Dual reciever hitch winch mounts?

[Ned Kelly]

Any ideas or pictures for a dual reciever hitch/mount winch setup? I want to make a stout setup for a 12k Warn that is switchable front/rear on the 1 ton. I thought it would be good to have the extra beef of dual reciever mount for those times when winching is at an angle and not a straight on pull.

 

[Fordum]

I have seen it done.

There are about 3 drawbacks or difficulties I have seen in doing it.

The first, is what you said. With that strong a winch, you need a really strong mount and hitch to handle it.

Second, those winches draw a LOT of current. And they do not tolerate voltage drop well.

So, you have to run some really big cables back to the back connector. And have a good high current connector.

Those cables have to be protected from shorting out to the frame.
Which means keeping them away from the hot exhaust, and not letting them rub anywhere.

The couple of times I helped wire up a rear winch, I made the guy run the hot cable inside PVC pipe.
If he was willing to risk burning his truck up, I wasn't.

The third problem is, you cannot go into bad places alone anymore. You always have to take someone else along with you to help carry that heavy honking winch out and put it in the hitch....

I have a friend who has his Mile Marker hydraulic winch hooked up that way.
With quick connect hydraulic fittings.

 

[blazinzuk]

I have setup a couple of these and used the smaller receiver for the second hitch, just easier to set up like that.

I would not run the wire inside PVC but I would put loom over it and be very careful about the mounting of said wire, use adell clamps every foot or so or where there are direction changes. Why not use PVC, well I have seen it done before and a rock came up and hit it . Cracked the PVC the wire rubbed through where it cracked, it was a pain to fix. We have no idea when the PVC cracked.

 

[munepit]

Can you safely run cable through hose(ie: heater hose, gas hose, some kind of thick hose)?

 

[Fordum]

Cracked the PVC the wire rubbed through where it cracked, it was a pain to fix. We have no idea when the PVC cracked.

Interesting. Never had that problem, but in Fl. there are not as many rocks as the kind of places you drive.

I may change to thick wall garden hose for the next installation.
Not as tough against wear as PVC, but much more forgiving to knocks.

Either way, you need something besides just the wire insulation for safety.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Interesting. Never had that problem, but in Fl. there are not as many rocks as the kind of places you drive.

I may change to thick wall garden hose for the next installation.
Not as tough against wear as PVC, but much more forgiving to knocks.

Either way, you need something besides just the wire insulation for safety.

It's called a fuse.

 

[blazinzuk]

Either way, you need something besides just the wire insulation for safety.

We loom it with a pretty good quality loom. Haven't had a problem yet. I think the biggest problem most face is they cheap out on the routing of said wire. Insulated clamps that are the right size and alot of them. No zip ties

 

[diesel4me]

I've seen a rear mounted battery in a guys race car cause a fire,he ran the positive cable thru 3/4" heater hose and the battery terminal grounded against the rear quarter panel when it moved during a run,and the cable glowed red hot long enough to set the heater hose ablaze!..he was lucky it didn't burn the car completely to a crisp!..Metal conduit might be overkill,and it can still short to ground but its safer than rubber hose...

 

[4xcrazy]

I've seen a rear mounted battery in a guys race car cause a fire,he ran the positive cable thru 3/4" heater hose and the battery terminal grounded against the rear quarter panel when it moved during a run,and the cable glowed red hot long enough to set the heater hose ablaze!..he was lucky it didn't burn the car completely to a crisp!..Metal conduit might be overkill,and it can still short to ground but its safer than rubber hose...

Some saftey tech guys at that track, to not catch the fact the battery was not secured properly???

 

[Fordum]

It's called a fuse.

I think I must be too close to WWII.

I'm not that old by any means, but most of the people I hung out with when I was young and learned a lot from were from that era.

People had a different mindset back then. Fuses and safety equipment was important, but some things were considered more important than that.
Absolute reliability was paramount.
Life was dangerous, and you were expected to look out for yourself.

When we were building winches, the idea of shear pins or fuses would never occur to us.
Anymore than trigger locks on guns would have.

If you were stuck, quite often it was a potential life or death situation. There were no cell phones, no CBs, and many times you were by yourself.

