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What winch are you using on your car trailer?

Got a sturdy one. No, she doesn't have any sisters.

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I've had 2 HF winches on the last 2 trailers I've had and both have worked flawlessly. This one (15000 lb) on my 30' gooseneck will load my 4010 JD no problem. I sprung for the wireless remote on this one. You can set in the seat and drive whatever you're loading and run the winch at the same time.
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Matt’s off-road recovery on YouTube uses those winches. Pulling big stuff thats stuck
 
I got a chance to build the supports and hitch mount for the trailer.

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To keep the front rail from bending while winching, I used a 5 foot section of 3 x 3 angle steel.

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The deck is 7 feet wide so this will be fine.

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The frame rails got 2 supports to put in a tray that I'll use to place the battery.

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The angle steel is in along with the hitch mount.

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Hey...I'm a Carpenter, not a welder/fabricator but this should be pretty stout.

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I've messed around with welding stuff for years and have always had mixed results. I'm actually taking a welding class starting in a few weeks.

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I'm a bit concerned about the weight of the saddle and winch together. I'm wondering if I went too big with the 12,000 lb unit.

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I should have the winch mounted to the saddle tomorrow, then I'll figure out how to power it up.

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I'm a bit concerned about the weight of the saddle and winch together. I'm wondering if I went too big with the 12,000 lb unit.
12K is more than enough winch and plenty of extra weight to drag around. The winch I have inside my trailer is a 3500 pound HF deal which seems to work fine for anything that has wheels. 12K might come in handy if you're dragging something with no wheels onto your trailer, which is something I never plan on doing.
 
I have a tendency to overdo things when I am unfamiliar with them.
 
Hey if it can’t pull the car up the trailer, that thing will pull the trailer with the truck backwards and under the car.
 
I've used that setup for years, the main drawback is the weight of the winch vs my fragile back. I've pulled a car with 4 flats and 2 froze wheels. I've pulled a large Walnut tree down that was leaning into another tree, the truck slid 2-3 feet until it dug in deep enough in the dirt. I've pulled a Reach upright forklift laying on a pallet. Those last 2 would trigger the overload circuit breaker and I'd have to wait 30-40 seconds for it to reset.
Your trailer mount is plenty strong, overkill in fact. The winch mount looks like mine, if so, it's plenty strong too. The first mount I used got twisted, which in turn twisted the winch.
I use these battery terminals if I'm using a car battery, Walmart has them. No need to wrench them down, just twist back and forth till they're snug:

Robot or human?

Something like this would probably be better though:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNN633J...p_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM



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Ta-Da !

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No, not the beater Duster on the left…the winch!

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This dude IS heavy but I’ll just deal with it.

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Next up, I have to power it up.

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The fit is good. The trailer has an 18’ deck so it looks like I’ll be able to pull a car or truck all the way onto the deck and still have room to pull the winch out if needed. The car can then be pushed or strapped further forward as needed. Ideally I would have liked the winch to sit on top of the front rail.

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That would allow me to have absolutely no problem pulling the winch with a longer vehicle on the deck. I’ll make this work.

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I've been using a 3k Superwinch since the late 70's.....if I need more power, I'll just throw on a pully block....screw that heavy stuff and now that I'm getting close to 74, I'm glad I didn't buy a bigger one.
 
The angle steel is in along with the hitch mount.

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Hey...I'm a Carpenter, not a welder/fabricator but this should be pretty stout.

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I've messed around with welding stuff for years and have always had mixed results. I'm actually taking a welding class starting in a few weeks.

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I'm a bit concerned about the weight of the saddle and winch together. I'm wondering if I went too big with the 12,000 lb unit.

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I should have the winch mounted to the saddle tomorrow, then I'll figure out how to power it up.

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Never tack weld anything when bare foot.....don't care how dry the shop floor is!!
 
The winch came with some parts that were not used. It feels odd to have parts left over but these were for those that wanted to relocate the control box for whatever reason…

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Otherwise, the wiring was simple.

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Positive on the left, ground on the right.

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They supplied cables. I cut the ends off and used these:

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The unit comes with a corded remote that can also be used from A limited distance when disconnected.

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I reeled it in and out a couple times. Maybe I’ll put it to a test tomorrow.
Cheers.
 
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