The center mounted winch thread....

[Tennmogger]

I built a center mounted winch into my 1957 Unimog flatbed. Perhaps some info would be of use to anyone wanting to do the same thing. The winch pulls double line rear or double/single line front. Either end is usable without moving cables or the winch. The bed was built with the winch system in mind. Cable route is direct run from rear turnaround sheave to the front. The front fairlead is two fairleads, one behind the other to allow pulling 90 deg to the side. Rear has 3 guide sheaves, ditto, or to allow both front and rear to be spooled at the same time (like stabilization while driving on a severe sideslope, or driving along the cable when anchored on both ends.

The pictures span 10 years so the paint changes, as does the dirt. The winch works great and has been used many times (Pierce 12,500 lb 24volt electric). The drum flat-spools itself by having the cable arrive at 90 degrees to centerline of the drum from a distant guide point.

The series of pictures are at Rocky Mountain Moggers (check out the trips section, too)

http://www.rockymountainmoggers.com/bobmoglite.html

A good reason to mount a winch at the rear of the vehicle is weight distribution (even if the winch is not readily usable from the rear).

Pictures show a stuck from which the winch easily extracted the truck, and a shot on Tipover Challenge in Moab.


Bob

 

[Metcalf]

Very cool! Thank you for sharing your experience with the idea!

 

[Heavy44TRT]

I have been interested in this idea for years. From what I have seen with your build, if anyone can do it, you can do it. Being able to pull front or rear is a great benefit. I would like to have a PTO winch to do this. Then heat build-up with the electric motor is not an issue. Just pulling out someone stuck in a ditch in the snow an electric is fine. But like the military, if you have to get somewhere you may have to continuously winch a long way. I am looking forward to your engineering on this. Keep up the good work with your build. Your truck is one of my favorite builds. All you need is this winch setup and lockers and it will be the perfect truck(simple and reliable). This is my first post, so I hope it works.

 

[Metcalf]

Thank you! I'm trying to figure this stuff out. I think I have most of the parts figured out, but there are still some holes. I am still recovering from my tire/wheel purchase so the winch will be a little bit off

Welcome to the board too!

Currently I am researching winch options. In a discussion with some of my friends it was brought up that I pretty much HAVE to have a winch capable of long distance 'power-out' without running into problems with synthetic line ( too much heat ). This excludes a lot of your common planetary winches with braking systems in the drum.

 

[mogwildRW1]

The winch on my Unimog is referred to as a "Mid-Mount, though it is more at the rear than the Middle.

The cable comes out the front, but using a snatch block, you can leave the front hooked into the front pintel in the bumper, and put a loop out the back, then, using a snatch block, pull rearwards.

If this is for your Unimog, the two winch's I'd be looking for would be a Werner or a Rotzler.

 

[mogwildRW1]

Werner also makes a Mid Mount for the Unimog that mounts to the side, and can pull forwards or rearwards, its quite a slick setup.

Credit for these photo's to the mighty T-man on Benzworld, PM me of you want details.

 

[mogwildRW1]

Some more info and pictures

You can see the cable path in yellow, where it rides along guides on the frame, defiantly a metal cable situation.

 

[windsock]

Do these fairleads have a particular name? They differ from the usual roller fairlead in that they have pulleys for side pulls and rollers for vertical component pulls. I have several roller fairleads of various sizes and disrepair and just wondering what I call the fairlead pictured if I start asking around for one. Seems it'd look after the rope more on extreme angle side pulls.

EDIT: Meh! My work colleague just came up behind me and read my question over my shoulder and said they were dual swivel fairleads. Forestry contractor outfitters may stock them over here in a size to suit my land rover.

 

[mogwildRW1]

Not sure what its called, here's a picture of the side pull with that type of fairlead

It rolls 360 degree's, its really quite the unit.

 

[windsock]

Yes, that is a serious side pull. It is pulling a smaller vehicle though so I wonder what pull-angle would be considered maximum for that size mog though if it were self-recovering?

On my land rover that would be the kind of pull I would be doing every once in a while. That is what is wrecking my conventional roller fairleads, and stressing my wire rope - extreme side angle pulls.

Further searching online has shown various names. I have come across a thread on Benz World where Mr Mud (thanks for the info) makes his own - a dimensioned drawing included. A nice find, and I may show a friend and scale it down a bit to suit the smaller requirements I have.

