Removable front winch mounting

[alia176]

soo many reasons to go with the receiver mount.

The ability to leave it in the garage 10 months of the year.
Mount it front or rear.... often the easy way to get unstuck is reverse.
One winch?? Five guys with receiver mounts.

The only negative I see is the flex, stress in that single point load on the receiver. A bolt on winch to a welded bumper holds everything in tight alignment. There is zero flex. When winding cable under load to either end of the drum the single, loose, receiver winch mount twists creating an angle and causing the cable to bunch and pile up at the end of the drum when under load. This can happen on a solid bolted mount too but eliminating the flex in the receiver reduces that factor.

I really like the convenience of the winch permanently mounted but there are advantages to the receiver mount if you will never need 100% of the winching capability/capacity.

PS, I have never used my winch to get "unstuck" I've used it to get up an icy driveway and move things like logs. I'm likely the ideal candidate for a receiver mount.

I can think of other negatives:
- moving a 85# dead weight, let's hope your back is up for it
- moving a 85# dead weight when the front end of the rig is submerged in quagmire and you have to move it to the rear or you're stuck and have to mount it up front in quagmire
-the leverage a winch puts at the end of a receiver mount could be high so lots of attention needs to be paid here
-sideways pulling will be a huge no no, but sometimes it just can't be avoided no matter how many pulley blocks are used.

Like anything else, this is a great tool for the right application.

 

[DaveInDenver]

This info is exactly why I have a hydraulic winch on my truck. If you need a rear winch there are quick disconnects for hydraulic lines. 100% duty cycle at 100% load.View attachment 621693

I think hydraulic winches make a strong case and in all my time I've not yet had a situation requiring winching with my engine not running anyway. The non-running engine argument resonated with the inexperienced me way back.

The only argument that I think holds merit is that a regular power steering pump is probably not an ideal power source, despite that Milemarker says it's fine. Their low pressure models will generate on the order of 8,000 to 10,000 lbs with normal PS pumps (e.g. ~1200 psi at 3 GPM).

But two things occur to me about that. First is a stock PS pump isn't designed to do that continuously for minutes. It's a duty cycle question again. The OEM figured you'd need 1200 psi and 3 GPM for a few seconds trying to parallel park while most of the time the steering load is actually very light.

Second being that when you might need 1200 psi at 3 GPM you might also need to be steering, perhaps stuck in rocks or bogged in mud. Then you actually need 1200 psi at 6 GPM for both the steering and winch.

That's why my decision has been to upgrade the electrical system as much as practical in my truck and work within the limitations I already know I have, if that makes sense. If I went to a hydraulic winch I'd probably feel the need to run a dedicated pump for it.

 

[verdesard0g]

Steering and brakes ( my truck is a diesel so has hydroboost brakes) work fine with the winch running. The PS pump is vary reliable and can run run indefinitely powering the winch. The power steering pump is much more powerful than any electric winch motor! I have had this winch on two different trucks and never had any problems with it or the PS pump. Why do you think modern tow trucks use hydraulic winches anyway? Most of those do use a pto driven pump but most are not any more robust than a PS pump.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Steering and brakes ( my truck is a diesel so has hydroboost brakes) work fine with the winch running. The PS pump is vary reliable and can run run indefinitely powering the winch. The power steering pump is much more powerful than any electric winch motor! I have had this winch on two different trucks and never had any problems with it or the PS pump. Why do you think modern tow trucks use hydraulic winches anyway? Most of those do use a pto driven pump but most are not any more robust than a PS pump.

I don't dispute you about hydraulic winches. I agree. But a commercial PTO pump or your HD truck isn't the same thing as the centrifugal vane PS pump on a light duty truck like my Tacoma or a Jeep. It'll work and is probably better than an electric winch but won't be without its own set of issues to solve.

 

[verdesard0g]

I don't dispute you about hydraulic winches. I agree. But a commercial PTO pump or your HD truck isn't the same thing as the centrifugal vane PS pump on a light duty truck like my Tacoma or a Jeep. It'll work and is probably better than an electric winch but won't be without its own set of issues to solve.

It did work fine for several years on my 1994 dodge Dakota
The only reason I got rid of that Dakota is that I got high centered too many time doing search and rescue. It had over 270,000 miles on it!

 

[RoyJ]

This might be a bulky solution, but if you have a heavy truck (1 ton plus, mog, Fuso, etc.), it's super cheap compared to an engine driven hydraulic pump:

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/196cc-hydraulic-power-unit/A-p8682742e



About $400 US when on sale (Princess Auto is like our Harbor Freight).

3 gpm @ 3000 psi and continuous duty cycle. For hobby logging application, where you're skidding logs out of the bush, this will save wear and tear / fuel on the truck engine, and can work all day compared to an electric winch.

 

[Boatbuilder79]

I had a winch in a reciever mount on my old truck.

I had a curt front hitch reciever and I made the mount in my garage. I over built it and It was over 100 pounds but was not to bad back then. But getting old sucks and 100 pounds is heavy now.

It pulled at all kinds of angles without a problem.

I also used it a lot-in the rear with a double reciever adapter contraption for loading stuff on trailers.

 

[David_h]

I have a winch on the standard 2" receiver cradle. I had a DrawTite front receiver but it was too low for my liking so I made a beefier one that is higher. I am able to do this because I have the gas motor and no diesel intercooler in the front. I cut 25' booster cable set with Anderson Connectors. A 5' section is permanently wired to battery for front mount and a 19' length is available for rear mount.