Mid vehicle mounted winch?

[carpeonnel]

Saw a pic in one of the 4wheel mags I get talking about cab mounted winch that ran the cable along the frame rail out to the front. This seems like a really great idea to me and was wondering if any of y'all more hardcore guys have seen any winches mounted this way.

 

[imiceman44]

Saw a pic in one of the 4wheel mags I get talking about cab mounted winch that ran the cable along the frame rail out to the front. This seems like a really great idea to me and was wondering if any of y'all more hardcore guys have seen any winches mounted this way.

I didn't personnaly see it, but I remember one of the TTC contestants a few years back had one like that, he had it coming the front or the rear from the mid point.
Great idea.

 

[6.2Blazer]

I've seen a few trucks with mid-mounted winches, but they were always the really big hydraulic or PTO winches. While it would definitely be neat to be able to run the cable out either the front or rear, the impression I got was the main reason the winches were mid-mounted was simply because they were too big to mount on the front or rear bumper of the vehicle.

 

[BGKYK5]

If somebody can find pics I'd like to see them. Another interesting idea, but it may be so much work and require so many compromises, that it would be worth it to go ahead and get front and rear winches. I have though about trying to rig up a front winch to go out the rear, but I really think it is more trouble than it is worth. There is just too much in the way under there.

 

[George_Pimpdaddy]

one issue I see with he idea would be you drive into a mud bog and end up getting stuck so now who gets to either pull the cable from the one end out to the other if it was needed? like how would you route the cable to easily be able to get the hook either out front or in the back?

 

[original balzer]

if you ran the line to one end and of the vehicle used a pully with a shackle to anchor the pully to something strong like a well built bumper then run the free end of the cable to the other end of the vehicle also with a shackle to anchor to something solid. I could see it working one end would be rated at the winches pull capasity and speed and the pully end would be twice the load and half the speed.

Now the problem is finding the space to mount the winch and modifing the crossmembers to allow the cable to pass through. I personally would want a roller flair head at both ends yet inboard of the solid anchor points maybe 2 roller flairheads on the pully end.

Heres a rough drawing to show what I mean the solid black are the solid anchors the grey are the roller flarheads blue is winch and cable the rest should be easy enough to figure out.

 

[original balzer]

I just thought of something else. You would probably have to choose a side to mount the winch to avoid the drivetrain. I mean the engine and trans occupy the middle so you cant run cables through them.

Unless you have left over scaffolding from a ted nugent concert to build into some sort of subframe/lift.

 

[carpeonnel]

I just thought of something else. You would probably have to choose a side to mount the winch to avoid the drivetrain. I mean the engine and trans occupy the middle so you cant run cables through them.

Unless you have left over scaffolding from a ted nugent concert to build into some sort of subframe/lift.

that's what I figured when I saw the pic. If figured if you had a trail buggy or something you could mount it say behind the passenger's seat and run it down the frame rail from there. the pulley system you diagramed looks like a good idea. In the caption beside the pic I saw it stated the guy had a pulley system run down the passenger's side frame rail, so I figure he's got the winch mounted somewhere on the pass side with the cable going straight down and maybe a couple other pulleys or fairleads to route it out

 

[George_Pimpdaddy]

but wouldn't you still end up crawling under a stuck truck to re wire the cables and pulleys?

 

[original balzer]

but wouldn't you still end up crawling under a stuck truck to re wire the cables and pulleys?

Only if something broke. If it was rigged up like I showed above.

Like I said one end would be normal speed and winch load and the other end (the one with the pully) would be double load and half speed. I imagine you would also have to rig up your remote as permannent and figre out something for the clutch handle.

 

[6.2Blazer]

The diagram shown above should work, and is a decent idea for the dilemna of routing the cables under the truck.

But going back to the setups I have seen they were all pickup style vehicles with the midmount winches at least partially sticking up through the bed, no completely underneath the body. As mentioned I would think you would have a tough time finding room to mount one completely under the body (though I'm sure it could be done).

The truck that might be the easiest to find was a '70's Ford stepside called the "Rodent Exterminator" that win the Top Truck Challenge back in the late-90's/early 2000's.