Adding a winch to a utility trailer???

[K85 Octane]

YO!

I'm adding a winch to my work's flatbed utility trailer. It's used to haul a tractor, scissor lift, or even the occasional car. I'm mounting a tool box on the frame in front. On the railing, I'm welding my old hitch receiver. I also have a winch cradle that fits the receiver. The winch must be removable.

Here is my dilemma.

1) I have a spare winch, but it's AC powered. I can keep a 100' cord in the tool box and it will work fine, unless the location doesn't have power.

2) 4WP has a sale right now and the Smittybilt 3000lb winch is at a great price. $99 This option is ideal except I'm not sure how to get power back to the winch. Jumper cables? Battery inside the toolbox with some kind of leads going to the truck?

Ready........................................ discuss!

 

[sweetk30]

wouldnt trust 3k lb unit to pull a dead load . speeking from past troubles.

guy at work did a midsize truck side toolbox aluminum from lowe's . added 12volt battery 1000ca in it . and then put the winch in the box and cut hole in the face to let cable out and sandwiched the roller fairlead in the outside .

he used a 6k winch warn brand and its o.k. and works decent.

years ago i had a 6k ramsey on my flatbed trailer. it had all it could do to pull on a k30 in a stright line. it did it but not happy.

all i did for power on mine was 2/0 power lead down frame rail from battery to bumper. then forktruck big battery power quick coupler at bumper. then when i needed it just plug in when truck running and i was good to go.

 

[Fordum]

There have been similar discussions here before. Mostly about remote batteries, but I think a couple of winch topics too.
If you are going to be using the winch strictly for pulling things up on the trailer, then I would use the small winch and a snatch block.

Personally I don't like using snatch blocks unless I just have to change the direction of pull.
I prefer my winch to be strong enough direct pull to do whatever I throw at it. But, in this case, the load is pretty much going to be known and limited to the trailer capacity.

Unless you are planning on using the winch on the receiver hitch to pull the truck out sometimes.
In which case, get a bigger winch.

The problem is always a matter of power. A good sized winch will draw a lot more than most starters, and is a lot farther away from the battery.

That means big cable. Much bigger than a normal battery cable. Which also means a fire or exploding battery if it shorts out.
There was a really good discussion about this. I mentioned that I usually ran the cable inside some PVC pipe to prevent chaffing.

There were some objections to that that made sense, but I don't remember what they were now.
The few rear mounted winches I have helped install, I always ran a ground cable also.

The connector Woodchuck mentioned would work well, but they do make winch power connectors just for removable winches.

Other options depend on your situation. If the trailer goes with you a lot, then a big honking battery mounted on it with a heavy charging wire with a diode hooked to the electrical system would keep it charged.

If you are running the Bargman 7 pin trailer connector I think there is a charging pin in it already.

For really occasional use, a pair of long semi type jumper cables would work. I used to have some 1 gauge 25 footers.

Again, not knowing your situation, you might consider one other thing that is on a lot of folk's minds right now.
A generator.
Not only does it have lots of uses, if its big enough, you can run your 110 volt winch.....
The 3K 12 volt winch is probably cheaper, but you will only get that one use out of it.
The generator runs the winch, lights at campouts, small welder, many more uses.

Just a thought.

 

[K85 Octane]

The generator has been discussed, but would be really hard to tot around "just in case" I make a trip to another location. The trailer does not get used all that often, maybe twice a month to 5 times a week for a couple weeks. The winch may or may not see use for a couple months at a time. The trailer does use a big round 7 pin connector for lights and trailer breaks. I wasn't sure if I can tap into that for power or not, at least just charging a big 12v battery in the tool box. I also wouldn't know how to hook that up and not affect the trailer brakes.

I'm completely in the dark about this stuff. I did do a dual battery setup with isolator on the blazer, but that was a super simple setup.

 

[Avery4jc]

I picked up this little Warn for cheap through 4 Wheel Parts. They didn't stock it but ordered it and had it the next day. I bought some really heavy gauge jumper cables and chopped one end off and soldered the leads to the leads on the winch. It works well for my needs and for the price it's hard to beat. That being said if I were winching stuff up on the trailer on a regular basis I'd go big and never look back (regular size 10k pound or bigger winch).

I mounted a receiver hitch on the front of my trailer and bolted the winch to a piece of tube so it all slips together when I need to use it.

It dead pulled my 1 ton k10 with a doubler (approx 4,500 pounds) onto the trailer including up and over the tires (fenders were off) without overheating or any issues. It was cool to the touch after the pull.

 

[blazinzuk]

I would use a battery and the charging post on the 7 pin plug to charge it. Might also mount a solar charger on the tool box to keep it topped off.

I see no problem using a snatch block with a small winch. Of course a bigger winch will be better. It simply has more power but on a trailer, I would also do less cable as you will have more pulling power more toward the bottom wrap on the winch. Plus less cable to mess around with when respooling.

I have pulled a couple of trucks up on trailers with pretty small double lined winches, dead pulled a couple of cars with a 1500 lb atv winch. They were old 70s 4 doors so pretty heavy and no tires to or wheels to speak of so it was a true dead pull and double lined the winch had no problem