 

[Metcalf]

One cool benefit to a center mounted winch is that the line is not spooling directly onto the drum in extreme side pulls. With the proper hawse or roller at the end of the vehicle you can pull 90 degrees to the chassis without damaging the line OR having the line bunch up on some side of the drum.

The rotating roller block thing mentioned above does this. The minimum bend radius looks to be the small pulleys, not the roller. This means that the line never has to do the very small radius bends.

 

[mogwildRW1]

Yes, that is a serious side pull. It is pulling a smaller vehicle though so I wonder what pull-angle would be considered maximum for that size mog though if it were self-recovering?

The plate riveted to the truck says safety margin for full pull in 25degree's, that's 12k lbs. If you need more angle, that's what big snatch blocks are for.

Mr Mud's homebuilt duel roller is fantastic, he did a really great job on it.

 

[Metcalf]

A small update on my version of this winch system....

-I'm leaning heavily toward the Superwinch EP12.5. For the money, I think its about the best option. It has a brake that is external from the drum which is important I feel for the use of synthetic winch line. The winch also has a drum large enough to fit 125' of 3/8" steel cable! The winch also comes standard with a 15' long controller and an 'albright' solenoid which is value added to me.....

-The winch will be mounted in a sunken box in the bed. I will be using the 5th wheel trailer hitch mounting holes on the frame. The winch 'box' will be secured to the frame with eight 1/2" dia bolts. The load will also be spread out over a large flat plate in the bed to help with frame 'racking'. The winch will end up directly above the rear axle. The winch will be mounted 'feet forward' with the winch line to the rear of the truck in-between the stock 1st gen dodge shock mounts. The box will need to be built around the stock fuel tank on the drivers side of the frame.

-I am going to add a remote disconnect for the drum winch. It will probably be a variation of this.

http://www.dborc.co.uk/goodwinch/pdf/air_freespool.pdf

-I will have to remount the solenoid in the winch box to get the profile of the winch down.

-The winch line will go from the winch to the rear bumper. Mounted in the bumper will be a pulley to redirect the winch line to the front of the vehicle. There will also be a few provisions to allow the winch line to be pulled through a hawse mounted on the surface of the rear bumper.

-I have 90% decided to run the winch line along the passenger frame rail to the front of the vehicle. I have to add a new exhaust system for my turbocharger upgrade so I decided to try and build the exhaust outside the passenger side frame rail. This free's up the inside of the rail to route the winch line tube. By using the passenger rail I don't have to drop the fuel tank to construct the tube. My only reservation is the heat in the area around the passenger frame rail toward the front of the truck under the turbo charger. I am sure there are enough options for heat mitigation but I need to sort that problem out.....

-The winch line tube will be 1.5-1.75" DOM seamless tubing with v-band clamps to connect the different sections. By using the passenger rail I think there will only be 2 sections of tube with basically a joint at the transfer case cross member. I am going to try and minimize the bends as much as possible.

-I would like to tuck the winch line tube inside the c-channel of the frame. At some point in the future I would like to add a 2nd factory 30 gallon fuel tank on the other side of the driveshaft from the stock tank....

-The front end of the winch line tube will need a hawse. I will most likely be making a round aluminum winch line hawse that fits in the end of the tube, perhaps bolting to a flange on the backside of the hawse. The hawse will be built to a size that will allow me to terminate the end of the winch line with a 'safety thimble' to keep the line from pulling into the winch line tube or hawse WITHOUT having to hood the winch line to a recovery point on the front of the truck.

-I will be moving the plug in for the winch controller to the drivers side door inside rocker panel area. This should let the 15' remote reach the back or front of the truck as well as let me use the controller in the truck. I will also be mounting the switch for the freespool in the same location. The driver can then engage the winch from the cab during recovery operations.

Just some notes and ideas that relate to this concept....

 

[JamesDowning]

You want to use synthetic? Are you going to use aluminum or stainless tube as your guide then?

Honestly I'm thinking you're better off using steel cable for a center mount winch purely for abrasion resistance.

 

[Metcalf]

I am going to be using synthetic line.

I don't think regular steel tubing will be a problem as long as the inside is smooth. Most DOM 'seamless' tubing is very smooth on the inside. I am going to try and make a drain hole or two at the lowest points in the winch line tube. I hope this will keep rusting to a minimum here in the dry southwest.

Would stainless or aluminum be better for corrosion? Yes. rough price on 8' of 1.5" dia, .120 wall tubing is $225!