If it was 15 degrees, you were several miles from any other person, and no one would be likely to come looking for you for hours, you better be able to get yourself out.

I ran into that situation one time in my Jeep when I was about 16. I slid off into a hole. Front end was off the ground, the the rear duals would not pull it out by themselves.

For some reason, I turned it off. Got out, unspooled the cable and hooked it to a tree.
My hands were so cold when I got back in, I could not grip the key hard enough to turn it.
I had to get out and break off two sticks and clamp the key between them to crank the jeep.

After that, it was no problem. The winch pulled me out, the little heater kept the frostbite down, and I drove home.

So, I have always been of the mindset when it comes to safety equipment like winches on trucks or anchors on boat, the most important thing is that they work.

I expect the winch on my truck to pull until I am out or something breaks. I have no shear pin, or any kind of safety that fails first.
Of course, its hydraulic, so I can't fuse it .

A fuse on an electric winch is a great idea. If you are careful to size it properly.
But, some winches are darn near a dead short at full load stalled.
I have seen some using regular battery cables sizes smoke the cables when they stalled.

So, the fuse size has to be between the maximum a winch will draw, and the amount a battery will put out shorted.

And that can be a narrow window.

Due to my weird mindset, I would not mind putting a fuse on a winch, as long as I had a nonfused bypass just in case......

When its the difference between getting home and not, I want that winch to pull until I'm out or it breaks.
Then I know that it did its best.


Plus, don't forget 400 amp+ automotive fuses are fairly new. I don't think they made such a thing in the 60s and 70s.
If they did, I never saw or heard of one.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Warn winches tell you to put an inline fuse and they even tell you what size fuse to use.

 

[Fordum]

Warn winches tell you to put an inline fuse and they even tell you what size fuse to use.

That would definitely help.
But to give you an idea of where my head is at..., I predate Warn Winches by about 15 years....

And if a thought didn't cross your mind when you read "where my head is at" you just aren't trying.
That was a gimme.

 

[Ned Kelly]

Alot of good points to consider from you guys. I guess I could down-size from a 12k winch and run Warn 8274 or M9000, and use a snatch block for those harder pulls. Yes, I'll make sure there is enough juice to run the winch, and protect those cables from potential damage.

 

[Fordum]

And don't forget the weight. A winch filled with cable is heavy, plus you have to have a good chunk of steel in the mount.
So, you need a darn good handle attached, or someone else to help you with it when you go to put it on.
Don't forget, lots of the 12K winches are 100lbs+. Then you add cable, and the mount.

And, you don't want to leave it on when driving. Not only does it make a lot of pounding noise when you are hitting bumps, but it can wallow out a receiver hitch.

 

[bronc3buster842001]

My Warn M8000 was on a portable mount when I bought it. I wouldn't wana have to lug it around a slide it in a hitch if I was stuck. Was heavy enough on solid flat ground. I could only imagine the difficulties if it was muddy and on a hill or wet on some rocks. That fall might hurt.

 

[ryoken]

My Warn M8000 was on a portable mount when I bought it. I wouldn't wana have to lug it around a slide it in a hitch if I was stuck. Was heavy enough on solid flat ground. I could only imagine the difficulties if it was muddy and on a hill or wet on some rocks. That fall might hurt.

that's my thoughts.. it sounds like a really smart thing to do, till the real world logistics bite ya in the arse I would think..

 

[Fordum]

My friend who has the hydraulic milemarker on a hitch, puts it on when he gets to our swamp camp, and leaves it on until he starts home.

Usually no longer than a week.
Its a lot lighter than an electric. But even so, if its a dry year and the roads develop a good washboard, you can hear him coming a long way.

 

[Ned Kelly]

Hmmm...I agree.. heavy to move front to rear, and under bad conditions,also lots of rattling and possibly wallow out the reciever when long term. Well maybe could mount one Warn M9000 on each end and have them well affixed/non-removeable. I can get those for about $500 each from the local utility company auctions. Not sure if that would be enough for a 1 ton Burb though? I'd most likely need to use a snatch block for all the pulls? I'm not too familiar with the M9000's so any thoughts?