and see what they have for you? Marc
Nah, not looking for something right now, just eventually. I'll probably end up with a handcrank boat type winch though since it won't be used much anyways. I don't really want to do the multimount thing because the winch that's going to go on my truck is going to be a big one and I'll want it mounted pretty far back and up so it stays out of the way. I'd rather just mount it permanantly to the truck and be done with it.
HF has a 10k pound winch for like $250. I wouldn't run it on my truck but for a trailer it should work fine. Plus with HF if it ever blows up you can just take it back.
Well that's not bad. Not looking forward to running wiring big enough to run a winch like that 24 feet to the trailer, but that would certainly do the job...
Just mount a Deep Cycle battery to the trailer in a box. Since you're getting a 7 pin plug, it'll charge off the alternator. Marc
my wife bought me a winch from wal-mart for Christmas to mount on the trailer. i think it is only a 2 ton or so, so i am not real sure it will work to pull up the blazers and cherokees on the trailer. i like the idea of a multi mount and i have a warn m8000 that i was planning on using to do this with. that way i could swap it around to the wheeler when i wheel or leave it on the trailer to haul the other stuff i go and pick up.
